Text extracted by BackToLuther from Lehre und Wehre vol. 69 (1923), pgs 225-240. An English translation by J.T. Mueller published among other convention essays in the book What Is Christianity and other Essays. The main advantages of this translation are 1) its free, and 2) emphasis of words retained. Last edit: 2025-09-14.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Lehre und Wehre.
Volume 69. August and September 1923. No. 8 and 9.
The Right Worldview.
(Lecture given at the 1923 Synod of Delegates by F. Pieper).
--------------
Venerable fathers and brothers! I have taken it upon myself to speak to you about the right worldview. Is that not too bold an undertaking? It would be if I had in mind to present my own world view or that of any other person. Why? Let me remind you of something the famous geographer Dr. Hermann Daniel said. Dr. Daniel only wants to present a small part of the world view, namely to answer the question of the movement of the earth, the sun and the stars. In his exposition he professes to be a so-called Copernican. He cites all the main reasons for Copernicanism. But at the end he remarks that in this case it can of course only be a "scientific hypothesis", that is, a human assumption or conjecture, not a scientifically established fact. To arrive at a certainty on this question, he adds, would require a point of view outside the world from which one could survey everything. Dr. Daniel says literally: "All the world systems that have been established are not based on experience — which would require a standpoint outside the earth — but on conclusions and combinations. All are and therefore remain hypotheses." *) [*) Handbuch der Geographie 3, 1877, p. 9] Since I, like all other people, do not have my point of view outside the world, but on this earth, I would certainly consider it a more than foolhardy undertaking if I wanted to speak to this venerable assembly about the right — and indeed the only right — world view. If I undertake this nevertheless, it will be from the highest standpoint there is, from a standpoint that is not only outside this world, but higher than heaven
and earth. It is from God's standpoint that I want to speak to you about the right view of the world. It is not my or any other person's world view, but God's world view that I want to explain. But how do we humans know about God's worldview? Dear fathers and brothers, we humans have God's own Word. God has given us humans his word by grace. The Holy Scriptures are God's Word. Of course, this is denied, especially in our time, even in the midst of external Christianity. On the other hand, I am not ashamed to confess — and I make no apology for this confession — that I consider the Holy Scriptures to be God's own infallible Word given to us human beings. I also know that all the delegates who have been sent to this great assembly fully share my confession of the Holy Scriptures. And we all need not be ashamed of our commitment to Scripture. We have great and authoritative examples on this point, namely the examples of Christ and his holy apostles and prophets. We know, of course, how to adduce such reasons for the divine authority of Scripture as may convince a reasonable human mind that it is more rational to recognize the infallible divine authority of Scripture than to deny it. But let us leave these reasons out of consideration. What is decisive for us from the outset (a priori) is how Christ, our Savior and the Savior of the whole world, views Scripture. And we have Christ's view, as He Himself testifies in His high priestly prayer (John 17:20), in the Word of His holy apostles and prophets. We believe Christ, our dear Savior, from His word when he assures us in John 3:16: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." So we believe him completely when he testifies to the Scriptures in John 10:35: "The Scriptures cannot be broken" and says of His apostles in John 17:14: "I have given them Thy Word" and adds (v. 17): "Thy Word is truth." From this word of infallible truth I will now set out the right worldview for our instruction and admonition in a few main points.
I.
The right worldview certainly includes a certain knowledge of the origin of the world. Where does the world come from? The world is not from eternity; nor did it develop gradually (evolution), but God created it through his almighty Word, that is, called it into existence. God himself tells us in his Word: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", Genesis 1:1, and: "My hand has made all things that are", Ezek. 66:2. And just as God created the world,
so it is He alone who sustains the world. "By Him were all things created, ... and by Him all things consist", Col. 1:16-17. If God were to withdraw his hand from the world for just one moment, it would disappear in the same instant, completely, without leaving even a trace or a speck of dust. It would cease to exist, just as it did not exist before it was created by God. Because it still exists now, each of God's works of creation that surround us calls out to us incessantly and clearly: "God made me." There is an old Latin saying that reads: Praesentemque refert quaelibet herba Deum, that is: “Every blade of grass shows us God's presence.” Every person, whether educated or uneducated, recognizes, for example, when he looks at a living flower and uses his intellect, that it was not made in St. Louis or Chicago or New York, but that it is a product of God's omnipotent hand. In short, the only right view of the world is this: God made everything, and everything has its existence in God. Whoever speaks of a world that exists from eternity and of a self-development of the world thereby reveals that he renounces rational human thinking. His world view is one hundred percent in error.
But the right world view also means that we know for certain where man comes from. This knowledge is naturally very close to us. It is particularly interesting and important for us. So where is man from? Man did not develop by himself, neither from a primordial cell nor from a lower animal. Nor did God develop man gradually, but created him fully formed, in his — God's — image, in the knowledge of God and holiness of will, as ruler over all other creatures on earth. Again, this is God's own account in the first chapter of the Bible. In the second chapter of the Bible we then have a more detailed account of what happened at the creation of the first man, Adam. We read Genesis 2:7: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Now the Fall of Man, with its sad consequences, intervened. But man has not become an animal in essence as a result, but remains God's creature. It is quite the right view of man when we confess in the [Small] Catechism: "I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still preserves them." And how important is this realization! It will remind us to look at ourselves with a kind of amazement, because God has prepared us so artificially and finely according to body and soul, with the simultaneous reminder that we do not abuse the body with its limbs and the soul
with its powers, but place it solely at the service of Him whose creatures we are according to body and soul.
Thus we would have the right view with regard to the question: "Where does the world come from?" and in particular also with regard to the question: "Where does man come from?"
But the right view of the world also includes the question of where we are headed. What will happen to the world and what will happen to man?
First of all: What will happen to the world? What will happen to the world that we see above us, around us and below us? It will not remain forever. God tells us in his Word: "Heaven and earth will pass away", Matt. 24:35. "The essence of this world will pass away", 1 Cor. 7:31. When? I do not know. And I also know that no other person in the world knows. The Scripture says: "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven", Matt. 24:36. This is a secret that God has not revealed to us in His Word, but has kept to Himself. In their own cleverness, people have wanted to calculate the day and hour of the end of the world. But they have always come to nothing with their calculations, and all future calculators of the end of the world will also come to nothing. Like all the words of Scripture, these words will also prove to be true: "Of that day and hour knoweth no man." But the end of the world is certain. Scripture testifies to this so often and so emphatically, because we humans forget it all too easily. The end will come quite suddenly when Jesus Christ, the Judge of the world, appears visibly. The appearance of Christ for judgment and the end of the world will occur suddenly and everywhere on the whole earth at the same time. "As the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be", Matthew 24:27. We will not be able to receive news from London, Berlin or Paris, neither by wire nor by wireless. The whole of the world's many-sided and thousand-fold interlocking and intermeshing gears will suddenly come to a standstill. No ship on the ocean or on the inland lakes continues to sail. No railroad train between the mountains of the East and the vast plains of the West moves on. No car or automobile on the country roads or in the cities moves on. No businessman on his way to his store and no worker on his way to his usual work takes another step. Everything — everything in this world suddenly comes to a standstill. All possession of the goods of this world also ceases. No one will still own land, because all land will disappear from under our feet. No one will still own cash, be it gold or silver, no one will still own securities, regardless of whether they are United States bonds or city
bonds. All mortgages expire automatically. All money and all monetary assets are completely devalued. The [German] mark, which is currently "weak in value", and the dollar, which is currently "strong in value", are then completely equal in value. They will both be worth nothing. The end has come — the end of all things that belong to life here on earth.
But where will man go? What happens to humanity? Heaven and earth will pass away, but people will remain. All of them without exception! All those who have lived on this earth from Adam to the end of the world — all will remain for eternity. No man can destroy himself, he may start whatever he wants, and God will not destroy him. All people, whether previously dead or still alive, stand in rank and file, some on the right, others on the left of the Judge of the world. There are, of course, religious communities that dare to teach the opposite. They claim that at least the wicked will be destroyed at the end of the world, will cease to exist (annihilation). They also eagerly propagandize in the world and find many followers. When the annihilist Charles [Taze] Russell spoke in St. Louis about ten years ago, thousands crowded in to hear him. But this is an erroneous and extremely dangerous piece of an erroneous worldview. But more on this when we consider the purpose of the world between its beginning and its end.
II.
What is the purpose of the world while it still exists, and therefore what is the purpose of every human life in this world? This is obviously part of the right worldview. Anyone who does not know the purpose of the world and his own life lives without purpose or blindly from day to day. But those who know what the world is still for and what they themselves are still in the world for, have a bright light shining over their lives. But we are again faced with the question: Is there a reliable and certain exclusion about the purpose of the world and our own life? Certainly, if we turn to the right information bureau. God in his Word, that is, in the Holy Scriptures, gives us such clear information about the purpose of the world and of human life that only those people who turn away from God's Word can remain ignorant of it and grope through this life in the dark.
The Holy Scriptures teach very clearly that the present world exists and is maintained in existence by God for the sole purpose of preaching the Gospel of Christ in it, that is, the message of the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ's vicarious satisfaction. Christ speaks this clearly and sharply in Matthew 24:14, as if engraved in bronze and granite. It
says: "This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come", namely the end of the world. God has paid a great cost for mankind. He has purchased sinful humanity for heaven through the blood of Christ, his incarnate Son, and now allows the world to exist so that the forgiveness of sins may be preached in the world for the sake of the blood of Christ and accepted by faith.
The preaching of the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ was not the purpose of the original world, that is, the world in which sin did not yet exist. At that time there was no need for the preaching of the forgiveness of sins, because man was not yet a sinner, but lived in the created knowledge of God and holiness of will in unadulterated communion with God. This earth was the beautiful dwelling place of a man who was beautiful in soul and body and not yet disfigured by sin. As the biblical account goes on to say, God placed man in the Garden of Eden, in paradise. The Garden of Eden is described in the second chapter of the Bible. But the Fall of Man intervened. Man, seduced by Satan, ate from the tree of which God had commanded him: "You shall not eat from it." [Gen. 2:17] Man transgressed God's commandment and fell into the greatest of evils: into guilt, into guilt before his God. Through his guilt before God, he lost his fellowship with God, so that he fled from God in horror, as we read in the third chapter of Genesis. Because he had become a sinner, he also lost his original beautiful dwelling place, paradise. His dwelling place became an earth which, like the present earth, bears thorns and thistles and on which man eats his bread by the sweat of his brow.
However, through God's grace, there is a return to God's fellowship for us humans who have become sinful. There is a return to paradise for us, a paradise that is more beautiful and more glorious than the first one.
How or by what means does this return happen? Certainly not through man's own actions and works. This is the erroneous view of man who has fallen into sin and thus become blind, who no longer understands God's ways. Man can neither fully nor partially make up for the damage caused by the fall into sin. Those who seek a way back into God's fellowship through their own works remain under the curse of the law. The law of God demands a perfect fulfillment that man cannot achieve. The return takes place without works of one's own, through faith in the Savior, whom God promised to mankind immediately after the fall and who appeared in the fullness of time. The return happens through
faith in Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ is not merely a pious man who has shown us by his example how we can return to God's fellowship through our own piety and works. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, born of the Father in eternity. But this eternal Son of God became man and fulfilled the divine law in the place of men through his perfectly holy life, and through his innocent suffering and death paid in full for all the sins of all men. As the Scriptures testify: "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal 4:4-5). And again: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us", Gal. 3:13. Therefore it is by grace alone, without works of their own, through faith in Christ, that men now return to God's fellowship, obtain forgiveness of their sins and salvation. Good works have great value before God. They follow Christians into eternity. They are crowned by God with an eternal reward of grace. They do not burn in the fire of the Last Day, which consumes all earthly things. But good works are far too small to obtain God's grace and salvation. Only the perfect merit of Christ, the highly praised Savior of the world, is sufficient for this. Not one person has ever returned to God's community of grace in any other way than by trusting in Christ's merit alone, not even during the four thousand years before the appearance of the Son of God in the flesh. For thus the apostle Peter teaches us in the house of the centurion Cornelius: "To this JEsu all the prophets [namely all the prophets of the Old Testament] testify, that through his name all who believe in him should receive forgiveness of sins." And the world still stands for the sole purpose of this preaching! As we heard from the mouth of Christ: "This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." [Matt. 24:11]
Of course, the majority of people do not agree with this. They have a different world view. They think that the world still exists for the purpose of enabling people to show how marvelously they can develop themselves, what they can achieve in morality, education and culture. But this is an erroneous view of the world, which will infallibly lead all those who cling to it to eternal ruin. The purpose of the world's existence is not that men should show what they can achieve morally, but the purpose of the world's existence is that men should despair of their own morality before God, recognize themselves before God as lost sinners and believe in the Saviour of sinners sent by God, in the Saviour who, with his
perfect morality, is their righteousness before God and who, by the shedding of His divine blood, has blotted out their whole record of sin. As Christ commands His Church to preach "repentance" and "forgiveness of sins" in His name among all nations and until the Last Day, Luke 24:47.
O that all men would recognize that for the purpose of this preaching the world still stands! For this purpose the sun, moon and stars still shine. For this purpose God still gives seed and harvest, frost and heat, summer and winter, day and night. It is for this purpose that God still allows the kingdoms of this world to exist, with their extensive trade and commercial life. The kingdoms of this world with its civil life are only a scaffolding for the building of the Christian church through the preaching of the gospel. To apply what has been said above to this point: If God no longer wanted the gospel preached, then no more ships would sail on the sea, no more railroad trains would move on the land, no more workers or businessmen would go about their daily work.
All misfortune and all evil that God brings upon the world should also serve the gospel. People should recognize themselves as sinners who deserve God's judgment and believe in the gospel of God's grace in Christ. God punishes temporally so that we do not have to perish eternally. In the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, our Savior tells us a biography of the world in terms of the judgments that will come upon the world. The Savior refers to the many and incessant wars of the nations among themselves, to pestilence, the time of trouble, earthquakes. But the ultimate purpose of these judgments in time is not actually to punish, but to warn. They are warning punishments. It is God`s way to warn before He strikes. This is the correct world view of temporal judgments. As harsh as they may seem, they are in the service of divine mercy. When earthquakes wreak great destruction in San Francisco or Messina; when floods engulf thousands of people in Galveston or on the coast of Chile; when epidemics in China or in our own country devour millions of people; when millions of people perish miserably in Asia and in the countries of Europe due to hardship and famine: then people should not stop at investigating the physical causes of these evils, but at the same time and primarily regard these evils as God's punitive judgments, which we all equally deserve. Thus our Savior teaches us Luke 13:1–5. When at one time it was said to him from among his hearers about the Galileans who had been slain at the sacrifice, and about the eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam fell, the Lord said, "Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans
because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent [μετανοῆτε, repent], ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." This is the correct view of the misfortunes that will occur in the world before the Last Day. God save us from the Pharisaical worldview against which the Lord so powerfully warns us in Luke 13. The newspapers report almost daily on misfortunes of various kinds. When we read these reports, it should not be done thoughtlessly, much less with the attitude: "I thank you, God, that I am not as guilty as those people", but we should pause for a moment, fold our hands and say to ourselves: "O God, have mercy on me and on all sinners!"
Yes indeed! There is still a time of grace for the world before the Last Day. God swears to us in His Word: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" Ezek. 33:11 Christ has purchased salvation from eternal damnation and a home in heaven, not just for some people, but for all people without exception. Why do you want to die, you children of men?
We must here emphatically warn against a dangerous view of the eternal fate of the human race after heaven and earth have passed away. The summary of the first lecture was: The world has a beginning and an end. Man also has a beginning, but no end; he remains eternal, either in eternal salvation or in eternal damnation.
Some people are now protesting very strongly against this. They consider themselves wise and allow themselves a self-made worldview. In scholarly terms, they say: Surely the history of mankind cannot possibly end in "dualism". In somewhat less scholarly but generally understandable terms, they want to say that there is no such thing as eternal damnation. Either all people will be saved, or the part of humanity that has not converted to Christ, the Savior of sinners, in this life will still have the opportunity in the world to come to make up for what they have missed. Still others go so far as to say that the wicked will be destroyed either immediately in the Last Judgment or later.
At the beginning we made the contract that we would not set before our eyes and take to heart worthless human views, but the authoritative divine views. According to God's Word, however, the history of mankind ends in eternal dualism, in an eternal separation of people, due to human guilt. When
Christ, the Judge of the world, appears, two will lie on one bed; one will be accepted, the other will be abandoned. Two will be grinding together; one will be taken, the other will be left. Two will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left, Luke 17:34-36, and in the powerful and detailed description in Matthew 25:31-46 it says: "When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. And before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. . . . Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. . . . And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." Therefore God commands — as Paul also reminds the educated Athenians — all men everywhere to repent, Acts 17:30, and therefore Christ commands his Church, that is, to those who have believed in him through his grace, to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name both near and far. This is the right worldview. Christians are still in the world to preach the gospel. For this he still gives them life and breath, for this he sustains them in faith, for this he still gives them strength of body and soul, for this he still gives them earthly possessions.
What results for us Christians from the right worldview, especially with regard to individual points that are particularly important for our time, will, God willing, be summarized later in a brief exposition from God's Word.
III.
In explaining the right worldview, we wanted to pay particular attention to a few points which it would be very harmful for us and our time to overlook.
First of all, in the ecclesiastical activity that we are encouraging ourselves to undertake during these sessions, let us not forget our concern for the salvation of our own souls. This reminder might seem superfluous. Someone might think: How should we forget to work for our own salvation with fear and trembling as we work to build and expand the Christian Church here on earth! But let the Holy Scriptures also give us the right view on this point. The
holy apostle Paul was extremely active in the church. He worked harder than all the others. And yet he was careful to ensure his own salvation, as we can see from his own words: "I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway", 1 Cor. 9:27. Church Fathers and, after them, our ancient theologians refer to Noah's carpenters who worked on building the ark but did not enter the ark themselves and so perished in the flood. In our work to build and expand the kingdom of God on earth, we too should not forget the question: "Are we ourselves members of the Christian church?" Who is a member of the Christian Church? According to love, however, we should consider everyone to be a member of the Christian church who confesses with his mouth faith in Christ, the Savior of sinners, and does not refute the confession of his mouth by his conduct and his works. This judgment of love is God's will and order. We should not want to look into hearts. This is a privilege of God. The counsel of the heart will only be revealed on Judgment Day. [Rom. 2:16] But each and every one of us should constantly examine ourselves to see what we mean and how our hearts relate to the kingdom of God. Our Savior reminds us of this so powerfully when he says: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo, here! or lo, there! For behold, the kingdom of God is within you”, Luke 17:20-21. The kingdom of God is of course a powerful reality in the world. It is the kingdom for the sake of which the world still stands, as we have seen. But this kingdom is invisible to the human eye. It consists of people who believe in the Savior of sinners in their hearts. This faith, which God alone sees and which the individual recognizes through self-examination, makes a person a member of the Christian church. To give an example: Here in the city of Fort Wayne and here in this assembly, all those — and only those — are members of the Christian church who, through the working of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, recognize themselves as lost sinners and trust in Christ's substitutionary satisfaction alone for the forgiveness of sins and salvation. Let us be reminded of this by our Savior's words: "Behold, the kingdom of God is within you". In our time there are strange ideas about how a person enters the kingdom of God. For example, there is much talk of the journey to Palestine, to Jerusalem, to Mount Zion. On the other hand, it is important to note: There is no need for pilgrimages or a change of location in order to come to Jerusalem and Mount Zion in the sense of the New Testament. Holy Scripture says of all those who have come to faith in Christ, the Savior of sinners, Heb. 12:22-24: "Ye are
come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and Church of the First-born, which are written in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." We who are gathered here in the auditorium of Concordia College in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and who by the grace of God believe in Christ, that is, believe that only the blood of Christ, the Son of God, cleanses us from all sin, are here on Mount Zion. Therefore, let us not forget the apostle's admonition in 2 Corinthians 13:5: "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves." Our prayer and supplication is that God will keep each of us in the faith of the gospel and thus on Mount Zion. Then and only then will we be able to fulfill the divine command: "O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah [which in the New Testament is the entire world], Behold your God!" Isaiah 40:9, namely, the gracious God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
The right view of the world also includes the right view of the family, child rearing and the Christian school. As is well known, the family forms the basis for state and church. Everything that touches the family touches both divine orders. According to the right worldview, children are not shunned in the family, but welcomed as a precious gift from God. As Scripture teaches: "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is a gift" (Ps. 127:3). And this precious gift is given to parents not only for the purpose of nourishing, clothing and equipping their children for this life, but also and especially so that they may lead them through this world into the eternal heavenly dwellings. For this is the divine instruction to parents concerning their children: "Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Eph. 6:4. The Christian mother folds her child's hands in prayer at a very early age and talks to him about his dear Savior, which, by the way, the child understands very quickly and wonderfully well. Both father and mother are also careful not to give their children any offense, which the Savior forbids with such a grave threat, Matthew 18:6. On the contrary, the parents are anxious that their children receive a deep, where possible, indelible impression of a Christian home, that is, of a home in which God's Word reigns through home devotions in the family circle and through regular attendance at public church services. And when school time has come for the children,
the parents remember that there are two kinds of schools, schools in which God's Word reigns and schools in which God's Word does not reign. Of the latter we all rightly judge that we cannot advise anyone to send their child there. It cannot go without harm and offense for the child's soul. Christian children naturally belong in Christian schools. Because this is sometimes forgotten, our Synodical Constitution reminds the congregations that they have a duty to establish and maintain Christian schools. The state of Christian knowledge and Christian life in a congregation is revealed precisely by whether it is really seriously endeavoring to establish and maintain a Christian school. The venerable fathers and brothers are familiar with several words of Luther in which he praises the Christian school and the office of a Christian school teacher. He says, among other things: "If I could or must desist from preaching and other things, I would prefer no office but to be a schoolmaster or teacher of boys. For I know that this work is the most useful, greatest and best next to preaching, and I do not yet know which of the two is the best. For it is difficult to make old rascals pious, since the preaching office works on them and has to labor much in vain; but the young trees can be better bent and pulled, although some break in the process." (St. L. X, 454 f.)
The correct worldview of Christians with regard to the doctrine that they themselves believe from the heart and proclaim in the world also includes adherence to the unadulterated teaching of the gospel. But the gospel is only genuine if no law is added to it, but free grace is taught. It must be taught that God is perfectly reconciled with the whole human world through the vicarious satisfaction of Christ and now proclaims forgiveness of sins to the ends of the earth for Christ's sake through the gospel, so that it may be appropriated by men through faith. This unadulterated gospel generates Christian faith and is the foundation of Christian faith. There is no such thing as a Christian faith that relies partly on Christ's merit and partly on one's own worthiness and works. It is only a human imagination. In the civil court, however, there are two classes of people, the civilly honorable and the civilly dishonorable. The situation is different in God's court when it comes to obtaining forgiveness of sins and salvation. Before God there is only one class of people. Holy Scripture teaches: "There is no difference; for all have I sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." [Rom. 3:22-24] Nor does
any human conscience come to rest before God until it has given up trusting in its own works and relies on Christ's perfect merit alone. This is also confirmed by the experience of all Christians throughout the world. The Lutheran Church admits that there are also true Christians outside its communion. But all those who are true Christians in other church communions do not trust before God in their own worthiness and works, but in Christ's substitutionary satisfaction alone, and in this way alone are assured with us, certain of forgiveness of sins and salvation. They confess with us and all Christians on earth: "Now that we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Without this faith in the Savior crucified for the sins of the world, there is no peace with God. That is why we must hold fast to the pure gospel as it is so clearly taught in Scripture and as we have received it from our fathers. Modern Protestantism and even modern Lutheranism, have also fallen away from the pure gospel and want to make the attainment of forgiveness of sins and salvation dependent on man's own efforts. But this is apostasy from Christianity. Scripture teaches: "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace", Romans 11:6. So we want to hold on to the pure doctrine of grace by the grace of God. We do not want to be outdone by anyone in the world as far as courtesy and love of peace are concerned. But it is God's will and command that we do not compromise in matters of Christian doctrine. Here, by God's grace, we are to stand firm as a rock. It is an erroneous worldview to think that this is detrimental to the church. This alone builds the Church of Christ. The history of the Missouri Synod proves this. God has made room for us in the world precisely by adhering to the pure doctrine of the Gospel. And let us not forget: the confession of pure Christian doctrine also includes the rejection of opposing error. Whoever allows error or ambiguity to stand on an equal footing with the truth thereby gives up the truth, because it is the nature of the truth to reject error.
Finally, the right worldview of Christians, which must be preserved, also includes holy zeal and holy faithfulness in the proclamation of the Gospel in the world. After all, this is the real business that their Savior has commanded them to do as Christians. Of course, they should also show themselves to be a model of faithfulness in the civil vocation in which God has placed them in this life. They should also make a good name for
Christianity in the world through their faithfulness in their civil vocation. This is part of the publicity God wants. But above all, a Christian is diligent and faithful in the direction of his actual Christian vocation, namely in the care for the proclamation of the Gospel in the world. As soon as a person has become a Christian, he has his actual home in heaven (Phil. 3:20 and his noblest and most important endeavor in the world is to lead others with him to heaven. Whether he is a large or small businessman, a large or small farmer, a simple worker or a supervisor of workers and an employer, the Christian church is and remains his primary interest. Church matters are his favorite topic of conversation, both in the family and in the company of Christian brothers. Among the newspapers he reads, church newspapers are the most important to him. They tell him how things are going in the church, his spiritual home here in this world. They tell him where his prayers and gifts are needed. Of course, he is also careful to put as much of his earthly possessions as possible at the service of the Gospel before all money and all earthly possessions are completely devalued on Judgement Day. This is the faithfulness taught in Holy Scripture in the orientation of the Christian's vocation here in this world.
In this way, dear fathers and brothers, our Savior also wants to find us in faithful activity when he suddenly appears on the Last Day and at the end of the world. He reminds us of this so powerfully and forcefully in the parable of the Talents. He gives one man five talents, another two, a third one talent. Those who had acted faithfully with the talents entrusted to them are highly praised by the Lord; the one who had buried his talent in the ground is sharply rebuked and disgraced, Matthew 25:14-30.
This is said to all Christians in general. For they are all called to proclaim the virtues of him who called them from darkness to his marvelous light, 1 Peter 2:9. But this applies especially to pastors and to all of us who administer a teaching office in the Christian church. On another occasion, the Savior admonished his listeners: "Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not," Luke 12:40, Peter asked: "Lord, speakest Thou this parable unto us or even to all?" The Lord answered the question with "Yes", for he continues with words that refer especially to the preaching and teaching ministry in the church: "How great is the faithful and wise steward whom the Lord sets over his servants to give them their due in due season! Blessed is the servant whom his master finds doing so when he comes." Luke 12:41-42 from the German]
So, by God's grace, we pastors and teachers also want to give the
best we can. Our dear Savior does not expect us to do half a job, but a full job. Will we do it? Yes, by His grace, if we remember daily that He has bought us with His precious blood of God for our work in His kingdom and has prepared for us an eternal and blessed dwelling place in heaven. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, continues to be and forever and ever! Amen.