Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 2019 · 67th Convention, Tampa › Page 436
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 436

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

436

THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

Ov. 5-19

To Reaffirm and Clarify the Article “Of Creation”
of A Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the
LCMS, 1932
WHEREAS, A Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the
Missouri Synod (Brief Statement, adopted 1932) states under “Of
Creation” the following (paragraph 5):
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 Genesis 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 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
WHEREAS, The Brief Statement has as its forerunner a document
of the same name written by Rev. Dr. Francis Pieper, in which he
writes the following concerning creation:
We believe that God has created heaven and earth and all their
host, and that in the manner and in the time recounted in the Holy
Scriptures, especially Genesis 1 and 2, namely, by His almighty
creative word, and in six days. We reject every doctrine by which
the work of creation, as revealed in Scripture, is denied or
limited, as is done, e.g., when in our days it is assumed,
ostensibly in deference to “science,” that the world has, in
immense periods of time, more or less developed out of itself.
and
WHEREAS, Rev. Dr. Francis Pieper also wrote the following in
his Christian Dogmatics (tr. 1950, 1:468):
The time in which creation was completed was six days, as Gen.
1:31 and Gen. 2:2 expressly state [hexaemeron]. These six days
are neither to be shortened, for pious reasons [to set forth God's
omnipotence], to a moment [Athanasius, Augustine, Hilary], nor
are they to be extended, for impious reasons [to bring Scripture
into agreement with the ‘assured results’ of science], to six
periods of indefinite length [thus almost all modern theologians].
Scripture forbids us to interpret the days as periods, for it divides
these days into evening and morning. That forces us to accept the
days as days of twenty-four hours.
and
WHEREAS, This demonstrates that the original intent of the
meaning of “six days” in paragraph 5 of the Brief Statement is six
literal, ordinary days, each consisting of evening and morning as we
regularly experience them; and
WHEREAS, We affirm that the Scriptures, as the pure fountain of
Israel are clear on this doctrine of God’s work of creation in six
literal days; therefore be it
Resolved, That the Iowa East District reaffirm in convention that
the Brief Statement lays out the correct biblical teaching of creation
in its fifth paragraph; and be it further
2019 Convention Workbook

Resolved, That the district also affirm and clarify that “six days”
in paragraph 5 of the Brief Statement means six literal, ordinary
days, each consisting of evening and morning as we regularly
experience them, and that this thereby excludes other theories,
which interpret “day” symbolically either by shortening them to an
instant or by extending them to ages or eons in an attempt to
reconcile the sacred text with human philosophies and theories,
since this undermines the plain meaning of the sacred text; and be
it further
Resolved, That the district call on the Synod in convention to
make this same affirmation and clarification about paragraph 5 of
The Brief Statement; and be it finally
Resolved, That the pastors and teachers of this district and the
Synod instruct those given to their care with all patience, bearing
with the weak, and praying to God for an increased knowledge and
confidence in his revealed Word of Holy Scripture through the
merits of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Iowa East District
Ov. 5-20

To Confess and Reaffirm Six-Day Creation
and the Official Position of
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
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, Genesis 1 and 2 details the creation of the world by
God in six days, the same length as the days after creation (Ex.
20:9–11) and not according to so-called, “Day-Age” theories; and
WHEREAS, The Holy Scriptures are inspired by God the Holy
Spirit, are without error and infallible (John 10:35; 2 Tim. 3:16–17;
2 Peter 1:21); and
WHEREAS, The Scripture teaches that Adam was a real man and
it is the consequence of his sin that death has come into the world,
(Rom. 5:12–19); and
WHEREAS, Theistic evolution, or old earth creationism, which
teaches that God used an evolutionary process to create mankind
and that death is a natural occurrence, not the result of Adam’s sin,
is in direct contradiction to the teaching of the Holy Scripture; and
WHEREAS, The official position of The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod (LCMS) regarding creation is, “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 Genesis 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 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.’” (A Brief Statement of the
Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod [adopted 1932]); therefore
be it