LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 148

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148 THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

when the doctrine or practice that they contain is being challenged
based on Scripture; and

WHEREAS, These were the methods used against Luther as he
challenged the Roman Catholic Church and are used today when
anyone is told not to preach or teach about an issue from Scripture
because it is against our current practice and would be divisive.
They are used today when those who seek to take stands based on
Scripture are silenced as being divisive. The divisiveness is not in
the teaching from Scripture, but in the teaching or action that is
contrary to Scripture (Rom. 16:17); and

WueErEAS, The conflict that goes on within our Synod has its
roots in the problems listed previously on all sides of various is-
sues; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Scriptures always be made an integral part
of, and the primary source in, any discussion of proposals for and
challenges to our doctrine and practice; and be it further

Resolved, That we are constantly on guard against the human
weakness of rationalizing to make words, including the Word of
God, or actions fit our own ideas; and be it finally

Resolved, That we do not shut down any discussion based on
Scripture, but guide each other into the truth that God’s Word alone
gives, no matter where God’s Word takes us. It is only in this way
that conflict can be resolved and we truly can be a Sola Scriptura
church reaching out to a lost world Sola Scriptura.

Immanuel
Seward, NE

3-03

To Reaffirm Scriptural Position
of 1973 Res. 3-09 and Statement

Wuereas, The Dec. 2, 2001 Omaha World Herald reported: .

“When two hijacked airplanes reduced New York’s World Trade
Center to rubble September 11, they also rekindled 25-year-old em-
bers of conflict in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod”; and

WHEREAS, The 1973 LCMS convention adopted “A Statement
of Scriptural and Confessional Principles,” which said that Jesus
Christ is the only way to heaven and that those who die without
faith in Christ are damned; and

WHEREAS, There is movement within the LCMS to return to the
1965 Mission Affirmations of the LCMS before they were cor-
rected and improved by the CTCR (e.g., the DayStar Mission Con-
ference held January 11-13, 2004, at Lord of Life Lutheran
Church, Chesterfield, Missouri, which had a conference theme of
“Renewing the Mission of the LCMS—Back to the Future Envi-
sioned in the Mission Affirmation of 1965”; and

Wuereas, The 1965 Mission Affirmations were to a large ex-
tent written and supported by those who supported the theological
position of Seminex; therefore be it

Resolved, That the 2007 LCMS convention declare that all
those on the clergy roster of the LCMS must accept and teach:

1. The doctrine of the inerrancy of the Bible in all matters as con-
fessed in the LCMS’s Brief Statement: “Since the Holy Scrip-
tures are the Word of God, it goes without saying that they con-
tain no errors or contradictions, but that they are in all their parts
and words the infallible truth, also in those parts which treat of
historical, geographical and other secular matters, John 10:35.”

2. The Mosaic authorship of the first five books of the Bible. These
books did not come from sources designated as J-E-D- and P
centuries after Moses died.

3. The entire book of Isaiah was written by the eighth century BC
Isaiah. Sections of it were not written by some Deutero or Trito
Isaiah who lived after some of the events predicted in Isaiah
took place.

4. Evolution is contrary to the Bible. “We believe that God has cre-
ated 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” (The
Brief Statement of the LCMS).

5. The actual body, the flesh, of Jesus Christ rose from the grave.

6. Man has an immortal soul that goes to heaven at death and re-
unites with the body on Judgment Day.

7. Jesus Christ on Calvary paid the ransom price to God the Father
for the sins of all people.

8. Ordination is not a sacrament like Holy Baptism and the Lord’s
Supper. “33. Regarding ordination we teach that it is not a di-
vine but a commendable ecclesiastical ordinance” (Smalcald Ar-
ticles, Triglot, p. 525, 70; M., p. 342).

9. Whatever the New Testament says about some Old Testament
messianic passages is the absolute truth:

a. When David wrote in Psalm 16, “My body will rest securely
because You will not leave Me in the grave nor let Your Holy
One experience day,” he was not first of all speaking about
himself. The words of Peter in Acts 2 must be accepted as
dogmatic truth. Peter under the inspiration of God the Holy
Spirit said: “Fellow Jews, I can tell you frankly our ancestor
David died and was buried, and his grave is here to this day.
He was a prophet and knew God had sworn to him to put One
of his descendants on his throne. David saw what was ahead
and said the Christ would rise again: He was not deserted
when He was dead, and His body did not experience decay.
God has raised this Jesus—we’re all witnesses of that”
(AAT).

b. When the eighth century BC prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah
7:14: “Look the virgin will conceive and have a Son, and His
name will be Immanuel (God-Is-With-Us)!” (AAT) he was
referring not first of all to some woman living at this time but
only to the Virgin Mary and the birth of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 1:23 settles the matter. The Hebrew word almah
used by Isaiah for virgin in Isaiah 7:14 can only be translated
“virgin” (“What does Almah Mean?” by William Beck); and

be it further

Resolved, That the 2007 LCMS convention reaffirm Res. 3-09
of the 1973 LCMS convention, which said that the theology of
those who formed Seminex was contrary to the Bible and not to be
tolerated in the LCMS; and be it finally

Resolved, That the 2007 LCMS convention reaffirm “A State-
ment of Scriptural and Confessional Principles” adopted in 1973.

Trinity

New Haven, MO

3-04

To Reaffirm Proper Teaching of God’s Word
and Administration of the Sacraments

WHEREAS, The basic mission of the Christian Church is to
preach and teach the Gospel. “For God so loved the world that He
gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16); and

WHEREAS, Scripture tells us in 2 Tim. 4:3-4, “For the time will
come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to
suit their own desires they will gather around them a great number
of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will
turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths”; and

WHEREAS, One of the basic pillars of the LCMS in carrying out
the basic mission is to teach God’s Word in its truth and purity and
to administer the Sacraments as Jesus would have them adminis-
tered; and

WHEREAS, We in the LCMS acknowledge and recognize God’s
Word to be inerrant. “For prophecy never had its origin in the will
of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the
Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21); and

Wuereas, The pastors in the LCMS fulfill the teaching of
God’s Word in its truth and purity by preaching and teaching and
properly dividing Law and Gospel; and

WHEREAS, The administration of the Sacraments includes infant
baptism as well as closed communion, both done out of love for
our fellow man. Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one
of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.