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(!tnnrnrbta m~tnlngital :!Iont1J1y Continuing LEHRE UNO WEHRE MAGAZIN FUER Ev. -LuTH. HOMILETIK T HEOLOGICAL QUARTERLy-THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY Vol.xvm October, 1947 No. 10 CONTENTS Page Lund. w. Antd r _. __ 721 Recent Studies in the Chronology of the Period c» the Kings. Walter K. Roehrs __ .. .... 738 HistOl'Y as a Weapon in Contt-ovel·sy. L. W _ Spitz Outline~ on the Nitzsch Gospel Selections Miscellanea ... .. __ 747 763 .. 772 ____ .. 784 Theological Observer Em Prediger muss nlcht allew toei- den, also dass er die Sdude unter- weise, VI'ie sie rechte Christen sollen sein, sondem auch daneben den Woel- fen toehnm, dass sie die Schafe nicht angreifen und mit falscher Lehre ver- fuehren und Irrtmn elnfuehren. LutheT Es 1st kew Ding, das die Leute mehr bei der Kirche behaelt denn die gute Pred1gt. - Apologie, Art. 24 If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? -1 CO'I'.14:S Published by the Ev. Luth. Syaod of Missou ri, Ohio, and Other States CONCORDIA PUBUSBING BOUSE, St. Louis 18, Mo. PlIKftD I!'f '0'. S. A. Concordia Theological Monthly Vol. XVIII OCTOBER, 1947 No. 10 Lund ByW. ARNDT THE TOWN During the first week of July all eyes were focused on the little town of Lund, Sweden, entertaining the W orId Conven- tion of Lutherans. It is a town that is entitled to honorable mention in its own rights. Pleasantly situated in the maritime plain of southwestern Sweden and twenty miles distant from the port of Malmoe, it is the seat of one of the two Swedish universities and can justly claim to be an important center of scholarship and learning. It numbers about 30,000 in- habitants, who, if they are not directly connected with the University as professors or students, nevertheless realize that the school is the city's chief asset and the pillar of their own prosperity. As a prominent and friendly Danish educator informed me, the southern tip of Sweden, with Lund as one of its chief ornaments, up till 1658 was a part of the Danish Kingdom and, like the other Swedish towns of this section, in the construction of its houses and in other ways, still re- veals its Danish affinities. The University of Lund is not nearly as old as that of Uppsala; the latter was founded before the Reformation, in 1477, while the former was established in 1668, when the Swedish crown had gained control of this section of the country. The two universities, if the informa- tion given me is correct, have about the same number of students, several thousand each. Among the buildings of the University of Lund the spacious library attracts special atten- tion, both on account of its impressive architecture and the 46 722 LUND ivy covering the walls in grand profusion. The chief pride of the town as well as of the university, however, is the cathedral, a venerable edifice completed in 1145, its site ad- joining the campus of the university and its appearance re- minding one of the old English abbeys. FORMER MEETINGS The first meeting of the Lutheran World Convention, to use the old name, was held in Eisenach in 1923. At that time Dr. M. Reu, a theological professor of the Iowa Synod, made an important statement on what he considered the essen- tials of Lutheran teaching, which statement, for the sake of younger readers who do not have access to the historical documents, is here reprinted. "We cannot emphasize too strongly the fact that the Lu- theran Church can be held together only by the bond of a common confession. It is equally important, however, that we understand the content and compass of this confession. For me and for the Lutheran Synod of Iowa, which I am here representing, the Book of Concord of 1580 is the Confession upon which, because of its agreement with Scripture, our union is founded. We not only consider that Confession a historic testimony of the faith of our fathers, but we find in it, accepting it in its entirety, an expression of our own faith. Therefore we condemn secus docentes and have no pulpit or altar fellowship, that closest form of church fellowship, with those who refuse to take seriously this part of the Confession. This restriction, which may appear as a fetter, we consider in no wise an undesirable restraint, but rather a most appro- priate limit within which our conscience, bound by the Word of God, forces us to do our work. I should like especially to mention three points which we find in the Confessions, the basis of the Lutheran Church. "The first is the absolute recognition of the Scriptural doctrine of original sin and original guilt, of the complete inability of the natural man to accomplish anything that is truly good, of his inclination to all that is evil, of his being subject to divine wrath and judgment, even from birth. This teaching of both Jesus and Paul, of both the Old and the New Testaments, is not a 'dark delusion,' but a basic fact of Scrip- ture and of our own experience, the denial or modification LUND 723 of which makes impossible the understanding of the Gospel and of the Reformation. We German Lutherans of America in recent years have had the bitter experience that even in purely secular matters the guilt of an individual, especially when he is the leader and representative of the people, is the guilt of all, and how all on his account have become subject to the judgment of God. Weare more convinced of this today after the war, as we see the increase of our guilt. "The second point which in our opinion stands out in the Lutheran Confessions is the fact of the substitutionary satisfaction and atonement of Jesus Christ. I thank God when He leads me into contact with a person who confesses with me that Christ has died and risen for our salvation; and yet that does not exhaust the doctrine of atonement as ex- pressed in Scripture and in the Confessions. The idea of sub- stitution is essential. I used to say with Frank, if the idea of substitution is not in the prepositions peri, anti, and hyper', surely it is [in] the whole of Matthew 20 and Galatians 3. I still maintain this today and think also of the Scriptural conception of sacrifice, of the high priest, and of the second Adam, but I now add on the basis of Deissmann's studies in the Kaine that the idea of substitution is expressed at least in the preposition hype?", Christ, true God and man, has borne in my stead the fullness of God's wrath, has wrought in my stead satisfaction to the justice of God, and at the same time has made atonement for my sins and for the sins of the whole world. He has 'covered' them before God, and so we, the many, through Him, the One, are made righteous and blessed. In Him all mankind has died; in Him it has been quickened and justified. How Luther lived in this thought and on this thought! The war has helped us again to understand the idea of substitution in natural life. May this experience help to open our eyes again to the fact of Christ's substition. This is not a 'crying injustice,' as someone has said, hut it is the blessed analogy to the truth of the doctrine of original sin, the imputatio peccati Adamitici in genus humanum. "'rhe third point