LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 388

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388

THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS

To the extent that love controis ther conduct. Christians seek out
feiiow believers in Jesus Christ in order to build them up and to be built up by
them iRom. 1:11-12). Love rejoices with those who rejoice, it weeps with
those who weep (Rom. (2:15: 1 Cor. 12—13). It works to strengthen the
weak. encourage the strong, and admonish the erring (Gal. 6:1-2). Above all,
:1 seeks to help feliow believers remain faithful to Christ and to His Word.
This iove may in certain situations lead members of the church to separate
themse.ves from feliow Christians and even to exercise church discipline,
altnough it be with many tears (1 Cor. 5:5; 2 Cor. 2:4)

6. For the Sake of the Spiritual Unity of the Church

Error in the understanding and use of the Scriptures threatens unity
with Christ and with the saints. Since teachings contrary to God's Word lead
away from Chnist and not to Him, it :s necessary that the Gospel be preached
purel, and the sacraments administered rightly. Love for Him who is the
Truth and for the saints for whom He died will have nothing to do with
subverting or compromising in any way the only means through which
Chrisnans are made one with Christ and with one another

Members of the body of Christ are therefore commanded by God to
seek external unity in the church for the sake of the spiritual unity of the
church. The Holy Scriptures exhort Christians to teach sound doctrine as it
Is given in the writings of the prophets and apostles and to defend and
preserve the Gospel against all error. It is for the sake of the spiritual unity of
the church that the Old Testament prophets repeatedly speak out against
false prophets and their false teachings (e. g., Deut. 13:1-5; Jer. 9:13-15). Iris
for the sake of the spintual unity of the church that Jesus Himself warns
against false prophets who come in sheep's clothing (Matt. 7:15; cf. Acts
20:28:30! and commissions His disciples to “observe all that I have
commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). It is for the sake of the spiritual unity of
the church that St. Paul condemns those who “pervert the Gospel of Christ”
(Gai 1:7), that he stresses the necessity of avoiding those who create
“dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have
been taught” (Rom. 16:17), and that he encourages his co-worker Titus to
“hold firm to the sure Word” and rebuke “sharply” those who “reject the
truth” (Titus 1:9-16).

Moreover, the Gospel which Christians cherish they are also to
proclaim. The church’s commission to proclaim the Good News is part of
God's plan to unite all things together in Christ (Eph. 1:3-10, 3:7-10)
Believers are God’s chosen witnesses (Acts 1:8). Through the Word which

®Cf. Martin Franzmann, “Exegesis on Romans 16:17 ff.,”
Concordia Journal. Vol. 7, No. 1 (January 1981), pp. 13—20.

12

qualification of the divine authority of Scripture (for example, through the
use of historical criticism as it has been developed over the past two hundred
years in the investigation of Scripture) endangers the Gospel in the narrow
sense and consequently the unity of the church

4. Good works flow out of faith and are responses to the Gospel
(John 1521-31: 17:17; Eph. 4:1-3; Gal. 5:6; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:14; 4:7-12.Cf
AC. XX, 27-34; Ap, IV. 74, 106, 111; XII, 37, 82, FC Ep. IV. 11, FC SD, HI. 27.
IV, 9-12). Justification comes before sanctification. Apart from faith in the
Gospei there can be no good works. But when the Holy Spirit is given
through faith, the heart is moved to do good works. In the same way that faith
precedes good works. it 1s proper and necessary to speak of the priority of
the truth of the Gospel over love

5. Love, which heads the list of “the fruit of the Spirit,” always
seeks the edification of the members of the body of Christ (Gal.
5:22-25:6:1:5:1 Cor, 8:1, 13:4-7; 14:12; 2 Cor. 2:4; Rom. 15:1-3; 12:9-13; Eph
415-16; Col. 3:14-15. Cf. Ap, IV, 125, 225-226, 231-232; FC SD. IV, 10-12).
Love. which is a response to the Gospel, stands uppermost in the realm of
sanctification {1 Cor. 13). But because love always seeks the edification of the
members of Christ’s body, it manifests itself in a variety of ways, depending
on the situation and need. At one time it shows itself in tears, at another time
in rejoicing, at yet another time in admonition, but never by compromising
the means by which the spirtual unity of the church comes into being.

6. The confession of the apostolic faith (fides quae)! as it is
taught in the Scriptures is mandated by God for the sake of the
edification and extension of Christ’s body, the church (Matt. 28:18-20.
1 Tim. 1:3-5:6:3 £, 2 Tim, 2:14-18; Acts 20:28-32; Gal. 2:4-5, 14, Eph. 4:14-16;
Heb. 13:9. Cf. Preface to The Book of Concord, p. 13; Preface to Apology,
15-17; Ap. XX, 6-8; FC SD, Rule and Norm, 14 f.). Faith in the heart (fides
gua} continues to be saving faith as long as it has as its object the Scriptural
Gospel of Jesus Christ. God therefore commands that the church teach and
confess the faith (fides quae) as it has been recorded by the prophets and
apostles in order that the body of Christ may be edified and extended.

7. Church fellowship (in the sense of external unity in the
church) is constituted by agreement in the faith which is confessed
(fides quae) and not by faith in the heart (fides qua)!? (Matt. 3:12;
13:24-30, 36-43, 1 Cor. 1:10. 2 Tim. 1:13-14; 2:19; Gal. 2:9; Acts 2:42. Cf. Ap.
Vil and VIII, 12-13, 17-19; Preface to The Book of Concard, p. 6; FC SD, XI,
94-96, FC SD. VII, 33, FC SD Rule and Norm, 14; FC SD, Rule and Norm, 1).
Faith in the heart (fides qua) is, to be sure, presupposed in those who confess

*2See note 10 above.
:3 There is no Scriptural evidence to indicate that external
unity in the church necessarily implies organizational unity

the church proclaims, people actually receive forgiveness for their sins and
become fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household
{Eph. 2:19)

B. SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES OF FELLOWSHIP®

1. Spiritual fellowship with Christ and with all believers is given
with faith in the heart (fides qua)‘*(1 Cor. 1:2; John 10:16; 17:20-21;: Rom.
3:28; 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:4 £., Eph. 1:15-23; 2:8-9, 4:3-6; Gal. 3:26-28: 1 John
1:1-4. Cf. AC, VII, 2: Ap, Vil and VHI,5,31; SC, I], 5}. All Christians are united
in a spiritual unity with Christ by faith in the heart (fides qua). As members of
the one holy Christian church they are also one with every other Christian
who lives or who has ever lived on the face of the earth.

2. Faith in the heart (fides qua) comes into being through the
power of the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel (Mark 16:16;
Rom. 1:16-17; 10:17; 1 Cor. 1:21; 4:15; 12:3; 2 Thess. 2:14; John 17:20; Titus
3:5; 1 Peter 1:23. Cf. AC, V; AC, Vil. 1, 2; IX, 1.2: XII, 1; Ap, VII and VIIE, 8
SC. Il, 6; IV, 1-14.) The word Gospel is here used in its narrow sense (i. e..
“the delightful proclamation of God's grace and favor acquired through the
merits of Christ”).‘' Faith in the heart (fides qua) is produced not by: the
teaching that the Bible is a holy book, not by the acceptance of the inerrancy
of Scripture, and not by concern for pure doctrine, but only by the Holy Spirit
working through the means of grace, i. e. Word and sacrament

3. For the church today Holy Scripture is the only judge, rule,
and norm of the Gospel (Ps. 119:105; Luke 1:1-4; John 20:31, Rom. 1:2;
15:4; 1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3:15-16; Gal. 1:8. Cf. LC. V, 31-32; Ap, IV, 81, Ap,
XV, 17;FC Ep, Rule and Norm, 1-2; FC SD, Rule and Norm, 3;SA. II, ii, 15).
Although the first proclamation of the Gospel preceded the writings of the
prophets and apostles, for us today in the post-apostolic church Holy
Scripture is the only norm for the preaching and teaching of the Gospel. The
Holy Spirit creates faith in the heart through the Scriptural Gospel. Any

°Cf. “A Lutheran Stance Toward Ecumenism,” A Report
of the CTCR, 1974, pp. 9 f., for a more extensive treatment of
what the Lutheran Confessions teach about church fellowship.

10Theologians use the Latin phrase fides qua creditur
(“the faith by which one believes”) and fides quae creditur (“the
faith which is believed”) to distinguish between faith understood
as the believer's trust in God’s redemptive activity in Christ (fides
qua) and “faith” understood as the body of Christian doctrine
(fides quae).

SEC Ep, V,7.

faith in the Gospel. However. if this faith in the heart constituted church
fellowship, it would be impossible to speak of church fellowship in the sense
of external unity in the church, since spiritual fellowship in the body of Christ
is a matter of faith in the heart (Thesis I) and is hidden from human eyes. +
According to the Scriptures, external unity in the church is a matter of the
right confession of the prophetic and apostolic faith

8. The refusal to affirm church fellowship (in the sense of
external unity in the church) with those who do not confess the faith
(fides quae) as it is taught in the Scriptures is not an optional matter
but a Scriptural mandate (Rom. 16:17-20; Gal. 1:6 f.. Matt. 7:15-16: Acts
19:8-10: Titus 1:9-16; 2 John 9-11: 2 Thess. 3:14: Treatise, 41-44: FC SD. X.
21 £: AC. XXVIII, 21-26, FC SD. VII. 33). Just as the law of Christan love
leads members of the body of Christ to assume that faith (fides qua) exists in
the heart of all those who profess faith in the Gospei (narrow sense!. so :t
also, in the interest of the Gospel and that faith. forbids the affirmation of
church fellowship where there is alack of agreement in the confession of the
faith (fides quae}. ‘* Although the Scriptures do not present a timetable or

4Cf. Peter Brunner, “The Realization of Church Feliow
ship.” The Unity of the Church: A Symposium (Rock Island, 1]
Augustana Press. 1957), p. 13. Brunner writes: “The unity of the
church is unquestionably constantly given. The unity of the
spiritua! body of Jesus is indestructible When we take this
seriously, we cannot formulate our task in the ecumentca!
consultations to be the establisning of the unity of the Church of
Jesus Christ. Contrariwise, we must derive our ecumenicai
obligation from the unity of the church that is continually given
We should not formulate our task in such a way as to say that we
have to make the unity of the church of God visible on earth. For
we cannot visibly draw the lines of division which truly separate
the living members of the body of Jesus from those who will not
inherit the kingdom of God. This line of separation is seen now
only by the eye of God. Therefore the unity of the Church of God
will only first be manifest for our eyes in the apocalyptic revelation
of the kingdom of God.”

>Cf. ibid., p. 20: “For the sake of men’s salvation. the
church stands under the command to preserve clearly the
apostolic Word, and thereby, the mark of apostolicity at its
center. In obedience to this principal ecclesiological command.
the church must repudiate all false doctrine. In obedience to this
command, it must refuse to grant church fellowship where
agreement cannot be reached on the content of the Word which
1s to be proclaimed as the apostolic message and faithfully
administered in its sacraments.”