# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1879_S16
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 16 —

nity the character of orthodoxy, so long as the disposition prevails to put error away as soon as one is convinced of its contrariness to Scripture. An example of this from the Fathers is Augustine in his famous saying: "Errare potero, haereticus esse non potero" [I may err, but I cannot be a heretic]. To his weakness Augustine ascribed that he could err; to his unfeigned faith, however, he gave the confidence that he would not err so as to fall away, by obstinately holding to an error in spite of refutation; and that is what makes someone a heretic. If someone arises in a church communion who preaches false doctrine and seeks to introduce it into the Church, then love to the LORD, love to the Church, love to the false teacher himself must drive the other members to testimony and, if testimony and admonition are fruitless, to his exclusion, according to St. Paul's saying: "Put away from among yourselves him that is wicked." But if it is the case that a whole church communion should take a false position in doctrine and wanted to tolerate and hold fast to error in articles of faith, then the individual member in this communion who has better knowledge must rebuke not only the false teachers but the whole communion, even if it should put him out for it, as the Roman Church did to Dr. Luther and the Jewish synagogue to the Apostle Paul. If such an erring communion or synod is willing to hear testimony about its false position, but does not improve and does not put away what is false, then the person concerned must himself leave: first, for the sake of the evil appearance he would otherwise give; because everyone would think that he cannot mean it sincerely, otherwise he could not remain in such a communion, although it does not improve. Second, for the sake of the danger in which such a witness hovers. Every error is something very dangerous, and continued life in a church atmosphere pregnant with error gradually dulls the conscience again and is punished by God in that one finally falls back into error and into enmity against the orthodox Church, from which one had escaped.

From what has been said so far it is sufficiently clear that articles of faith can never be "open questions." And if it is demanded of us that we should recognize the theory of "open questions," then what is demanded of us is not the principle of the Lutheran Church, which is: Only truth and no error! but the principle of the Union, which is: Tolerate error alongside the truth! —

Thesis 15.

It is not in accordance with the Confession when a synod or larger church body does not work toward having the doctrinal and moral discipline willed by Christ and more exactly defined in Matt. 18:15–17 gradually come into force and practice in its congregations.