Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1954, Page 19

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

epee enemas nape een eo teten agicneneeymasnnns csipmmncnnim A

Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America, 1954 19

the real issue which is at stake. Let us consider the circumstances
which led to the formulation of the Common Confession. Negotia-
tions toward a unified statement on doctrine between The Lutheran
Church — Missouri Synod and the American Lutheran Church had
been in progress for a period of years. Already in 1939 our Synod
warned its sister synod against negotiating with a church body
‘which declared that it was “firmly convinced that it is neither
necessary nor possible to agree in all nonfundamental doctrines,”
and which for this reason was unwilling to accept the conservatively
doctrinal position of the Missouri Synod as presented in its Brief
Statement unless viewed in the light of its own erroristic Declara-
tion (Resolutions of A. L. C. at Sandusky, Ohio, 1938), and which
frankly stated that it was not willing to give up its membership
in the American Lutheran Conference. Negotiations, however,
continued, with a persistent unwillingness on the part of the Amer-
ican Lutheran Church to employ the terminology used in the Brief
Statement. We continued to warn against dealing with a church
body that had in the meantime reached an agreement with rep-
resentatives of the United Lutheran Church at Pittsburgh, in which
a very compromising position was taken on the doctrine of Inspira-
tion, stating that a continuation of negotiations with the American
Lutheran Church under such existing conditions would only serve
to “cause confusion and disturbance in the Church” (Proceedings,
25th Convention, Wisconsin Synod, 1939, p. 61). Negotiations
seemed to be stalemated for a time after an attempt to frame a single
document of agreement through a fusion of Missouri’s Brief State-
ment with the Declaration of the American Lutheran Church mis-
carried. The American Lutheran Church at this time, as late as
1946, despaired “of attaining Lutheran Unity by way of additional
doctrinal formulations and reformulations” and stated again that
“the chief obstacles to Lutheran Unity are not matters of doctrine
as much as differences of background” (A. L. C. Convention Res-
olutions at Appleton, Wis., 1946). Which brings us to the “Friendly
Invitation” of the American Lutheran Church Fellowship Com~-
mittee of 1947, in which it was declared by the A. L.C. Commis-
sioners that there was an area where there existed “an allowable
and wholesome latitude of theological opinion on the basis of
the teachings of the Word of God” and that to demand a unified
statement of doctrine as an absolute condition of fellowship con-
stituted a “threat to evangelical liberty of conscience by demanding
a degree of uniformity in the statement of Christian truth that
is incompatible with the Scriptures and with strict intellectual
candor.” This invitation was accepted by the Centennial Convention
of Missouri in 1947, although no specific reference was made to it,
and the synod’s Committee on Doctrinal Unity was encouraged
to continue discussions, “on a soundly Scriptural basis,” to be sure,
and to “make every effort to arrive ultimately at one document
which is Scriptural, clear, concise, and unequivocal.” (Resolutions
of Centennial Convention, Missouri Synod, 1947). To say that our
Synod continued to raise its voice against a continuation of nego-
tiations based upon such loose principles as expressed by the
American Lutheran Church Committee is putting it mildly (cf.
Proceedings, 29th Convention, Wisconsin Synod, 1947, p.113).

It is out of this background that the Common Confession,
Part I, was produced. Is it any wonder that we were somewhat