Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

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 …

Luther's Theological Method, W. H. Dau

Concordia Theological Monthly

When Luther began his theological studies at the Augustinian convent in Erfurt in 1505, the teaching of theology in the universities and its practice by the clergy were in a deplorable condition. At that time Luther did not realize this fact, but as he proceeded with his studies, his eyes were opened, and he stood aghast at the havoc that had been wrought on true theology.

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.

Henry Melchior Muehlenberg, W. G. Polack

Concordia Theological Monthly

Dr. E. A. W. Krauss, in his Lebensbilder, calls Heinrich Melchior Muehlenberg the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America. Dr. A. L. Graebner, in his Geschichte der lutherischen Kirche in Amerika, declares that he was the "greatest man whom God bestowed upon the American Lutheran Church of the 18th century" Dr. G. Fritschel, in his Geschichte der lutherischen Kirche in Amerika, writes of Muehlenberg: "So eng war er mit all lhren Interessen verbunden, so hervorragend erscheint er in allen ihren Teilen von Neu-Schottland (Nova Scotia) bis Georgia, dasz die Geschichte der Kirche seit seiner Landung 1742 bis zu seinem …

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 …

Luther: A Blessing To The English, W. Dallmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

John Skelton, poet-laureate of Oxford, Cambridge, and Loavain, whom Erasmus called "a light and ornament of British literature" and poet-laureate Southey also praised fabulously, was the most popular and audacious writer of his day. Tutor to Henry VIII, he scored the wicked courtiers. Cleric, he castigated the clergy. "Bestial and untaught men," not able to read or spell their own names, they appoint as priests, preferring habitual drunkards that lead disorderly lives to worthy candidates.

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

Concordia Theological Monthly

The moderns are bound to make the "sure Word" of Scripture (2 Pet. 1:19) unreliable. They have been telling the anxious Christian that the "mechanical, verbal theory" of inspiration is all wrong; that according to their dynamical canon the words in which the saving truth is revealed are purely human; that nobody knows whether the words of John 3:16 correctly express the divine thought. But they are not yet through with the dismayed Christian. Lest he still be disposed to base his trust on John 3:16 and similar passages of Holy Writ, they now tell him: Forget all about John …

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

Concordia Theological Monthly

The moderns have many more objections against Verbal Inspiration. To three of these they attach special importance. They denounce Verbal Inspiration as "a mechanical theory of inspiration"; they abhor it as "resulting in an atomistic conception of the Scriptures"; they abominate it as establishing "the legalistic authority of the letter." -The old evil Foe means deadly woe. The appeasers have up till now been telling us that nothing is lost if the Church gives up half of the Bible, seeing that they are willing to let her retain the important half, the Gospel message; if only the saving truths be …

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

Concordia Theological Monthly

Before examining three further objections against Verbal Inspiration, it will be well to pause a while and survey the disaster wrought by the contention of the moderns that the Bible contains a lot of (1) errors, (2) immoralities, and (3) trivialities. Amplifying previous remarks on this subject, we would here present a comprehensive view of the frightful consequences of the denial of Verbal Inspiration. The moderns do untold harm (1) to the Church and (2) to themselves.

Luther: A Blessing To The English, W. Dallmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

The First English Lutherans and the First English Lutheran Theological Seminary

''Martin Luther" is written over the page with the names of Gardiner, Cranmer, Thirlby, and Bilney, the degree list of Cambridge in 1521.

A committee was sent to London to have Luther's books examined and to get an order from Cardinal Wolsey to burn them - Drs. Humfrey; Robert Ridley, uncle of the martyr; John Watson, praised by Erasmus; and Henry Bullock, a pupil of Erasmus, ''most learned Bovillus," now professor of Greek and vice-chancellor.

The books were burned on Market Hill about the Easter term, and the grand …

Conscience, E. W. Koehler

Concordia Theological Monthly

But what may it mean that I have knowledge together with myself? Let us illustrate. If I know a secret together with my neighbor, then this means not only that we both know the secret, but also that each knows that the other knows it. If, then, I say that I know something together with myself, this means not only that I know something, but that I am cognizant of the fact that I know it.

Luther: A Blessing To The English, W. Dallmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

When the corrupt clergy would do nothing to better the corrupt Church, Luther appealed "To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation on the Betterment of the Christian Estate,"' and many hailed him as the desired champion of the nation and shouted Hosannah! Hallelujah! When, however, in the same 1520 he wrote "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church," he published an earthquake and committed the unpardonable sin against the priests, and many cried "Crucify! This is an hard saying; who can hear it?" We are reminded of the account John 6:60, 66: "From that time many of his disciples went …

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

Concordia Theological Monthly

The moderns have a third grievance against the Bible as God gave it to us. They are scandalized at the many "trivialities" incorporated in it. Those portions of the Bible, they say, which treat of purely secular matters, common household affairs, petty concerns of men, and the like, do not belong to the Word of God. God's Word is too high and holy a thing to have these levicula mixed up with it. It is inconceivable that, when the Holy Ghost inspired the saving Word, He should have bothered about the marital affairs of Isaac and Rebecca. The moderns are …

Notes On The History Of Chiliasm, V. A. Mennicke

Concordia Theological Monthly

Amid the international upheavals and universal catastrophes we can expect a large-scale revival of chiliastic teachings. Chiliasm arose among a "have-not." people; it usually enjoyed a wide acceptance when nations had been disappointed economically and become unsound theologically; and whenever confessionalism was at low ebb, emotionalism was substituted for the Scriptural teaching on eschatology. The time for a new assault by the forces of chiliasm is ripe. Therewith also the time for a restudy of the history of chiliasm has come.

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

Concordia Theological Monthly

The second objection to Verbal Inspiration is based on the so-called unethical portions of the Bible. The mistakes of the Bible are to the moderns a small matter compared with the ethical blemishes they see in the Bible. These alleged immoralities and indecencies scandalize them beyond expression. That is what arouses their most violent protest. The moderns, both conservatives and liberals, join with the unbelievers and infidels in loudly protesting that the Bible as it stands contains much that outrages their moral sensibilities. What the present age needs is an expurgated Bible; and since Verbal Inspiration stands for an unexpurgated …

Luther: A Blessing To The English, W. Dallmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

The Papacy excepted, the empire was the highest honor to which any potentate could aspire. Though little better than an empty title, though scarcely more than the shadow of a great name, destined speedily to become more visionary than ever, its ancient traditions made a deep impression on the romantic heart of the Middle Ages. Its half sacred, half secular dignity, shrouded by a mysterious and unsubstantial grandeur; its position as the military headship and supremacy of Christendom; its imperial bishops and regal princes; its sacred knights and Teutonic brotherhoods; its haunted forests and weird mountains; had all combined to …

Luther: A Blessing To The English, W. Dallmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the eighth century the English monk Winfrid came over to preach his Gospel to the Thuringians, was martyred for his pains, and became known to fame as St. Boniface, the Apostle of the Germans.

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

Concordia Theological Monthly

There is no end to the sophistries, misstatements, and puerilities which the moderns marshal against Verbal Inspiration. But there is an end to the readers' patience. So we shall bring our examination of the first objection to an end with the present writing.

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

Concordia Theological Monthly

Robert F. Horton is "smitten with amazement at the unobservant and unintelligent treatment of Scripture which alone has rendered the old theory of Inspiration possible for thinking men." (Revelation. and the Bible, p.120.) F. Pieper finds that "the objections to the verbal inspiration of Holy Scripture do not manifest great ingenuity or mental acumen, but the very opposite" (What Is Christianity? P. 243). Who is right? Let us examine a few more of the absurdities and sophistries employed by the moderns in their polemics against Verbal Inspiration.

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

Concordia Theological Monthly

"The vast majority of the difficulties and objections arise from erroneous preconceptions and false presuppositions, untenable assumptions and unfounded assertions, strange misconceptions and persistent misrepresentations, by mistakes and misstatements of the questions -with all the fallacious inferences there from. … The prevalence of errors in Scripture is proclaimed ad nauseam in many of our current reviews, both theological and general; in periodicals, both religious and secular; and in many of the recent books bearing on the question." (H. M’Intoah, Is Christ Infallible and the Bible True? Pp. 473, 621.) At the risk of nauseating the reader we shall discuss a …

Freedom And The Modern Physical World Picture, Th. Graebner

Concordia Theological Monthly

A discussion of the problem of free will as affected by the new physics cannot claim finality in any sense. The modern world picture is not complete, for one thing, and we are free from agreement on the epistemological background of the doctrine of freedom. Yet the problem of the will remains the most fascinating in philosophy, and the possibilities which modem physics offers towards the solution are arresting enough to deserve more than passing notice. Any serious study of the subject unfortunately involves factors of a subjective nature, which make their results arrived at of little absolute worth. Is …

The Opinions Of Modern Scholars On The Origin Of The Various Apocryphal Books, K. G. Manz

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Before dealing with these additions individually, a word may be said about them collectively. None of them occur in the Hebrew Bible, and in only one manuscript of the Septuagint proper are they found.

Privileges And Obligations, Th. Laetsch

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the name of the Prince of Peace, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, we are assembled here for the purpose of considering ways and means to bring the Gospel of peace to a war-tom world and to build, maintain, and extend His Kingdom of Grace and peace in a world enslaved by sin and Satan, harassed by war and rumors of war, by malice and hatred and deadly enmity. Almost one hundred years ago a considerably smaller number of men came together in Fort Wayne, Ind., and in other communities of the Central …

All Israel Shall Be Saved, Rom. 11:26, V. Bartling

Concordia Theological Monthly

"All Israel shall be saved." What do these words mean? The sentence must not be isolated from its context and given a meaning which collides with what precedes and follows. Paul's letters have had to submit to torture since Peter's days (2 Pet. 3:16). The history of the interpretation of our particular passage along with its setting illustrates such exegetical torture. Again and again Paul's words have been manhandled and wrested from their context.

The Alleged Contradiction Between Gen. 1:24-27 And 2:19, Alexander Heidel

Concordia Theological Monthly

The first chapter of Genesis, as every Bible student knows, has the animals made first and then man. But the second chapter is commonly held to reverse the order and to place the creation of man before that of the animals. This view is based upon the assumption that Gen. 2:18-25 constitutes a continuous piece of narrative and that the tense of the Hebrew verb with which v.19 opens therefore implies a sequence in the order of time, necessitating the following translation of v.19: "And so the Lord God formed out of the ground all the beast of the field …

The Opinions Of Modern Scholars On The Origin Of The Various Apocryphal Books, K. G. Manz

Concordia Theological Monthly

The books which are ordinarily included in the Apocrypha of the Old Testament are the following: 1 Esdras, 9 chapters; Tobit, 14 chapters; Judith, 16 chapters; Wisdom of Solomon, 19 chapters; Wisdom of the Son of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), 51 chapters; Baruch, 5 chapters; Epistle of Jeremiah, 1 chapter; Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Children, 1 chapter; Susanna, 1 chapter; Bel and the Dragon, 1 chapter; 1 Maccabees, 16 chapters; 2 Maccabees, 15 chapters; 3 Maccabees, 7 chapters; 4 Maccabees, 18 chapters; Prayer of Manasseh, 1 chapter; Additions to Esther found in various chapters of the canonical book.

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

Dr. Pieper says: ''The objections to the verbal inspiration of Holy Scripture do not manifest great ingenuity or mental acumen, but the very opposite." When men set out to criticize God's Word, ''they lose their common sense and become utterly unreasonable and illogical." (What Is Christianity? P. 243.) On the other hand, Dr. Edwin Lewis speaks of ''the incredible fatuity on the part of the literalist, who insists on the 'absolute inerrancy' of Scripture" (A Philosophy of the Christian Revelation, p. 55), and Dr. G. A. Buttrick declares that ''the avowal of the literal infallibility of Scripture, held to its …

Some Notes On The Life And Works Of Catherine Winkworth, Carl S. Meyer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The change in the wording of my topic I ask you not to take amiss. To treat the "Life and Works of Catherine Winkworth" in one conference paper would demand more time than you would wish to devote to this topic and would tax too greatly the research facilities which I have had at hand. I have called this paper "Some Notes on the Life and Works of Catherine Winkworth" because of the unevenness and lack of balance which the subsequent pages will display, greater emphasis being placed on one or two topics than upon others. I had to do …