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LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1971, Page 53

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

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PRESIDENT’S REPORT 53

be regarded as valid and binding unless they are in con-
flict with the Word of God.

Nor is it adequate to assert that honoring and up-
holding our doctrinal statements and resolutions in-
volves no more than studying them to see how well
they apply the Gospel to contemporary problems.
A person who does not agree with the Synod’s doctrinal
resolutions or statements does not and cannot honor
and uphold them, and he can hardly conceal this fact
by claiming that he is merely testing the Synod’s ability
to apply doctrine. In her doctrinal resolutions, the
Synod is confessing her faith; and one either approves
and accepts her confession or he does not. There is
really no middle ground.

In the fifth place, to regard our synodically adopted
doctrinal resolutions and statements as having binding
force does not add to our doctrinal standards, the Scrip-
ture and the Confessions. Our doctrinal statements
merely agree with those standards by drawing out their
implications, explaining them when there is misunder-
standing or controversy, and interpreting them for a
modern situation. If synodically adopted doctrinal
statements do in fact set forth the teachings of Scrip-
ture, then they are most certainly “included in the
Synod’s confessional commitment,” for the Synod is
confessionally committed to everything taught in Holy
Scripture as the only rule and norm of faith and prac-

tice. To honor and uphold the doctrinal declarations of
the Synod is an act of love and fidelity which is both
Biblical and evangelical.

We are all agreed that our Lutheran Symbols are the
permanent pattern for doctrine in our Lutheran
churches, and according to the Symbols themselves they
are to remain so until the return of Christ. But such
claims in our Lutheran Confessions do not prevent the
church which subscribes to the Lutheran Confessions
from formulating new doctrinal statements which are
binding precisely because they conform to the Scripture
and the Lutheran pattern for doctrine. Rather, such
claims in our Confessions imply that such statements,
responding to the challenges of a future time, will be
forthcoming. The Confessions do not “close their own
canon.” They merely demand that all new doctrinal
statements, whether they be elevated to the status of
a new symbol (which has not happened since 1580) or
whether they merely serve in a temporary or Jocal situ-
ation (for example, Walther’s Thirteen Theses on Pre-
destination or the Wittenberg Concord), conform to the
Lutheran doctrinal standards, which in effect means
that such statements, whatever their status or function,
be Scriptural. It is as simple as that. In no way does
such action place the synodical convention or majority
rule above the Word of God.

To be sure, synodically adopted doctrinal statements

President J. A. O. Preus delivering his presidential report