Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1973 · 50th Convention › Sheet 475
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Sheet 475

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

CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION 443

they never forget that the
Bible is at the same time
God's eternal, immutable

Word given to us by inspi-
ration of God to make us wise
unto salvation.

- Viewing the Bible in this

way leads Lutherans to empha-
size the following as they
interpret the Scriptures:

The divine and saving wis-

dom which the Bible imparts
can be understood and believed
only as the Holy Spirit gra-
ciously empowers us to hear
what God is speaking to us in
His Word.

In His Word God speaks to us
His Law and Gospel, the Word
that condemns and the Word
that forgives. These must

be carefully distinguished
lest the Law be diluted and
the Gospel perverted so that
we receive from the Scriptures
neither the knowledge of sin
nor the assurance of grace.

The central message of the
Bible is the Gospel of God's
free grace toward sinners in
Christ Jesus -~ the Good News
that through the cross of
Christ the condemning record
of our sin has been erased.

The Bible must be understood
in this way, or it will not
be understood at all.

With these indispensable em-
phases in mind, Lutherans em-
ploy principles for interpret-
ing the Bible that flow from
the fact that it is a divine
book whose primary Author is
the Holy Spirit.

a. Since it is the Holy Spirit
who bears witness in all the
Holy Scriptures to God's ac-
tions in human history for the
salvation of the world, this
witness is consistent with
itself and true to the facts.
Therefore, a basic principle
for interpreting the Holy
Spirit's writings is that they
are characterized both by
unity and truthfulness.

Because there is perfect unity
in the Scriptural witness to
God and His mighty deeds for
our redemption, Lutherans
Operate confidently with the

principle that Scripture in-
Cerprets Scripture.

a. It is not the intention
and purpose of the bibli-
cal writings to state
facts about all sorts of
things and subjects, but
to witness to the truth
about man's sinfulness
and God's grace.

b. The Bible must be studied
with the expectation of
hearing God speak in judg-
ment and mercy to the
heart, rather than of
learning inerrant infor-
mation addressed by God to
man's intellect. The Law-
Gospel dialectic is there-
fore the key for interpre-
ting the Bible.

2. The Law/Gospel dialectic is
the proper theological ap-
proach.

a. To interpret the Bible
correctly it is necessary
to distinguish between Law
and Gospel. The Lutheran
Confessions remind us that
"in some places the Scrip-
Cure presents the Law, while
in others it presents the
Gospel" (Ap, Iv, 185). The
Confessions point out that
unless this fact is kept
in mind together with the
rule that "the Law cannot
be kept without Christ"
(Ap, IV, 183), the promise
will be abolished and the
whole Bible will be regarded
as a book providing us with
Prescriptions for earning
God's favor.

b. The mediating historical-
critical position, however,
seems to understand the
statement that in some
places the Scripture pre-
sents Law, while in others
it presents Gospel to mean
that it is solely and ex-
clusively the Purpose and
intent of Scripture to pre-
sent Law and Gospel. There-
fore, beyond the historical
level, the interpreter's
work is to search out how
a pericope teaches Law and
Gospel.

c. The mediating position holds,
for instance, that even
though a biblical pericope
has the external literary
form of an historical nar-
rative, it must not be un-
critically assumed that it
is the intention of the text