# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1959_S34
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

34 DOCTRINAL ESSAY

heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom. 10:9, 10)

Thus Paul joins in one statement the confession made by the
mouth, which necessarily has doctrinal implications, and faith
which proceeds from the heart, which also has doctrinal im-
plications.

We can also learn from Luther. In his explanations of the
articles of the Apostolic Creed, Luther begins each explanation
with “I believe.” This is followed by a “that” clause in which
Luther enumerates what the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
are and do. But in these “that” clauses Luther injects the “me”
and the “my,” thus involving the personal faith of the Christian
in his confession of faith. Luther says: “I believe that God has
made me and all creatures... .” “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... .”
“I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in
Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Ghost has
called me by the Gospel,” ete. Then Luther speaks of the church:
“Even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole
Christian church... .”. Thus we note in these explanations a con-
fession of the content of the Christian faith, but also stress on the
personal relationship of the believer to the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost.

_ But Paul emphasizes not only the fact of “doctrine.” He not
only is concerned about transmitting to Timothy as a sacred trust
the totality of “doctrine” which he had preached and taught on
all his travels. He is concerned also about “sound,” that is, “healthy,
wholesome, true, right,” doctrine (1 Tim.1:10; 2 Tim. 4:3; Titus
1:9; Titus 2:1). His doctrine (2 Tim.3:10) is the “doctrine of
God, our Savior” (Titus 2:10). It is the “doctrine” which is “ac-
cording to godliness” (Titus 2:10), that is, the doctrine which is
in conformity with the Christian faith (see Joachim Jeremias, Die
Briefe an Timotheus und Titus [Das Neue Testament Deutsch].
Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1949, p.35). For that reason
Paul calls the “doctrine” “good,” that is, faultless and precious,
doctrine: “If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these
things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished
up in ‘the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast
attained.” (1 Tim. 4:6)

But, alas, as there is little interest in our day in “doctrine” as
such, there is less interest in the ascertainment of “sound” and
“good” doctrine. I must call attention, however, to a notable
exception.- That exception is the North American Conference on

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