Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1973 · 50th Convention › Sheet 469
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Sheet 469

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

CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION 437

. The revelation given to us units which each editor se-
in the Scriptures about all lected and adapted to suit
that God has done in human his particular purpose.
history to effect our sal-
vation comes from God. No 5. The existence of the Bible is
prophetic teaching about explainable wholly in terms
what God was doing through of the operation of ordinary
His people to keep His pro- historical processes, com-
mise of sending a Redeemer pletely without need to refer
arose from any mere human to any kind of supernatural,
reflection on an interpre- divine authority.

tation of Israel's history.
But men spoke from God
about these things as they
were moved by the Holy
Spirit (2 Pet. 1:20-21).

Apostolic proclamation con-
cerning all that God did in
Christ was "revealed .
through the Spirit" and im-
parted "in words not taught
by human wisdom but taught

by the Spirit” (I Cor. 2:10,
13; Gal. 1:11-12). "All
Scripture is inspired by God"
(II Tim. 3:16).

Scriptures inspired by God
were written by men. God
gave His Word to His Old and
New Testament people through
human beings whom He Himself
chose and endowed to speak
His Word to concrete situa-
tions and circumstances in
the history of His people.

completely analogous to the his-
tory of any literature. It is
equally susceptible of investi-
gation and description by the
canons and techniques of the
secular historian.

IL. WHAT KIND OF A BOOK IS THE BIBLE?

The Historical-Grammatical The Historical - Critical View

(Traditional) View

The Radical Position

fhe Bible, inspired by God and The radically historical view
yvritten by men, is a divine- answers this question in a
yuman book. However, this is manner consistent with its
lot to say that these are two theory about the Bible's
osarts which can be separated. origin.

Che divine and the human in
the Bible are combined in an
inseparable union analagous
ro the union of the two na-
sures in the Person of Christ.

1. A book written by men 1. A human book
Lutherans acknowledge and a. When supernatural intervention
teach that the Bible, even in human affairs is denied (or
though it is and transmits at least considered a factor
God's very own Word, is a which the historian is not able
thoroughly human book. to reckon with because it is in
They do not have a docetic principle uninvestigable
view of the Bible. (Note: by methods of scientific
The docetists were a he- research), then the Bible
retical group in the an- has to be regarded as the

The Mediating Position

The rigid consistency which
marks the radically histori-
cal view of the Bible is not
a characteristic of the medi-
ating position.

. A human book

The mediating position fre-
quently disclaims any pre-
suppositions deriving from
the emphasis on the histori-
cal dimension of the Bible.

a. For instance, when this po-
sition speaks of "differ-
ences" and "variety" in the