Table of Contents
The True Love for the Study of Theology#
Three Characteristics of True Theology#
Up-to-Date Theology at Concordia Seminary#
True Reverence For God’s Word#
Luther’s Method For The Study Of The Word Of God#
Distinguendum Est# – Observe Proper Distinctions.
Sermon on Romans 16: 17-18 - Avoid!#
At the beginning of a new student year it is a pertinent opportunity to bring to mind the true love for the study of theology.
There is a natural love for study, that is, for intellectual work in general, also apart from the study of theology. In his well-known sermon, that “One Should Keep the Children at School,” Luther calls it “a pure pleasure a man gets from having studied, even though he never holds an office of any kind, how at home by himself he can read all kinds of things, talk and associate with educated people, and travel and do business in foreign lands” (SL X, 445; Am. Ed. 46, p. 243).
There is also a natural love for the study of theology, that is, to be occupied in matters which belong in the province of theology. This love is found also among such who for their own person stand outside the Christian Church. The old and the new rationalists [Those teachers in the visible church who let human reason and not Scripture be the final source and standard of Theology] to serve as examples. As Unitarians, that is, as those who deny the Holy Trinity and the vicarious [substitutionary] satisfaction of Christ, they stand outside the Invisible Church. But alongside of the intellectually and physically lazy rationalists, there have also always been such, who with great natural love and therefore also with great natural diligence, have orally and in writing treated such matters which we class within the theological province. Thoughts about God and divine things press themselves upon men instinctively as a result of fallen mankind’s still unregenerate natural knowledge of God. “No race is so savage,” says Cicero, “no one at all is so monstrous whose mind will not be infused with a belief in the gods.” (Tusc. Disputt. I,13). Therefore also already the heathen have called such men among them “theologians” (Aristotle Metaphys. I,3), who have meditated and written concerning the origin of things and concerning the worship of their gods.
But of this natural love for their occupation with theological matters, I do not now want to speak to you. All these thoughts and endeavours however still remain in the province of natural man, in the province of spiritual darkness and the shadow of death, in the province in which the Apostle Paul reminds the Ephesians, when they were still in their former heathen state, with the words that they at that time had “no hope and were without God in the world” (Eph 2:12), that “their understanding was darkened and they were alienated [strangers] from the life which is from God” (Eph 4:18).
It is quite different with Christian theology. Christian theology has its one specific (unique) object from which knowledge is obtained, about which also the most important people of this world have not thought, and therefore Christian theology has its one specific (unique) motive for its study and for its being carried out in practice, in the Office of the Public Ministry, a motive that has never entered into the heart of a single natural man. Keep this in your mind: the object of knowledge of Christian theology is Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world who was crucified for the sins of the world. Its object of knowledge is the eternal incarnate Son of God in His vicarious satisfaction (atonement). Its object of knowledge is the One Mediator between God and man, who out of His wonderful divine love has reconciled with God the entire lost human race by His life, suffering and death, and whose declared will is thus, that everyone who has known His love for sinners by faith in His Word, out of love to Him proclaims to the world the message of love which has saved the world. In short, the true personal motive both for the study of theology and also for its practical administration in the Office of the Public Ministry on the basis of Christ’s Word, that is, on the basis of the Sola Scriptura (Ed. that Scripture alone is the sole source and standard of faith, doctrine and life), is the personal love for the crucified Saviour, the deep heart-felt love which has been brought about by the Holy Spirit, for Him who first loved us, unto death, even the death of the cross, who “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8).
This was the reason for Christ’s threefold question to Peter, who had denied his Saviour, and with it had fallen from his call to preach [from his pastoral call]: “Simon, son of Jona, do you love Me?’ Upon his answer: “Yes, Lord, Thou knowest that I love thee,” Peter was reinstated as Christ’s messenger (ambassador) with the Words of Christ, “Feed (Shepherd) My lambs, feed (shepherd) My sheep!” From this we know clearly: without personal love for the Saviour of sinners, nothing can actually be accomplished! For the messengers, who proclaim peace with God alone through the crucified Christ, the world has neither gates of honour, nor medals, nor anything of kindness, but very often contempt, enmity and persecution. Now if the messengers of Christ do not love their Saviour, in fact, more than everything else that is in the world, then they will not continue in Christ’s Word, but either completely conceal the only saving message of Christ or yet mutilate and falsify it, and therefore fall away from their Christian calling to preach.
Students of Concordia, you have entered our Concordia with the declared intention to serve your Saviour in the days to come in the Office of the (Pastoral) Ministry. Therefore, now and every day think about this, that your Saviour directs all of you, and every single one of you, to the question, “Do you love Me?” Without this love in your hearts you will not succeed in your theological studies. But with this love in your hearts which has been created (brought about) by faith in the Gospel of Christ, you will overcome all obstacles which come upon you from within and without.
The state of affairs is this: you still have the old man in you who is unwilling to be a servant of Christ, it opposes you with indifference and idleness (laziness). But as soon as you stand, by faith, in the fire of this love with which your Saviour has loved you, then holy zeal and willingness takes the place of laziness (idleness) as this is expressed in Psalm 110: “Thy people shall be willing.” (Psalm 110:3). And as the Apostle Paul writes: “And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” (Gal 2:20). And as Luther in the Catechism confesses in the Second Article, which confession is indeed also your confession: “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me 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 I may be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him.”
Furthermore: The world which is in a bad way also still entices students of theology. The world also entices you, students of Concordia, like Demas of whom the Apostle Paul with a grief stricken heart informs Timothy: “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world” (2 Timothy 4:10). When you, however, remember the question of your Saviour, “Do you love Me?” and with it the fact that your Saviour has already adopted you for eternal life, then the world loses its power of attraction for you.
Finally: also the devil in our time is still going about as a roaring lion and also seeking especially to devour theological students. But the fiery darts of the evil one are extinguished as soon as you in faith place Him before your eyes who has purchased you with His own blood and who by His Gospel has called you from darkness into His glorious light.
Therefore, may our prayer and request (supplication) be as follows: May the love of Christ, the love with which He has loved us, and which through faith has been poured out into our hearts and kindled our hearts with a mutual love for each other: may this love fill all our hearts. May it fill the hearts of our youth, the hearts of those who stand in manhood and the hearts of those who have been permeated with greater age, so that all of us together may continue in the service of our Saviour and grow therein. This love is also the God-pleasing motive not only for the diligent study of theology, but also for the diligent and conscientious teaching of theology. “While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being” (Psalm 146:2).
Students of Concordia!
You want to study theology at our St. Louis Concordia, and that is true theology. What true theology is, Holy Scripture places before us under several principles. At the beginning of a new student year I am making reference to three main principles. In the first place: True theology teaches only God's Word. Secondly: True theology teaches that we human beings obtain forgiveness of sins by grace, for Christ's sake, without the works of the law, alone by faith. Thirdly: True theology makes people certain of the grace of God.
I.
Yes, true theology teaches only God's Word. That is its first characteristic. The word of men and the wisdom of men are completely excluded from theology. In order to know correctly this truth and to hold fast to it, we distinguish between Christ's kingdom and the kingdoms of this world.
Christ's kingdom is completely different from the kingdoms of this world, as Christ bore testimony to Pilate: “My Kingdom is not of this world”(John 18:36). That is also true in regard to the source by means of which knowledge is determined, the source from which both kingdoms are created (originate). In the kingdoms of this world the word of men and the wisdom of men have a territory in which they themselves should and can operate. The reason for this is that according to God's order the kingdoms of this world deal only with the things which serve human life in this world. After man's fall into sin people have desired for themselves that instead of loving each other, they love each other's goods, honour, body, life. Thus Scripture teaches and also world history bears testimony to this. That will also thus continue until the last day. In order to make it possible for people outwardly to live together in these circumstances and also to gain for His Church an outward homeland, God has also after man's fall into sin still allowed some understanding, namely, so much, that when they make use of their understanding or their natural reason, they are skilled in the things which are necessary for people outwardly to live together. We call these things with one expression “civil righteousness”. Therefore we Christians thank God for a good, wise worldly government and also make intercession for kings and for everyone in authority in order that under their rule we may lead a peaceful and quiet life. In short, in the kingdoms of this world the wisdom of men and the word of men, according to God's will, have a legitimate area of activity.
It is completely different in Christ's kingdom, in the Christian Church. Concerning this area, as has been said, men's thoughts and men's word are completely excluded as a source by means of which knowledge is determined. There is a good reason for this. The reason for this is that the Christian Church is not possibly confined to that which one today calls the social gospel, but it deals with the life of people after this life on earth, with the things which save us sinful human beings from the guilt of sin, death and eternal damnation and after this earthly life lead us to an eternal, blessed (heavenly) life. For these things which the Scriptures include under the Gospel of the crucified Christ, even the rulers of this world (1 Cor. 2:8), possess no understanding, as St. Paul testifies of this in 1 Cor. 2 so clearly. Christ's Kingdom is, as far as teacher and ruler are concerned, an absolute monarchy, that is, a Kingdom in which Christ by means of His Word is the sole Teacher and Ruler, as He Himself says: “One is your Master, Christ” (Matt .23:8).
Students of Concordia! You want to serve Christ, your Saviour, in the public Office of the Ministry which was ordained by Him. Here you must now learn and never forget what the house rule is in Christ's Kingdom. That house rule reads: “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God “ (1 Peter 4:11). That was the house rule in the Church of the Old Testament, as we read in the prophet Jeremiah: “Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, He saith.” That is also the house rule in the Church of the New Testament. Christ establishes the general rule for His Kingdom: “If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth.” (John 8:31,32). And St. Paul, Christ's Apostle, instructs us: “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing” (1 Tim .6:3,4). In order correctly to instruct all preachers in the house rule in Christ's Kingdom, that “if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles (Word) of God,” Luther draws attention to this that a preacher when he comes down from the pulpit does not need to ask God for forgiveness of sins for his sermon, but rather could boast that in his sermon he has been an Apostle of Jesus Christ.
If now at the beginning of and in the continuation of your studies you keep directing your attention on this, “Never without the Scriptures”, then you are here studying the correct theology. Of yourselves understand that you accomplish such a constituted study only with holy earnestness and great diligence.
II.
True theology teaches that man obtains forgiveness of sins, or, what is the same, is justified before God by grace, for Christ's sake, without the works of the Law, alone through the faith. That is the chief difference whereby true theology is itself distinguished from all false theologies. Among mankind there is no lack of theologies and religions. The Apostle Paul places before the Athenians the testimony that they are not only religious, but over religious, “in all things I perceive that you are very religious” (Acts 17:22). There is a reason for this over production of religions. The reason is that all people, also the heathen, have an evil conscience before God and they therefore believe, since they have angered God by their sins, they thus must and could reconcile God — or whatever they think him to be — also with their own works, worship of God and sacrifices. “This opinion of the Law,” says our Lutheran Confessions, “inheres by nature in men's minds; neither can it be expelled, unless when we are divinely taught” [Triglotta, page 197, section 145; see Triglotta, page 193, section 134]. In short, the doctrine of works, where a person wants to save himself completely or in part, where a person wants to reconcile himself completely or in part, that is the one meaning and content of all heathen theologies. And that is also the theme and content of all false Christian theology, as it confronts us not only in the papacy and in the sects, but also by those Lutherans that have departed from the right paths, who base their obtaining of the grace of God and their salvation on man's good conduct.
But that is false theology pure and simple, the perilous delusion with which the entire world has been flooded, as Luther so frequently reminds us. For God 's judgment reads that by the deeds of the Law no flesh (person) is justified before God (Rom. 3:20), and all those who are occupied with obtaining the grace of God and salvation by the works of the Law are under the curse (Gal .3:10). And the reason for this? It is this: just as there is only one God, so there is also only one Mediator between God and man, namely, the Man Christ Jesus, who has given Himself for all as the ransom payment (1 Tim .2:5,6), that such a message would be preached and believed in due time.
There is not the least room for man's works as the means of reconciliation alongside of the work of reconciliation by the Son of God who became man. That is the unanimous teaching of all the Prophets of the Old Testament, as Peter in the house of the Cornelius testifies: “To Him (Jesus) give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). That is the unanimous teaching of Christ and His Apostles in the New Testament. As St. Paul sums up this teaching: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law” (Rom. 3:28), and adds a warning: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the Law; ye are fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4). That — and no other — is also the unanimous teaching that is being taught in our St. Louis Concordia.
Students of Concordia! You want to serve Christ, your Saviour, in the public Office of the Ministry which has been ordained by Him. In this service it is required that you, neither in your private care for souls, nor in your public preaching mix man's works and human worthiness (merits) into the Article of Justification. Otherwise you could not say: I am an Apostle of Jesus Christ in my teaching and preaching. Certainly, you should in the service of Christ diligently and constantly also teach good works, but not as the ransom either in whole or in part to purchase forgiveness of sins, but only as thank offerings for the fact that Christians have forgiveness of sins and an eternal homeland in heaven by grace, for Christ's sake, without one's own works, through faith.
If you at the beginning and in the continuation of your studies so direct your attention on this, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law” (Rom. 3:28), then you are here correctly studying the true theology. Of yourselves understand that you accomplish such constituted studies with holy earnestness and great diligence.
III.
The third characteristic of true theology is: it makes men certain of the grace of God. We distinguish between the certainty of grace and “religious feeling”. Religious feeling is also found among the heathen and false Christian religions. Religious feeling comes upon them already in their prayers and sacrifices, about which you have read, for example, in Homer. Furthermore, strong religious feeling comes upon those in the kingdom of the papacy, especially in the Eucharist procession, as some years ago in Chicago. There is also religious feeling in the lodge religion, when therein as a religious ideal it is being praised that Christians kneel at the same altar with Moslems, Jews, Buddhists and others. Religious feeling has been and is being regarded as true religion and theology.
It is completely different with true theology. It has nothing to do with a universal religious mood (feeling), but it makes us poor, sinful human beings who lie under the judgement of damnation of the divine Law and feels its judgement of condemnation in our conscience, certain of the grace of God. This certainty is indeed the purpose of the wonderful event, that God caused His Son to become man, cast on Him the debt of the sins of all mankind, caused Him to pay for them and therefore caused a way of salvation to be preached which reads: by grace alone on account of Christ, without the works of the Law, by faith. As St. Paul teaches in Rom. 4:16: “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed,” without any national and other distinction; for Christ is the end of the Law; whoever believes on Him the same is justified. In short, to make someone certain of God's grace is a characteristic of true theology. Leaving people in doubt concerning God's grace is a characteristic of false theology. Therefore Luther speaks of a monster of uncertainty in the papacy, because as a result of their doctrine of works they teach them to doubt the grace of God. On the other hand he says of those who by God's grace are rescued out of the pope's kingdom: “But from the former [promises of the Gospel] is certainty and the joy of the Holy Spirit… For God says: ‘Behold, I give My Son into death, so that by His blood He has redeemed you from sin and death.’ Here I cannot have any doubts” (SL. IX:508).
Students of Concordia! You want to serve Christ, your Saviour, in the public Office of the Ministry which was ordained by Him. In this service it is required that you certainly preach also God's Law unadulterated in its exacting and condemning (convicting) contents. The Scriptures teach — and concerning this nothing is to be altered —, that everyone is cursed who does not continue in everything which stands written in the Book of the Law, that he is to do. But then it belongs to your ministry that you proclaim God's Gospel unadulterated, namely, that God does not condemn any sinner, but wants everyone in heaven and that sin and grace having confronted each other, God's grace in Christ is greater than all sin. If you at the beginning of and in the continuation of your studies keep your eye on this, then you are here studying correctly true theology, and holy earnestness and great diligence cannot be absent.
May God grant us His grace for the new student year of 1929-30, that we as teachers so teach and you as students so study, so that you have been well instructed and taught in the spiritual art (skill) of making hearts crushed by God's Law certain of the grace of God by the Gospel. May God give us that by grace for Christ's sake through the operation of the Holy Spirit! Amen.
At the opening of the St. Louis Seminary, on September 8, the President (Dr. Pieper) addressed the students on a most timely subject. In our time — these were the thoughts he elaborated — there is one qualification of theology that is stressed with unusual emphasis, namely, that it must meet the demands of the times, and be up to date. At the same time we Missourians, so called, are charged with failing to meet this requirement of theology. The theology of the Missouri Synod has fallen under censure as being out of date. This charge lacks foundation. You, students of Concordia, will study with us a theology that is up to date, really up to date, both as regards form and contents.
As regards the form, a theology that is up to date requires principally efficiency in the various languages in which we have an opportunity and are called upon to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. That an adaptation to languages is necessary to an up-to-date church was foreshadowed by the events of the first Pentecost. Since there were gathered at Jerusalem on that day “men out of every nation under heaven,” the Galilean orators on that festival day were impelled by the Holy Spirit not to speak Hebrew only, but to employ the various mother-tongues of their hearers — Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, etc. This method of adaptation we follow in our own work. In our country and under the conditions under which we have to do our work, two living languages in particular, the German and the English, are necessary — besides other languages — for our Gospel ministry. Accordingly, we are up to date in imparting theological training at our school through the medium of these two languages, and you are studying a theology that is up to date by cultivating a knowledge of both these languages. Under our present conditions the bilingual Lutheran pastor is, with us, up to date.
Again, knowledge of the Greek and the Hebrew languages is also quite up to date. Both these languages are closely related to the theology of all ages. For Greek and Hebrew are the languages in which God originally issued His holy Word to the Church and the world. The Greek New Testament and the Hebrew Old Testament are, and to the end of time will remain, the basic text of Holy Writ. True, the entire Christian doctrine can be ascertained and taught even from a translation. But at all times there have been errorists who have sought to vindicate their perversions of the Christian doctrine by an appeal to the original text of the Scriptures. Over against such “erring allegers of Scripture,” as Luther calls them, knowledge of the original Greek and Hebrew text of Scripture is necessary. It is, therefore, an assured fact that, as God has deposited His Word, when He first issued it, in the Hebrew and the Greek languages, it is certainly His will that there should always be available in His Church teachers who are conversant with the original languages of the Holy Scriptures. In view of this fact Luther said that we shall not preserve the Gospel without the languages. Hence the study of these languages is up to date, and will so remain till the last day. Our Synod expects of its St. Louis students in particular that they will cultivate a knowledge of the Greek and the Hebrew languages.
Lastly, knowledge of the Latin language is up to date. For more than a thousand years this language was the universal language of the Church in her public activity, and, besides the German language, it was also the language of the Church of the Reformation. Great treasures of spiritual knowledge have been deposited in the Latin language. And, as was remarked before, our Synod expects of those studying theology at St. Louis that they do not neglect the five languages which they learned during their preparatory courses at college, but that they use all diligence to increase and perfect their knowledge of these languages while studying here. This may suffice for the time being, as regards the external form of up-to-date theology.
However, also as regards the contents of theology you will here study a theology that is up to date. Everybody admits that in this respect that theology is up to date which offers to the men of our time, regardless of the language they speak, all that they need to the end of obtaining everlasting life. You know what that is: the Apostle Paul has stated it in his First Epistle to the Corinthians in these words: “I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” More explicitly the same apostle states the matter thus: “There is no difference,” namely, among men; “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” In other words, only that theology is up to date which maintains the Scriptural teaching of the substitutionary atonement of Christ, that is, which teaches that God is gracious to men, not because they have laboured to fulfil the Christian law, but for the reason that Christ, the eternal Son of God, who was made flesh, in the place of men perfectly kept the divine Law which binds all men, and in the place of men fully suffered the punishment which was to be inflicted on men because of their transgression of the Law.
At no time, indeed, was this theology popular in the world. In the days of the Apostle Paul it was to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness. This holds good, in increased measure, of our own time, even among nominal Christians. The modern demand for an undogmatic, “practical” Christianity, for a creedless religion, means that we are to surrender the deity of Christ and His substitutionary atonement, and that we are to substitute as a basis of salvation man’s own moral quality. But this theology is not up to date. Since the Fall it has never fitted into this world, and it is not adapted to our time either. As regards the salvation of men, it has in all ages yielded to men only a negative result. Speaking by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul declares in Gal. 2, 16 this fact: “By the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.” The theology which is up to date at all times, as regards its contents, Scripture has comprised in these words: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the Law,” Rom. 3:28. Referring to this up-to-date theology, the Reformer of the Church says: “In my heart reigns alone and shall continue to reign, this article, namely, faith in my beloved Lord Christ, so that of all the spiritual and godly thoughts I might have day or night He will be the beginning, middle and end.” Verily, only that theology which has for its contents the matter aforestated is up to date.
Dr. Pieper closed his address with the wish, which we would herewith pass on to all our theologians outside of Concordia Seminary: “This theology you are to study with us, and by the grace of God are to make it your own. Every other theology which brushes aside the substitutionary atonement is not adapted to our times, and by the grace of God you will shun it in whatever form it may appear. May God grant it! Amen.”
Dr.W H T Dau..
We read in the last chapter of the Prophet Isaiah: “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My Word” (Isaiah 66:2). These words which the prophet speaks in the name and by the command of God describe true piety in opposition to that outward formalism of the apostate Jewish people. True piety consists in the humble acknowledgment of sins and in holy reverence for God's majestic Word. So it should be with every Christian, especially, however, with every theologian. Luther is right when he says that the entire true theology can be described as reverence for God's Word. For the Reformation of the Church it occurred this way, that God through His servant Luther again placed reverence for God's Word in place of the authority of the pope, as indeed also Rev. 14:7 had foretold. The counter-reformation of the papal church consisted in the strengthening of the false authority of the pope, for which the Council of Trent is proof. The Reformed counter-reformation consisted in and consists in this, that in its departure from the Lutheran Church it erects a building which is according to the building regulations of human reason. The modern Lutheran counter-reformation consisted and consists in this that by denying the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures they in principle drive reverence for God's Word out and make God's Word the object of criticism.
Students of Concordia! You will be instructed in our St. Louis Concordia in the theology which consists in a humble spirit and in reverence for God's Word. For the beginning of the new student year I answer briefly the question: What Does Reverence For God's Word Include?
I.
In the first place, the knowledge that Holy Scripture is God's own and infallible Word. And that is not a “theological deduction,” but the direct teaching of Holy Scripture. When the Saviour says: “The Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35), He thereby gives the guarantee that the Scriptures in every one of its words is God's Word, for in its context this passage deals with the usage of a single word of Scripture, the word, “god,” Psalm 82. Furthermore: In His High Priestly prayer the Saviour says of His apostles: “I have given them Thy Word,” (John 17:14). Soon after that He adds that all believers until the Last Day will believe on Him through the Word of the Apostles. Further: as you know the Holy Scriptures do not consist of thoughts suspended in the air, but of words, of written words. And of these written words Christ's apostle, the Apostle Paul, declares: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3:16). In short, it is not merely a human or theological deduction, but a direct statement of Scripture that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are God's own and therefore infallible Word. Everyone who considers it otherwise, everyone who together with modern Lutheran theology does not want to “identify” Holy Scripture and God's Word, shows no reverence for God's Word, but becomes a critic of the Word of God. May God preserve us and all our colleagues united in faith and confession from this blasphemous destructive error!
II.
In the second place, reverence for God's Word includes the knowledge of that which God's Word teaches. Without this knowledge the zeal for God's Word would be a zeal without understanding. Therefore Paul admonishes his true son Timothy to take heed not merely only to himself, but also to the doctrine; “for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” (1 Timothy 4:16). In fact, the necessary knowledge refers to the entire doctrine of the Scriptures, to the doctrine in all parts. Christ's commission reads quite unambiguously until the end of days: “Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:20). Therefore the Apostle Paul also says, while he at the same time holds himself up as an example to the pastors of Ephesus: “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).
Students of Concordia! To acquire the entire Christian doctrine in all its parts requires diligence, much diligence, on the part of students of theology. Laziness in this point would not show reverence for God's Word but the opposite, disrespect. So then reverence for God's Word includes also that of which the Apostle Paul reminds his beloved Timothy with the words: “Take heed unto thyself,” that is to your Christian conduct! Reverence for God's Word implies a conduct and life in sincere godly reverence. Otherwise the Holy Spirit who dwells in you will be grieved and God's Word will be blasphemed among the unbelievers.
III.
Thirdly, reverence of God's Word includes that in the Church of God we receive nothing as legitimate doctrine alongside God's Word. In our time the ecclesiastical “union fever”, the spirit which cultivates different tendencies [in doctrine] as having equal rights in the church, the spirit which wants unity without agreement in the doctrine of God's Word, prevails. That is not in keeping with reverence for God's Word. God's Word demands absolute rule in the Church of God. It is for this purpose that God has given His Word to His Church. The Church should only speak out of God's mouth. God's Word should be the sole source and standard (norm) for Church doctrine. The Saviour exhorts: “If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth” (John 8:31,32). Therefore also the Apostle Peter exhorts: “If any man speak” — namely in the Church of God — “let him speak as God's Word” (1 Peter 4:11; Luther's translation). And when in the congregation at Ephesus spirits were active who did not remain with the doctrine of the apostle, the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy that he should order those spirits, “to teach nothing else [no other doctrine],” 1 Tim. 1:3. Heterodox teaching and heterodoxy have no right to exist in the Christian Church. Whoever permits man’s word to be placed alongside God's Word, whoever practises brotherly fellowship of faith with those who depart from God's Word, has every reason to examine himself whether he regards God's Word seriously.
We so-called Missourians and brethren in confessional fellowship [companions in confession] have until now by God's grace followed the right way in regard to church union. Certainly we have seriously engaged in so-called “free conferences”, that is in doctrinal discussions for the establishment of doctrinal unity where it still does not exist. But we have held brotherly fellowship of faith only with those who confess “the doctrine of Christ”, the unfalsified doctrine of Christ, as the Apostle John in his second Epistle requires, and as is required in the entire Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. On this point, on the one hand, we have been praised by a few, but on the other hand we have been severely rebuked by most. We must consider the possibility that we stand before as great an encircling movement as ever before. How will it fare for us here? That we know quite precisely. We read by the prophet Jeremiah: “And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.” (Jeremiah 1:19). We are victorious when by God's grace we continue in reverence for God's Word. The encircling movement wins the war and can penetrate the front, sides and centre only when we abandon reverence for God's Word by our own fault. May God in His grace grant the former!
During the holidays our statue of Luther was removed from its old place at the Seminary and was erected here in its new place. For what purpose? We are not worshippers of relics, nor do we worship those relics of Luther. Also we do not hold the opinion that by this, our institution was adding something to its Lutheran character by having a statue of Luther. I do not know how many statues of Luther there are in the world. If an exact statistic exists concerning it, then it is not known to me. But it is known that statues of Luther exist at such places where they do not belong, because the doctrine of the Reformer of the Church who was sent by God is no longer taught there. Our Synod has been led by God’s grace to Luther’s doctrine, to the pure Gospel. Therefore we have a right to erect a statue of Luther.
If we ask, where is it considered a suitable place in our Synod to erect a statue of Luther, then we answer: In front of the teaching institutions of our church and especially in front of our theological seminary where true Christian theologians are to be educated. Just as Luther once again set up God’s Word as a lamp for the entire Church, so that in doctrine and practice it would be a lamp for our feet and a light for our path (Psalm 119:105), just so he also especially gives the correct directions from Holy Scripture for the study of theology (God’s Word). In a brief summarised form, he gives this instruction in the well-known statement: “Prayer, meditation, affliction make the theologian.”
Let the statue of Luther, which has been erected in front of the main entrance to our new teaching building, also remind us of this axiom. In this way the statue calls to every student who studies theology: Don’t forget prayer, don’t forget diligent study, don’t forget that true theology is learnt on the pathway of affliction! .... At the beginning of a new student year I would yet like to place on your hearts some words about Luther’s method of studying theology (God’s Word).
1.
Why is prayer necessary for the study of theology?
It is necessary for this reason, because the textbook of theology, Holy Scripture, is a Book of an entirely unique nature. In contradistinction to all other books which are yet otherwise in existence in the world, Holy Scripture is God’s own Word. We must not forget that. As often as we open the Bible, no less important a One than the great, majestic God Himself speaks to us concerning the only way to salvation. What kind of way is that? Holy Scripture teaches a way to salvation which has never entered into the heart of a single person — also not even into the heart of the most important people of this world, as the Apostle Paul testifies in 1 Cor. 2:7,8: “We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, …which none of the princes of this world knew.” The Scriptures teach as the only way to salvation faith in the crucified Saviour, faith in the Son of God who became man, who died the death on the cross to pay for the debt of the sins of mankind.
But now by nature in the hearts of all people, also in our hearts, also in the hearts of you students, exists another, completely different religion, the religion of one’s own works, which is only removed from the heart by divine instruction, the instruction from above. As the Apology of the Augsburg Confession testifies on the basis of Scripture: “This opinion of the Law [salvation by good works] inheres [exists] by nature in men’s minds; neither can it be expelled, unless we are divinely taught” (Triglotta. p.197, section 144).
Therefore prayer is necessary for the study of theology and therefore Luther in his instruction for the study of theology places prayer in first place. He reminds us of King David who in Psalm 119 so often cries to God: “Teach me, O Lord, make me to understand, guide me, show me!” though David “well knew the text of Moses and of many more such books.” Luther warns against those who study Scripture according to their own wisdom and says: “For that is what turns men into unruly fanatics who imagine that Scripture is subject to them and easily attained by their reason, as though it were the fables… Aesop, for which they need no Holy Ghost nor prayer.”
Therefore, Students of Concordia: pray — Don’t forget prayer! You take part, as a matter of course, in the daily fellowship of prayer (in your devotions). But let everyone pray also for himself before he goes to work. Also before your individual lectures, a sigh to God in your hearts is warranted: “Teach me , O Lord, make me to understand!” Without prayer you do not really succeed, when you want to reach your glorious goal to become true theologians who are taught by God.
2.
But the Holy Spirit does not make theologians [it is the same with every true Christian, BLW] without external means. He does not make them faithful pastors [Christians] by grace which is communicated without means, or by a grace that is poured into the heart without means, but by the pathway of study, of diligent and continuous study of Christian doctrine, which lies revealed before us in Holy Scripture; as the Saviour admonishes: “Search the Scriptures” (John 5:39) and His Apostle teaches: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning” (Rom. 15:4). This is what Luther understands by Meditation On God’s Word.
Another theological method is being generally used in the new liberal theology. The new theology — also the so- called Lutherans themselves — does not want to “identify” Scripture and God’s Word, that is, it does not regard Holy Scripture as God’s infallible Word and teaching (doctrine). By this very fact, it does not place itself under, but over Scripture and determines the only correct theological method in this way that the theologian does not draw Christian doctrine from Holy Scripture, but obtains it from his own inner self, from his own human reason, which claims for itself the duty to distinguish between truth and error in Scripture. Thus the new theology!
By Meditation On God’s Word Luther understands the exact opposite. He understands by this, as he himself declares: the “bare words” of Scripture, that means, the words as they stand written and as they read in the Scriptures, “read them and re-read them again and again, noting carefully and reflecting upon what the Holy Ghost means by these words.” (S.L. XIV, 434ff). Only what the Holy Spirit meant in the Scriptures and not what the theologians mean is valid in the Christian Church. What is being taught outside of Scripture, is not Christian doctrine, but human imagination. A Christian theologian must, as Luther reminds us, possess the ability to avoid everything which suddenly comes upon him outside of Scripture. [Luther: “Oh, how many fine insights I have had into the Scriptures which I have had to let go”. S.L.XX, 792; Am. Ed. 37,45. Ed.]
Students of Concordia! Here in our Theological Concordia Luther’s theological method is being observed. It alone is in conformity with Scripture. The Scriptures teach: “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God [as the Word of God]."“So if anyone speaks,” namely, in the Church of God, “let him speak nothing but the Word of God”(1 Pet. 4:11). Also we, your teachers, speak. We teach you. That is our duty. But what we teach, we prove with “Thus saith the Lord”; “It is written”.
Therefore we also require of you to do memory work. We require of you that as much as possible you impress exactly on your memory such words of Scripture in which the Christian doctrine is placed before you, revealed in an especially clear manner, in order that you, wherever you go and stand, are able to be moved to work on and devote yourself to the “bare words” of Scripture in your thoughts.
In this manner Luther studied. Luther requires of every theologian and of every one who wants to become one, that he be a person who was “well-versed in the text of Scripture.” Through this method Luther himself became a theologian. He says: “When I was young, I familiarised myself with the Bible, read it often, and became well acquainted with the text; so well acquainted that I knew where every passage that was mentioned was to be found; thus I became a good textualis” (S. L. XXII, 54f.). Luther describes the result of this theological method in the words: “With the text and from the foundation of the Holy Scriptures I have silenced and slain all my opponents”(S.L. XX, 6,7).
Therefore the statue of Luther in front of our teaching building admonishes all our students to become well-versed in the Scriptures. If you follow this admonition, then not only are you yourselves immovably certain of your faith, but also you are better equipped that by God’s grace you can “silence and slay” all opponents of Christian doctrine with the text of Holy Scripture.
3.
Now a few words concerning affliction. Why is affliction necessary for everyone who wants to be and remain a theologian?
Luther says concerning affliction: “This teaches you not merely to know and understand, but also to experience how right, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how mighty, how consoling, God’s Word is, wisdom above all wisdom” (SL XIV, 434 ff.). Luther here places the emphasis on personal experience. From knowledge must come personal experience.
How is this meant?
Thus: You know how to define the Law and the Gospel. You know the Law is that Word of God in which God demands of mankind the perfect keeping of His Law and which subjects the transgressor to His eternal wrath. You know further that the Gospel is that Word of God in which God forgives mankind all their sins for Christ’s sake and gives them eternal salvation. If you have now experienced for yourself in your heart and conscience and still daily experience that God’s Law condemns you to hell, and if you have experienced for yourself and still daily experience that God in His Gospel has forgiven you all your sins, and still daily and richly forgives all sins, then you by God’s grace are going through affliction, are going through the experience which is necessary for a theologian.
Indeed, the Reformation of the Church resulted from affliction. In the awakening papal church Luther sought to obtain a gracious God by the way of the Law, that is, through his own piety and his own good works. But for years in zealous efforts by this way, he went through the experience which he himself describes in the words:
“The anguish drove me to despair,
That nothing remains for me but death,
Into hell I must sink.”
When God then opened his eyes and heart to the Gospel which is revealed in the Scriptures, to that Gospel, he accepted the grace of God without the works of men for the sake of Christ’s righteousness, then he went through the experience which he describes in the words: “Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates” (Am. Ed. 34, p. 337: S.L. XIV, 447 f.).
Further to this then came for Luther the powerful affliction from the outside. He was commanded not to teach publicly, but to retract the Gospel of grace, the Door to Paradise. But already two years before Worms he wrote to his colleagues, the theological professors of Wittenberg, he could not deny that by which he had become a Christian and on that which rests the eternal salvation of every person. It is well-known then that Luther did not deny that at Worms. But he was excommunicated from the church as a dangerous member of the church by both a papal and state decree.
Also upon us affliction has come abundantly from the outside. Modern Lutheran theology, both the homebred and the imported varieties, has fallen so deeply from the Christian viewpoint, that it opposes us on account of our confession of the doctrine of salvation by grace alone and rebukes us as being in the Calvinistic camp. But by God’s grace we will not deny the Christian Religion of grace, but also in future confess it, because we know from Scripture and also from our own experience, that the doctrine of salvation by grace alone is that doctrine by which we alone become Christians and on which rests the salvation of all mankind.
Dear Saviour, Jesus Christ, grant us grace that we teachers of our Concordia also this year correctly teach the sacred theology under prayer, meditation and affliction, as it pleases Thee. Grant also Thy grace that all the students here correctly learn the sacred theology in the manner of prayer, meditation and affliction. O Christ, rule Thou my heart, mind, and tongue! We are certain that Thou wilt not let Thine ears be deaf to those who pray. Let the glory be Thine for ever and ever! Amen.
[Explanation Concerning The Title: There is an ancient Latin proverb which states: Qui beni distinguit beni docet. This means: He who makes the proper distinctions will prove to be the best teacher. For example, Holy Scripture clearly distinguishes between the use of the word “Church” in referring to the invisible Church, the one holy Christian Church (Eph.1: 22,23; 5:23-27) and the use of the word “Church” to refer to a visible congregation, as it appears before the eyes of men, consisting of a group of people gathered around the Word of God, claiming to be Christians, but among whom are also unbelievers (Acts 5:1-11; 15:3,22). It is called a Church because of the true Christians who are members of the congregation.
Not only is this a Biblical distinction and therefore we must also make this distinction, but by observing this distinction we are kept from error. Whoever falsely teaches that their visible church body is the only saving Church, not only departs from Scripture, but teaches salvation by the “good” work of joining that particular church body. Whoever denies the doctrine of the divinely instituted local congregation, sets up a hierarchy or papacy of some form, robs the lay people of their God-ordained rights according to the Office of the Keys and destroys the right relationship between the pastor and his congregation.
Hence Pieper’s address on making careful and proper distinctions is of vital importance in the teaching of Biblical doctrine and in the rejection of error. Hence we have given this address the title: “Observe proper distinctions”. Ed.]
Students of Concordia!
People have been and are finding fault with Lutheran teachers and also with us that we use too many divisions and distinctions in teaching theology. How are we to view this rebuke (censure)? It must be admitted that distinctions also can be excessive. There are unnecessary distinctions, distinctions which rather promote confusion than further the knowledge of divine Truth, which lies revealed before us so clearly in Holy Scripture. On the other hand, experience proves that for the most part it is the enemies of divine Truth who reveal a great dislike (aversion) for distinctions. They wish to hide their erroneous thoughts under general, empty talk. They prefer vague generalities to necessary distinctions. Someone has correctly called the ‘dealing in generalities’ the greedy thing that devours Truth.
Let us ask Holy Scripture in regard to the matter of making distinctions! From beginning to end the Holy Scriptures inculcate the necessity of making distinctions. The Scriptures admonish us indeed not to omit the making of distinctions, but carefully and diligently to be skilled in using them. The Scriptures admonish us in the words of the Apostle John: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). In the words of Christ the Scriptures admonish: “Beware of false prophets!” (Matt 7:15) and: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees!” (Matt 16:6). The Scriptures admonish in the words of the Apostle Paul: “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Rom 16:17). The norm (standard) according to which we should make distinctions is the doctrine which we have learnt from the Apostles, as the commendation is made of the congregation at Jerusalem: “And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42).
And this is said concerning every Christian and they have made that their duty. No Christian who has let himself be led astray by false prophets will be able to excuse himself on the last day before the Judge of the world with these words: ‘You have not sufficiently warned me against false prophets.’ Also the following excuse will not be accepted: “Lord, I have not had someone who can correctly explain Your Word at hand (available).” Christ has indeed not directed us Christians to the interpreter of His Word (to the one who interprets His Word), but to His word itself. “If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31,32), make you free also from false interpreters of Scripture. Moreover, Christ has so arranged Holy Scripture that the entire Christian doctrine is revealed in such Scripture passages which do not even require interpretation, to which access is open to the learned and unlearned, as the old teachers, also Luther, Chemnitz, and others, remind us.
Nevertheless, great danger of the Christian being led astray by false prophets remains. In the first place, the great danger lies before us in regard to the nature of and manner in which false prophets act (appear) in the church. The danger would be less if false teachers would announce themselves openly, as such as they are, if, eg, they would say: “Beware you Christians, false prophets are now coming!” Instead of this they come, as Christ instructs us, in sheep’s clothing. They conduct themselves outwardly as true teachers. They also constantly talk about Scripture. The situation becomes dangerous, as Luther often reminds us, when the devil also sneaks into the Scriptures in order to lead Christians away from the Scriptures by distorting and misquoting the Scriptures. The devil followed this method in the temptation of Christ.
Luther: “The devil takes great pleasure in lying and deceiving as St Paul says in 2 Cor 11 that he appears as an angel of light.” (SL XL, 545).
The great danger in the second place, which lies before us is that Christians are not as diligent as they ought to be in following the warning of Christ: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col 3:16). Through this laxity in the use of Scripture the capability of Christians to distinguish the false prophets from true is diminished.
But, oh, the great love and faithfulness of our Saviour! In order that the Christian when he is tempted in times of peril, does not fall, Christ out of great grace and mercy and in loving concern for the salvation of the Christian has even done something special. He has instituted an Office which is to continue in the Church until the last day. Into this Office men are to be called who have been especially trained and skilled in the teaching of Christian doctrine and in being able to distinguish between true and false doctrine, and who with this ability brought about in them by the Holy Spirit, constantly stand watch in regard to this Office, so that Christians remain in the one true faith and not be seduced into error. This is the Public Office of the Ministry which has been instituted by Christ, as distinct from the Office of the Ministry which has been commanded of all Christians as spiritual priests.
The Scriptures give us an exact description concerning the Office of the Public Ministry. The holy apostle and his assistants went out into the world by divine command to proclaim the Gospel to the world, just as in our time our messengers are sent to go out into the world by God’s command by the Church, especially to the heathen world. But wherever at the time of the apostles through missionary work, Christian congregations had arisen, there the apostle, and at his command also his assistants, provided (Titus 1:5) for them, that in these established congregations, congregation for congregation, city for city, they would see to it that “elders” or “bishops” were appointed, that is, pastors, men trained in teaching doctrine and defending the truth “capable of teaching” and “capable of defending.” Titus 1:5 reads, “ For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee.”
They were to be experts in their profession in nurturing the congregation of God with God’s Word (1 Tim 3:1,5; Titus 1:9), experts also in their profession to stop the mouths of all false teachers (Titus 1:10,11). 1 Tim. 3:1,5 reads, “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)” Titus 1:9 reads, “Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.” Titus 1:10, 11 states, “For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.”
So also our missionaries who have been trained for the Office of the Public Ministry, as soon as congregations have been established by their service, enter upon the positions of local pastors, as Luther also reminds us (SL III, 723). That is the Office of the Public Ministry in the Christian congregation.
Students of Concordia! This is the Office for which you are preparing in our Concordia. You are not here preparing yourselves for the position of a congregational member, nor are you preparing for the office we usually call “elders” (deacons) whose establishment like the establishment of other helping offices for the spread of the Word has been left to Christian liberty and wisdom. No! You are here preparing yourselves for the Office of the Public Ministry which has been instituted by Christ for the Church for all time, of whose function the Apostle Paul reminds the pastors of Ephesus with the words, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28).
From this now fully follows an admonition to you concerning yourselves, Students of Concordia. It is the admonition that in your studies you not merely employ some diligence, but great, very great diligence. For the carrying out of the Office of the Public Ministry, the half dark and half light of a morning or evening twilight is not satisfactory, but for the carrying out of this Office it is required that you be completely bright (light). Without expressing it figuratively you must by God’s grace take the entire Christian doctrine in all its parts from the Scriptures themselves. From this Light from which you are illumined and by which your eyes are made clear sighted, you are then also capable of recognising false prophets with certainty, even under much sheep’s clothing. In this way you are capable, with you expertly — of teaching and distinguishing — to serve the congregation effectively for their salvation, also to perform the service which Christ has intended by the institution of the Office of the Public Ministry.
For this reason St Paul in 1 Tim 3 calls the Office of the Public Ministry an excellent work, the good work ` [kat` exocheen] (in the highest sense of the term), and may our prayer on this present day at the beginning of a new student year be as follows: “Come, Holy Spirit, come, Thou Giver of every gift, come and enter anew with us in our Concordia! May courage, steadfastness and understanding fill all teachers and students by Thine divine power and influence in order that the Office of the Public Ministry continues to be correctly carried out to the honour of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and for the salvation of many souls. Amen.”
Text: Romans 16:17-18: “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.”
Venerable fathers and brethren!
In Christ dearly beloved hearers!
If we look around in visible Christendom, then we are chiefly confronted by an extremely distressing scene: its division. Those who in the same way call themselves after Christ's name, are divided into a number of groups which are themselves engaged in mutual combat. This state of affairs is rightly deplored by all sides as miserable and is described as extremely harmful for church and world. Also we agree with full conviction in lamenting this state of affairs. But we are moved to examine the matter still more closer when we hear and read the accusation that also just we Lutherans of the Syndical Conference cause and continue division by the position of our church body, namely, in this way that we require the adherence to all parts of Christian doctrine and do not cultivate church fellowship with false doctrine. We reject the accusation raised against us as unjust and maintain the opposite with all determination that by the position of our church body we are not bringing about division, but union and agreement. Who decides the propositions in this conflict? God's Word. God's Word clearly answers and decides all questions that have to be answered and decided in the church until the last day. This is also the case concerning the division within the Christian Church. The entire Scriptures are full of instruction concerning this point.
In the text which has been read out we have the instruction of the Apostle Paul concerning division in the Christian Church. From this instruction we emphasise especially three points:
1.
First of all, we learn from our text something for our comfort. Our text reminds us, namely, of the fact that division in the Christian Church is nothing new. When we in our time lament over this division and have to endure this division, then we should not think that something strange is happening to us. The misery of division occurred also in the church of the Apostles and before the eyes of the Apostles. We can deduce that from our text. When the Apostle still so urgently admonishes the Roman congregation with a final detailed explanation of Christian doctrine, to direct their attention on the people who are causing the divisions and gives instruction to isolate such people, then he is not fighting a scarecrow (dummy), but opposing real existing dangers and actions which have already happened at other places.
However, above all things, the Apostle now teaches us about the important point how or whereby division originates in the Church. He says: “Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to (alongside of) the doctrine which ye have learned.” Thus division is then caused, division then originates, when people arise in the Christian Church, who alongside of the doctrine, that is, teach something different than Christ's Apostles, speak something different in the Christian Church than Christ's Word and find supporters for these errors.
This results from the nature of the Christian Church. The Christian Church here on earth is a completely unique Kingdom, absolutely distinct from the kingdoms of this world. The different kingdoms of this world have different rulers and laws and accordingly are ruled differently. The Christian Church here on earth is not man's, but Christ's Kingdom and has in all countries and for all times until the last day only one Ruler, Christ, and only one Law for its Kingdom by which it is taught and ruled: that is Christ's Word, the Word that He has given to the Church through His Apostles and Prophets. There is no place in the Christian Church for a word alongside of Christ's Word and for a ruler alongside of Christ.
Christ says in regard to His Church: “One is your Master, even Christ” (Matt. 23:8), and therefore inculcates the following as a Law in His Kingdom: “If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed” (John 8:31). And that was valid not merely for the time, when Christ walked on earth, but for the Church of all times and at all places until the last day. In His High Priestly prayer Christ describes the Church until the last day as a community (fellowship) of people, who through their — that is, the Apostles’ — word will believe on Him, John 17:20. St. Paul describes the Church as a house that is “built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets,” Eph. 2:20, and says of his own teaching activity: “I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought (Greek: worked, Ed.) by me,” Romans 15:18. St. Peter lays down the principle for all teaching in the Christian Church: “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles (Word) of God,” 1 Pet. 4:11. The unity of the Christian Church in all different kinds of circumstances, times, nations and languages consists in its adherence to the Word of Christ and its separation from those who cause divisions in departing from this Word. In order to preserve this unity and to prevent division, the Apostle Paul therefore, wherever he found himself, sent to the congregations and to their teachers the message and the admonition never “to teach anything different,” but to hold fast steadfastly to the form (model, pattern, example) of sound (wholesome) words (2 Tim. 1:15) which they have learned from the Apostles of Christ.
From Athens he writes to the Thessalonians: “Stand fast and hold the traditions [oral teachings of God's Word which were proclaimed], which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle [letter],” 2 Thess. 2:15. He left Timothy at Ephesus in order to command (order) some that they “teach no other doctrine,” 1 Tim. 1:3. From Corinth he writes to Rome: “Avoid them,” those who teach another doctrine! Romans 16:17. From Rome he writes to Galatia and admonishes the Galatians that they have allowed themselves to be turned away to another kind of gospel, which however is not another gospel of the same kind as Paul taught, Gal. 1:6 ff. And when he travels back from Europe to Jerusalem, he calls together the elders [pastors] of the congregation of Ephesus to Miletus and warns them against people who will arise out of their own midst and will speak perverse doctrines to draw away disciples for themselves, Acts 20:29ff.
Hence it is now clearly evident, when doctrine comes into consideration, on whom the cause (blame) for division falls in the Christian Church, namely, not on those who hold fast immovably to the doctrine of the Apostles, but it rests on those who depart from it and teach a different doctrine. We Lutherans of the Synodical Conference are now certain of it and have proven it before the church, that our doctrine, particularly also in the points raised in dispute, is not own word, but God's Word. We could and can in all points place the finger on God's Word and says: “There it is (stands) written.” It is a complete overturning of the usage of Biblical language, if a person claims that through our insistence on the pure, unadulterated teaching of the Word God we are causing and maintaining division in the church.
In our time people particularly demand “doctrinal freedom.” There is doctrinal freedom in the state, furthermore it is not a matter for the state to teach and to govern the Christian Church [Ed. in spiritual matters]. However there is no doctrinal freedom in the Christian Church, because in the Christian Church according to God's command and order everyone who steps forward to teach should speak God's Word. Whoever in the Christian Church makes for himself the claim of doctrinal freedom, thereby demands the right to cause division in the Christian Church and set himself up alongside of Christ and revolts against Christ as the One Head and Ruler in the Church. However, with these words we now come to the second point concerning which we want to be instructed by the Apostle Paul, namely, how division is to be judged.
2.
In our time a person is not free from self contradiction in the judgment of division in the Christian Church. On the one hand, people mourn the division and emphasise -- correctly --, how much more the Christian Church could accomplish, if it was not divided, but externally was also completely united. On the other hand, people however also often speak, as if division does not have much significance, yes indeed even as if something good is intended by God through division in the Church. They say: Every church body has its particular gifts and preferences.
That is perverted human judgment. The Apostle's judgement reads differently. He says: “Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to (alongside of) the doctrine which ye have learned.” He does not call those who cause division something good or also merely indifferent, but an offence. Already the mere fact of division is an offence for the world and for weak Christians. The world thereby excuses its unbelief and weak Christians are misled from the faith. Even more so is the offence evident, when we add that those who are causing the divisions have originated through departing from the doctrine of Christ. Different doctrine is brought as Christ's Word, is a hit in the face of Christ, who wants to teach and rule the Church through His Word. Different doctrine brought as Christ's Word, is also a hit in the face of Christians, whose Christian dignity and Christian glory exist in this that they have not submitted to the word of men, but have submitted alone to Christ's Word.
And also finally: Different doctrine brought as Christ's Word, can always only bring harm to souls. It is a question of life and death. The word of men, even if it be so well intended, can never save a single person of the human race dead in sins. God's Word alone can do that. Every word of men in the Christian Church is like grass and all his glory is like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower decays (falls away), when men also flatter themselves that they could bring light to the whole world by their “understanding” or “further development” or “supplementing” of Christian doctrine.
Only God's Law, in so far as it is taught without weakening [watering it down] and human addition, makes men to be truly poor sinners. Only God's Gospel, in so far as it is proclaimed without being intermingled with the works of this Law, produces faith in Christ, confers the highest good on earth, the certainty of grace and salvation, and gives power and joy to walk the narrow way to eternal life. Every alteration of the Gospel through admixture of the works of men, whether one directly calls it merit or only right behaviour, is poison and death for the spiritual life, places itself as an obstacle, as a trap, as an offence between mankind and the grace and salvation obtained for them by Christ. Therefore we see the zeal of the Apostle that he pronounces the curse over all those who teach the Gospel of Christ different than he has taught it (Gal. 1:8).
Yet, are there not then any Christians in church bodies which do not continue in all parts of Apostle's word? Do we condemn all, do we deny salvation to all those who depart from God's Word in any point? This judgment people assigns to us, but unjustly so. We know from God's Word: there is in certain doctrines an erring out of weakness whereby Christianity can exist, if the person in his heart is a poor sinner and trusts alone in Christ as his Saviour. So many take part in external division, but continue at the same time to cling to Christ in their hearts. We think of the two hundred, who, called from Jerusalem, went with Absalom and knew nothing about the evil matter (2 Sam. 15:11). Of this fact the Apostle also points out in our text, when he speaks of “innocent hearts,” who “through sweet words and excellent speech” to whom division is an offence. God wants to have no other doctrine in the Church than His Word and to fellowship with those who teach otherwise is an evil association forbidden by God and a constant danger for souls.
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Who places at our disposal a means, an effective means, to remove division? Who shows us the way how this offence of division in Christendom can be prevented? The Apostle indicates the means. The means is just as simple as it is thoroughly effective. He says: “Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to (alongside of) the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” If people appear in the Christian Church who teach something other than Christ's Word and refuse to be instructed, then Christians should not stand with such people, but isolate them, have no fellowship with them, but separate from them. This is to be done in the manner prescribed by God. Had the Christians from the very beginning of the Church and of every time obeyed this simple and clear divine instruction, then there would be divisions in Christendom, but entire Christendom would be completely united. Where there are no buyers, there is also no market.
The Arian division in the Fourth Century would not have originated, if the Christians of that time had submitted to this divine instruction in regard to Arius who denied the eternal deity of Christ, instead of adhering to him. The offence of Rome would not have arisen and would not have spread over the entire world, if the Christians had shunned the pope as an abomination and had given him the true title, instead of calling him “holy father,” who under the name of Christ secured control for himself in the church with his own word. The division at the time of the Reformation would not have occurred, if Christians had avoided Zwingli and his adherents, who did not continue in the words our Lord Jesus Christ stated concerning the Lord's Supper and Baptism. There would be no division in the American Lutheran church, if Christians had kept a distance from the people who bring their own word concerning the doctrines of the Christian Church and the Office of the Ministry, concerning conversion and the election of grace.
In short, avoiding those who teach other than Christ's Apostles, that is the simple, certain and effective means prescribed by God to remove division in Christendom. According to God's Word those who teach a different kind of doctrine arise in the Christian Church with God's permission, not for the purpose that a person holds fast to these errors, but for the purpose that he avoids them. How the apostle expressly impresses this on us: “For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you” (1 Cor. 11:19)! This lesson Christians must learn constantly from God's Word. But instead of following this simple and completely effective way prescribed by God, people attempt ways devised by men which only makes evil worse. Especially do people seek the way that exempts (releases) each other from continuing in all doctrines of God's Word. They call that unity, what according to God's Word is division!
Against the treatment which is prescribed by God's Word for those who teach a different doctrine many raise several objections. One says: The people who do not continue in all parts of God's Word, but teach differently, are often still learned, scientific, educated people, concerning whom one also can not deny their honest intentions. You must still however have respect for the knowledge and the earnestness and good will of these people. Respect for those who teach a different doctrine -- that is truly an essential sign of our time!
This whole view is against God's Word. In vain do we find respect for those who teach a different doctrine in Holy Scripture. What their science and knowledge arrives at, the apostle says thus: “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing” (1 Tim 6:3,4). Such a one pretends knowledge of divine things that he does not even have, and in self deception regards his ignorance as knowledge. And what their noble motives involve, the Apostle in our text says about those who teach a different doctrine the following: “For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly.” In these words it is not being said that in all cases they are coarse gluttons and live in great sins of greed and of the flesh. But it is indeed said in these words that in all cases they do not think of Christ, but of their own selves, they do not want to explain Christ's Word, but their own opinion, they have not the Christian Church, but their own glory or their own party in mind. The Lord says: “He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory” (John 7:18). That is a powerful text [word] that we should all indeed take to heart! Only in so far as someone does not have his own interest, but has Christ's interest alone and believes His Word, he is also truly and without hypocrisy for Him, that is, he also speaks God's Word and not his own word.
But is not the avoiding of all those who teach a different doctrine an unattainable, ideal situation [state of affairs]? In this way men judge differently than the Apostle. The Apostle does not speak of an unattainable ideal, which is suspended in the mind and remains in the mind, but of a feasible and an accomplished practice, when he admonishes the Christians: “Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to [alongside of] the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them!”
— Yet people call out: How can Christians — the simple [uneducated, plain] Christians — recognise with certainty those who teach a different doctrine and distinguish between truth and error? The simple Christians can do exactly that. Their Saviour, who calls them to continue in His Word, has also given them the means in their hands for this purpose. The Holy Scriptures, the Word of the Prophets and Apostles, is for the Christians not a collection of riddles, but a lamp for their feet and a light for their way. Christians can only then err in their thoughts, in their speech and in their judgment, if they put the light of the Word of God under the bushel. If they use their Light and Right, if they hear and believe what their Lord speaks, then they will know the truth, and the truth will them free from all the slavery of the doctrine of men. The Lord says expressly, that His sheep recognise their Shepherd's voice. But the voice of the stranger they do not know, but flee before him, John 10:3-5. Let us only remind each other, that we are to let the Word of Christ dwell richly among us, then it will also make the simple wise.
Finally, someone still objects: But the success! The success of preventing division in this manner is however a very doubtful one. A person must despair of success, if he looks at the past and views the present. The success, dear fathers and brethren, is not our matter, but God's matter, that we in the manner which God has prescribed create unity and remove division. Besides, we need not ourselves also complain about success. The Synodical Conference has not produced division, but has brought about a gathering together. It has grown steadily in spite of defections from it, and it is still the most numerous Lutheran church body in the United States. From the very first many have prophesied our downfall. In the last months they have repeated this prophecy. It will not become true while we cling to God’s Word.
Above all, we need to ask God for two things. In the first place for humility. It is not due to our merit, but alone to God's grace that we do not teach other doctrines [false doctrines], but that we confess God's Word. Also this humility should be noticeable in everything that we speak and write. Even though we certainly have the sinful flesh in us, yet we should not fight in a fleshly manner. Also we do not want everyone who falls into error occasionally, immediately to be treated as a false teacher. Is it not a miracle, Luther explains, that someone in these high (great) things, which are so foreign to us by nature, sometimes has one's own thoughts and perhaps blunders (errs) in the words [speech]. Luther confesses that about himself, and we will not refrain from the same confession. However we should not give in to our own thoughts, but immediately again seize hold of God's Word and thereby resist all our own thoughts and all wrong (perverse) speech. To that end we should in humility help each other.
Secondly, we need to ask God for His grace that just as we are to have humble heart, so also we are to testify with clarity and with determination to the doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets and uncover and refuse foreign doctrine. In this way we strive in the right manner for the unity of the Christian Church and for the removal of destructive division. May God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to whom be the highest praise in eternity, bring that about! Amen.
ELCR
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[1] Address for the Commencement of the Student Year 1924-25. Lehre und Wehre vol 70, 1924, October; p.289
[2] Address for the Opening of the Student-year of 1929-30. Lehre und Wehre vol 75, 1929, October; p. 289.
[3] Taken from Theological Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 4, October, 1920, p.193-196. This is not our translation, but an English reproduction by Dr.W H T Dau.
[4] Address For The Opening Of The New Student Year 1930-31. Concordia Theological Monthly, Vol. I, No 11, November, 1930, pages 801 to 803.
[5] An Address delivered at the Commencement of the Student Year 1927 – 1928. Lehre und Wehre Vol. 73, No. 10, October 1927, pages 289 to 291.
[6] Address for the beginning of the Student Year 1928-29). Lehre und Wehre 1928 pages 289-292, Vol 74.)
[7]Synodical Conference, 1912, Opening Sermon, Delivered by Dr. F Pieper.)