# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1954_S32 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) ESOT ea BAEC a ON RIM AEE ag OE AN ART BEES A SEE LE SEDER GSES SESSION SSE 82 Proceedings of the Forty-Third Convention, writers infallible recorders of the hitherto unknown will of God towards men, in no way inspired them to be teachers of astronomy, or geology, or physics. These spheres do not belong to revelation.” (The Authority of Scripture, 1945.) On the basis of such statements we ask, What really constitutes the term “Holy Scriptures”? All the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testaments, in all their parts and in every single word, or merely those parts wherein we feel that God revealed His infallible will to man? We become even more concerned about this question when we find that only last year a writer in an official magazine of the American Lutheran Church declared that the prayers of David in Psalms 59, 69, and 109 were “out of line with the spirit of Christ.” (Lutheran Stand- ard, February 21, 1953, p. 15). Does that mean that these Psalms were not inspired? The Brief Statement clearly rejects such distinctions when it declares: “We teach (also) that the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures is not a so-called ‘theological deduction,’ but that it is taught by direct statements of the Scriptures, 2 Tim. 3:16; John 10:35; Rom. 3:2; 1 Cor. 2:13. Since the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God, it goes without saying that they contain no errors or contradictions, but that they are in all their parts and words the infallible truth, also in those parts which treat of historical, geo- graphical, and other secular matters, John 10:35.” And again: “We reject the doctrine which under the name of science has gained wide popularity in the church of our day, that the Holy Scripture is not in all its parts the Word of God, but in part the word of man and hence does, or at least might, contain error. We reject this erroneous doctrine as horrible and blasphemous, since it flatly contradicts Christ and His holy Apostles, sets up men as judges over the Word of God, and thus overthrows the foundation of the Christian church and its faith.” Does the Common Confession provide similar safeguards? We quote its entire statement on the doctrine of Inspiration: “Through the Holy Scriptures, which God caused to be written by men chosen and inspired by Him, God instructs and assures us regard- ing His will for us. The Holy Scriptures constitute His Word to men, centering in the revelation of Himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ for our salvation. Through the Holy Scriptures God continues to speak to men in all ages until the end of time. He speaks as the infallible and unchanging God, whose message to mankind never changes. Since the Holy Spirit by divine inspiration supplied to the holy writers content and fitting word, therefore we acknowledge the Holy Scriptures in their entirety as the inspired Word of God. His Holy Spirit testifies in our hearts that His Word is true, that He will keep all His promises to us, and that our faith in Him is not in vain.... We therefore recognize the Holy Scrip- tures as God’s inerrant Word, and this Word of God alone shall establish articles of faith (cf. Smalcald Articles, Part II, Art. II). We pledge ourselves to teach all things taught in the Holy Scrip- tures, and nothing but that which is taught us by God in the Holy Scriptures.” The crux of the above presentation lies in the sentence: “Since the Holy Spirit by divine inspiration supplied to the holy writers content and fitting word, therefore we acknowledge the Holy Scriptures in their entirety as the inspired Word of God.”