Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Sheet 567
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Sheet 567

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

536 THEOLOGY OF FELLOWSHIP

of circles which had been greatly influenced by rational-
ism. others bore the stamp of pietistic influence, and yet
others were so-called Old Lutherans, who were very
loyal to the Lutheran Confessions. Still others held
mediating positions.

The question which these synods had to face was
whether, in view of their doctrinal differences they could
be in church fellowship with one another. The struggles
of the various synods for church union, whether by
merger, or at least by the establishment of pulpit and
altar fellowship. were long and arduous. The meaning
of subscription to the Lutheran Confessions became a
matter of debate. The degree to which Lutheran pastors
and Lutheran congregations were to be bound by the
Lutheran Confessions was not understood in the same
way by all. Moreover, individual synods tended to
change their attitudes in this matter with the passage
of time. Sometimes a group would grow more conser-
vative, sometimes more liberal in the understanding and
application of its obligation to the Lutheran Confessions.

In every case the understanding on the part of a
synod of its confessional obligation had a strong in-
fluence on its understanding and practice of church fel-
lowship.**

1. Confessionalism and Church Fellowship in
The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod
and in the Synodical Conference

The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod came into
being as a strictly confessional Lutheran body. Its pas-
tors subscribed to the whole Book of Concord, not inso-
far es (quatenus), but because (quia) it is a true and
unadulterated statement and exposition of the Word
of God.

The Missouri Synod was not, however, separatistic,
but its leaders sought to draw all Lutherans in America
together on the basis of the Lutheran Confessions. They
tried to achieve this in accord with the pattern of the
colloquies held in Germany and other European coun-
tries during the decades following the Reformation. This
was in harmony with the previously quoted statement in
the Preface to the Book of Concord (see above, pp. 17 f.).

Dr. C. F. W. Walther and his co-workers were fully
cognizant of the difference between erring Christians
and erring churches on the one hand, and heretics on
the other. In this they were in agreement with the un-
derstanding of heretic and heresy as previously set forth
from the writings of St. Augustine and Luther.1”

Colloquies were held between members of the Mis-
souri Synod and members of the Buffalo Synod at
Buffalo, N. Y., in 1866. and between representatives of
the Missouri Synod and of the Iowa Synod in Milwau-
kee, Wis., in 1867.

At the Milwaukee Colloquy all sessions were opened
with a liturgical service."

Free conferences for members from all Lutheran
groups who “subscribed to the Augsburg Confession
without reservation” were held for the purpose of dis-
cussion of doctrine at Columbus, Ohio, in 1855; at Pitts-

burgh, Pa., in 1857: at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1858; and at
Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1859."

These free conferences were all opened and closed
with liturgical services."

While the free Lutheran conferences among Lu-
therans who subscribed to the Augsburg Confession
without reservation did not succeed in uniting all the
synods which were represented at the free conferences,
they were instrumental in bringing about the organiza-
tion of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference
of North America in 1872.

2, The Confessional Principle in The Lutheran Church
— Missouri Synod and in the Evangelical Lutheran
Synodical Conference of North America

Missouri, which had come into being as a body
strictly loyal to the Lutheran Confessions, had for
decades stressed:

a. That the Confessions must be subscribed to quia,
not quatenus, i.e. because, not merely insofar as,
they are correct expositions of the Scripture;

b. That all doctrines taught in the Confessions are
binding:

c. That subscription to the Confessions must be im-
plemented by corresponding public teaching (pub-
lica doctrina) in pulpit, instruction room, semi-
nary, and in the church's publications. and that
all who departed from this norm were to be dis-
ciplined.

i. Evaluation of This Principle

Point a. of the above position which calls for un-
qualified subscription to the Lutheran Confessions. is
necessary in order that a congregation may have the
assurance that its pastor is really a Lutheran pastor,
who will preach the Lutheran doctrine. The so-called
quatenus subscription would open the floodgates to
arbitrariness in doctrine.** Point b. is necessary for the
same reason.

Point c. which stresses that Lutheran doctrine must
not merely be subscribed to on paper, but must actually
be taught in pulpit, instruction room, and in the church's
seminaries and publications, is wholly in accord with
the Augsburg Confession, which, according to the Ger-
man version, lays the stress on publica doctrina when
it Says:

. it is sufficient for the true unity of the Christian

church that the Gospel be preached in conformity with
a pure understanding of it...

ii. Churchly Practice As a Criterion
for Church Fellowship

Along with unqualified subscription to the Lutheran
Confessions as well as public teaching in accord with
the Confessions a third principle of church fellowship
is stressed in the writings of the fathers of the Missouri
Synod. It is this that also the churchly practice must
be in harmony with the confessions.

Principles basic in the thinking of the fathers of the