# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1884_S51
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1884. 49

in a theological discussion (discursu) among Christians no going further. For every doubt in regard to religion is removed by the divine revelation in the mind of a Christian, and in it the faith of the same (namely the divine revelation) overcomes, rests and is grounded, in such a way that it frees the mind of him who assents to it from all fear and from all suspicion of deception and makes him certain." (Th. did.-polem. P. I. c. 3. s. 2. fol. 25.)

When in a doctrine we have come to Scripture, we should say: Now the matter is settled, and no one is to come to me any more with a But or a However; I am finished. Scripture is the Alpha and the Omega of all saving truth. From Scripture there can be no appeal to a higher court. Whoever, then, has his doubts not lifted by Scripture is a non-Christian. But as soon as he goes into Scripture, his doubts are lifted, if he is a Christian. Only through the Word do the last little splinters of doubt also come out. And only then will we, as honest people, fight a doctrine through, when we are divinely certain, that is, truly believe in it.

Very comforting is it that it is said of Abraham that he "was strong," not that he was strong in faith from the beginning. He too therefore first had to struggle with doubt. So if we too are not at once quite certain in a doctrine, let us only hold fast to the word of Scripture, and it will surely succeed with everyone that he will at last become quite certain of his matter. We should, however, also let ourselves be spurred by the threat of God, which he makes in Isaiah, to hold fast to the Word: "If they do not say this, they will not have the dawn," that is, they cannot be saved, but go about in the night of doubt and plunge at last into damnation.

Every doctrine that is not drawn from God's Word must necessarily produce doubt. Only God's Word gives certainty. What comes from reason can also be contested with reason. Hence there is no certainty but doubt in human doctrines. One of our opponents said publicly: "Whether I am elected in the strict sense I do not know." "Fear and hope," writes another, "are the two millstones between which a Christian finds himself." Therefore let us curse all human doctrine, because it leads to doubt. A Danish theologian once puts it thus in a little book: "A man becomes certain first from the Bible alone, for the Holy Spirit is in Scripture and takes him captive, compels him, so that he is bound to the text. Then the Holy Spirit drives him to confess this doctrine, once through the command in Scripture: you shall confess, and then through inner trial. When, for example, a Luther sees before him horror, hostility, contradiction and struggle, and wants to draw back, the Holy Spirit says: Go forward! For the trial and distress which he has when he