LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 205

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Theology and Church Relations
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are
healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to
his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah
53:4–6)” (Otten, op. cit., 20).
48. Matthew 27:62–66; Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 25; John 20 and
21; Acts 10:39–42; 1 Corinthians 15; Otten, op. cit., 34–36.
49. Luke 4:16–20; Matthew 12:40; Matthew 16:21.
50. Acts 1:11; Rev. 1:7; Matt. 25:31.
51. Acts 10:42; 2 Cor. 5:10; Acts 17:3; John 12:48.
52. Acts 17:31; Mark 13:32; 2 Peter 3:10; Matt. 24:27; l Peter 4:7.
53. Ephesians 2:1–2.
54. 1 John 3:8; Rom. 5:12; Gen. 3:1–7; “The Removal of the Devil
from the Old Testament by Modern Lutheran Theologians,” Raymond
Surburg, CNE, 263; “The Biblical Doctrine of the Angels,” Raymond
Surburg, CNE, 3010–3012. CN, April 17, 1989.
55. 1 John 3:4.
56. Romans 6:23.
57. 1 John 1:8; Eph. 2:3; Romans 5:12; Romans 6:23; “The Seven
Deadly Sins,” “Sloth,” “Pride,” “Gluttony,” “Lust,” “Anger,” “Greed,”
“Envy,” Kurt Marquart, CNE, 1568–1570.
58. Acts 10:43, Acts 4:12.
59. Gal. 5:4–5.
60. Acts 16:30–31, 34; Matt. 9:2.
61. Rev. 1:5–6.
62. Genesis 15:6.
63. Psalm 32:2.
64. Hab. 2:4.
65. Romans 3:28; Romans 5:1.
66. Ephesians 2:8–9.
67. John 3:16. See “History, Christianity, and Justification.” Otten,
op. cit., 24–26; CNE, 2525–2530; “The Doctrine of Justification, Kurt
Marquart, CNE, 1105–1111; “After Four Centuries on Justification,”
Paul Bartz, CNE, 1111; “Pope Paul and Justification by Faith,” CNE,
1112; “Who Insists upon Justification by Faith Alone?” CNE, 1113;
“Justification—The Meaning of Justification: A Word Study,” Herman
Otten, CNE, 1115–1117; “The 450th Anniversary of the Apology,”
Raymond Surburg, CNE, 1118–1121.
68. 1 Cor. 2:14; Romans 8:7; Eph. 2:1–19; 1 Cor. 12:1.
69. Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 3:16; Acts 5:3–4; Ps. 139:7–10; Heb. 9:14; Ps.
33:6; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 4:14.
70. 1 Cor. 6:11; 2 Tim. 1:9; Rev. 22:17.
71. Jer. 31:18; John 3:5–6; 1 Peter 2:9.
72. “The Freedom of the Will,” Augsburg Confession, Article XVIII.
73. John 11:25–26.
74. John 14:19.
75. Job 19:25–27; Otten, op. cit., 34–36, 3a–m.
76. John 14:6; Acts 4:12.
77. Luke 16:23–24; Matt. 10:28; Is. 66:24; Matt 7:13
78. Luke 16:19–31; Hebrew 9:27; “Heaven and Hell,” Siegbert Becker,
CNE, 2293–2295; “There Is a Hell,” CNE, 2296; “Eternal Damnation,” J.
T. Mueller, CNE, 2297.
79. Phil. 1:23; Luke 23:43; Rev. 14:13.
80. 1 John 3:2; Ps. 16:1. John 17:24; Rom. 8:18; the LCMS confessed
in its 1973 “Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles,” CNE,
1230–1231:
1. Christ as Savior and Lord
We believe, teach, and confess that Jesus Christ is our Savior and
Lord, and that through faith in Him we receive forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation. We confess that our works cannot reconcile God
or merit forgiveness of sins and grace but that we obtain forgiveness and
grace only by faith when we believe that we are received into favor for
Christ’s sake, who alone has been ordained the mediator and propitiation through whom the Father is reconciled” (AC, XX, 9). We believe
that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven and that all who die without
faith in Him are eternally damned. We believe that those who believe

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in Christ will enjoy a blissful relationship with Him during the interim
between their death and His second coming and that on the last day their
bodies will be raised.
We therefore reject the following:
1. That we may operate on the assumption that there may be other
ways of salvation than through faith in Jesus Christ;
2. That some persons who lack faith in Christ may be considered
“anonymous Christians”;
3. That there is no eternal hell for unbelievers and ungodly men.
81. “Some Remarks on the Question of the Salvation of the Heathen,”
Theodore Engelder, CNE, 1330; “Mission Versus Missions,” William R.
LeRoy, CNE, 1331–1333; “Christ the Only Way,” CNE, 1336; Otten, op.
cit., 74–76.
82. Rev. Wallace Schulz, Associate Speaker. International Lutheran
Hour, “The Electronic Media,” Wallace Schulz, CNE, 2636–2637. Schulz
writes:
The Key to It All: The Living Word
God has given us unlimited evangelistic power through His Living
Word. Speaking through Isaiah the prophet of God says that His “Word,”
when it is proclaimed, shall not return until it has “accomplished” that
which He desires. The efficacy at God’s Word is explained by the revered biblical scholar Delitzsch: “(The Word) is not a mere sound or
letter. As it goes forth out of the mouth of God it acquires shape, and in
this shape is hidden a divine life, because of its divine origin; and so it
runs, with life from God, endowed with divine power, supplied with divine commissions, like a swift messenger through nature and the world
of man, there to melt ice as it were, and to heal and to save.”
A clear understanding of the biblical doctrine of the Word is absolutely essential to an effective approach to evangelism and missions.
Embracing the now popular Protestant understanding of the Word of
God automatically leads one to constantly see new methodologies in
order to evangelize or carry out a mission program. Interestingly, when
Paul in his loving admonition to Timothy gave the simple and yet allembracing command and approach to missions, “Preach the Word,” this
apostle was imparting an inspired message which the bulk of today’s
media-religionists apparently do not comprehend.
Thus, we agree with Luther that the Word does not merely trip man’s
trigger of potential ... for natural man has no spiritual potential (Eph.
2:1). Instead, the word effects even that which it commands—it not only
calls for conversion and sanctification. The Word itself converts and
sanctifies.
The Word is efficacious. A serious study of Luther’s introductory
sermons on the Gospel of John would be a surprise to many involved in
today’s “electronic church.” His approach to the Word, totally different
from what is held by the majority of evangelicals today, yet solidly biblical, is indeed exciting: in fact, it is so inspiring, it is so emerging, that
if this understanding of the Word were recaptured today by Protestants,
there would be a new Reformation and a phenomenal mission and evangelism threat, even among Lutherans!
103. Keil/Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 7, 359.
Luther also speaks of the Word as an active agent in his sermon on John
1:1–7; St. Paul also speaks about the Word being ‘‘at work” within believers (2 Thess. 2:13).
104. Luther’s exhaustive (and not easy to read) work “The Bondage
of the Will” is a thorough treatment of man’s helpless spiritual condition as stated in the Scriptures. For those interested in a shorter and
quite provocative treatment, they might turn to the April 1966 issue of
the Concordia Theological Monthly, 287. This article, “Luther Against
Erasmus,” was originally delivered by James I. Packer, the well-known
Anglican author and clergyman, to the pastoral conference of the English Lutheran Church, October 30, 1964.
105. Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 1:21; Colossians 2:13; Romans
9:16; John 1:13.

2013 Convention Workbook