# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1912_S13
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1912. 13

The apostle is not speaking of an unattainable ideal hovering and remaining in the air, but of a practice that can and must be carried out, when he exhorts the Christians: "Watch out for those who cause division and offense contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them!" —
But people exclaim: How can Christians — the simple Christians — recognize with certainty those who teach otherwise and distinguish between truth and error? It is precisely the simple Christians who can. Their Savior, who bids them abide in His word, has also put the means for it into their hand. Holy Scripture, the word of the prophets and apostles, is for Christians not a collection of riddles but a lamp to their feet and a light on their path. Christians can err in their thoughts, in their speech and in their judgment only when they put the light of God's Word under a bushel. When they use their light and right, when they hear and believe the speech of their LORD, they recognize the truth, and the truth makes them free from all bondage of human doctrine. The LORD says expressly that His sheep know the voice of their shepherd. But the voice of a stranger they do not know, but flee from him, John 10:3-5. Let us only remind one another to let the word of Christ dwell among us richly; then it makes even the simple wise.
Finally an objection is raised: But the success! The success of abolishing division in this way is, after all, very doubtful. One must despair of success when one looks at the past and surveys the present. Success, dear fathers and brethren, is not our affair but God's, who has prescribed to us this way of creating unity and removing division. Moreover, we also have no reason to complain about success. The Synodical Conference has worked not to divide but to gather. In spite of defection from it, it has grown steadily, and it is still the most numerous Lutheran church body in the United States. From the very beginning people have prophesied our downfall. In recent months this prophecy has been repeated. It will not come true. For two things above all we want to ask God. First, for humility. It is not our merit but God's grace alone that we do not teach otherwise but confess God's Word. This humility should also be noticeable in everything we say and write. Although we have the flesh in us, we ought nevertheless not to contend in a fleshly way. Nor do we want to treat everyone who occasionally goes astray immediately as a false teacher. It is no wonder, Luther explains, that someone in these high matters, which are so foreign to us by nature, sometimes has thoughts of his own and may err in the words. Luther confesses this of himself, and we will not withhold the same confession. But we are not to yield to our own thoughts, but at once to return again to God's