# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S115
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

CHURCH RELATIONS 115

all orthodox Christians teach that the Bible is the
verbally inspired, inerrant Word of God:

When ye received the Word of God which ye heard of

us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in

truth, the Word of God (1 Thess. 2:13). All Scripture is
given by inspiration of God (2 Tim.3:16 [The Greek pas-
sive used here can be translated, “breathed of God”]).

The Scripture cannot be broken. (John 10:35)

I and my neighbor and, in short, all men, may err and

deceive, but the Word of God cannot err. (The Large

Catechism, Baptism, Par. 57)

The Scriptures cannot err. (Martin Luther, Saemmtliche

Schriften, XIX, 1073. St. Louis: Concordia, 1881)

Since the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God, it goes

without saying that they contain no errors or contra-

dictions, but that they are in all their parts and words
the infallible truth, also in those parts which treat of
historical, geographical, and other secular matters, John

10:35. (Brief Statement, Par. 1)

Whether a person takes the Christian attitude toward

Scripture and lets Scripture be the Word of God, is seen

at once from the attitude he takes as to the possibility

of error in Scripture. Christ very definitely rules out
the possibility of an error in Scripture when He says:

“The Scripture cannot be broken.” (Francis Pieper,

Christian Dogmatics, I, 280. St. Louis: Concordia, 1950)

It is absolutely necessary that we maintain the doctrine

of inspiration as taught by our orthodox dogmaticians.

If the possibility that Scripture contained the least error

were admitted, it would become the business of man

to sift the truth from the error... .. The least deviation
from the old inspiration doctrine introduces a rationalistic
germ into theology and infects the whole body of doc-

trine. (C. F. W. Walther, Walther and the Church, p. 14.

St. Louis: Concordia, 1938)

The American Lutheran Church accepts all the canonical

books of the Old and New Testaments as a whole and

in all their parts as the divinely inspired, revealed, and
inerrant Word of God, and submits to this as the only
infallible authority in all matters of faith and life. (The

Constitution of The American Lutheran Church, Art. IV,

quoted in Toward Fellowship: The Current Quest of The

Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod and The American

Lutheran Church for Altar and Pulpit fellowship, p. 25.

Available from Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis,

Mo.)

[The Handbook of The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod (Bylaws, IV) says that all pastors and professors of
the LCMS] shall be solemnly pledged to the Scriptures as
the inspired and inerrant Word of God;

Wuereas, A good number of officials, pastors, and
professors within The American Lutheran Church re-
ject the Scriptural doctrine of the real inerrancy of the
Bible (some of these ALC clergymen were elected to
prominent positions within the ALC by general conven-
tions of The ALC after it was a matter of public knowl-
edge that they denied the doctrine of the inerrancy of
the Bible)

1. “We who teach at Lutheran College cannot sub-
scribe to scriptural inerrancy because our knowledge
of Scripture prevents us from making such a claim.”
(Dr. Paul Jersild, Assistant Professor of Religion at
Luther College, ALC, Decorah, Iowa, “What Are Those
Theologians Saying?” Luther, Vol. 4, Spring 1967, No. 2.
Luther is a quarterly publication of Luther College.)

2. A survey published in the July’ August Trans-
Action of Washington University, St.Louis, revealed
that only 23 percent of “American Lutheran” clergy-
men accepted the doctrine of the inerrancy of the Bible,
while 76 percent of the “Missouri Synod Lutheran”
clergymen accepted this doctrine. The questionnaire

was sent to more than 10,000 parish and campus clergy-
men in six denominations. The data in Trans-Action
was based on the returns of 7,441 clergymen. These
clergymen were asked whether they agreed with this
statement: “Scriptures are the inspired and inerrant
Word of God not only in matters of faith but also in his-
torical, geographical, and other secular matters.” The
survey also said that only 41 percent of the “American
Lutheran” clergymen agreed that “Adam and Eve were
individual historical persons.” Ninety percent of the
“Missouri Synod Lutheran” pastors who answered the
survey said that “Adam and Eve were real historical
persons.”

3. “The infallibility of the Scriptures is the infallibil-
ity of Jesus Christ and not the infallibility of the written
text” (The Bible: Book of Faith, by Theological Pro-
fessors of The American Lutheran Church, p. 148. Min-
neapolis: Augsburg, 1964. This book was prepared for
the Board of Parish Education and the Board of Publi-
cation of The ALC). Dr. C. Richard Evenson, Executive
Director of the ALC’s Department of Education, writes
in the book’s introduction: “In this book we can ‘listen
in’ on the seminary classroom and be instructed by our
theological professors on the nature and purpose and
central message of the Bible” (p.5). The following
anti-Scriptural teachings related to the doctrine of the
inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible are also ad-
vanced in The Bible; Book of Faith:

a. Isaiah did not write Isaiah, chapters 40--66 (pp.
43, 62, 76). This is contrary to John 12:37-41 and the
position always maintained by the LCMS (Proceedings,
1965, p. 103).

b. Daniel did not write the book of Daniel (pp. 46,
77, 78). This is contrary to Matt. 24:15.

c. Moses did not write the first five books of the
Bible (pp.67—79). This is contrary to John 5: 46-47;
Mark 7:10; Luke 16: 29, 31.

d. Historical factualness of Genesis 1-11 made
doubtful (pp. 54, 153). Jesus accepted the natural his-
torical interpretation of the first chapters of Genesis
(Matt. 19: 3-5).

e. Pauline authorship of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus
impugned (pp. 126—27). Paul was the author of 1 and
2 Timothy and Titus; 1 Tim.1:1: 2Tim.1:1; and Titus
1:1 (and further documented by others who are memo-
rializing the Synod on this matter); and

Wuereas, The theory that man and the world have
gradually evolved from some primary substance is con-
trary to Holy Scriptures:

1. Jesus said: “Have ye not read, that He which
made them at the beginning made them male and fe-
male?” (Matt. 19: 4)

2. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned.” (Rom. 5:12)

3. The Brief Statement, Par. 5:

We teach that God has created heaven and earth, and that
in the same manner and in the space of time recorded in