# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1973_S118 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 118 SEMINARY ISSUES evidences being incorporated and documented in the report of the Fact Finding Committee to the Board of Control and to the President of Synod; therefore be it Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod in convention in New Orleans, July 6—13, 1973, empower and order the President of Synod to deal directly with and discipline those professors and instructors who ignore the clear testimony of Scripture that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” consequently denying the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible and, as a result of such denial doubt the Scriptural account of creation, the historicity of Adam and Eve and the Fall into sin, the facticity of miracles, the immortality of man’s soul, the physical resurrection of Christ, Christ as the only way to heaven, etc.; and be it further Resolved, That those professors and instructors who will not teach according to the historic Lutheran position be re- lieved of their duties, TRIUMPHANT KiInG LUTHERAN CHURCH Lake Oswego, Oreg. Paul Meranda, Chairman Marvin Wagner, Secretary 3-13 To Reject St. Louis Faculty Statements and Gospel-Reductionism Wuereas, The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod in re- cent years has adopted Scriptural resolutions affirming: 1. Christ is the only way to heaven, and those who die without faith in Christ are eternally damned (Proceedings, 1965, Detroit convention, p. 99); 2. Old Testament prophecies of the Savior find their di- rect fulfillment in Jesus Christ (Proceedings, 1965, Detroit convention, p. 100); 3. The historicity of Jonah (Proceedings, 1965, Detroit convention, p. 100); 4. The Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (Proceedings, 1965, Detroit convention, p. 103; 1969 Denver convention, p. 84); 5. The unity of Isaiah (Proceedings, 1965, Detroit conven- tion, p. 103; 1969 Denver convention, p. 84); 6. The historicity of the New Testament (Proceedings, 1969, Denver convention, pp. 87, 88); 7. The verbal inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible (Proceedings, 1969, Denver convention, pp. 85, 93; 1967 New York convention, p. 95): 8. The vicarious satisfaction of Christ (Proceedings, 1967, New York convention, p. 95); 9. The immortality of the soul (Proceedings, 1967, New York convention. p. 95); 10. The resurrection of the flesh (Proceedings, 1967, New York convention, p. 95); 11. The historicity of the Genesis account of creation and man’s fall into sin (Proceedings, 1967, New York convention, p. 95); and WuerEas, The President and professors at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, have declared in public statements their beliefs concerning doctrines covered in these resolutions which are clearly contrary or at variance to the resolutions and their intent. No one comes to the Father but through Jesus Christ. At the same time, however. one should not condemn all teachings and practices of other religions. etc. [Faithful To Our Calling, Faith- ful To Our Lord, Part JI. 1973, pp. 81, 82] I believe that differences of opinion over the mode of crea- tion, the length of the creation days. whether Moses wrote the Pentateuch or not, whether there is more than one Isaiah, whether Jonah is a real history or a parable are useless logom- achies [word games] in a world where men are erying out for a word of comfort that the Gospel offers to confused and alienated sinners. [Faithful To Our Calling, 1973, Part II, p. 34] For example, the story of Jonah. ... But if a fellow Lu- theran sincerely believes this Old Testament Book is a parable, given to teach God's people of the Old Testament, I would not deny that individual fellowship, ... [Faithful To Our Calling, Part II, p. 64] There can be differences in interpretation of scripture. as for instance in the opening chapters of Genesis. even as there are different understandings of the type of literature and the un- derstanding of history found there ... [Faithful To Our Calling, Part II, p. 71] The Scriptures express what God wants them to say and accomplish what God wants them to do. In this sense and in the fulfillment of this function they are inerrant. infallible, and wholly reliable. [Faithful To Our Calling, Part II, p. 31, p. 55; “A Statement on the Form and Function of the Holy Scriptures.” Faculty, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, 1960] I do not think the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions are trying to define the resurrected body of Christ. The Holy Scriptures and Lutheran Confessions are concerned about the affirmations of the reality of Christ's resurrection. I do not think it is important for us to define what this physical resur- rection is... [Faithful To Our Calling, Part II, p. 82) and Wuereas, The St.Louis seminary president and faculty are promoting Gospel-reductionism. In other matters such as how to interpret specific Biblical texts, questions about authorship of Biblical books or the form of particular writings, hypotheses about sources or dating of Biblical materials, there can be legitimate differences of opinion, so long as the position does not contradict the doctrine of the Gospel. [P. 6] Scripture is rule and norm because its content is the Gospel. {P. 7. Faithful To Our Calling, Part II] I believe that The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod has and can live under diversity where the Gospel has not de- manded uniformity. [Faithful To Our Calling, Part II, p. 35} and Wuereas, The President of the St. Louis seminary has re- leased publications publicly which condemn and criticize un- warrantedly, contrary to the Eighth Commandment, the in- vestigation of the seminary by a committee selected by the President of Synod to look into these matters; and Wuereas, The faculty of the St. Louis seminary on April 4, 1972, released a Response to President Preus’ A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles, which was subse- quently endorsed by Synod’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations, and this Response found fault with A Statement theologically and having a spirit alien to Lutheran confessional theology; therefore be it Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod at its 1973 convention in New Orleans reaffirm the doctrinal resolutions adopted at the 1965, 1967, and 1969 convention referred to above; and be it further Resolved, That the following statements issued by the President of the St.Louis seminary and its faculty be re- jected as being fault-finding, divisive, and foreign to Mis- souri Synod Lutheran theology. 1. “Fact Finding or Fault Finding — An Analysis of Presi- dent J. A. O. Preus’ Investigation of Concordia Seminary” (by John H. Tietjen, President, Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis. Mo., dated Sept. 8, 1972); 2. “Response of the Faculty of Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis, April 4, 1972”; 3. Faithful To Our Calling, Faithful To Our Lord, Parts I and II— An Affirmation in Two Parts by the Faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, 1973; and be it further Resolved, That the evidence of Gospel-reductionism in the writings and teachings of the St. Louis seminary be dealt with by the convention in assembly at New Orleans. MEssiaH LUTHERAN CHURCH Kenosha, Wis. G. Buchholz, Pastor Harold Pape, President Francis Boness, Secretary 3-14A To Declare St. Louis Seminary Document Misrepresentative and Inadequate Wuereas, The document published by the faculty of Con- cordia Seminary, St. Louis, titled “A Witness to Our Faith,” grossly misrepresents the issues presently in controversy in our Synod by saying: “At the heart of the discussions in our Synod is the question of whether the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is the sole source of our personal faith and the center of our public teaching” (p.3) when in fact the ques- tion at the bottom of our problems is rather: “Are the pro- phetic and apostolic Scriptures in their entirety as they have come to us in the text of the Old and New Testaments the inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God which are, when understood in the native sense of their words and in- terpreted from their center (Christ), the absolute norm for all that the church teaches and does in God's name?”; and