# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1928_S18
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

18 Proceedings of the thirty-first convention

To us men he has given it. We, who were under the Law, were thereby freed from
this obligation and acknowledged as children. The unfulfilled Law no longer
stands in the way of reconciliation with God.

Several thoughts we still want to emphasize in particular. That Jesus fulfilled
the Law of God perfectly is evident from many passages of the New Testament,
for example from the expressions that describe him as the Holy One, the
Righteous One, the Innocent One. The precious passage of the Epistle to the
Hebrews comes to mind at once: "For such an high priest became us, who is holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens."
For the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews this is an important point. He
contrasts Jesus with the high priests of the Old Covenant. They had to offer
again and again, and not only for the people's but also for their own sin; for
they were and remained poor sinful men. How entirely different it was with
Jesus, the Son of God, who was completely pure and holy and did not need a
sacrifice for his own person in the remotest degree! But if Jesus was
perfectly holy, then he fulfilled the Law of God. Over this point there is
hardly any dispute. Therefore no further quotations from Holy Scripture are
needed here. Further, God's Word testifies that Jesus accomplished this
fulfillment for us, as our substitute. The passage Gal. 4:4, 5, which we heard
a moment ago, teaches this quite clearly. Jesus was made under the Law, that we
might receive the adoption of sons. He did what we should have done but could
not do. Another important passage is Rom. 5:19: "For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be
made righteous." The obedience of Adam and the obedience of Christ are set
over against each other. As Adam's disobedience had the consequence that the
whole human race became sinful, so through the obedience of Jesus the human race
became righteous. Christ's righteousness was accordingly reckoned to us men as
though we ourselves had accomplished it. That implies that Jesus offered it to
God as our substitute in our place. So we can rejoice when we look at the Law
that barred our entrance into heaven. This obstacle is overcome; our High
Priest has accomplished what the Law demands. Cf. also Rom. 5:18.

It has been claimed that if this doctrine is proclaimed, all Christian morality
collapses; for who would still take the trouble to live as a Christian if
Christ has fulfilled the Law for us? Why do superfluous good works? Those who
speak so merely reveal their folly and their unfamiliarity with the nature of
Christianity, which has its root in a living faith in Jesus Christ and serves
him because it loves him and wishes to show itself grateful to him. More serious
is the objection that our reconciliation is ascribed solely to the bloody
suffering of Jesus; hence it is wrong to bring it into connection with his
fulfillment of the Law. We answer: It is indeed correct that redemption, and
with it reconciliation, is repeatedly ascribed to the death of Jesus. Rom. 5:10
says, for example: "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his
life." Here it is expressly attested that we are reconciled to God by the death
of his Son. But that forms no contradiction at all with our doctrine. The death
of Jesus is precisely the