# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1959_S33
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

DOCTRINAL ESSAY 383

Moreover, for Paul and John and other writers of the New
Testament, “doctrine” is conceived of not only as a process of
commmunication. Rather, for Paul and John and others who con-
tributed to our New Testament, “doctrine” also has content; it
has, as it were, building blocks; it is something that can be and
should be known. Wholly apart from such injunctions as we quoted
above, we need think only of the New Testament epistles. Let us
cast a quick glance into Paul’s epistles to the Romans and to the
Ephesians. In the former Paul declares and elaborates that all
men, Jews and Gentiles, are under sin and what sin is; then he
presents that grand doctrine known as justification by faith with-
out the deeds of the Law; thereupon he speaks of the sanctified
Christian life, sanctified by the Spirit of God; then he speaks of
the certainty of the Christian faith; he also speaks explicitly of
God’s foreknowledge and predestination; finally he provides in
great detail directives for Christian life and conduct. In his Epistle
to the Ephesians Paul tells about the nature of the Christian
Church, that it is constituted of both Jews and Gentiles; but here,
too, he points out how Christians, who are members of the church,
need to live. Why is the New Testament so full of “doctrine”?
Because the apostles took seriously what Jesus had commanded
them when He met them in Galilee after His resurrection and told
them: “Go and teach, that is, make disciples of all peoples...
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you” (Matt. 28:19). Paul could, therefore, honestly tell the Ephe-
sian elders: “I have not shunned to declare to you the whole
counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). We think also of John, who in his
First Epistle calls attention to specific commands he had heard
from the Lord. These John had always preached. Yet he found
it necessary again and again to bring them to the attention of his
readers. We remember also that the apostles, filled with the Spirit
of Truth promised them by Jesus, spoke as that Spirit directed
them; for that Spirit brought to their remembrance all that Jesus
had told them, and led them into all truth.

To stress “doctrine” at the expense of personal faith and the
‘T_Thou” relationship between the Christian and God, or to stress
“doctrine” at the expense of the “proclamation of the Gospel,”
easily leads to formalism and a “dead” orthodoxy. Likewise, to
stress the “I-Thou” relationship at the expense of the “doctrine,”
or “the proclamation of the Gospel” at the expense of the “doc-
trine,” can lead to a vacuous and baseless enthusiasm. We over-
come both dangers by not separating what Scripture does not
separate. Perhaps Paul and Luther give us a cue how to keep
the two together. Paul writes to the Romans: “If. thou shalt. con-
fess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine