# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1973_S454
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

4

CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO

no precise parallel in
any other congregation
in apostolic times. If
that particular situation
had not obtained, Paul's
letters to the Corinthi-
ans might not have been
written at all, or, at
least, they would have
had a different complex-
ion.)

A book inspired by God

Lutherans, however, also
teach that the Bible is a
divine book.

while Lutherans recognize
that the Bible as an his-
torical phenomenon is open
to investigation by the
historian, they believe
and confess that there is
a not-of-this-world dimen-
sion to the Sacred Scrip-
tures, not discernible by
historical research.
Lutherans, therefore, do
not surrender the Bible

to the historian as though
he could by his methods
give a full account of the
origin and nature of the
biblical literature.

Lutherans will not admit
that the historian has the
last word to say about the
kind of a book the Bible
is. They will not permit
the historian to rule that
the Bible is the product
of precisely the same pro-
cesses that produce other
literature.

Lutherans believe that in
the history which occasioned
the writing of the biblical
literature God was active in
a unique way, so that there

is a "qualitative difference"

between the inspired Scrip-
tures and “every other forn
of human expression" (CTCR
Stance, p. 10, par. 5).

A perfect unity

Since God is their primary
Author, the Scriptures ditr-
fer qualitatively from other
literature in that thev pos-
sess such attributes as unity
and inerrancy.

Lutheran theclogy has al-
ways acknowledged that
there is a certain progres-
sien discernible in the

9

3.

A book about God

From the radical standpoint
it is impossible to regard
the Bible as God's Word
about Himself and His crea-
tures. Much less is the
Bible a revelation of di-
vine wrath and mercy in
which we expect to hear

God speak to us in judg-
ment and grace.

The Bible belongs to the

history of ancient Near
Eastern religious litera-

ture in general in which

we hear nothing but human
beings from long ago and

far away expressing their
world-picture and view of
human existence in mytho-
logical language. The

Bible is the kind of a book
in which human beings from
many different backgrounds
tried to express in the
language of mythology their
understanding of human exis-
tence and of man's place in
the total scheme of things.
They tried to express in the
categories of their time
what the total scheme of
things is.

The Bible is a useful re-
source for the study of an-
cient religious and philo-
sophical speculation, but

it is of no use as a source
of knowledge about the tran-
scendent or as an authority
on human history.

Diversity, contradiction,
and error

In substance as well as in
details, the Scriptures con-
tain the same degree of
diversity, contradiction,
and error that one expects
to find in all ancient his-
torical documents.

BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION

to

439

"Holy" Scripture

The mediating view freely
affirms that the theological
element in its explanation
ot the genesis of the bibli-
cal literature necessitates
certain presuppositions,
namely:

Because of the Holy Spirit's
connection with the history
that produced the Bible, the
Bible is Holy Scripture.
From the new perspective be-
stowed by the Holy Spirit
through Baptism, the Christian
student of the Bible has a
reverent attitude toward
these sacred writings. He
expects to hear God address
him in both judgment and
mercy through the Biblical
Word.

There is a very real sense in
which the Bible transcends
the history from which it
emerged. The Christian in-
terpreter must continually
take into account that the
Scriptures, precisely in
their historical character,
are Holy Scriptures since
they are the product of the
Spirit who produces in his-~
tory that which is not of
this world.

Faith approaches the Bible
persuaded of its "not-of-
this-world" character and
regards the biblical writings
as the Scriptures of God.

Unity of witness

"Unity" may not be ascribed
to the Scriptures in the same
this was done in former
“uncritical” ages. One may
speak of the Bible's unity at
the level of its witness to
God's judgment and mercy, but
not at the level of agreement
in all its teachings.

way