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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 124

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

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124 SEMINARY ISSUES

ment: not necessarily those who are named in A Statement’s
Study Edition (pp.4—5) and who may only favor its use
for purposes of study and discussion; but those like Dr.
Robert Preus, who has called upon the Synod at New Or-
leans to enact A Statement “as a criterion for what is to be
taught in our terminal schools” (Affirm, November 1972,
p.1); and the Board of Control of Concordia Seminary in
Springfield, which already intends “to employ the Statement”
in supervising “the work of the Springfield Seminary”
(1/19°73); and the signers of Crossroads (1 January, 1973),
who see A Statement as an occasion to “rise up now and
offer some tangible support for Dr. Preus” (p.1): and Dr.
Preus himself, who from the beginning has declared his own
hopes about A Statement’s endorsement” (p.5); and

Wuereas, By contrast there are others in the Synod who
have come to quite a different conclusion about A Statement:
not only those who believe it first needs more study and
perhaps “legitimate criticisms and suggestions” (Response
of the Faculty of Concordia Theological Seminary in Spring-

and periodicals (for example, CTM, November 1972, and The
Cresset, June 1972) as well as other individuals and groups,
all of whom Seriously question A Statement’s Scriptural and
confessional adequacy: and

WHEREAS, The Synod’s Commission on Theology and
Church Relations, though it approved the “doctrinal content”
of A Statement, did so without ever subjecting it to serious
study by the Commission itself; and

WHEREAS, Even a first reading of A Statement exposes
its weakness and errors: for example, the very first para-
graph (“Christ As Savior and Lord”) makes a superb quote
from the Augsburg Confession support a one-sided, other-
worldly view of “salvation,” and where the Augustana speaks
of the “way to God” here and now, A Statement concentrates
instead on our future “way to heaven,” forgetting how we
continually need Christ to intercede for us every day: or in
connection with the same first paragraph, the Study Edition
insists that unbelievers are eternally damned, at least if
they are adults, and yet implies that if a person who dies
unbaptized happens to be only an “infant” he might still
enjoy “the infinite mercy of God,” thus reflecting a very:
questionable doctrine of original sin; or in the next section
(“Law and Gospel”) A Statement denies that the Gospel is
“a new law,” “a norm or standard for the Christian life,”
and yet shows little understanding of what our Lord meant
by “a new commandment I give unto you”: or in connection
with the same section, as the Study Edition betrays, the real
interest here is not in Gospel but in Law, and then really
in the Law as ‘instruction about good works,” sadly neglect-
ing the great confessional accent upon Law as accusation:
or the same section on Law and Gospel, though these are
admitted to be “the two chief doctrines of Holy Scripture,”
has almost no carry-over into all the many things A State-

after all, least of all to its historicity: or in the section on
“the inspiration of Scripture.” A Statement assumes that
“imaginative additions which had their origin in the early
Christian community” must by that token “not present ac-
tual facts.” as if the differences between one evangelist’s
version of Easter and another evangelist's version do not
still present actual facts and still — “imaginative additions”
and all — have their origin in God the Holy Spirit: or Section
IV. C, which erroneously distinguishes Gospel as the “heart”
of theology from Scripture as the “norm” of theology, im-
plies that Scripture would be normative for us even if it
did not “direct us steadfastly to the Gospel of Jesus Christ”:
or Section III says that “to make disciples of every nation”
is but “the Primary mission of the church,” rather than her
only mission, forgetting that “ministering to men’s physical
needs” is already begun in Word and Sacrament: and

WHEREAS, Other, more detailed and full-length critiques
of A Statement are also available, though, out of a concern

to decelerate the controversy, have so far been withheld
from publication; therefore be it

Resolved, That A Statement of Scriptural and Confes-
sional Principles be utilized for nothing more than discus-
sion and study and, above all, in the light of Scriptural and
confessional principles; and be it finally

Resolved, That President Preus and his coauthors be
thanked for their efforts to that end.

Concorpia LUTHERAN CuurRcH
Maplewood, Mo.

Ear! H. Proemsey, President
Gerald E. Friton, Secretary

Identical:

3-32B

Clifton Lutheran Church, Marblehead, Mass., Charles
Lovely, President.

3-33
To Withdraw “A Statement”

WueREas. President Preus’ A Statement of Scriptural and
Confessional Principles has not united the Synod, but rather
contributed to the division of the church and the increase of
suspicion, fear, and distrust among the brethren; therefore
be it

Resolved,

(1) That the Synod withdraw this Statement from all
further circulation and discussion, and

(2) That the Synod in convention assembled reaffirm that
Article II of its present Constitution is its only standard of
faith, doctrine, and practice.

BETHLEHEM LUTHERAN CHURCH
Dundee, II.

Gerald E, Lange, Chairman
Carol Schif, Secretary

Walter G. Boss, Pastor

3-34A

To Approve “Statement of Scriptural
and Confessional Principles”’

Wuereas. Dr. J. A. O. Preus has issued A Statement of
Scriptural and Confessional Principles to the members of
The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod; and

Wuereas, This document has been found to be in agree-
ment with the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions (CTCR
Report): therefore be it

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod
meeting in convention at New Orleans, La., declare its ap-
proval of this document: and be it further

Resolved, That we pray the Lord of the church, through
the power of His Holy Spirit, through whom alone we come
to faith in Him who jis the Resurrection and the Life, that
He would join us together in a common bond of unity and
peace,

St. Paut LurHeran CHURCH
Williamsburg, Iowa

Milford G, Heitman, Chairman
Allan H. Doehrmann, Secretary

Similar:

3-34B

St. John’s Ev, Lutheran Church, Clinton, Iowa, Clifford
Lahann, Secretary.
3-34C

St. John Lutheran Church, Bay City, Mich.. Wallace Neu-
meyer, Secretary: Norman Neumeyer, President.
3-34D

Grace Lutheran Church, San Diego, Calif., Edwin Ziese-
mer, President: John C. Jacobsen, Pastor.