Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Faith

Discipline
Institution
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 271 - 300 of 332

Full-Text Articles in Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

The Mature Christian, Richard R. Caemmerer Sep 1953

The Mature Christian, Richard R. Caemmerer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The Authorized Version does not use the term "mature." But the idea is completely Biblical. It assumes that a Christian, as a Christian, is not a statistical, either-or being, but that he is the product of a birth, a growth, and an expanding life. To speak of a Christian as mature suggests that he has arrived at the peak of that growth, that he has arrived at the climax of the development of his faith and his life with God.

Go to article

The Formal And Material Principles Of Lutheran Confessional Theology, F. E. Mayer Aug 1953

The Formal And Material Principles Of Lutheran Confessional Theology, F. E. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The source of doctrine, or the formal principle, of Lutheran theology is sola Scriptura, the Scriptures alone. It does seem strange that with its avowed emphasis on the sole authority of the Scriptures the Lutheran Church nowhere has a specific article setting forth its attitude toward the Holy Scriptures. By contrast the early Reformed Confessions have an elaborate statement concerning the place and the scope of Scriptures, including even a list of all the books which are considered canonical. The Lutheran Confessions have no specific article dealing with the Holy Scriptures for three reasons.

Go to article

The Grace Of God Gives Us Christ For Justification, Gerhard Schulze-Kadelbach Feb 1953

The Grace Of God Gives Us Christ For Justification, Gerhard Schulze-Kadelbach

Concordia Theological Monthly

Our theme is a confessional statement. The statement as a whole as well as each of its terms makes sense only as a confession. We must consider this for a moment at the very outset. In doing so, our thoughts tend in two directions. The realization that we are dealing with a confessional statement implies above all that the assertion of our theme is possible only within the Church. The little word "us" points unmistakably to this fact: "The grace of God gives us Christ for justification."

Go to article

Three Aspects Of The Way Of Christ And The Church, Martin H. Franzmann Oct 1952

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.).

Go to article

Sola Gratia, J. W. Behnken Oct 1952

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 …

Go to article

A Study Of The Subordinate Moods Of Pisteuō In The New Testament, E. A. Mills Aug 1952

A Study Of The Subordinate Moods Of Pisteuō In The New Testament, E. A. Mills

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Go to article

The Growth Of Our Faith, W. F. Beck Jul 1952

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.

Go to article

The Basis Of Our Faith, W. F. Beck Jun 1952

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 …

Go to article

The Universal Priesthood Of Believers With Luther's Comments, L. W. Spitz Jan 1952

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 …

Go to article

Human Will In Bondage And Freedom, A Study In Luther's Distinction Of Law And Gospel. (Part Ii.), F. E. Mayer Nov 1951

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 …

Go to article

New Testament Fellowship: A Study In Semantics, R. T. Du Brau May 1951

New Testament Fellowship: A Study In Semantics, R. T. Du Brau

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the seventeen passages of the New Testament which employ χοινωνία the associative idea is uppermost. One readily distinguishes three chief usages of the term: 1) a common sharing in all spiritual-and sometimes material-gifts; logically followed by 2) mutual help and assistance by association in contributory aid, all of which affects, and is effected by, 3) the existing intimate fellowship in the association as a divinely created and established communion of all believers in Christ.

Go to article

Brunner And Luther On Scriptural Authority, H. Armin Moellering Nov 1950

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."

Go to article

The Relationship Of Faith And Knowledge In The Lutheran Confessions, Jaroslav Pelikan May 1950

The Relationship Of Faith And Knowledge In The Lutheran Confessions, Jaroslav Pelikan

Concordia Theological Monthly

The proper understanding of the nature of faith is a matter of central importance in Christian theology. For this reason the Christian Church has sought for terminology by which to describe faith in a manner that will do justice to all the affirmations of Holy Scripture concerning it. The origin and development of some of this terminology was the topic of a recent essay in the pages of this journal. There it was indicated that the distinction between the believing (knowing) subject and the believed (known) object was intended to safeguard an integral element in the Christian definition of faith …

Go to article

The Nature Of Knowledge And The Role Of Faith In Greek Thought From Thales To Aristotle, Barton Fletcher May 1950

The Nature Of Knowledge And The Role Of Faith In Greek Thought From Thales To Aristotle, Barton Fletcher

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Neo-Thomism, Paul M. Bretscher Apr 1950

Neo-Thomism, Paul M. Bretscher

Concordia Theological Monthly

When Pope John XXII canonized Thomas Aquinas ( 1225 to 1274) in 1323, he declared "doctrina eius non potuit esse sine miraculo" and that Thomas had done more to enlighten the Church with his gifts than all other teachers of the Church before his day. In 1279 and 1286 the Dominican Order chose Thomas Aquinas for its Doctor. In 1346 Clement VI enjoined on this Order to adhere strictly to the doctrines of St. Thomas. In 1368 Urban V instructed the university of Toulouse "to follow the teaching of the sainted Thomas as the true doctrine and to make every …

Go to article

The Origins Of The Object-Subject Antithesis In Lutheran Dogmatics. A Study In Terminology, Jaroslav Pelikan Feb 1950

The Origins Of The Object-Subject Antithesis In Lutheran Dogmatics. A Study In Terminology, Jaroslav Pelikan

Concordia Theological Monthly

One of the tasks with which both Christian preaching and Christian dogmatics are confronted is the attempt to express Biblical testimony in non-Biblical terminology. Such an attempt is as difficult as it is necessary. In order to perform its responsibility, the proclamation of the Christian message in preaching must resort to ways of speaking that are not found in the Scriptures. Similarly, theologians have always found it necessary to collect into one expression what is said in several different parts of the Scriptures. But the difficulty in any such expression is that a word taken over from extra-Christian sources may …

Go to article

No Development Of Doctrine For Us, Th. Engelder Aug 1949

No Development Of Doctrine For Us, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

The popular theology of today stands for the development of doctrine. C. S. Macfarland declares: "Christian revelation is not confined to a closed canon, to a stereotyped letter, or a strictly defined confession." (Christian Unity in Practice and Prophecy, p. 27.) The Living Church, of Jan. 14, 1933, declares: "There has always been, and under God there always will be, a continual development of experience and doctrine as the Spirit guides the Church into more and more of the truth about Christ. . . Liberal Catholics believe that it is possible to develop a doctrine of Christ in line with …

Go to article

Notes On Luther's Conception Of The Word Of God As The Means Of Grace, John Theodore Mueller Aug 1949

Notes On Luther's Conception Of The Word Of God As The Means Of Grace, John Theodore Mueller

Concordia Theological Monthly

Largely perhaps through Karl Barth's emphasis on the Wort Gottes, and especially through his admonition to theologians to return to the theology of the Reformation, the doctrine of the Word of God, particularly of the Word of God as it was conceived by Luther, has once more become the special object of theological interest. What Barthian and non-Barthian theologians have written on the point has not always been in accordance with traditional orthodox theology, but the study of Luther in recent years has no doubt contributed much valuable information toward clarifying most historical points and has led many toward a …

Go to article

The Significance Of Baptism For The Christian's Faith And Life, Bernhardt F. Meschke May 1949

The Significance Of Baptism For The Christian's Faith And Life, Bernhardt F. Meschke

Bachelor of Divinity

The very fact that Christ instituted and commanded Christian baptism is already enough to make it necessary. However, Jesus never instituted anything just for the sake of instituting, nor did the Master command for the sake of commanding. Baptism was given for the benefit of sinners. It is our purpose in the following pages to show the significance of baptism for the Christian's faith and life.

Go to article

All Christians Believe In Justification By Faith, F. Pieper, Th. Engelder Apr 1949

All Christians Believe In Justification By Faith, F. Pieper, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

There is a great diversity among the Christians. Some are strong in their faith, while others are weak Christians. Some have an excellent knowledge of the Christian doctrine, others are woefully deficient in this respect (Eph. 4:13, 14; Rom. 14:1 ff.). There are orthodox Christians and heterodox Christians. (See Chap. 1 in "Saving Faith": "Orthodoxy and membership in the Christian Church are not conterminous.") But there is full accord among the Christians on the doctrine of justification. All Christians are at one in believing that God forgives their sins by grace, for Christ's sake, without any merit of their own. …

Go to article

Union Theses, Adopted By Breslau Synod And Saxon Free Church, L. W. Spitz, F. E. Mayer Nov 1948

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.

Go to article

Is Doctrinal Unity A Luxury?, Th. Engelder Jul 1948

Is Doctrinal Unity A Luxury?, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

Some time ago this view was expressed in the Christian Century: “In a world like ours, nothing seems to me to be less important than agreement about our theology. . . . Struggling to get such an agreement is a luxury which, perhaps, we can return to when the times are less desperate." (See Conc. Theo. MONTHLY, 1945, p. 569.) Unity in doctrine is here called a luxury; it may be a good thing for the Church to have, but the Church can get along very well without it. Her health does not require it.

Go to article

The Ethics Of Jesus, Alfred M. Rehwinkel Mar 1948

The Ethics Of Jesus, Alfred M. Rehwinkel

Concordia Theological Monthly

The heart and center of the Christian Gospel is Jesus and His atonement. “God made Him sin for us who knew no sin." "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself" That is the essence of the Gospel according to St. Paul and all the other New Testament writers. Any attempt to change or modify this truth means to distort the Gospel and to dishonor Christ.

Go to article

Lutheran Sola Fide Vs Roman Catholic Ex Opere Operato Of The Basis Of The Confessions, John G. Deterding May 1947

Lutheran Sola Fide Vs Roman Catholic Ex Opere Operato Of The Basis Of The Confessions, John G. Deterding

Bachelor of Divinity

Opposed to the sola fide is the doctrine of ex opere operato, i.e., that the sacraments mechanically confer grace upon all who receive them. Faith is not necessary to receive this grace, but the mere outward ceremony effects it mechanically for all those who do not place an obstacle in the way.

Go to article

Why Should Our Pastors, Teachers, And Professors Subscribe Unconditionally To The Symbolical Writings Of Our Church?, C. F. Walther Apr 1947

Why Should Our Pastors, Teachers, And Professors Subscribe Unconditionally To The Symbolical Writings Of Our Church?, C. F. Walther

Concordia Theological Monthly

The Symbols are confessions of faith or of the doctrine of the Church and never were intended to be anything more nor less; therefore an unconditional subscription to the Symbols can be interpreted in only one way.

Go to article

Dr. Walther's Foreword For Volume Xiv Of Lehre Und Wehre, 1888, C. F. Walther, Alex Wm. Guebert Jul 1946

Dr. Walther's Foreword For Volume Xiv Of Lehre Und Wehre, 1888, C. F. Walther, Alex Wm. Guebert

Concordia Theological Monthly

J. Conrad Dannhauer, the venerable theologian of Strassburg and teacher of Spener, wrote the following words a few years before his death in 1666: "Q. Curtius expressed himself correctly when he said: 'You cannot despise any point in an enemy with impunity; for in despising him you neglect him and so strengthen him.’ This very neglect in a former era gave birth to the Antichrist and, while people slept, enabled him to sow his injurious seeds. Because of indolence, weariness, or an eye that is not sufficiently trained, the same neglect fails to see the tricks of the syncretistic spirit …

Go to article

Some Remarks On The Question Of The Salvation Of The Heathen, Th. Engelder Dec 1945

Some Remarks On The Question Of The Salvation Of The Heathen, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

''In order to save universal grace before the forum of the human understanding, some have thought that the Gentiles will be saved for Christ's sake, without faith in the Gospel, on account of their moral aspirations (thus, for example, Hofmann). Others have assumed that after this life an opportunity to hear the Gospel and to believe will be offered (Martensen, Kliefoth, etc.). But these are human speculations, without any basis in Scripture" (Pieper, Christliche Dogmatik, II, p. 35). Millions of men have died who never in their life heard the Gospel of Christ, their Savior. Shall we say that they …

Go to article

Christian Fellowship, C. August Hardt Aug 1945

Christian Fellowship, C. August Hardt

Concordia Theological Monthly

After having dwelt at some length on the manifestations of Christian fellowship, we now come to consider restrictions upon such manifestations. Let us begin by stating the obvious: There are restrictions; not man-made, originating in the decrees of church councils or in synodical resolutions, to be sure, but imposed by God Himself, the Head of the Church. To us this may seem self-evident, yet it is not conceded by all who lay claim to the name "Christian." There are those who aver that Christian fellowship must be unrestricted.

Go to article

Christian Fellowship, C. August Hardt Jul 1945

Christian Fellowship, C. August Hardt

Concordia Theological Monthly

The following article on "Christian Fellowship" is the second part of the essay “The Scriptural Content of χοινωνία, Its Manifestations and Restrictions upon Such Manifestations," the first part of which: Fellowship with God," appeared. in the CONCODIA THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY, Vol. XV, 505 ff. To give the reader an overview and enable him to follow the line of thought more easily, we epitomize the contents in the subjoined outline.

Go to article

Propositions On Unevangelical Practice, H. C. Schwan May 1945

Propositions On Unevangelical Practice, H. C. Schwan

Concordia Theological Monthly

Evangelical practice consists not in this, that we teach and treat nothing except the evangelical message (the Gospel), but in this, that we treat everything in evangelical fashion.

Go to article

First Prev Next Last