LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 430

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430

GOSPEL AND SCRIPTURE

I. Gospel as Norm in the Scriptures
A. In What Sense the Gospel is Norm in the Scriptures

When the term “Gospel” is used as the Lutheran Symbols use it,
namely, to mean “the gratuitous promise of the remission of sins for
Christ's sake” (Ap IV. 156: cf. FC Ep V. 5 and SD V. 27). then in
a very real sense itis norm in the Scripture. For example. passages which
speak of rewards must not be understood to mean that men can merit
God's favor CAP TV, 367 ff). [tis a foregone conclusion that any doctrine
or pracuice which robs Christ of His honor, buries the Gospel, and abolishes
the promises. cannot be in agreement with the Scriptures

The Gospel provides a rule of thumb, er norm, applicable to all of
Scripture. namely, that Scripture cannot be against Christ or be in conflict
with the chief article concerning the free remission of sins by grace through
faith in His sole mediatorship.*

B. In What Sense the Gospel Is NOT Norm in the Scriptures

1. Irs Not NorRM IN THE SENSE THAT IT ABROGATES Gon's Law
AND ORDINANCES

No Conflict Between Gospel and Bible

The Gospel which Paul preached did not keep him from. saying.
“Children. obey sour purents in the Lord. for this is right” (Eph. 6:1)
Paul's Gospel does prohibit teaching that children ought to be subject to
their parents in order to merit salvation, but it in no way forbids teaching
that children ought to be subject to their parents

Tt is important to observe that the Symbols ask two questions con-
cerning @ given doctrine or practice: (1) What does it do to the Gospel
of Gou’s free grace toward sinners in Christ Jesus” (2) Does it hase Biblical
foundation?

The Apology rejects invecation of saints both on the grounds that it
robs Christ of His honor (XXT. 14) and on the grounds that it is “without
proof from Scripture” CXXT. 10), Luther rejects the Mass as a horrible
abomination because it runs in direct conflict with the chief article of our
faith (SA TI a. 1}. but he holds that in the Holy Supper the bread remains
bread simply on grounds that this teaching “is in perfect agreement with
Hols Scriptures.” namely 1 Cor. 10:16 and Ph:28. (SA TIL si. 5)

While the Symbols are always concerned ubout how a doctrine relates
to the Gospel.” they do not hesitate to appeal directly to the Scriptures to
Prove @ point because they know that a doctrine firmly founded on the
Scriptures cannot possibly be inimical to the Geypel. They are confident
that Senptures given to us for the sake of the Gospel do not teach doctrines
contrary to the Gospel Whatever is truly Biblicul does not negate the
Gospel, The true and genuine Gospel does not negate whatever is truly
Biblical

Gospel Does Not Abrogate Law
When one's “gospel” is such that it makes void the Lord's directives
for his children’s individual and community life, it would seem that his

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intention that the law canmot impose its curse upon those who
through Christ have been reconciled with Ged. nor may it torture
the regenerated with its coercion, for eens to the inner man
they delight in the law of God. «SD V1.

The Formula also states

Although truly believing Christuns. having been genuinely converted
to God and vustified. have been freed and liberated from the curse
of the law. thes should daily exercise themselses in the law of the
Lord For the law as 4 mirror in which the will of God and
what is pleasing to him ty correctly portrayed. (SD VEL 4)

The sume article emphasizes that believers “require the teaching of
the law so that they will not be thrawn hack on their own holiness and
prety and under the pretext of the Holy Spirit's guidance set up a self-
elected service of God without His Word and command.” (20)

But are not believers guided by the Holy Spint? The Formula ex-
plains:

Although true believers are indeed motivated by the Holy Spirit and

hence accerding tu the inner man do the will of God trom a free

spirit. nevertheless the Holy Spirit uses the written law on them to
instruct ther, and thereby even true believers learn to serve God not
according to their own notions but according to His written law and

Word. which wa certain rule and norm for achieving a godly life und

behavior in accord with God's eternal and immutable will (SD

NI3i

While behevers are no longer under the Law. they are in the Luw.
The Formula explains; “Thus though they are never without law, they
are not under but in the law. thes live and walk in the law of the Lord.
and set do nothing by the compulsion of law” (18), but “from a free and
merry spit. (17. ef SD INV. 17

2. THE Gospet Is NoT NORM IN THE SENSE OF A Basic PRINCIPLE
FROM WHICH OTHER DocTRINES ARE DEVELOPED

When Lutherans speak of the material principle of theology. they do
not have in mind a basic principle according to which a body of doctrines
may be developed. This means that for Lutherans the Gospel or material
ponciple is not normative for theology in the sense that each generation has
the hberty or even the duty to develop from this “basic principle” a doc-
trinal system. perhaps even a system compatible with the dominant secular
world view.

The Gospel is not normative for theology in the sense that beginning
with it as a fundamental premise. other items of the Christian system of
doctrine are developed as provisional, historically conditioned responses
to a given situation which will need to be revised for another situation. The
whole body of Lutheran doctrine is always represented as “taken from the
Word of God and solidly and well grounded therein” (FC SD Summary. $5)

“supported with clear and irrefutable testimonies from the Holy Scriptures”
(ibid., 6), and based “on the witness of the unalterable truth of the divine
Word” (Preface to The Book of Concord, p. §). Lutheran doctrine is

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“gospel” is different from the one taught by Paul and the Lutheran Sym-
bols. It is casy to see why such directives are incompatible with a “gospel”
that speaks of redemption in terms of what God is doing now in the socio-
political structures, instead of inviting us to trust in what He did once
for all on Calvary.” When such a “gospel” supplants the Scriptures as norm
of doctrine and life. then it is awkward to call anything wrong. since what-
ever is going on is somehow what God is doing now. But it is not a denial
of the Scriptural Gospel to teach that men ought to obey God and to hold
that expressions of His will in the Sacred Scriptures are sti!] normative for
the behavior of His children and church.

When the Symbols say that “to know Christ is to know his benefits”
(Ap IV, 101) and that we must “make use of Christ” (Ap IV. 291, 299).
they do not mean that to know Christ is to understand what God is doing
now through Him in the process of continuing creation, nor do they mean
that we ought to “use” Christ by being open to the future: that is. by
accepting change in social and political structures as redemptive “advance
into novelty.” *

When the Apology says that “God will certainly accomplish ["‘fulfill.”
Latin: praestet] what he has promised for Christ's sake” (IV. 101). it is
not talking about change which God has promised to bring about through
Christ in social and political structures, and through which He will effect
salvation in terms of the culmination of a cosmic process. The Apology
means simply that God according to His promise will certainly forgive
those who trust in Christ and who believe the promise spread throughout
the world by the Gospel. namely. that God will be gracious to those who
trust in the name of Christ who is “the price on account of which we are
saved.” (Ap IV, 99)

The Symbols mean that we know Christ only when we know that in
Him we have remission of sins and that we must continue to rely on Him
completely for salvation (Ap IV, 238-239). So we know His benefits.
and so we continue to make use of Him. The Gospel. which is “properly
that command which enjoins us to believe that God is propitious to us
for Christ's sake” (Ap IV’, 345}, does not permit us in the name of Christ
to alter God's ordinances and call it celebration of our freedom under
the Gospel!

Believers Are IN the Law

Freedom under the Gospel is not freedom from God's holy. immutable
will revealed in the Law, but freedom to obey it freely, that is, without
compulsion. fear, or the need to earn God's favor thereby. The Formula of
Concord describes the function of the Law for Christian life and conduct.
as follows:

Tt is true that the law is not laid down for the just, as St. Paul says

{1 Tum. 1:9), but for the ungodly, But this dare not be understood

without qualification, as though the righteous should live without

the law. For this law of God is written on their hearts. just as the

first man immediately after his creation received a law according

to which he should conduct himself. On the contrary, it is St. Paul's

therefore called “unchanging. constant truth” (FC SD Rule and Norm. 20)
which “is and ought to [must] remain the unanimous understanding and
judgment of our churches.” (/bid.. 16)*

Especially with reference to the Bible do Lutherans reject the idea
that the Gospel serves as a core to which other teachings of the Bible are
related as a mere set of deductions relative to that particular time and cul-
ture. Lutheran theology does not appeal to the Gospel in such a way as
to relativize the rest of the Scriptures. Gospel is not norm in the Scriptures
in such a way as to make only the Gospel the norm of theology. This is
a “Gospel reductionism” that Lutherans condemn as a repudiation of the
authority of the Scriptures.

3. THE GospeL Is NOT NoRM IN THE SENSE THAT IT PERMITS A
METHOD OF BIBLE STUDY WHICH QUESTIONS LUTHERAN PRESUP-
POSITIONS REGARDING THE BIBLE

All Scripture Is Authoritative

When Lutherans say that the Gospel is the norm in the Scriptures.
they do not mean that so long as the Gospel is not negated it is permissible
to employ a method of Bible study which calls into question Lutheran pre-
suppositions about the kind of a book the Bible is, or which in any way
qualifies the authority of all Scripture. As our commission explained in an
earlier document, Lutherans indeed “hold that all theological questions
raised by any interpretation must be posed and answered with reference to
this central concern of the Scripture,” that is, a “right understanding of the
Gospel.” However, Lutherans add that “in conformity with the Lutheran
Symbols our church confesses and acknowledges the prophetic and apos-
tolic Scriptures to be the Word of God given by inspiration of the Holy
Spirit [and] submits unreservedly to them as the sole source. norm, and
authority for the church's teaching.” Lutherans confess that “the canonical
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired source and
norm of all Christian preaching and teaching” and recognize that “there
is a qualitative difference between the inspired witness of the Holy Scrip-
ture in all its parts and words and the witness . . . of every other form of
human expression.” }°

The Bible Is God’s Book

The following quotations accurately reflect the very definite and clearly
stated presuppositions of the Lutheran Symbols about the kind of book
the Bible is.

The Bible is called the “Scripture of the Holy Spirit” (Ap Preface, 9).
When the opponents disregarded “passages in the Scriptures,” the Symbols
asked: “Do they suppose that these words fell from the Holy Spirit un-
awares?” (Ap IV; 107-108: emphasis ours). The Augsburg Confession
refers to Scripture passages which forbid “making and keeping human reg-
ulations,” and asks: “Is it possible that the Holy Spirit warned against
them for nothing?” (XXVIII. 49; our emphasis)

Because the Bible is the “Scripture of the Holy Spirit” it is “divine
Holy Scriptures” (AC XXVIII, 28. German; Latin: “Scriptures of God”;

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