LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 318

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318

THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

Resolved, That the Synod in convention recognize that the best
theological rendering and most accurate and literal English
translation of the Seventh Petition of The Lord’s Prayer is for our
Father in heaven to deliver us from “the evil one”; and be it further
Resolved, That the Synod be encouraged, from this day forward,
to translate and print in all of its publications/letters/documents/etc.
which include a printing of The Lord’s Prayer, a translation of the
Seventh Petition which literally reflects the words of Jesus as
printed in the Greek text of Matthew, thus rendering τοὐ πονηροὐ
(tou ponerou) as “the evil one”; and be it finally
Resolved, That the Synod in convention encourage all of its
pastors to make this linguistic and theological change in the
individual congregations and ministries which they serve and to
instruct their members as to the legitimacy and the theology of this
linguistic change/correction.
Christ
Austin, TX
Ov. 5-50

To Affirm Inspiration and Authority
of Mark 16:9–20
Preamble
Our congregation is concerned that modern text critical
argumentation is being entertained, even in our church body, to
diminish (that is, to despise) this passage as God’s Word in our
confession.
WHEREAS, The Holy Scriptures of the prophets (Old Testament)
and apostles (New Testament) are the foundation of Christ’s Church
on earth, with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone (Eph. 2:20); and
WHEREAS, The Scriptures along with the Lutheran Confessions,
which are normed by the Holy Scriptures, are the unalterable rule
and norm of all doctrine and practice for and in all her congregations
and by which all rostered ministers are pledged before God to
conduct their office; and
WHEREAS, Scripture is never a matter of private opinion or
interpretation but is given by the Holy Spirit through holy men
whom that same Spirit moved, inspired (2 Peter 1:20–21; 2 Tim.
3:16–17), and gave their very words; and
WHEREAS, Mark is a universally accepted Gospel in the New
Testament canon of Scriptures and was never included among the
so-called antilegomena, that is, those books, the inclusion of which
some church leaders spoke against when the canon was accepted by
the Christian church; and
WHEREAS, Two ancient Greek texts of the Holy Scriptures,
rediscovered in the nineteenth century and originating from the
fourth century (namely Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus),
contain texts of the Gospel of Mark with unusual truncations (that
is, visually abnormal endings when compared to the appearance of
other endings of books in the same codex), excluding the last 12
verses, Mark 16:9–20, as they appear in our Bibles; and
WHEREAS, This truncation is unheard of before the writings of
Eusebius of Caesarea (A.D. 339) in the fourth century (and later
those of Jerome [A.D. 420], apparently quoting him) and his
comment about texts that exclude this section does not preclude his
own acknowledgment of that text as authoritative, nor Jerome’s
omitting it in his Latin translation of the Bible, and since nineteenth
century scholarship that began to be critical of the inclusion of these
2023 Convention Workbook

twelve verses as well as Moses’ authorship of the Pentateuch were
well countered by the arguments of scholarship supporting the
Church’s and Bible’s claims of its own origins by such scholars as
John Burgon (A.D. 1813–1888) and expressed carefully and
exhaustively by modern scholars such as Nicholas Lunn (see The
Original Ending of Mark: A New Case for the Authenticity of Mark
16:9–20; Pickwick Publications, Eugene, Ore., 2014); and
WHEREAS, Contemporaneous churchmen, such as Eusebius and
Jerome, being aware of these texts and their omissions, and living
much closer to the historical context of their appearance, neither
speaking against their inclusion, nor themselves excluding these
texts as authoritative from their own use and quotation, were in a
much better position to evaluate their authenticity than the musings
of modern scholars of Scriptures, let alone unbelieving scholars
who have a record of attacking the veracity of the sacred text; and
WHEREAS, The omission of this section from these ancient texts
has sparked academic debate as to whether these last 12 verses of
Mark were written by the same author identified as Mark or whether
these verses were added later, perhaps in the second century, so that
the majority of contemporary Biblical scholars and authorities in
Christendom reject the authenticity of these verses, and would de
facto demote these 12 verses to the status of antilegomena; and
WHEREAS, Exclusion of the last 12 verses of Mark renders this
Gospel incomplete and prone to erroneous interpretation as
compared to the other Gospels, since the resurrection would be thus
promised by the Lord (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33–34) without witness
of its fulfillment, since Christ’s personal promise of the Holy Spirit
and commissioning His disciples to preach to the world would be
missing, and because lacking both a birth and a resurrection
narrative Mark’s Gospel as it stands on its own would invite a
Gnostic interpretation; and
WHEREAS, Mark 16:16 is the authoritative statement in Scripture
on Baptism, chosen by Luther to teach about the efficacy of Baptism
in his Large and Small Catechisms, and is a cornerstone of the
doctrine of Baptism that is memorized and used to affirm baptismal
regeneration in all our congregations; and
WHEREAS, Footnotes flagging words and sections of modern
Bibles as missing in ancient versions serve no purpose for laymen,
except to undermine their confidence in God’s preserving the text
of His Word but only invite them to believe the Bible is flawed and
inaccurate; and
WHEREAS, Our Synod was warned in the tragic events of the
Seminex walkout in 1974, that reason is not to be used to silence or
to replace the Word of God by its judgements of the same
(majesterial use of reason), but is to be used to draw out from
Scriptures what God is saying in it (ministerial use of reason); and
WHEREAS, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS)
affirmed that all Scriptures are inspired by God and not subject to
private interpretation (LCMS CTCR, The Inspiration of Scripture
[March 1975]), but to the interpretation the Holy Spirit gives in
Scriptural context, by which the Holy Spirit gives faith and
salvation when and where He will; therefore be it
Resolved, That the LCMS affirm in convention that all of the
Gospel according to St. Mark (including Mark 16:9–20), as it
appears in over 95 percent of the Scriptures and Biblical versions
witnessed in all the history of the Church is not to be demoted to the
status of antilegomenon but affirmed as inspired and authoritative;
and be it further