# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1894_S20
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

20 Proceedings of the fifteenth convention

they the true core of the whole Old Testament. They wanted to be sons of Abraham, the true Israel, but this was to be accomplished by works-righteousness, for of right works they know nothing, Matt. 23:23. Their works-righteousness was not even one that took its pattern only from the law of God, but one that wants to bring about a new holiness and righteousness with all sorts of inventions of their own about tithes, washings, hours of prayer, etc., Matt. 23:16 ff., Luke 11:38, 39, 42. An eminent holiness was to be brought about. The adversaries of the Lord also spoke of the kingdom of God, and very copiously, and waited for it with the whole people. But that is not the, in their opinion, wretched kingdom of God that Christ preached, this kingdom without any outward show; this kingdom whose children are not to resist evil — whose children are indeed the scapegoats of all the world, but nevertheless blessed, since within them is the glorious kingdom of God: peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. They, too, push it much higher with the Spirit; they want to bring it to a visible kingdom, where in place of suffering wrong and giving up one's coat Jewish patriotism rules; where it is not said: Render to the emperor what is the emperor's, but: We set our foot on the neck of all. And whoever accepts this way of making Israel happy is a child of the kingdom; whoever hears and believes such preaching, as the highest main article (Matt. 22:17 and John 8:33), is a true Israelite and has the Spirit. To make one's mouth water for great things, as Luther describes it, enthusiasm taught the adversaries of Christ. —

Let us hear the apostles. St. Paul certainly preached the Gospel. And yet he had to do with adversaries who were puffed up with the conceit of wisdom and alleged special knowledge of the Spirit, and who moved the goal away from the true Christians (Col. 2:19), that is, gave them a different goal. His adversaries said: Paul does not understand it, but we have revelations of the Spirit, can boast of another art of the Spirit; we have a better preaching, accomplishing quite other, high things (1 Tim. 6:20, 21), through which you attain to a spirituality, renunciation of the world, conquest of the world, elevation above the world, like the angels (Col. 2:18, 23). The enthusiasts thus asserted against Paul: His doctrine is of no use, through our doctrine you attain to an angel-pure holiness already in this life. St. Paul could with right (Acts 20) say: "I have preached the kingdom of God"; but the perverse people said: His kingdom and gospel is a beggar's trifle, only we teach perfection. If one looks at Paul and his opponents according to the reports of the apostles, one has the prototype of the spectacle that was played out at the time of the Reformation, when Münzer, looking down from the throne of his new spirituality upon Luther, in the title of one of his writings spoke of Luther in this manner: "Highly Occasioned