LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — July 10, 2017, Page 3

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A report on the meaning of Article VII, adopted by the 1944 convention, put it succinctly:
It is self-evident that any person or group of persons who apply for, and are received into,
membership of any organization thereby have declared their willingness to abide by the
constitution and by-laws of that organization. That is in the very nature of the case. Otherwise an
organization and affiliation therewith would serve no real purpose. (1944 Proceedings, pp. 205–
6)3
Question 2:

What was the intent and meaning of “inexpedient,” as is expressed in Const. Art. VII 1?

Opinion: “Appears to be inexpedient as far as the condition of the congregation is concerned” translates
“für ihre Verhältnisse ungeeignet erscheint.” The commission, responding to a request for reconsideration
of Op. 99-2157, already cited, dealt with this question in Op. 09-2573 (Feb. 26–28, 2010):
To understand properly the meaning and use of “inexpedient” constitutionally and historically in
the Synod, it is important to realize that the German word ungeeignet in the 1854 Constitution
was properly translated “unsuited” into the English (cf. Moving Frontiers, p. 151). An editorial
committee in 1923, not the convention of the Synod, changed the word to “inexpedient.” The
original word ungeeignet meant “unsuited, not suited for, does not fit.” Therefore it should be
noted that the use of the word “inexpedient” in our contemporary culture appears to have a
different connotation such as “not advantageous, not profitable, inconvenient.” […]
Likewise, the 1920 English text of Article VII states that no congregation shall be bound by any
resolution of the Synod “that to such congregation appears unsuited to its condition” (The
Lutheran Witness, XXXVI 20). Therefore, the congregation and not the Synod may assess the
congregation’s condition and judge the applicability of any resolution of the Synod. The
congregation, not the Synod, determines whether or not a resolution is unsuited. “The Synod,
being an advisory body, recognizes the right of a congregation to be the judge of the applicability
of the resolution to its local condition” (Bylaw 1.7.2, emphasis added).
A congregation’s “right of expediency”—to determine that “the shoe does not fit,” that something a
resolution “imposes on the individual congregation” is “uneigentlich, inapplicable, inexpedient, unsuited,”
and, so, to decline to take it on—has, of course, the limits already noted. True doctrine and right practice,
drawn clearly from the Word of God and the Lutheran Confessions (the confessional basis of the Synod in
Const. Art. II), are never unsuitable to, or an imposition on, any congregation desiring membership in The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. “Doctrine may not be accepted or rejected upon the basis of
consideration of expediency” (1971 Res. 2-21, Proceedings, p. 118). Likewise, the “right of expediency”
does not apply to Synod’s Constitution or its Bylaws—only to resolutions of the Synod, and as to those,
only with some significant caveats. Op. 09-2573 concludes:
…the Article VII phrase “inexpedient as far as the condition of a congregation is concerned”:
•

is applicable only to resolutions that are adopted by the Synod, not to its Constitution (and,
by implication, its Bylaws), which all members have accepted as a condition of membership
[emphasis added]. Because the second sentence of Article VII says, “no resolution of the
Synod” (cf. also Bylaw 1.7.2), no limitation should be placed on the type or category of
resolution that a congregation may wish to consider under this provision. However, because
all congregations of the Synod have accepted Article II of the Constitution and thereby have
pledged their acceptance of Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, the Article VII
phrase in question may not be applied by congregations to resolutions of the Synod that
consist primarily of citations from Holy Scripture or the Lutheran Confessions or simply

3

This resolution, too, has particular interpretive force and significance. The 1944 convention received a report of a
task force, commissioned by the 1941 convention, on the meaning of Const. Art. VII. The convention committee on
constitutional matters edited the report and the convention, by this resolution, adopted it.

CCM Minutes – July 10, 2017 – Page 55