# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S326 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 436 INTERSYNODICAL AND DOCTRINAL MATTERS eternal life. The Holy Spirit by the Gospel has called us assured us of our status before God, testifying to us that He has chosen us for Himself in Christ from the foundation of the wor and by the imputation of Christ’s righteousness has given ys the assurance that He will present us faultless before the throne of His glory. Cf. Acts 13:48; Romans 8; Eph. 1; I Peter 1:1-9. V. Means of Grace We believe and teach: God has willed that the knowledge and benefit of Chrisy’s redemption from sin be brought to man through His means of grace, namely through the Gospel in the Word and in the Saera- ments. Through these means He not only offers but actually bestows His grace in Christ unto forgiveness of sins and a life of fellowship with Him. The Word. Through the Holy Scriptures, which God causeg to be written by men chosen and inspired by Him, God instructs and assures us regarding His will for us. The Holy Scriptures constitute His Word to men, centering in the revelation of Himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ for our salvation. Through the Holy Scriptures God continues to speak to men in all ages until the end of time. He speaks as the infallible and unchanging God, Whose message to mankind never changes. Since the Holy Spirit by divine inspiration supplied to the holy writers content and fitting word, therefore we acknowledge the Holy Scriptures in their entirety as the inspired Word of God. His Holy Spirit testifies in our hearts that His Word is true, that He will keep all His promises to us, and that our faith in Him is not in vain. We therefore recognize the Holy Scriptures as God’s inerrant Word, and this Word of God alone shall establish articles of faith (cf. Smalcald Articles, Part I, Art.II). We pledge ourselves to teach all things taught in the Holy Scriptures, and nothing but that which is taught us by God in the Holy Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures teach both Law and Gospel, but the chief content of the Holy Scriptures is the Gospel.:The Law enters into the service of the Gospel by bringing man to a knowledge of his sins and by convincing him that he is under God’s judgment because of his sins, and by telling the believer what fruits of faith he should produce. - Baptism. In the Sacrament of Baptism God adopts men as His children. In Baptism God confers the benefits of Christ’s redemp- tion and graciously bestows the washing of regeneration and new- ness. of life. ‘We recognize it as the Lord’s will that men should be baptized even in their infancy, knowing that the promise of Ged also applies to little children. oo ; The Lord’s Supper. In the Sacrament:of ‘the Altar Christ gives us His body offgred up for us, and His blood shed for us, to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins, the strengthening of our faith, and the increase in holiness of life. In this Sacrament we receive Christ’s body and blood orally as well as spiritually. All communi- cants receive Christ’s precious body and blood together with the bread and wine. but only the believers obtain the blessings of the INTERSYNODICAL AND DOCTRINAL MATTERS 487 crament. Christ is not only present at the celebration of the Satrament, but in this Sacrament He enters into the most intimate union with the members of His Church, bringing to them cn body and His blood by which He made atonement for their sins. Cf. The Word: I Cor. 1-2; Tim. 3:14-4:5; I Peter 1; If Peter 1:12-21. Baptism: Matt. 28: 18-20; John 3:1-13; Acts 2:37-39; Romans 6; Titus 3A ond’s Supper: Matt. 26: 26-28; Mark 14: 22-25; Luke 22:19-20; I Cor. 16-17; 11: 23-29. 10:16-175 11:28 VL Justification We believe and teach: By His redemptive work Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world; hence, forgiveness of sin has been secured and provided for all men. (This is often spoken of as objective justifi- cation.) “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word, of reconciliation,” II Cor. 5:19. Hence no sinner need be eternally lost on account of his sins. God offers this propitiation and reconciliation freely to all men through His means of grace. There is nothing in sinful man or in what he may do to merit God’s declaring him righteous. God justifies the sinner solely on the basis of Christ’s righteousness, which He imputes to the sinner through the Gospel and which the sinner accepts by faith. Such: faith is wrought in man by the Holy Spirit. Through this faith we not only receive from God but also retain the blessed assurance of our righteousness in His sight for Christ’s sake. Cf. Romans 3-5; 8; Gal. 2:16-3:29; Col.1; I John 2:2. VII. Conversion We believe and teach: The sinner’s conversion takes place when God brings the con- trite sinner to faith in Christ as his Savior. This change of heart with respect to sin and this reliance upon Christ for salvation from sin is the work of God the Holy Spirit, without any co-operation whatsoever from sinful man. “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost,” I Cor. 12:3b. Cf. Acts 5:31; 26:18; Eph. 2:1-9; Jer.31:18-19; Ezek. 11:19-20. VIII. Sanctification We believe and teach: The believer in Christ can no longer enjoy living in sin, but he is prompted ‘and enabled by the love of God in Christ and by the indwelling Holy Spirit to live according to God’s command- ments and to be. minded towards all things as God is minded... “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of fhe Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me,” We therefore, out of gratitude to God, seek to glorify Him by abounding in good works, without which faith is dead. In glorifying God we seek to serve Him and our neighbor in love, as He directs us in both tables of His Law. _ _In this’ present world the Christian can never attain perfect sinlessness because sin inheres in him until death. But we strive for