LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1962, Page 30

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

:

30 DOCTRINAL-DEVOTIONAL ESSAYS

benefits of Christ and receive them by faith, so as to
be quickened by them. . For it signifies that the
will and mercy of God should be discerned in the cere-
mony.” Receiving the very ransom paid for his sins,
and believing, the communicant should be powerfully
reminded that Christ’s vicarious suffering and death
on the cross was for the remission of just his sins. Thus
the Lord, in instituting the Supper, ordained not only
a memorial supper but also a powerful means of grace.

God has entrusted His Word and sacraments to His
church. By these means of grace the church is to be
edified, built up, strengthened. Thus also with regard
to the Sacrament of the Altar. It is, according to Scrip-
ture, to be given only to those who have faith in Christ,
who can and will sincerely examine themselves as to
whether they attend it in true faith. It is a special
privilege of the real members of Christ’s true church,
the body of true believers grown to years of discretion.
The church therefore, as a steward and dispenser of
God’s mysteries, is to see to it that, so far as men can
tell, only worthy communicants, only sincere believers,
are admitted to the Lord’s Table.

Thus, in order to be true to Scripture, our church
must deny the Lord’s Supper, as our Catechism indi-
cates, to those who are known to be ungodly and im-
penitent, to those who have given offense and have not
removed it, to those who are not able to examine them-
selves, and to those of a different faith, since the Lord’s
Supper is a testimony of the unity of faith. The very
word communion, which means fellowship, implies the
union of the participants in the Lord’s Supper, and this
must be a unity of the spirit and of faith.

Listen to Luther’s words on this point: “It terrifies
me to hear that in one and the same church or at one
and the same altar both parties are to find and to
receive one and the same Sacrament and one party is to
believe that it receives nothing but bread and wine,
while the other is to believe that it receives the true
body and blood of Christ. And I often wonder whether
it is credible that a preacher or shepherd of souls can
be so hardened and malicious as to say nothing about
this and to let both parties go on in this way, receiving
one and the same Sacrament, everyone according to his
own faith, ete.”

And again Luther, and finally: “The Holy Sacrament
serves as a means whereby Christ holds His little flock
together. The teachers of old have had some fine
thoughts about this matter. They have said that Christ
purposely used bread and wine for His Supper. For
every kernel of grain has its own body and form, but
they are ground together and become one bread. Just
so every human being is an individual and a creature
apart from the others. But in the Sacrament we are,
as it were, baked into one cake; for there we have the
same faith, the same confession, love, and hope. The
same thing applies to the wine. There are many grapes
and little berries, and each has its own body and form.
But when they turn to wine, the inequality no longer
exists; for the wine is one fine, beautiful juice. Chris-
tians, too, should be like this. Thus the fathers have

explained it, and to do so is not wrong. For the Sacra-
ment is to serve as a means to hold the Christians
together in the same understanding, doctrine, and faith,
so that nobody should be an individual kernel apart
from the rest and have his own doctrine and separate
faith. For the devil takes no holiday. He loves to
tear this unity and equality to shreds, because he well
knows how much injury is done him when all of us
believe the same thing and cling to one Head.”

Forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation and all their
resultant blessings — truly a wonderful gift our Lord
Jesus Christ gives us in this Sacrament! Giving us to
eat and drink the very body and blood given into death
for us, could He tell every individual among us more
impressively, more comfortingly, you were redeemed by
Me; here is My death for you? May we gladly confess
our faith in the sublime mystery of His Holy Supper
and come often to His table to receive the benefits
from it. May we do so as members of the Holy Chris-
tian church “till with the saints above we may reach
His feast of love.”

VI
Unionism and Proper Practice

Herbert J. A. Bouman
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

A survey of the topics presented to the convention
during these days suggests that they were chosen be-
cause they are important or because they are live issues
in our church today. Both of these conditions are cer-
tainly true of today’s topic. A review of our synodical
literature (books and periodicals) and conference and
convention essays reveals a constant preoccupation with
the topic of unionism. Discussion of the question be-
came especially acute in the time that spans the two
Cleveland conventions of this century, or approximately
since our Synod reestablished contacts with other Lu-
theran bodies.

It is beyond question that our fathers were moti-
vated by thoroughly proper concerns. They were deeply
conscientious about their relation to the Lord, about
their responsibility toward the doctrine and the people
entrusted to them, and eager to be true to their con-
victions in their relations with those who taught and
practiced otherwise. They were wholeheartedly com-
mittted to the Word of God and the Lutheran Confes-
sions. They loved the Lutheran heritage and felt in
conscience bound to do all in their power to preserve
it and to pass it on intact to their children. They were
convinced that the church of our Lord Jesus Christ
could be built in a completely God-pleasing way only
by loyalty to the Scriptures and the Lutheran Sym-
bols. Their paramount concern was to safeguard the
purity of the Gospel so that none of its alone-saving
power would be lost. And they acted in accordance
with their convictions. In proportion to their love for
the Word of God and its unadulterated promulgation
they hated every manifestation of unscriptural doc-
trine and practice.

\