# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1928_S17
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1928. 17

the assertion that the doctrine of Jesus' high-priestly work actually
contradicts what he chiefly taught. People like to point to the parable of the
prodigal son and say that what is set forth there can never be reconciled with
the assumption that a special atoning sacrifice is necessary before we can find
acceptance with God. In this parable, they say, the sinner comes repentant to
God, and the Father's heart has long been ready to forgive him; he is received
with joy, and no thought at all is given to a mediator, a reconciler. It is
true that the atoning sacrifice of our High Priest is not mentioned here; but
is it thereby proved not to exist? In this parable Jesus wants to portray the
great, wonderfully glorious truth that the repentant sinner, even when he has
fallen deep, receives forgiveness. Jesus does not enter here into the question
of how the righteous God can forgive the sinner. This matter he discussed at
other times and on other occasions. In this parable he does not set forth how
God was reconciled, but only that he is in fact reconciled and gladly forgives
us our sins. So this objection too need not shake us in the least in our
holding fast to the core of the Gospel, Jesus' high-priestly sacrifice.

IV.

That Jesus brought about reconciliation we saw in the last thesis. The question
now arises: How did he do it? The thesis answers: By a twofold act, namely in
that as our substitute he fulfilled the Law and as our substitute suffered and
died. According to Scripture God demands from us the fulfillment of his Law.
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two
commandments hang all the Law and the prophets," says Christ. Thou shalt, it is
a performance that God demands and that we owe to him, our Creator. But as
certain as this is, it is just as firmly established that we are unable to
render this obedience to God's Law. Even those who are converted must cry out
with the Apostle: "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good
thing. To will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find
not." So this is the situation: God makes demands on us, and we cannot meet
these demands. The consequence is that the righteousness of God condemns us as
transgressors to eternal death. If we were to be helped, if a reconciliation
between God and us were to take place, the divine Law had to be satisfied, it
had to be fulfilled. That is now the one thing that Jesus has accomplished as
our High Priest, who reconciles us with God: he kept the Law of God in our
place. That is the clear doctrine of Holy Scripture. Paul writes in Gal. 4:4, 5:
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we
might receive the adoption of sons." Yes, in the fulness of time God sent his
Son, and indeed not merely in divine but also in human nature, namely born of a
woman. As God the Son was exalted above the Law and did not need to fulfill it.
It was given for the creatures and not for the Creator. But he placed himself
voluntarily under the Law and became obedient to it, thus accomplishing a
performance to which he was not obligated and which he could therefore apply
to others.