LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 122

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122 SEMINARY ISSUES

3-264
To Define Article II

Wuereas, There is some confusion about the theological
implications of Synod’s confessional paragraph, Article II
of its Constitution; and

WuHereas, It is necessary for “the conservation and pro-
motion of the unity of the true faith” (Art. III, “Objects’’)
to be quite clear about the theological meaning of Article II:
therefore be it hereby

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod
holds, declares, and confesses:

1. The meaning, intent, and thrust of Article II is basically
and primarily doctrinal. External constitutional-legal as-
pects are secondary and totally subsidiary to the theology
of it, i.e, the substance of Scripture and Confessions.

2. Article II demands not merely formal acknowledgment
of certain documents, but full, unreserved, and above all
actual ongoing compliance with their doctrinal content or
substance, in the sense of C. A. VII: “... that the Gospel
be preached in conformity with a pure understanding of it
and that the Sacraments be administered in accordance
with the divine Word.”

3. Synod in Article II unreservedly accepts Holy Scrip-
ture as “the only rule and norm of faith and of practice” —
not in a formalistic-ceremonial sense, but in the sense of
an actual yardstick by which actual teaching and practice
are to be measured, as the Formula of Concord Says: “...
Holy Scripture remains the only judge, rule, and norm ac-
cording to which as the only touchstone all doctrines should
and must be understood and judged as good or evil, right
or wrong.” (Ep., Rule and Norm, 7)

4. Article II thus imposes on Synod and every member
of Synod the solemn duty to reject all teaching and prac-
tice which contradict the Scriptures and the Symbolical
Books of the church, and to deny church fellowship to all
such persistent contradictions and contradictors.

5. False doctrine and. or practice may not claim immunity
from condemnation by covering themselves with the mantle
of formal professions of loyalty to Scripture and the Con-
fessions.

6. When false doctrine and practice are defended in the
name of Scripture and Confessions, Synod must settle the
controversy on the basis of Scripture and the Confessions.
and may have to define and set out the true doctrine over
against the errors, in new documents, e. g., the Thirteen
Theses on Election of 1881, which set out the true meaning
of Formula of Concord XI in the face of distortions.

7. If Synod adopts a document as setting out correctly
the Biblical-Confessional substance of Article II in the face
of errors, it thereby self-evidently declares the doctrinal
content of such a document to be normative for all public
teaching and practice in its midst, since all such teaching
and practice must obviously be Biblical and confessional.
Article II forbids not new documents but new doctrines,
and may not be used as a muzzle to prevent Synod’s con-
tinuing and relevant confession of the doctrinal substance
of Article II.

8. The inalienable right and duty of every Christian to
keep his conscience free from all human tyranny and sub-
ject only to Christ and His Word, indeed to reject a hetero-
dox church and its authority, cannot take away Synod's
right and duty to define what it means by its confession of
Christ’s Gospel in Article II, and to have the church's faith,
and not private opinions, taught in the church's congrega-
tions, schools, and seminaries.

9. The advisory nature of Synod (Constitution, Art. VII)
refers only to adiaphora, and not to doctrine, where both
Synod and congregations are subject to the Word of God.
Moreover, in relation to its own seminaries and other insti-
tutions Synod is not advisory but exercises full control.

10. All interpretations or constructions of past resolutions
contrary to the above principles are hereby rejected as
false, and are null and void and of no effect.

Our REDEEMER LUTHERAN CHURCH
Wauwatosa, Wis.
Harold Mueller, Secretary

Identical:
3-26B

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Rock Falls, Ill., Curtis
A. Peterson, Pastor: Kim Groharing, Chairman.

3-26C
Mount Hope Lutheran Church, Casper, Wyo., Frank
Stewart, President: J. B. Brown, Pastor.

3-274
To Revise Article II

Wuereas, The present reading of Article II 1 of our syn-
odical Constitution is “The Scriptures of the Old and the
New Testament as the written Word of God and the only
rule and norm of faith and of practice; and

Wuereas, During recent years a new meaning has been
placed upon this article because of doctrinal positions by
some which are different from that traditionally held by our
Synod: and

WuHereas, We need to make, to renew, and clarify our
commitment to the Holy Scriptures as the source and norm
of doctrine in the church in view of this new meaning which
speaks of the Gospel as the criterion of acceptable Biblical
interpretation and the Gospel as the one doctrine of all
Scripture which guides and determines all of its teaching
and work; therefore be it

Resolved, That Article II 1 of the Constitution of The
Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod be changed to read as
follows, “The Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament
as the inspired written Word of God without error, and the
only source which guides and determines all doctrine, the
only rule and norm of faith and of practice.”

TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH
Waterville, Minn.
James Lindquist, Secretary

To Restate Article II of Synod’s
Constitution

Wuereas, Article II of Synod's Constitution states, “The
Synod, and every member of the Synod, accepts without
reservation:

1. The Scriptures 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 exposi-
sition of the Word of God. to wit: the three Ecumenical
Creeds (the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Atha-
nasian Creed), the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, the
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles,
the Large Catechism of Luther, the Small Catechism of Lu-
ther, and the Formula of Concord": and

Wuereas, Members of Synod, particularly pastors and
professors, holding opposing doctrinal positions, all claim
that they accept without reservation Article II of Synod’s
Constitution, and thereby make the meaning of Article II
ambiguous: therefore be it

Resolved, That Article II of the Synod's Constitution be
restated in such a manner so as to remove the possibility of
ambiguous and conflicting interpretations.

TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH
Ironwood, Mich.

Leonard Korpi, President
Paul Forslund, Secretary

R. W. Heikkinen, Pastor

IMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH
Tronwood, Mich.

Lawrence Erickson, President
Robert Brace, Secretary

R. W. Heikkinen, Pastor