# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1914_S21
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1914. 21

"Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either." (1 John 2:23.) "For though there are many that are called gods, and many lords, yet to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things and we in him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through him." (1 Cor. 8:5, 6.) Every so-called god beside the Holy Trinity is an idol; and every Christless worshiper is an idolater. We know, however, that an idol is nothing in the world. (1 Cor. 8:4.) So in fact everyone who is without Christ is also without God, a godless person.

The strangers who are without Christ and without God therefore also have no hope. They may dream up and imagine false hopes, but a well-founded hope they do not have. They cannot hope for forgiveness of sins, cannot hope for the blessed resurrection of their body, cannot hope for heaven. All these blessings come to us through Christ and only through Christ. "But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who sleep, that you sorrow not as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep through Jesus." (1 Thess. 4:13, 14.) The hope of those, however, who are without Christ comes to nothing.

Strangers have no rights to claim. But the strangers outside the commonwealth of Israel are more than strangers, they are enemies and rebels who have risen against God and his kingdom. To be carnally minded is enmity against God. "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed: Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us!" (Ps. 2:1–3.)

Strangers, however, can become citizens; they can renounce their former country and swear the oath of allegiance to their country of adoption. Thereby they share in all the blessings and privileges of the native-born citizens. How the population of our own country is a motley mixture of members of so many nationalities! But all enjoy the same rights, and all have an equal share in the government. So it is also in the kingdom of God. There, too, strangers from all nations are received as citizens. "In every nation whoever fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him." (Acts 10:35.) Sin had erected the great dividing wall; "for your iniquities have separated between you and your God." (Isa. 59:2.) When Adam had fallen into sin, he was separated from God and sought to hide himself from him; and God placed a cherub with a flaming sword before the Garden of Eden, to keep the way to the tree of life. (Gen. 3:24.) Through the forgiveness of sin, however, the dividing wall falls away, and the stranger finds admission into God's kingdom.