# LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters Minutes_St. Louis Missouri_May 15 1998_S1
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

2. What is the status of the following documents upon LCMS members today: Church and Ministry;
The Statement on Predestination; The Brief Statement; A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional
Principles?
3. Does current Bylaw 1.09, with its requirement that doctrinal statements be ratified by a two-thirds
majority of congregations, render null and void Resolution 3-01 from the 1973 Proceedings that
defined "A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles" to be "a more formal and
comprehensive statement of belief," along with Walther's Thirteen Theses on the Predestinarian
Controversy?
4. Is there any basis in fact for the claim that the question about which documents are binding upon
LCMS members is an open question within the Synod?
The response of the Commission to these questions was as follows:
1 . The attached resolution (2-21) adopted by the Synod in 1971, provides clarification with regard to
doctrinal resolutions and statements adopted by the Synod. Its provisions have not been rescinded
or modified.
2. The status is that reflected in the resolution cited above, as well as in the enclosed report of the
Commission on Theology and Church Relations issued in 1973.
3. Bylaw 1.09 does not render 1973 Resolution 3-01 null and void. It deals only with such statements
adopted in the manner prescribed subsequent to that time. It says nothing about previously adopted
statements.
4. No, there is no basis for such claim. It is true that Bylaw 1.09 differentiates between doctrinal
resolutions and doctrinal statements. However, the resolution adopted in 1971 speaks to the issue
you have raised, including the matter of dissent to adopted doctrinal resolutions. Furthermore, the
Guiding Principles for the expression of dissent provide direction for carrying out the provisions of
Bylaw 2.39, c, as well as those of Bylaw 1.09, c, 7-10.
The Commission believes that its response provides an answer to the questions posed.

155. Service of Women in Congregations (Ag. 2101): A District President had asked the following
question of the Commission:
"If a congregation's constitution and/or bylaws allow for a woman to serve as Chairman or ViceChairman under a job description which does not involve the distinctive functions of the pastoral office,
is the congregation in violation of the Synod's official position on the role of women?"
In responding to this question, the Commission noted that it was doing so in the light of the references to
these issues contained in documents prepared by the Commission on Theology and Church Relations and to
the opinion of the Commission on Constitutional Matters relative to these matters issued in 1970. The
Commission notes that in that opinion it is stated that ". . . the Commission on Constitutional Matters is
restricting itself to the position which the Synod has taken in this matter (de jure humano rather than de jure
divino - by human right rather than divine right) at this point. It is therefore assumed the Synod may further
define its position in the future, thereby making it necessary perhaps to refine suggestions being offered
herewith."