# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S335
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

454 INTERSYNODICAL AND DOCTRINAL MATTERS

5. Does the venerable Synod approve or does it reject the
“co-operation in externals” with other church bodies even w
it involves common endeavors in the field of Christian education,
prayer fellowship, etc.?

We feel that we have the right to request and to expect
a straight and unequivocal answer to every one of these questions
at once, since these are not matters which require long and
painstaking research, but are taught in the textbooks which have
been recognized among us for many years.

Respectfully submitted, with our signatures duly recorded,

St. Perer’s Ev. Lura. Caurcu, Goopaur, Mmm.
ARTHUR DREVLOW, Pastor .

Goop SuerHerp LurHeran Cuurcu or Berwyn, Iz,
By Irvine H. Grouo, Chairman
THE Boarp or Expers or Curist Ev. Lutu. Cxurcy
At NortHuake, Itt.

Tuomas Bruce, Rosert Parker, Orro Scuutrz
Pastor ARNOLD R. REINKING, Parma, Ohio
Pastor F. E. Bartirne, Northlake, III.

Pastor ADALBERT OrscH, Wausa, Nebr.
Pastor F. L. TresKow, Dolton, II.

Pastor J. R. Sepparp, Tripp, S. Dak.

Pastor O. F. P. Wemvsacu, Baltimore, Md.
Pastor Cart J. Goerre, Pittston, Pa.

Pastor J. H. Beck, Fair Haven, Minn.

Miss Atma E. Lussxy, Detroit, Mich.

Pastor Emer. H. Prexet, Chicago, III.
Tracer E. L. Marquarpt, Chicago, Ill. i
Pastor ARTHUR F. H. Wiecert, Springfield, Ill.
Pastor Gro. ScHwEIkert, Okabena, Minn.

Pastor WAtLAcE H. McLaucatin, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Pastor A. C, Daums, Chicago, III.

Pastor Ernest T. Lams, D. D., Oak Park, Ill.
Pastor K. F. Lonrmann, Berwyn, Iil.

Pastor Emer. F’. E. Pascne, Hancock, Minn.

Pastor Emer. H. GucKEnBERrGER, Baltimore, Md.
P.E. KRreTZMANN, Pu. D., Cuba, Mo.

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INTERSYNODICAL AND DOCTRINAL MATTERS 455

[609]. ... Correct Synodical District Essay

Ww é'the undersigned members of Synod, would hereby call the
7 tention. of Synod to the following facts and request remedial

action. The Visible Side of the Church

In its Declaration the American Lutheran Church has said:
“we declare that (to speak of a visible side of the Church when
defining its essence) is not a false doctrine if by this visible side
nothing else is meant than the use of the means of grace.” (Pro-
ceedings, 1938, p. 223.)

‘ Lehre und Wehre in 1904 designated this definition of the
Church ‘“ynbiblical, contrary to the Confessions, and downright
absurd,” and showed how it can become “very detrimental to the
faith.” (Vol. 50, p. 443f.)

Our Synod therefore confesses in its Brief Statement: “in our
day some Lutherans speak of two sides of the Church, taking the
means of grace to be its ‘visible side.’ It is true, the means of grace
are necessarily related to the Church, seeing that the Church is
created and preserved through them. But the means of grace are
not for that reason a part of the Church; for the Church, in the
proper sense of the word, consists only of believers, Eph. 2:19-20;
Acts 5:14. Lest we abet the notion that the Christian Church in
the proper sense of the term is an external institution, we shall
continue to call the means of grace the ‘marks’ of the Church.”
(Par. 25.) “Not to be included in the number of open questions
are the following: the doctrine of the Church and the Ministry
... these doctrines being clearly defined in Scripture.” (Par. 44.)

But in an essay read to the 1949 convention of the Southern
California and the California and Nevada Districts of Synod, Dr.
W. A. Arndt says regarding this false teaching of the A.L.C::
“It is evident that here we are dealing with a question of termi-
nology.”

In short, what Missouri has always regarded as being a dif-
ference between truth and error and as a departure from the clear
teaching of Scripture is regarded by Dr. Arndt and the A.L.C.
merely as a “question of terminology.”

Antichrist

In its Declaration the American Lutheran Church has said:
“We accept the historial judgment of Luther in the Smalcald
Articles that the Pope. is the very Antichrist, because among all
the antichristian manifestations in the history of the world and
the Church that lie behind us in the past there is none that fits the
description given in 2 Thessalonians 2 better than the Papacy. ...