LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 154

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5. THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

To Confess the Biblical Six-Day Creation,
to Encourage Pastoral Conferences to Study
Our Synod’s Statements on Creation,
and to Help Congregations
Concertedly Address Issues Related
to the Intersections of Faith and Science
RESOLUTION 5-09A
Overtures 5-11–24 (CW, 432–38)

WHEREAS, The Holy Scriptures teach that God is the
Creator of all that exists (Gen.1:1; Ps. 33:6, 9; Heb. 11:3; Col.
1:16; John 1:1–4); and
WHEREAS, Issues related to the intersection of faith and
science continue to top the list of concerns of young people
in our church body (see Mark Kiessling and Julianna Shults,
“The Search for Young People: 2017 Research of Millennials
and the LCMS,” Concordia Journal 44, no. 4 [Fall 2018]: 19–
32); and
WHEREAS, The number of new discoveries (e.g., in
genetics and paleontology) and technology (e.g., artificial
intelligence) continues to increase at an exponential pace;
and
WHEREAS, Many pastors and other church workers may
not be familiar with Synod’s statements regarding the
scriptural teaching on creation and our place within that
creation; therefore be it
Resolved, That the Synod in convention confess that Holy
Scripture teaches that:
• God created the world in six natural days. We
confess that the duration of those natural days is
proclaimed in God’s Word, “There was evening,
and there was morning, the first day” (Gen. 1:5);
• the creation of the first man, Adam, who was made
in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), was an historical
event;
• death came into the world as the consequence of
Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:12);
and be it further
Resolved, That pastors and other church workers be
encouraged to confess, witness to, and uphold in their
teaching the Synod’s publicly stated positions as set forth
in A Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri
Synod, Article 5 (adopted 1932):
We teach that God has created heaven and earth, and
that in the manner and in the space of time recorded in
the Holy Scriptures, especially Gen. 1 and 2, namely, by
His almighty creative word, and in six days. We reject
every doctrine which denies or limits the work of
creation as taught in Scripture. In our days it is denied or
limited by those who assert, ostensibly in deference to
154 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2019 (67TH) LCMS CONVENTION

science, that the world came into existence through a
process of evolution; that is, that it has, in immense
periods of time, developed more or less of itself. Since no
man was present when it pleased God to create the
world, we must look for a reliable account of creation to
God’s own record, found in God’s own book, the Bible.
We accept God’s own record with full confidence and
confess with Luther’s Catechism: “I believe that God has
made me and all creatures.”
And in A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles,
Article V (adopted 1973):
We believe, teach and confess that God, by the almighty
power of His Word, created all things. We also believe
that man, as the principal creature of God, was specially
created in the image of God, that is, in a state of
righteousness, innocence and blessedness.
We affirm that Adam and Eve were real historical human
beings, the first two people in the world, and that their
fall was a historical occurrence which brought sin into
the world so that “since the fall of Adam all men who are
propagated according to nature are born in sin”
(Augsburg Confession II 1). We confess that man’s fall
necessitated the gracious redemptive work of Jesus
Christ and that fallen man’s only hope for salvation from
his sin lies in Jesus Christ, his Redeemer and Lord.
We therefore reject the following:
1. All world views, philosophical theories and
exegetical interpretations that pervert these
Biblical teachings and thus obscure the Gospel.
2. The notion that man did not come into being
through the direct creative action of God, but
through a process of evolution from lower forms
of life, which in turn developed from matter that
is either eternal, autonomous or self-generating.
3. The opinion that the image of God in which Adam
and Eve were created did not consist of
concreated righteousness, that is, a perfect
relationship to God.
4. The notion that Adam and Eve were not real
historical persons and that their fall was not a real
historical event which brought sin and death into
the world.
5. The opinion that original sin does not deprive all
men of their spiritual powers and make it
impossible for them to be in the right relationship
to God apart from faith in Jesus Christ.
and be it further
Resolved, That pastors be encouraged to study and
discuss within their pastoral conferences (district and
circuit) the Commission on Theology and Church Relations
reports: Creation in Biblical Perspective (1970), Together with
All Creatures: Caring for God’s Living Earth (2010), and All

Resolutions