- --~-------------- ~------- arnurnr~iu IDqrnlngirul i1nutqly Continuing Lehre und Wehre (Vol. LXXVI) Magazin fuer Ev.-Luth. Homiletik (Vol. LIV) Theol. Quarterly (l897-1920)-Theol. Monthly (Vol. X) Vol. II December, 1931 No. 12 CONTENTS Page ENGELDER, TH.: The Theology of Grace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 881 KRETZlVIANN, P. E.: Reich Gottes, Kirche, Gemeinde, Synode ................................................. 886 MUELLER, J. T.: Introduction to Sacred Theology ........ 898 LAETSCH, TH.: Studies in Hos. 1-3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 909 LOTH, A. M.: Haggai 2, 7-10 ........................... 920 Dispositionen ueber die zweite von der Synodalkonferenz angenommene Evangelienreihe.............. . . . . . . . . . .. 928 Theological Observer. - Kirchlich-Zeitgeschichtliches. . . . .. 939 Book Review. - Literatur. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 952 Ein Prediger muss nicht allein weide", also dass er die Schafe unterweiseJ wie sie rechte Christen sollen sein, sondern auch daneben den Woelfen weMen, dass sie die Schafe nicht angreifen und mit falscher Lehre verfuehren und Irrtum ein- fuehren. - Luther. Es ist kein Ding, das die Leute mehr bei der Kirche behaelt denn die gute Predigt. - Apologie, Art. 2~. If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? 1 Oor. 4, 8. Published for the Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States CONCORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE, St. Louis, Mo. i Concordia Theological Monthly VOL. II DECEMBER. 1931 No. 12 The Theology of Grace.1) FRIENDS OF THE FACULTY AND OF THE STUDENT-BODY OF OONCORDIA SEMINARY:- We are met here to commemorate the death. to commemorate the life and work. of Dr. Francis Pieper. the faithful witness of the Gospel of grace. His ministry had one object. Like St. Paul. who declared: "But none of these things move me. neither count I my life dear unto myself. so that I might finish my course with joy. and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus. to testify the Gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20. 24) -like St. Paul Dr. Pieper determined not to know anything in the Ohurch and in the Seminary save Jesus Ohrist. and Him crucified, save the grace of God in Ohrist, that bringeth salvation and hath appeared unto all men. From first to last he testified the Gospel of salvation by grace. In the first booklet he wrote, in 1880, on the Augsburg Oonfession, he said: "All false religions are alike in this, that they instruct men to gain God's grace and salvation through something good in them- selves. Holy Scripture, however, teaches that the righteousness which avails before God' and saves is the righteousness of Ohrist, which God through grace imputes to him that believes in Ohrist." 2) And in 1931, in his last public utterance, Dr. Pieper declared: "Scripture teaches that God has already declared the whole world to be righteous in Ohrist, that therefore not for the sake of their good works, but without the works of the Law, by grace, for Ohrist's sake, He justifies, that is, accounts as righteous, all those who believe in Ohrist, that is. 1) Since at the time of Dr. F. Pieper's death the majority of the stu- dents of Concordia Seminary had been dismissed for the summer vacations. a special service commemorating the sainted teacher's life and work was held in the Seminary chapel when regular work had been resumed in fall. lt was on this occasion that this address was delivered. Z) Das (Jrundbeke1l,.II!tM8 GIlT evrmge'iBoh--'uther180hrn Kirohe, p.94. 56 882 The Theology of Grace. . believe, accept and rely on, the fact that for Ohrist's sake their sins are forgiven." 3) And that has been his ministry all these years. Faithfully he employed the great gifts bestowed upon him by his gracious Lord: his thorough knowledge of Scripture and of theology, the keenness of his intellect, the clearness of his thinking, and the clarity of his style, and that sublime eloquence which gives utterance to the firm assurance and the fervent joy and gratitude lodging in the heart of one who has experienced the wonders of grace - he put it all to one use: to teach and impress, to maintain and spread, the sweet Gospel of grace. A faithful witness of the Gospel of grace, he preached it in its fulness. He did not abate one jot or tittle of it. He believed, and he confessed, these glorious truths: that the grace of God, gained by Ohrist, is a universal grace; that salvation comes to the sinner by grace alone; and that it is conveyed to him through the Goewel and the Sacraments. Hear his words: "The apostle does not say: God was in Ohrist, reconciling one half or the fourth part of the world unto Himself, but 'the world.' The world - and here there is no restriction nor limitation - has been reconciled to God nineteen hundred years ago by the Lamb that took away the sins of the world, has been absolved in God's heart of all sin and guilt, has been justified." 4) Hear him again: "The Lutheran Ohurch teaches most positively that man is converted, justified, and saved by grace alone (sola gratia). Any admixture of man's cooperation, achievement, worthiness, less degrees of guilt, own works, or whatever name it be given is rejected by the Lutheran Ohurch as a radical perversion of the Ohristian religion." 5) And again: "As the Lutheran Ohurch teaches the gratia universalis and the sola gratia, so also it teaches and insists that the grace of God, gained by Ohrist, is most certainly offered and conferred through the external means of grace." 6) Dr. Pieper kept the theology of grace inviolate. It must not be cur- tailed in any way. It must not be compromised by any sort of com- promise. He treasured and preserved every single feature and phase and aspect of it. For it is the article of supreme importance. It lies at the center of the body of Ohristian doctrine. All other articles either lead up to it or are based on it. And the perversion of any doctrine has its roots in the perversion of the doctrine of grace. Dr. Pieper puts it thus: "In order to retain the purity of the Ohristian doctrine, it is not merely helpful, but absolutely necessary to know and to maintain that justifying and saving grace is favor Dei propter Ohristum." 7) And thus, just as in Scripture every doctrine is brought into relation .3) Brief Statement, etc., § 17. 4) Lehre und Wehre, 75, 199. 1» Atlantio Dist., 9, 26. 6) Atlantio Dist., 9, 36 . 7) Ohr. Dog., II, 12. The Theology of Grace. 883 with the doctrine of grace, Dr. Pieper, the exponent of the theology of grace, would inevitably, whatever locus he was treating, on what- ever subject he was writing, begin or end with this article. It dom- inated his heart, and out of it, and back to it, flowed all his theological thinking. Again, it is the article of supreme importance because the sinner absolutely needs it: Unless grace does all, absolutely all, the sinner, helpless in every way, must perish. And unless grace is offered to all, without restriction and limitation, the terrified sinner must despair. Dr. Pieper never tired of inculcating this. "Every poor sinner stands in need of, and must cling to, both the unrestricted universal grace and the unrestricted 'by grace alone' lest he despair and perish." 8) And again: "These two truths are the rod and staff that must support; us on our pilgrimage in this world if we are to reach our heavenly home, gained for us by Christ at so great a cost." 9) And, presenting the matter from another angle: "Der im Evangelium ausgesprochene gratuitus Dei favor propter Christum ist der unbewegliche Gnaden- himmel, der ueber die christliche Kirche ausgespannt ist und unter dem die Christen durch den Glauben wohnen und wirken. Durch das Anschauen dieses Gnadenhimmels ENTSTEHT der Glaube, wird der Glaube ERHALTEN und ist der Glaube ein lebendig, schaeftig, taetig, maechtig Ding." 10) Nothing less than sole grace and universal grace will serve the sinner. And by the grace of God many who had before been trusting in themselves in the hour of utmost need did cast themselves on the sola gratia. Dr. Pieper was wont to point to the case of Copernicus, the Roman Catholic, to the inscription on his tomb : "Not the grace that Paul received do I crave nor the favor by which Thou gavest pardon to Peter, but that grace only that Thou didst grant to the thief on the cross, that only I ask for." 11) He would point to the case of Grotius, the Arminian, who on his death-bed, under the ministration of a Lutheran theologian, found true comfort in the article of free grace. "'To this, and to this only, the one [the Lutheran Quistorp] points; in this, and in this only, the other [Grotius] rests.' Trench." 12) He would point to the case of Chrys- ostom, who in his writings infringed on the sola gratia, but face to face with God prayed: "As Thou, 0 Lord, didst not repel one who was like me, that sinful woman, that harlot, when she approached and touched Thee, mayest Thou be moved by the same mercy towards me, the sinner, as I approach and touch Thee." 13) Nor will anything less than "grace for all" do. Even Calvin declared that in the hour of doubt and spiritual affliction one must look to those passages of Scripture which speak of universal grace.14) 8) Brief Statement, etc., § 16. 12) Ohr. Dog., II, 444. 9) Le1vre und We1vre, 72, 297. 13) Atlantic Dist., 9, 33. 10) Ohr. Dog., II, 13. 14) 01vr. Dog., II, 54. 11) Atlantio Dist., 9, 33. " 884 The Theology of Grace. The article of saving grace must therefore be preserved in its purity and integrity. It is a matter of life and death to the Church. The faithful witness in our midst ever reminded the Church of what this article means to her. Hear his ringing words: "The Christian Church would be committing suicide if she relinguished the doctrine of the sola gratia." Again - and let us hear the words in the original that we may the better visualize the man as he stands before us with flashing eye, thundering into our ears God's message: "Lassen wir die Lehre, dass wir aus Gnaden ALLEIN glaeubig, gerecht und selig werden, FUER UNSERE PERSON fahren, so gehen wir selbst verloren. Bezeugen wir diese Lehre nicht als KmCHE, so sind wir als Kirche nichts nutz in der Welt. Wir sind dann nicht mehr das Salz der Erde, sondern nur noch in den Mist nuetze. Wehe der Missourisynode, wenn sie aufhoeren soZZte, die sola gratia zu bezeugen! Sie verdiente dann, in alle W inde zersprengt und so gruendlich vom Erdboden gefegt zu werden, dass ihre Staette sie nicht mehr 7cennt. Sie haette das Erbe der Reformation von sich geworfen." 15) And this earnest testimony, following that of Dr. Walther and taken up by thousands of others, has resulted in producing this condition of affairs that the faintest denial, or implication of a denial, of the sola gratia or the gratia universalis in our circles would at once arouse a storm of shocked protest throughout the borders of the Missouri Synod and the Synodical Conference, and all the resources of the Church, patient instruction, earnest admonition, and fervent appeal, would be applied, anxiously and unceasingly, till the offense would be removed. We as a Church have been trained to treasure and guard the Gospel of grace. He stood as a faithful witness and withstood the temptation which comes upon every theologian, the urge to shade this article sufficiently to make it acceptable to carnal reason. Carnal reason declares you must either sacrifice universal grace in order to maintain sole grace or give us the sola gratia in the interest of the gratia universalis. It would seem so. But Scripture denies the alternative. Scripture teaches both. And the theology of grace calls for Biblical thinking. Thank God that our teacher was endowed with Biblical thinking and unhesitatingly applied the principle which Dr. Walther, who followed the Formula of Concord, which followed Luther, who followed St. Paul, enunciated in these words: "This is the Lutheran way: when we find two statements in Scripture which we cannot harmonize, we accept both at full value and believe both just as they stand." 16) Thus Dr. Pieper gazed into the full glory of the Gospel of grace - and how he loved it I He lived for it. He labored for it. What labor, what loving care, he expended on every treatise, every 15) Atlantic Dist., 9, 29. 34. 16) Lehre una Wehre, 36, 50. The Theology of Grace. SSIS chapter, he wrote in this matter! How closely he examined every sentence, every phrase, every word, and carefully weighed them for days and weeks before he would give utterance to them lest any uncertainty should anywhere be created regarding either the gratia universalis or the sola gratia! The Gospel of grace must be kept inviolate to the Ohurch and the dying world. He loved it and held every man in the highest esteem who con- fessed it. We know how he looked up to, and admired and loved, his teacher Dr. Walther. And what lay at the bottom of it~ He says: "We think we are not saying too much when we state that after Luther and Ohemnitz perhaps no teacher of our Ohurch has presented the doctrine of justification so vividly and forcefully as Walther." 17) And wherever in the Ohurch a voice was raised, be it ever so faintly, for the Gospel of grace, his ear was attuned to hear it, and he added his own voice to give it volume. And when there was a pronounced Lutheran ring to it, how his heart leaped for joy! When a Lutheran churchman of America declared at the Lutheran World Oonvention of 1929: "'By grace alone' - that is the heart of Lutheranism," and unfolded this thesis over against both synergism and Oalvinism, Dr. Pieper had the entire paper republished in the OONCORDIA THEO- LOGICAL MONTHLY and uttered the wish: "May the Lutheran Ohurch of America and of the world give this essay full consideration!" 18) He loved the chief article of Ohristianity and did all that lay in his power to have it universally studied, accepted, and cherished. His faithful testimony has borne much fruit. A theologian of the American Lutheran Ohurch expresses it thus: "It must certainly be credited to him and Walther that the sola gratia, from which the Lutheran Ohurch ever drew her sustenance and which she always proclaimed, attained more and more definitely, also in its theological presentation, its full meaning and force in the Lutheran Ohurch of this country and that clear and clean theological thinking was pro- moted." 19) Ohristian theology owes much to Dr. Pieper. And they owe him a debt of eternal gratitude who to-day, because of his and his pupils' ministry, are kneeling before the Throne of Grace and praying: "But though my sins are black as night, I dare to come before Thy sight Because I trust Thy Son. In Him alone my trust I place, Oome boldly to Thy throne of grace, And there commune with Thee. Salvation sure, 0 Lord, is mine, And, all unworthy, I am Thine, For Jesus died for me." How shall we deal with the precious heritage Dr. Pieper has passed on to us ~ A great trust has been committed to us. God is holding us accountable for our administration of it. At the dedica- 17) Lehre una Wekre, 36, 10. 19) Kirohl. Zeitschrift, 1931, p.433. 18) CON. THEOL. MTHLY., 1, 338. 886 !Reid} @}otte~, .Rhd}e, @}emeinile, 5t,)noile, tion of Ooncordia Seminary in 1882 Dr. Walther spoke the burning words: "May the mouth of that teacher who shall at any time utter one word in our new Ooncordia against Ohrist's free grace and against His alone trueW ord be smitten by God and stopped for- ever I" 20) Dr. Pieper and his colleagues were faithful to their trust. Ooncordia Seminary, by the grace of God, through the ministry of Dr. Pieper and his colleagues stands to-day as of yore for the free and universal, the alone-saving grace of God. And we, seeing how God has dealt with us, cannot do other than raise our right hands to heaven and take the solemn vow: Let my right hand forget her cunning if I fail thee, 0 Jerusalem 1 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I withhold from thee one word of the Gospel of grace 1 God helping us, we shall keep the vow. The prayer with which our sainted teacher closed his essay at the Delegate Synod of 1926 must be our prayer: "Dear Savior Jesus Ohrist, graciously grant us that we may never betray the alone-saving Ohristian doctrine of grace, but remain faithful confessors of it for the honor of Thy holy name and the salvation of man 1 Amen." 21) TH. ENGELDER. 4 • II Dleidj 6.Sotte~, stirdje, 6.Senteinbe, el)nobe. Um ben )Begtiff bet djtiftlidjen 2eqre, bes corpus doctrinae, redjt au betanfdjaulidjen, qat man fidj fdjon bon jeqet betfdjiebenet )Bilbet bebien±. man qat bie @5umma bet 2eqten einem ®ebaube betglidjen, worin bie betfdjiebenen ~eile, {Yunbament, 5lBanbe, ~adj ufw" ben bet" fdjiebenen {Yunbamental" unb Widjtfunbamentalleqten, ben meqt obet weniget widjtigen ~eilen bet biblif djen 5lBaqtqcit, entfptedjen. Obet man qat getebet bon cinet ~ette, in bet bie cinaelnen 2eqten bie ®liebet finb. ~in unb wiebet finbet fidj audj woql bet j8etgleidj bon einem )Baum, bet mit feinen 5lButaeln im )Boben bes 5lBotfes ®ottes fteqt, beffen @5tamm bie 2eqte bon Q:qrifto unb bet lJ'tedjtfetfigung allcin aus ®naben ift unb beffen ~tone unb {YtUdjte bie ilbtigen 2eqten bes corpus doc- trinae finb. Obet man qat getebet bon cinem ~iltbogen, beffen ®tunb" lage bie @5djrift ift, beffen cinaelne @5teine bie 2eqten bet @5djtift finb unb beffen @5djlu13ftein bie 2eqte bon bet lJ'tedjtfetfigung if±. ~et lette j8etgleidj ift in meqt alS cinet ~infidjt bef onbets paffenb. {Yilt ben glliuDigen ~qeologen ift felbftbetftanblidj Me @5djtift bie e i n e ®tunblage allet 2eqten, Me in bet ~itdje botgettagen wetben, fei es bom 2eqtftuql, fei es bon bet ~anael aus. ~ie einaelnen 2eqten bet @5djtift finb aUfs innigfte mitcinanbet betbunben unb ftilten einanbet. Wimmt man audj nut e in e aus bem ,8ufammenqange bes 2eqdiitpets qetaus, fo fommt bet ganae )Bogen, tefp. bas ganae ®ebaube, bem et 20) Lutheraner, 79, 372. 21) Lehre una Wehre, 72, 329.