LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 51

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 51

Resolved, That Synod recognize and commend the past
and present members of the Editorial Board. in this 125th
anniversary year, for their splendid services rendered to the
Synod.

Mount Hope LUTHERAN CHURCH
Casper, Wyo.

F. D. Stewart, President
Richard Means, Secretary
Rev. J. B. Brown, Pastor

CONFESSIONS, RESOLUTIONS,
DISCIPLINE

2-12

To Pray for Doctrinal Unity and Profession

Wuereas, God in His mercy, has given us His Holy Word;
and

Wuerras, We by God's grace freely subscribe to Article
Il of the Constitution of The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod which states that:

The Synod, and every member of the Synod, accents without
reservation:

1. The Scrintures of the Old and the New Testament as the
written word of God and the only rule and norm of faith and of
practice;

2. All the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church as a true and unadulterated statement and exposition of
the Word of God, to wit: the three Ecumenical Creeds (the Apos-
tles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed), the unal-
tered Augsburg Confession. the Aro’ogy of the Augsburg Con-
fession, the Smalcald Articles, the Large Catechism of Luther,
the Small Catechism of Luther, and the Formula of Concord;

therefore be it

Resolved. That we pray, in this day of theological unrest
and confusion, that God by His mercy keep us faithful to
His inspired, inerrant Word “as the only rule and norm of
faith and practice”: and to the Lutheran Confessions “as
a true and faithful exposition of that Word of God”: and
be it further

Resolved. That we dedicate ourselves to sharing this pre-
cious Word of God in all its truth, purity, and power with
men the world over who will die eternally unless they know
and accept Christ as Lord and Savior.

Curist MEMORIAL LUTHERAN CHURCH
Malvern, Pa.

Clarence H. Schatz, President

David C. Vernedy, Secretary

2-13

To Affirm Faithfulness to God’s Word
and to Our Gospel Mission

Wuereas. God has appointed the church as the “commu-
nity on earth, through which He speaks and does all His
work,” and the church “is the mother that begets and bears
every Christian through the Word of God” (Large Cate-
chism, 419:61, 416:42), and God “wills that all men should
hear this proclamation and come to Christ” (Formula of
Concord, 628:68): and

Wuereas, The Christian church will be preserved by per-
petuating “Christian doctrine and a right understanding of
it” and by training according to this doctrine “the people
who come after us and succeed us in our office and work”
(Large Catechism, 456; 85): and

Wuereas, God demands pure doctrine in His church. and
warns against false prophets and false doctrine which cause
schism in the church, Gal. 1:6-10; and

Wuereas, We recognize parallels between the situation
in our church today such as the theological unrest we are
experiencing, and that of the Lutheran confessors (FC
507:19, FC 633:6, Book of Concord, Preface p. 13, FC 632: 95);
and

Wuereas, God has given our Synod unprecedented op-
portunities for the proclamation of the saving Gospel of
Jesus Christ in a time when theological controversies dis-

turb and unsettle the church in the performance of its Gos-
pel mission: therefore be it

Resolved. That we affirm with our Lutheran confessors
that “we are minded by the grace of the Holy Spirit to abide
and remain unanimously in this Confession of faith and to
regulate all religious controversies and their explanations
according to it.... We likewise purpose to cooperate with
one another in the future in the implementation of this effort
at concord in our lands. according to our own and each
community's circumstances. through diligent visitation of
churches and schools, supervision of printers, and other
salutary means” (Preface to the Book of Concord, p. 14);
and be it further

Resolved. That we declare to each other and to the entire
church our intentions in the following affirmations:

1. We affirm that we have been regenerated and made
God's children for all eternity by God's grace alone. and we
remind each other of the total failure of man’s own efforts
to be righteous by his own actions and humanistic activities
(Grace Alone): and

2 We affirm the pure gift of justification by faith, and
we oppose the growing trend of universalism which says
that somehow God's love and mercy will be sufficient for
those who have never heard of or know Christ so that they
will be saved even though they are without faith (Faith
Alone); and

3. We affirm that Holy Scripture. the Bible, is God's writ-
ten Word as a whole and in all its parts. infallibly inspired,
the perfect authoritative. sufficient, and clear revelation of
divine truth. while we reject the presuppositions of the his-
torical-critical method which reduce the Bible to a human
document subject to critical investigation for establishing
errors, and we also reject an emphasis upon Jesus as the
Word of God to the exclusion of the entire Scriptures as
God's Word (Scripture Alone); and

4. We affirm the Scriptural objectives of Christian edu-
cation, requiring materials based on the Scriptures as the
major instructional source. providing a faithful commentary
on Biblical events and teachings, while encouraging the
learner to commit himself to Jesus Christ as his personal
Savior, making clear that the learner's right relationship
with God is a necessary precondition to having right rela-
tionships with his fellowman: and teaching spiritual, moral,
and ethical standards that are truly Biblical; and

5. We affirm the evangelistic nature of the church with
a concern for eternal life foremost in our program of Gospel
outreach with a concern for the physical good of others as
a result of the Gospel and our commitment to Christ, while
we reject the substitution of social redemption and social
action for verbalizing the Gospel and reject all political in-
volvement by the church even while we affirm social con-
cern and love on the part of individual Christians to help
others in their physical and material need: and

6. We affirm that Scriptural fellowship and ecumenical
principles demand agreement in doctrine and practice, fore-
ing us as the Lutheran church true to the confessions to
deny joint worship and fellowship with other Lutherans who
deny Lutheran doctrine by their practice, and also refusing
membership in federations and councils which take us away
from our Gospel mission and which force us into compro-
mising work and practices: and

7. We affirm the need of true fidelity to God's Word and
the Lutheran Confessions in the training of clergy for our
congregations. and we affirm that the standards of doctrine
and practice that are required in our congregations must
also be taught with integrity at our colleges and seminaries
to give assurance that future pastors and teachers will have
an honest commitment to the Scriptures and the Confessions
among our congregations: and

8. We affirm the Office of the Keys as a mandatory part
of our church life, and that the power of the Keys “is a
power or command of God to preach the Gospel, to remit
and retain sins, and to administer the sacraments” (Augs-
burg Confession 81:5): the power of the Keys administers
and offers the Gospel through absolution, and we affirm that
the reason for speaking the Word to each other is for mutual
care, correction. and admonition; and be it further

Resolved, That these affirmations be adopted by the South