(!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