# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1973_S70
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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70 THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

XVI and XXVIII of the Augsburg Confession rather than
the Social Ministry Affirmations as the proper definition of
the church's relationship to political and social orders.

St. Pauu’s LurHeran Cuurcu
Fairmont. Minn.

Duane Roloff, Chairman
Herbert Haertel, Secretary

OTHER CONCERNS
2-78A

To Warn Against Denial of Inerrancy
of Scriptures

WuereaS, The brethren of the Lutheran Church in Aus-
tralia in their convention in October 1972 adopted several
theses regarding methods of Scriptural interpretation: and

WHEREAS, These theses speak to issues before the LCMS
today; and

Wuereas, These theses are Scriptural and Lutheran;
therefore be it

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod
adopt as its own the following statement derived from the
Lutheran Church in Australia regarding the inerrancy of
the Scriptures:

1. We understand inerrancy in the normal sense of free-
dom from all error and contradiction, “factual” as well as
“theological.”

2. Inerrancy is a matter of faith, not of rational proof.

3. Inerrancy applies to the original, first manuscripts of
the Biblical books. It does not pertain to errors of those
who copied Biblical manuscripts.

4. Inerrancy does not imply that the holy writers, while
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, did not retain dis-
tinctive features of their personalities. It also allows for
their use of contemporary methods of relating history and
for a phenomenological description of the world of nature,

5. The following ways of speaking of inerrancy are con-
trary to the sound doctrine of the Scriptures regarding its
truthfulness:

1. to speak of “errors" in the Holy Scripture:

2, to hold that what according to clear Biblical statements
“actually is or actually happened” may be regarded
as what actually is not or actually did not happen:

3. to adopt uncritically and to propagate all the claims of
historical criticism which often rest on or lead to an
unbiblical scepticism as to the historical bases of the
Christian faith:

4. to use modern knowledge as a means to judge any
Biblical statement and attack the authority of Scrip-
ture;

5. to make faith in the inerrancy of Scripture in any way
depend on the human certainty attained by rational
argument and demonstration:

6. to regard all statements of the Scripture as being of
equal value and importance:

7. to treat the Bible in such a way as though its divine
authority rendered historical investigation unimpor-
tant or irrelevant.

MT. OLIve LUTHERAN CHURCH
Anoka, Minn.

Leslie Wagner, Secretary
Carl Pullmann, Pastor

Identical:
2-78B

Redeemer Lutheran Church, Wayzata, Minn., Al Lavan-
ger, President; Edwin Grimm, Secretary.

2-79
To Reaffirm True Meaning of Inerrancy

Wuereas. The inerrancy of Scripture has meant in the
history of the church its absolute authority, reliability, and

truthfulness in everything that it asserts on any subject
whatsoever; and

Wuereas, The basis of such inerrancy rests upon the fact
that Scripture is God’s Word (ef. LC IV, 57: V, 76; FC SD
Rule and Norm, 13: XI, 35; Preface to the Book of Concord,
Tappert, p.8; ef. also Brief Statement, Art. 1: CTCR Report
“Revelation, Inspiration, Inerrancy,” Detroit Proceedings,
1965, p. 294): and

held consistently in our Synod and reaffirmed repeatedly, cf.
Cleveland 3-17 (1962 Proceedings, pp. 105—106), Detroit 2-18
(1965 Proceedings p. 96), and Denver 2-16 and 2-27 (1969
Proceedings, pp. 85—86 and 91): and

Wuereas, The St. Louis seminary faculty Statement on
Scripture of 1960 when speaking of Scripture does not pur-
port to offer a definition of the nature of Scripture's inerr-
ancy (cf. CTM, October 1960, Pp. 626—627); and

Wuereas, The editorial in the CTM (Sept. 1969, p. 527)
confuses the matter of Biblical inerrancy by offering two
different and contrary definitions of inerrancy; namely the
traditional one. somewhat distorted, and a new definition
which suggests that inerrancy means merely “that Scripture
infallibly accomplishes God's purposes and is, in this sense,
wholly reliable, trv , and trustworthy”: and

Whereas, The invention of such a new definition of in-
errancy not only confuses our Synod in its understanding
but also undermines the correct doctrine of the absolute
inerrancy and authority of Scripture: therefore be it

Resolved, That our Synod reject the new definition of
inerrancy in the CTM editorial as a pure and unwarranted
innovation which tends to confuse the correct understand -
ing of Biblical inerrancy; and be it further

Resolved, That Synod instruct all who teach in our syn-
odical schools and write for our synodical periodicals and
journals to desist from inventing, using, teaching, offering,
or experimenting with new and different definitions and
meanings of Biblical inerrancy: and be it further

The inerrancy of Scripture means the essential truthfulness
and reliability of Scripture. The Scriptures do not err and will
not lead us astray. We can trust these writings in all that they
say to us, for they differ from all other books in that they are
the Word of God.

Scripture indeed offers us the thoughts and words of men,
but of men guided and moved by the Spirit of God so that they
wrote God's inerrant Word. The inerrancy of Scripture per-
tains to all of Scripture, not only those portions which deal
with theological matters but also those portions which touch
upon history or the things of nature.

In fact all of Scripture, at least indirectly. pertains to Chris-
tian doctrine (2 Tim. 3:16: Rom. 15:4). This is why the in-
errancy of Scripture is so important to us in the Missouri Synod:
for Scripture is a unit. one book which points and leads, di-
rectly or indirectly, to Jesus Christ.

Christ and Scripture belong together. The Christ we love
and worship is the Christ of Scripture. The Scripture which
is the infallible, God-breathed source of our doctrine is the
Scripture whose center is Christ and through which we come
to believe in Christ (2 Tim. 3:15),

St. ANDREW LUTHERAN CHURCH

Flint, Mich.
Charles A, Gierke, Pastor

To Uphold Scripture

WHEREAS, We believe the Bible to be God's Word and
it actually happened: therefore we

Resolve, That we cannot condone any other belief or
teaching.
ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH
Plainview, Nebr.
Martin Hoyer, Pastor
Dennis Johnson, Secretary