LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 137

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SEMINARY ISSUES 137

with “The Gospel,” (Gospel reductionism, which considers
questions of historicity and historical accuracy in the Scrip-
ture irrelevant, provided the Gospel is not diminished or de-
nied): and be it further

Resolved, That we firmly confess the infallibility and in-
errancy of the Scriptures, in all its parts: and be it finally

Resolved, That we ask Synod in convention in New Or-
leans to join us in this affirmation of Scriptural inerrancy.

SoutH Wisconsin DIsTRICT
Robert A. Schmidt, Secretary

3-69

To Assure Adherence to Scripture and Not
Simply to a Mystic “Gospel Principle”

Wuereas, Individual Christians as well as some congrega-
tions of the Synod, conferences, and other groups have dur-
ing the past decade become increasingly apprehensive, du-
bious, and disturbed in regard to the alleged Scriptural
soundness of some theological views and approaches to Bible
interpretations on the part of certain instructors at some col-
leges and seminaries of the Synod; and

Wuereas, The Constitution of The Lutheran Church —
Missouri Synod (Article XI B 1-4 and Bylaw 2.29) imposes
upon the President of the Synod “the supervision regarding
the doctrine and the administration of: (a) all officers of
the Synod; (b) all such as are employed by the Synod”; and

Wuereas, Delegates of the Synod in convention at Mil-
waukee, July 9—16, 1971, specifically charged the Board of
Control of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, to take appropriate
action on the basis of the report of a fact finding committee
which had previously carried out the directive of the Presi-
dent to assess the Scriptural soundness of that seminary’s
faculty; therefore be it

Resolved, That the voters’ assembly of Grace congrega~
tion, Wayne. Nebr. support the action of President J. A, O.
Preus, Ph.D., in his efforts to carry out the directives of
the Milwaukee convention and to bring into focus specific
issues which need to be resolved: and be it further

Resolved, That we earnestly petition the responsible
board and:or the delegates assembled in convention at New
Orleans, July 6—13, 1973. to take necessary steps to assure
adherence to the sacred Scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments in their capacity as teachers of the Word as set
forth and more precisely defined in the Lutheran Con-
fessions and not simply in consonance with a mystic “Gospel
principle. Grace LUTHERAN CHURCH
Wayne, Nebr.

Charles R. Maier, Chairman
Howard R. Schmidt, Secretary
E. J. Bernthal, Pastor

3-70A
To Repudiate “Gospelism”

WuereEas, The faculty of Concordia Seminary. St. Louis,
Mo.. has issued a statement entitled Faithful To Our Calling.
Faithful To Our Lord. and in particular Part I, “A Witness
to Our Faith, A Joint Statement and Discussion of Issues’;
and

Wuereas, The seminary faculty in this document states,
“The message remains the same whether we consider the
text of Genesis 2—3 a literal historical account or some
other kind of literature” (p. 17), and “Biblical men of faith
operating with the same limitations of human language in
a given culture were moved by the Spirit to portray the
creative work of God in diverse ways (p. 13), and these
quotations in context make clear the position of the faculty
that the Biblical writers suffer from exactly the same human
limitations as noninspired writers as to the facticity of what
they convey, the Bible thus having no factual advantage
over non-Biblical material: and

Wuereas, The faculty also states that Christians are mis-
led when “they demand an absolute acceptance of each de-
tail of the miracle, precisely as it is reported, as a test of

their own faith and the faith of others” (p. 19), and that.
after all, a miracle such as the feeding of the five thousand
“was important only as a means of leading them to know
and trust in Jesus Christ” (p. 20), and these quotations in
context make clear that the facticity of New Testament mir-
acles is of no more consequence to the faculty than the
historicity of the Creation and Fall narratives, and thus faith
in Christ is separated from the miraculous events in His
life and allowed to float free without any necessary factual
grounding; and

Wuereas, The seminary faculty downgrades the authority
of the Bible in the areas of historicity and inerrancy by
claiming that it is “a misunderstanding of the nature of the
Gospel” to “insist on a public acceptance of the historicity of
every detail of the life of Jesus as recorded by the evange-
lists, as if that were a test of our faith” (p. 25). and that our
faith “rests in the promises of a faithful God. not in the ac-
curacy of ancient historians” (p. 26), thus placing the in-
spired writers on the same level as “ancient historians,”
with no better claim to precision or accuracy than they; and

Wuereas, It is clear from the foregoing that the Saint
Louis seminary faculty embraces the fideistic error of con-
temporary theology by which matters of belief are separated
from questions of Scriptural accuracy and it is alleged that
one can claim commitment to Christianity even while sub-
jecting all Biblical statements to nonfactual interpretation;
and

Wuereas, This position contradicts Luke's express claim
that his narrative derived from “those who from the be-
ginning were eyewitnesses” (Luke 1:1-4), and Peter's as-
sertion that “we did not follow cleverly devised myths when
we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty”
(2 Peter 1:16): and

Wuereas. This position is contrary to the New Testament's
own method of using historically factual events as proof of
the theological truth proclaimed (1 Cor. 15:3-19); and

Wuereas. The St. Louis seminary faculty endeavors to
eliminate the Bible as a basis for faith in the interests of the
Gospel by stating: To “begin with the assumption that the
doctrine of Scriptural infallibility guarantees the validity of
our theology” would not be Lutheran. “We, as Lutherans,
start with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.... We are saved by
grace through faith in Christ alone, not through faith in
Christ and something else, even if that something else be the
Bible itself” (pp. 20—21): and

Wuereas. The faculty thus puts the power of the Gospel
and the infallibility of the Scriptures that reveal that Gospel
in false opposition to each other, and thus in effect the fac-
ulty claims that a church can legitimately operate on the
basis of the central doctrine of the Scriptures (the Gospel)
without unqualified acceptance of the factual truthfulness of
the Scriptures: therefore be it

Resolved. That the Synod recognize that the St. Louis
seminary faculty has introduced a new theology alien to the
Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions; and be it further

Resolved. That the Synod _ reaffirm and uphold its Lu-
theran and doctrinal position that the infallible Scriptures
are the formal principle. the source of all doctrine. and the
standard by which all else is judged: and be it further

Resolved. That the Synod reject the “Gospelism” of the
St. Louis Seminary faculty as a false doctrine relegating the
Scriptures to the position of a fallible witness and thus en-
dangering the purity of the very Gospel itself; and be it
further

Resolved. That the Synod declare that the St. Louis semi-
nary has violated its solemn pledge and oath to be faithful
to the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions (Ar-
ticle II of the Constitution of The Lutheran Church — Mis-
souri Synod): and be it finally

Resolved, That the Synod direct the Board of Control to
remove from office all administrators and professors of the
St. Louis seminary who adhere to the unscriptural doctrinal
stance set forth in Faithful to Our Calling, etc., Part I.

BEAUTIFUL SAVIOR LUTHERAN CHURCH
Broomfield, Colo.

Virgil E. Balke, Chairman

Gordon Bundy, Secretary