# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1902_S27
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1902. 27

[the] old pride of man that is always playing a trick on us here. Also the arch-enemy of men, Satan, is always busy stirring up the fire, increasing it, and indeed from the outset provoking it, so that when we catch ourselves at it and think we have found a contradiction in Holy Scripture, we have to humble ourselves again and again and beg God the LORD's pardon for having taken such a thing upon ourselves.

In the second to the fourth century of the Christian Church things went backward very soon with the doctrine. Even among the apostolic fathers a gross confusion of Law and Gospel is found. One cannot read the writings of the apostolic fathers and of the church fathers with undivided joy. But one must always rejoice over the respect these men had for Holy Scripture. For that very reason the Church of the first centuries stands so high above the Church of our time. In our time the authority of Holy Scripture has dwindled in outward Christendom: people do not respect it as God's revealed Word. Modern criticism makes the demand that it must be permitted "freely" to approach Holy Scripture and also to subject it to human criticism. This position we reject as one that is by no means fitting for a Christian theology. The whole Christian Church, and therefore the teachers of the Church too, have nothing further to do, by virtue of divine commission, than to confess God's Word. We do not have the task of testing God's Word in the sense as though we had to decide whether we will proclaim it as truth or not, whether it is truth or not. Whoever speaks in the Christian Church and lays claim to speak in its name has only to confess God's Word as it lies before us as a given quantity in Holy Scripture, as Peter also says: "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God." Whoever does not know that what he says is God's Word should keep his mouth shut in the Christian Church. — People talk of "prejudice-free" criticism which they wish to practice on Scripture. But in this respect there is no prejudice-free person; one is either for Holy Scripture or against it, just as one is either for Christ or against him. There is no man who could stand neutral toward Christ, and just as little one who could judge Scripture neutrally. People err greatly who say: I do not indeed believe in Christ, but I have nothing against him either, but even hold him in very high regard. Whoever does not believe in Christ as his Savior is simply against Christ and rejects him as the Savior of the world. It is just so with Holy Scripture. No one approaches it free of prejudice: if one is unbelieving, one is prejudiced against Holy Scripture, has a terrible prejudice against it, for the kernel and core of Scripture is the doctrine of the gracious forgiveness of sins solely for the sake of Christ's merit; and whoever