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Kyrios Jesus, Horst Wm. Jordan

Concordia Theological Monthly

The author provides a perceptive and pastoral analysis of the key issue before the Synod.

How The Gospel Works, Richard R. Caemmerer Sr.

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the long plan of God we can imagine one good issue emerging from this debate. That is that the meaning of the Gospel becomes clearer and its preaching to the church and the world more apt and timely.

The Task Of The Theological Professor, Arthur C. Repp

Concordia Theological Monthly

This paper is a revision of a statement on the nature and purpose of the theological seminary that Dr. Repp read, to the Fact Finding Committee appointed by Dr. Jacob A. 0. Preus, President of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, to investigate the Biblical teaching of the faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

Some Thoughts On Authentic Lutheranism, Herbert J. Bouman

Concordia Theological Monthly

The Lutheran Symbolical writings provide the basis for the author’s understanding of the Gospel-centered nature of authentic Lutheranism.

A Survey Of Trends And Problems In Biblical Interpretation, Edgar Krentz

Concordia Theological Monthly

Any man fool enough to accept the assignment described in the title above deserves his fate. He is like the mythological traveler approaching ancient Thebes. To go forward means to meet the Sphinx and her dread riddle; to miss the answer means to be thrown headlong down a precipitous cliff and face destruction. Yet the possibility that one may deprive Oedipus of his glory by answering the riddle leads one to trudge along the dusty path under the hot sun.

The Christian Faith And Revelation, Fred Kramer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The Christian faith rests solidly on God's own revelation of Himself and of His will with respect to man. Divine revelation is an act of God, not subject as such to the correction of the philosopher. Divine revelation has, however, a human correlative, namely theology. Theology, as the word is here used, is the church's speaking and teaching about God and His will. It is not itself revelation, which is always God's activity, but the church's speaking and teaching based upon divine revelation and therefore subject to correction, where it may need correction, on the basis of divine revelation.

Luther's Exegetical Principle Of The Analogy Of Faith, Otto Hof

Concordia Theological Monthly

It was clear to Martin Luther that what was at issue in his discussion with his opponents, with Rome on the one hand and with the enthusiasts on the other, was not so much the question of principle regarding the importance and relevance of the Bible-in whatever way and however qualifiedly its authority was on all sides theoretically acknowledged and practically brought to bear in controversy through argumentation by means of Bible passages - as rather the question concerning the correct interpretation of the Holy Scripture.

Editorial, Herbert T. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

This issue is the second in the Biblical Studies series, a series first suggested by the Commission on Church Literature and subsequently endorsed by the general leadership of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. This issue is a contribution toward a fuller understanding of the nature of the Word of God. All the articles contribute to this thematic study. One's appreciation of God's written Word can be so controlled by specific problems, like the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, that the full grandeur of this book can disappear behind a carefully built fence of minor concerns. The contributors to this …

The Word Of God In The Theology Of Lutheran Orthodoxy, Robert D. Preus

Concordia Theological Monthly

The intention of this paper is not to offer a complete delineation of the doctrine of the Word of God in the theology of Lutheran orthodoxy, a project entirely too vast to be undertaken within our limited space. Our interest is to learn what the orthodox Lutheran teachers say to us on the specific issues now under debate. I have therefore restricted this study to a simple twofold purpose: (l) to present and analyze what Lutheran orthodoxy has said on the chief problems concerning the doctrine of the Word and (2) to offer significant observations regarding the real concerns and …

The Posture Of The Interpreter, Martin H. Franzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Practically everybody in Christendom claims to be in some sense under Scripture. The Liberal feels that he is being "true to the deepest intentions" of Jesus or of Paul when he treats Scripture in his own fashion. Bultmann claims to be dealing so radially with the form of the New Testament message merely in order to confront modern man with what he considers the essential content of the New Testament message. And certainly the Fundamentalist, for all his frequent failure to make the most basic and radical distinction that the Bible itself knows, the distinction between law and Gospel, interprets …

The Nature Of The Unity We Seek A Missouri Synod Lutheran View, Martin H. Franzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

"The nature of the unity we seek" has the obviousness of a platitude. Like most platitudes, it is more easily stated (by those who hold it) and more readily caricatured (by those who reject it) than it is appreciated, appropriated, and lived. It is worth while, therefore, to spell out this platitude, in order that both we and those with whom we seek unity may be made aware of its basic simplicity and of its practical complexity and difficulty.

The Authority Of Scripture, Norman Nagel

Concordia Theological Monthly

The way Scripture understands itself is presented elsewhere in the theses sent out by the Council. That presentation has its greatest strength in bringing Scripture into close and integral relationship with Christ. Faith's primary apprehension is Christ; the consequent apprehension is Scripture. To apprehend Christ is to be placed under Scripture. The recognition of this is the basis of how we listen to what Scripture says. Scripture has spoken Christ to us, and therefore, when Scripture speaks, we receive and accept whatever it says, for whatever it says is heard in relationship to Christ.

The Written, Spoken, And Signed Word, Herman A. Preus

Concordia Theological Monthly

0ur title points us to the Word of God. It tells us that God speaks to us in three different ways. But it is the same Word that He speaks in all three. There is only one Word of God. The Word, whether written, spoken, or signed, is the same Word. It is the same message from God. It is the same Gospel, proclaiming God's salvation to lost sinners. It is what Luther calls "die ewige Wahrheit Gottes," God's own revelation of eternal truth.

The Concept Of God In Luther And The Lutheran Confessions, John Theodore Mueller

Concordia Theological Monthly

This essay concerns itself chiefly with the concept of God, revealed especially in His works of creation and preservation, as the obiectum amabile, whom men are not merely to adore, but pre-eminently to love. However, since the Deus Creator is also the Deus Redemptor and Deus Sanctificator, it must, on the one hand, go beyond the narrow scope of the First Article of the Apostles' Creed as explained by Luther in his Large and Small Catechisms, while, on the other, it cannot nearly exhaust the great wealth of weighty truths that come within the compass of the study of the …

The Lutheran Doctrine Of The "Autopistia" Of Holy Scripture, Helmut Echternach

Concordia Theological Monthly

This doctrine of classical Lutheran theology is becoming very important today in connection with the discussion of the authority of Scripture and the Confessions. Stated briefly its immediate scope in its formal aspect is that Holy Scripture requires no other argument to prove itself the inerrant divine truth than the evidence which it bears within itself and with which it confronts the Church and the individual as the living Word of the living God, that is to say, as the Word which has life in itself and awakens life.

Brunner And Luther On Scriptural Authority, H. Armin Moellering

Concordia Theological Monthly

In its struggle with Roman Catholicism the Reformation made its appeal from tradition and an authoritatively interpreting Church to the Scriptures. This basic approach of the Reformers is obvious and universally recognized. Some writers, nonetheless, have failed to note the complete cleavage between Romanism and the Reformers at this point. Emil Brunner sees clearly that whatever the token deference of Rome to the authority of Scripture may be, in point of fact Rome forsakes Scripture and rests her authority in the interpretive and teaching office of the Church. Rome operates with "die massgebende Autoritaet der kirchlichen Schriftauslegung."

No Development Of Doctrine For Us, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

There is a third reason why we cannot engage in the development of doctrine. Our time and energies are so completely occupied with the study of the Word of God and the old doctrine of the Church that we have not a moment's time to expend on the business of further developing the doctrine. We read in the Proceedings of the Michigan District, 1897, page 36: "We all need to deepen our understanding of the doctrine. Let no man think that he has fully understood the whole doctrine. In this life we shall never reach that point. We know the …

Union Theses, Adopted By Breslau Synod And Saxon Free Church, L. W. Spitz, F. E. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

There is an inseparable union between the two bases of the Reformation, in fact, of the true Church of Christ, viz., between the doctrine that lost and condemned mankind can be saved solely by the grace of God for Christ's sake through faith (sola gratia, sola fide) and the principle that all teaching must be according to the Holy Scriptures (sola Scriptura). There can be no Christian proclamation without the proper distinction between Law and Gospel.

Essays In Hermeneutics, Martin H. Franzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Holy men of God spake as they were moved by, the Holy Ghost." Heretofore, in the circle of language and in the circle of history, we have been concentrating on the fact that "men ... spake," on the fact that God the Holy Ghost spoke in tongues in definite moments in history. We have been, therefore, concerned largely with the skills and techniques of interpretation. In the circle of Scripture we pass from skills and techniques to what is rather an attitude, a gift of God, a charisma to be prayed for. For we are now concerned with the fact …

Essays In Hermeneutics, Martin H. Franzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Hermeneutics is that branch of theology which sets forth the principles that are to guide us in the interpretation of Scripture; in other words, it is the theory of exegesis, or interpretation.

Verbal Inspiration- A Stumbling-Block To The Jews And Foolishness To The Greeks, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

This is, and must be, the burden of our concluding remarks: Let us "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3); let us faithfully guard' the precious doctrine of Verbal Inspiration.

We shall earnestly contend for it if we realize, in the first place, how much is at stake. We must realize what the Church would lose if she surrendered Verbal Inspiration. We would lose our Bible. The battle for Verbal Inspiration is not a mock battle played by children. It is not some unseemly brawl among squabbling theologians- Theologengezaenk. No; the Church is …

Verbal Inspiration- A Stumbling-Block To The Jews And Foolishness To The Greeks, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

We are asked to come in under the charter of liberty proclaimed by the moderns which calls for freedom from "the tyranny of words." We cannot do so, for three reasons.

First, we do not feel that Verbal Inspiration imposes a legalistic yoke on us. It does indeed require of us unquestioning acceptance of all the statements of Scripture. On that we and the moderns are agreed. We are bound by every word of Scripture. But we do not resent, nor rebel against, this bondage. It is a holy bondage. We rejoice in it. Why? Verbal Inspiration has taught us …

Verbal Inspiration- A Stumbling-Block To The Jews And Foolishness To The Greeks, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

The indignation of the moderns reaches white heat when they are asked to receive every word of Scripture as inerrant and authoritative. If Verbal Inspiration means that every word of Scripture must be received as God's word, with unquestioning faith and obedience - and it means just that- they will have none of it. That is their strongest objection to Verbal Inspiration, and they express their abhorrence of it with the frightful word legalistic.

False Principia Cognoscendi In Theology, W. H. Dau

Concordia Theological Monthly

It is a fact, admitted also by scientists, that all theological knowledge, in the very nature of the case, must be derived from God Himself. It is a fact, furthermore, that God holds all who venture to speak for Him strictly to His Word when He declares: "To the Law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Is. 8:20. Lastly, it is a fact that God has issued a solemn warning by the first and the last writers of our Bible that no man shall dare …

Verbal Inspiration- A Stumbling-Block To The Jews And Foolishness To The Greeks, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

"The objections to the verbal inspiration of Holy Scripture do not manifest great ingenuity or mental acumen, but the very opposite: they serve as a shining example of how God inflicts His just punishment upon all critics of His Word - they lose their common sense and become utterly unreasonable and illogical." (F. Pieper, What Is Christianity? p. 243.) Will any one, after studying the preceding article, still think that Dr. Pieper's judgment is too harsh?

Verbal Inspiration- A Stumbling-Block To The Jews And Foolishness To The Greeks, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

It is unworthy of a Christian to charge Holy Scripture with errors. - It might be well to emphasize and elaborate some of the points touched upon in the preceding articles. First, it is unworthy of a Christian to let fallible men exercise authority over Scripture. It is a shameful thing for a Christian theologian to revise and correct Scripture on the authority of some historian or some professor of natural history. Theologians are doing just that.

Reason Or Revelation?, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

Rationalism is an evil thing, working untold harm. And harmonizing Scripture as practiced by Lutheran theologians is a form of rationalism. The harmonizers operate with the principles of rationalism. True, they do not apply them as widely as the gross rationalists. They restrict the harmonizing operation to selected portions of the Christian doctrine. But there they are engaged in the evil business of rationalism, in a wicked and harmful business.

Reason Or Revelation?, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

There are more rationalists in the churches than go by that name. While the rationalists openly proclaim the sola ratio, the rule of natural reason, others market their wares under an alias. When the experience-theologians operate with the "enlightened reason" and the Roman Catholics make the church, or the Pope, their authority, they make natural reason a source and norm, the source and norm of theology. But that does not tell the whole story. Even among those who loudly proclaim the sola Scriptura there are many who have come under the sway of rationalism.

Holy Scripture Or Christ?, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

Men are asking us to substitute for the authority of Scripture the authority of Christ or at least to subordinate the former to the latter. If we did that, we would be left without any authority for our teaching and without any foundation for our faith. And that means, of course, that there would be no Christian theology and no Christian religion.

Holy Scripture Or Christ?, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

In his History of Christian Doctrine G. P. Fisher points out that "among Protestants and Roman Catholics the old question respecting the seat of authority in religion is once more eagerly disputed. Since Coleridge and Schleiermacher insisted that the primary object of faith is not the Bible but Christ, there has been a growing tendency to regard the Scriptures less as an authoritative manual of revealed tenets in theology and morals than as the medium of disclosing to us the personal Christ and the import of His mission and teaching.