Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

We Love Because He Loved Us First (1 John 4:7-21), Victor Bartling

Concordia Theological Monthly

Our design in this paper is to present a practical exposition of a Scripture passage in which we who work in the Church hear God speaking to us about that which must live in our hearts if our plans and programs, our skills and techniques, our studies and preaching and teaching, are to enjoy God's approval and blessing.

Sin As The Cause Of God's Wrath, Walter Nagel

Concordia Theological Monthly

Every system of Christian doctrine and dogma treats the subjects of man's sin and its opposing element, God's wrath, as being in some way basic to an understanding of the Christian life. Both matters, however, receive their full due only in the theology of Luther and in our Confessions.

Three Aspects Of The Way Of Christ And The Church, Martin H. Franzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

In 1 Cor. 1:9 St. Paul characterizes the members of the Church as those who have been called by God into fellowship (communion) with His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. This fellowship is a total participation in the whole Christ, a participation which takes a peculiarly vivid and experiential form in Holy Communion (1 Cor.10:16 ff.).

A Look At Current Biblical Cosmologies, C. Gaenssle

Concordia Theological Monthly

The writer has long felt that the cosmological schemes found in standard Bible dictionaries, in many modern commentaries, and elsewhere (including even Webster's International. s. v. firmament) call imperatively for a little closer scrutiny. Indeed they are marked by some features so unnatural, in part so utterly fantastic that to anyone who is detached and uncommitted in his thinking they appear more like the product of wild and arbitrary fancy than of calm and objective inquiry.

Sola Gratia, J. W. Behnken

Concordia Theological Monthly

To speak on the very important topic "Sola Gratia” within a period of fifteen minutes, and to do this within the framework of the highly significant general theme: "The Gospel establishes and maintains our Lutheran Church," is an assignment to which I cannot even remotely do justice. At best I can refer only to a few major points. We are concerned here with the chief principle of the Reformation. Dr. Luther declared: "The word of grace and forgiveness of sin teaches us that we are justified and saved solely through Christ, without our merit; this is the principal article from …

The New Testament Concept Of Fellowship, F. E. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

This article will suggest three basic principles for a discussion of the term χοινωνία as employed in the New Testament. In view of the significance of this term in the present movement toward Lutheran Union and even World Ecumenicity, the Faculty of Concordia Seminary at St. Louis, Mo., devoted several hours to a discussion of the term on the basis of guidelines prepared by a committee. The material offered in this article is to a very large extent the author's attempt to recapture the salient points of the faculty's discussion. The article will discuss, first, the constancy of Biblical terminology …

Natural Law And The New Testament, Robert Hoeferkamp

Concordia Theological Monthly

This paper will attempt to investigate elements of Natural Law which are generally alleged to appear in the New Testament. Thus a historical discussion of Natural Law and the indication of the importance of the topic for current theological discussion are in order.

Give Attendance To Reading, Richard R. Caemmerer

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Give attendance to reading," St. Paul exhorted Timothy. This exhortation has sometimes been applied to contemporary ministers as follows: Let them keep up their private studies, their reading of the Bible and of the many other materials which enrich their mind and ministry. That is a useful and necessary exhortation. The original intention of 1 Tim. 4:13, however, is simpler. St. Paul tells Timothy that he is to minister faithfully and vigorously to his congregation till St. Paul himself will come. This ministry means bringing the Word of God to people. That he is to do through three routes: reading …

The Wrath Of God And The Grace Of God In Lutheran Theology, Wm. F. Arndt

Concordia Theological Monthly

Every Lutheran theologian, at hearing these terms, will admit, I think, that in discussing them we deal with the very heart of theology, and not only of theology, but of religion itself. Wherever religion has not developed into a mere caricature, but is live, spontaneous, heartfelt, real, it occupies itself, among other things, with these concepts. The statements that an individual or whole groups make about them may be entirely erroneous and objectionable or highly unsatisfactory, but, at any rate, occupying one's self with them is unavoidable - the human heart simply has to come to grips with these matters. …

And Yet Again: "Wes Das Herz Voll Ist, Des Gehet Der Mund Ueber", John Kunstmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Having commented on the non-literalness of Luther's translation of this passage, he extols the rendering as truly idiomatic and quotes, in support of the rightness of such a translation, one that is a reproduction and re-creation in German of the foreign and often alien original, the celebrated lines from the Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen (1530) in which Luther defends his "free" translation of the passage in question.

The Growth Of Our Faith, W. F. Beck

Concordia Theological Monthly

Contrast a righteous but weak Lot with Abraham, the father of all believers. Lot is materialistic, timid, helpless; Abraham is unselfish, bold, royal. Lot has to run for his life; Abraham, alone, pleads with God for Sodom. Lot escapes from the burning city with the loss of everything, while Abraham lives peacefully with the Lord who made heaven and earth. Lot wants to hide in a cave, while Abraham rises like a lonely mountain peak, touching the clouds.

The Basis Of Our Faith, W. F. Beck

Concordia Theological Monthly

A careful person insists on evidence. He is critical. He will be interested in the proofs for the existence of God and other apologetic evidence for the Christian faith. He is delighted to see that Christianity has met human needs better than any other religion (the pragmatic evidence) and finds such practical values a potent demonstration of its truth. But we do not reach our Savior along the lines of logic, of premises and inferences. We do not find God at the end of a philosophical search - He is standing on our doorstep. He simply appears in our midst …

The Doctrine Of Predestination In Romans 8:28-39, Luther Poellot

Concordia Theological Monthly

The doctrine of predestination is presented as our highest and greatest comfort in suffering. The doctrine itself is set forth in vv. 28-30, while in vv. 31-39 Paul draws the conclusions which follow in regard to the power of the Christian religion, more specifically the doctrine of predestination, to support us in the trials and afflictions which come upon those whom God has elected to salvation.

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.

The Speaking Christ In His Royal Office, T. G. Voigt

Concordia Theological Monthly

One might argue as to whether the doctrine of the threefold office of Christ is really usable for a comprehensive description of the work of Christ. There are expositions of Christian doctrine enough which do not follow this pattern at all. There are those who fear that this pattern may do violence to the content: the fullness of the Biblical proclamation concerning the office and the work of Christ may be lost if one seeks to reduce or confine the Biblical titles of honor applied to Christ and the Biblical designations of His office to the triplex munus. Among them …

Race Relations -The Christian Directive, Richard R. Caemmerer

Concordia Theological Monthly

Does the Christian religion have something to say c:onceming race relations?

There are those who would limit the references of the Christian religion to race relations simply to those data of the Old and New Testaments of sacred Scripture which concern races. Thus they assemble material on the creation of man, the separation of races, the pattern of races in the pre-Christian era, the nature of races and the Biblical references to them in the Christian era, and the like.

The Administrators Of Parish Education, M. L. Koehneke

Concordia Theological Monthly

It should be noted from the very outset that the administration of education in a Christian parish is a unique process, for it draws its concepts from the precepts of God, and not the ideologies of men. We shall therefore not spend time in the beginning of this paper with a presentation of the various definitions and methods of "administration" from secular sources. We do not disparage them; we rather prefer to try to develop our own from certain basic Christian concepts.

The Historical Method In Biblical Interpretation, Raymond P. Surburg

Concordia Theological Monthly

The failure of exegetes to agree on hermeneutical principles is said to be one of the major causes for the divisions in Christendom, and, as Avey pointed out more than 25 years ago, American denominationalism will not disappear unless all bodies agree on basic principles of Biblical interpretation. Biblical scholars of the liberal tradition claim that the greatest obstacle to any agreement among exegetes lies in the continued use of the so-called dogmatic method inherited from the Reformers. Its advocates are charged that on the assumption that the Bible is divinely inspired and inerrant they employ the prooftext method in …

Velikovsky And The Hebrew Bible, Carl Gaenssle

Concordia Theological Monthly

Some time ago Velikovsky's Worlds in Collision• created quite a stir in some circles. It is not the purpose of this article to examine this book in all its aspects. The author has limited himself to an examination of Velikovsky's use and application of the Hebrew Old Testament, to which he so frequently appeals as illustrating his theories and supporting his contentions.

The Universal Priesthood Of Believers With Luther's Comments, L. W. Spitz

Concordia Theological Monthly

The universal priesthood of believers is the Christian Church on earth, the Communion of Saints, which Jesus Christ has redeemed, purchased, and won from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that it may be His own, live under Him, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, and which the Holy Ghost has called by the Gospel, enlightened with His gifts, sanctified and kept in the true faith. Thus Luther has taught us. Each Christian confesses …

John Chrysostom On The Christian Home As A Teacher, Arthur C. Repp

Concordia Theological Monthly

John Chrysostom is known in the Christian Church primarily as the greatest pulpit orator of the fourth century. His excellency as a preacher, which also made him an outstanding example of the Antioch school of theology, has. in a measure, caused the Church to lose sight of his contributions to educational thought. Yet according to one authority John wrote the finest pedagogic treatise of the patristic era and developed "a method of sex instruction that is without superior in the history of education." In spite of this high tribute, however, the church father has been either generally ignored by American …

The Apostolic Psha!, Martin H. Franzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Memory plays us scurvy tricks. I remember that Hilaire Belloc says somewhere that there are three things that a real man must be capable of saying. I remember also that the first one is: Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem; and that the third one is: Psha!

God's Concurrence In Human Action, John Theodore Mueller

Concordia Theological Monthly

In presenting the doctrine of divine providence, the teachers of the Christian Church usually stress, in the first place, God's actual conservation of all created things, by which His creatures persist both in their being and their operation (in esse suo ac vi operandi). Should their categories at times appear as rather scholastic or academic, it is well to remember that they were endeavoring to clarify and preserve intact in its purity the somewhat mysterious Scripture doctrine of God's actual participation in creatural action against the two fundamental fallacies of erring human reason: fatalism and atheism.

God's Triumphant Captive Christ's Aroma For God. (2 Cor. 2:12-17.), Victor Bartling

Concordia Theological Monthly

The teacher to whom we offer this eucharisterion has lived and labored among us as "God's triumphant captive" and "Christ's aroma for God." In discussing the Scripture passage giving us this view of the ministerial office we hope to do so in a bit of the practical manner which has always characterized the Scripture interpretation of our colleague.

Before we take up the passage, it will be useful for us to look at the wider as well as the narrower context.

Human Will In Bondage And Freedom, A Study In Luther's Distinction Of Law And Gospel. (Part Ii.), F. E. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free" ( Gal. 5 :1 ). That is the sum and substance of St. Paul's letter to the Galatians. Christian liberty is Paul's one and only theme: the glorious liberty which has freed us from the tyrannical bondage under the Law, sin, death, the devil, and the wrath of God. This was also the heart and core of Luther's theology set forth in his Commentary on Galatians and especially in his treatise The Liberty of a Christian Man. The occasion for writing this tract is highly significant. The papal …

A Remedy For Modern Chaos-Luther's Concept Of Our Calling, O. C. Rupprecht

Concordia Theological Monthly

It is one of the ironies of history that modern American civilization, noted for educational activity unequaled in extent, if not in quality, in any previous era, has arrived at a point of development notable for disillusionment, bewilderment, confusion, anxiety, fear, terror, and despair, which are also unparalleled, if not intensively then certainly extensively, in any former epoch.

The Concept Of Sin In The Old Testament, Alfred Von Rohr Sauer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The aim of the present study is to survey in a general way what the Old Testament teaches concerning sin. That the Old Testament presents an authentic historical account of the origin of sin has long been regarded as pre-eminently important by the Church. The realistic way in which the Old Testament depicts the tyrannical power of sin among men, and especially in the history of God's people, has also been recognized as an important phase of Old Testament revelation. In our circles, however, not much thought has been given to a systematic study of what the Old Testament as …

Human Will In Bondage And Freedom, A Study In Luther's Distinction Of Law And Gospel. (Part I.), F. E. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

Luther's re-discovery of the proper distinction between Law and Gospel may be viewed as the starting point of the Lutheran reformation. The proper distinction between these two doctrines is the heart and core of Lutheran theology, or in the words of the Formula of Concord, Art. V, "the specially brilliant light which has come to us through the Reformation." Where this distinction is properly observed, the Scriptures will be correctly explained and understood; conversely, where these two doctrines are mingled, the merits of Christ are obscured, and the Christian is robbed of his comfort. The Lutheran Reformation may be viewed …

Brunner On Revelation, Robert Bertram

Concordia Theological Monthly

Professor Emil Brunner, the Reformed theologian at the University of Zurich, probably requires little introduction. He, more than any others of the so-called neo-orthodox theologians from Europe, has fast found his way into American Protestant theological thinking. his books seem to be showing up more and more frequently even in Lutheran parsonages, and his name has appeared a number of times in past issues of this very journal. This wide respect which Brunner enjoys is not undeserved. He has been considerably instrumental in encouraging Protestant theologians to return to the rock whence they were hewn, to the classical Christian doctrines …

The Moral And Spiritual Qualifications Of The Biblical Interpreter, Raymond F. Surburg

Concordia Theological Monthly

The existence of many different Christian sects and denominations, although all purport to base their theological tenets on the Bible, has been a source of great perplexity to Christian and non-Christian students of the religious life of the past and present. While a number of reasons have been advanced for this situation, one of the underlying causes has been correctly stated by Burrows when he wrote: "Wrong methods of interpretation and use have prevented Christians hitherto from arriving at any unity in their understanding of the Scriptures."