Full Text for CTM Miscellanea 5-7 (Text)

(ltnurnrbtu UJ4rnlngirul :!Innt~l!J CoDtiDuiDg LEHRE UNO WEHRE MAGAZIN FUER EV.-LUTH. HOMILBllK THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY. THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY Vol. V July, 1934 No.7 CONTENTS Zur Lehre von der Reue. Th. E ngelder . •••.•••.•.•.••.•. " 497 Christian Burial. J. A. Petersen .••••.•.......•••...••.• " 509 Die rechte Mitte in der Liturgie und Ordnung des Gottes· dienstes. L. Fuerbrinr:er. • • • • • • • • • • • . . • • . . . . • . . • • • . • •• 520 The Question of Aramaic Originals. P. E. Kretr 1IlUl-o~ nicht aUein t('rv/'l4 . L i .. ( ".·ill Bing. ua' die Leute mt:hr al~(l da ..... cr diE' Schnfc uuwn,l'iiOil't \vic ""i de-T Kirch£' 1I4'iuu·1t dtnn di .. gute .., i e r t.'l'htc Chribtel'l soll('n 'l'ill.. nude-rn l'lf·.li~t. .1pol o!lzj • • \rt . .!-~ . • luch danelJ..·n d('n\\ oclft n wthn'n. dat-· ie dit' Schl1f~ niehl. nngreiff'n lIm} mit Ii the trumpet. gin~ an un("~rtain !«lWld, ral.pher Lehre "erfuehr('Tl lind lrrtum ein "h" .• hall pr~pa" hhll,elf to the battle? fuehn·n L",II,..,. 1 Cor. Lf. S. Published for the Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States OONOORDIA. PUBLISHING HOUSE, St. Louis, Mo. ARCHIV Miscellanea. 549 Miscellanea. ~et widjtige ~entf nnferer $rofefforen in biefer inotaeit, lSe~r fel)on befel)rciOt D. {y. ~foten~auer im Oollege Adrninistmtion Bulletin bie }!Biel)tigfeit bes ~erufs unferer ~rofe1ioren in biefer ~otaeit. @r fel)reibt u. a.: "Unfere ~rofefforcn miiffen fiel) auniiel)ft merfen, baf3 ifjr ~eruf fidj roefentriel) bon lpcHrid)en ~erufen unterfdjeibet. }!BeItridje ~e~ rufsarten mogen gana berfel)toinben cber bod) feqr eingefdjriinft toerben. ISo gibt cs a. ~. qeutc faum noel) @:5cljuqmael)er ober IScljndber. ::Diefe unb anbere .Q;lanbroede finb burdj bie IDCafcljinen faft gana berfdjtuunben. ::Die ISdjiffaqrt auf unfern B'Iiiffen, bie einft 5taufenbe befdjiiftigte, tourbe burdj bie @ifenbaqn ruinierl. Unb nun fiin¢fen bie @ifenba~nen infolge ber @r~ fin bung ber Sh:aftroagen unb 2uftfd)iffe um i~re @;t;iftena unb feqen ficlj ge~ notigt, immer me!}r IlrngefteIIte aus i~rem ::Dienfte au enifaffen. Ilrnl:lers fteqt es mit bem ~eruf unferer ~rofefforen an unfern 2e~ranf±ar±en. ::Diefe bienen bem al1egefprodjenen 3toed, lj,lrebiger unD 2eqrer fUr ben st'irel)en'" bienft auGi\uoHben. ~nun qat unfer .Q;leHanb niel)t 01013 berqdf3en, baB bie st'irel)e ois an bae @nbe ber 5tagebefte~en foIl, fonbern auel) feftgeftelIt, baf3 bie st'ircge iqre Ilrrbeit burel) baau tiiel)tige 2e~rer unb ~rebiger ber", ridjten foIl. ~ie 5tiiel)tigfeit rotll @ott orbentricljertueife niel)t unmitteIoar geoen, fonbern bie mUl> burclj ffeif3iges Unterricgten unb forgfame j8or", bereitung erroorben roerben. ::Die st'irel)e @ones fann bemnael) au feiner 3dt fagen: }!Bir toollen Die llrueoHbung bon I13rebigern unb 2eqrern eine 8eiifang anfteqen Iaffen. ~as barf fie Buma! in unferer 8eit nicgt fagen, ba auf ber dnen lSeite ber Unglaube grof3e Ilrnftrengungen mael)t, bie 2eqre !Dirifti i\u entfernen, unb aUf bet anbern lSeHe gegenroiidig faft aIle 2iinbet bem @bangelium offenfteqen unb ber ~tebigt besfeIben feine .Q;linberniffe in ben }!Beg gelegt roerben. @on qat gerabe in biefer Ietten 8eit bas @bangeHum aUf einen tueiten maum gefteIIt, bamit in @rfiillung geqe, toaS ber .Q;leilanb getoejsfagt qat: ,@s rottb geprebigt roerben bas @bangeIium bom meiel) in bet ganaen }!BeIt au einem 3eugnis iiber aUe j8oIfet; unb bann rotrb bas @nbe lommen.' 2utqer fel)reibt in feiner IScljuI1:lrebigi:: ,:i5ft nun bas gel11if3 unb roaqr, baf3 @ott ben geiftIicgen IStanb feIbft qat ein'" gefett unb geftiftet mit feinem ~Iut unb 5tob, ift gut au reel)nen, baf3 er ben", feIben rota ~oel) geeqrl ~aben UnD nicljt Ieiben, baf3 er foIl untergeqen ober aufqoren, fonbern erqaIten qaben bis an ben :i5iingften 5tag. ~enn es mUf3 ja baS @bangeIium unb bie @:qriftenqeit bleiben ois an ben :i5iingften 5tag, toie @:qriftuG fpriel)t IDCa±tq. 28: "lSieqe, iclj bin oei eucg ois an ber }!Bert @nbe." '" ~iefe }!Borie berbienen gel11iffenqafte ~eqer3igung feitene unferet: ~aftoren unD 2aien. ::Die ~ot ber 3eit barf nne niel)t baron irremael)en, baf3 e~ unfere ~ffiel)t oleibt, b i e I e ~rebiger unb 2eqrer fUr ben ::Dienft :i5@fu boraubereiten. Ilruel) qier fiinnen wit bon bet }!BeIt lemen. ISo IieB ficg bie Ilrutomooilinbuftrie burdj bie obtoaItenbe ~epreffion niel)t bas ge~ ftecfte 3ier berriiclen; fie rang fiel) burel). Woer noel) meqr afS Ilrutos qat tlie }!BeIt bas @bangelium notig. Unb i\ubem fteqt qier @oties ~efeqr. :i5.5t.IDC. 550 Miscellanea. Autonomy versus Isolation. One of the great classics of the Lutheran Church in America is Dr. Walther's book Die rechte Gestalt -einer vom Staat unabhaengigen evan- gelisch-luthe1'ischen 01'tsgemeinde. In spite of the fact that many of its examples and testimonies refer to conditions in Germany and not to those of corporate bodies in a country like the United States, where separation of Church and State is at least a theoretical principle, the propositions of this book deserve to be studied by everyone who desires to become familiar with the fundamental truths of Scripture concerning church polity. This is all the more necessary in our days, since many congregations operating under the constitution of the Missouri Synod seem to be acting under a false supposition. It is true that a synod is merely an advisory body, acting in an administrative capacity only with regard to its corporate existence and functions (officers, boards, educational institutions, etc.), and it is certainly true that every congregation is autonomous, sovereign, in- dependent. That both of these propositions are true in the light of the Word of God is amply indicated by the relation of the apostles to the congregations as well as in the relation of the early Christian congregations to one another. We find no evidence of any apostle's lording it over any congregation. On the contrary, St. Paul distinctly states, 2 Cor. 1, 24: "Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy." The whole tenor of his arguments in the two Corinthian letters is one that shows his extreme carefulness not to interfere with the rights of any congregation. And the same spirit is evident in the epistles of the other apostles. - Likewise no congregation of the apostolic age presumed to dictate to another congregation. When the delegates of the congrega- tion at Antioch presented their problems to that of Jerusalem, the latter, with its elders and the apostles still remaining in its midst as late as 49 A. D., did not force its resolutions upon the Antiochian Christians, but the matter was decided on the basis of the Word of God, the northern delegates agreeing to the propositions because they were convinced by the arguments advanced. On the other hand, no congregation of those days remained in a posi- tion of indifferent or splendid isolation. The resolutions of the Jerusalem convention were published throughout Southern Galatia and willingly ac- cepted by the brethren. When the Apostle Paul arranged for the collection for the relief of the poor in Judea, as referred to in 1 Cor. 16, 1; 2 Cor. 8 and 9, and elsewhere, the various congregations, not only in Galatia, but apparently also in Syria, and certainly in Macedonia and Achaia, cooperated in a splendid manner, as we see from Acts 20, 4. - Our Synod is a federa- tion, not of Districts (for these are merely convenient units for purposes of administration), but of autonomous congregations, which will certainly be glad to follow the example of the early Christian congregations in cheer- ful cooperation in the work of the Lord. P. E. K. Noteworthy Sentiments on Christian Education. In June, 1932, the London Missionary Society Board appointed a special committee "to review the society's educational work abroad and its rela- tionship to evangelism and the building up of the native Church," etc. Miscellanea. 551 This committee consisted of many representative persons and did very thorough research work before it formulated its report. Many of the sentiments on Christian education voiced in the report (1933) are ab- solutely refreshing and must have our unqualified endorsement, since they reflect our own Lutheran position. Allow me to quote; - "It is clear from the evidence that to an extent far greater than most people would suppose the [Christian] school has actually been the be- ginning of the Church. The missionary has very frequently opened his school in a village before there could be any church, and the church has grown out of the school. This has happened so commonly as to be almost the normal method of expansion. . . . "A missionary society has no right to carryon a school which is not Christian, and that without compromise .... "What makes a school Christian? Non-Christians naturally suppose it to be the Ohristian worship and Scripture instruction. . .. Our present point is that the differentia of a Ohristian [and secular] school are not so simple as the inclusion of Christian worship and religious instruction. It is possible for these to be maintained so out of relation to the general life of the school that the rest of the work, which occupies nearly all the school-time, goes forward just as it would in a secular institution. In such a case the school is only Christian in that fraction of its time given up to those purposes. "In the conception of the Christian school . . . every school period is to be so interfused with all that can be brought to bear upon it of the Spirit of Christ that the relationships of the teachers with each other and with the pupils will be Christianized. Teachers shall regard themselves as called of God to this high vocation, and the whole education given shall be based upon the truth as it is in Christ. "Christian education, however, is much more than just Christian wor- ship and teaching added on to secular instruction. Our aim is to provide an education which is Christian through and through .... "School worship. While the whole life of the school is the proper vehicle of its religious influence, the missionary educationist will concen- trate very special effort upon that religious worship and instruction in which there can be plain and direct speech concerning things divine. Religious worship perfunctorily conducted in the presence of a crowd of uninterested scholars does more harm than good j it cannot be good for either teachers or taught to use without awe the forms of an approach to the divine .... "A Christian school for the Christian child. We know what we would wish to secure; that is that within reach of every Ohristian child there should be an uncompromisingly Christian school, not merely a school where Christians are admitted, but wholly Christian in the education which it gives. Our principle might be 'A Christian School for the Christian Child.' ... "Since the pupils as much as the [teaching] staff determine the at- mosphere of any school, it is important that Christian children should not be taught in schools where there is a large majority of those who do not accept our religion. . . . 552 Miscellanea. "In the school the Church should never be forgotten. It should be a recognized part of the school's service to its scholars that it should pre· pare them for membership in the church, in which they will find in after- years a means whereby they will grow in their Christian life and render their most effective service to the kingdom of God .... "The missionaries all claim that they are not educating instead of evangelizing, but evangelizing through [Christian] education .... "Since Christianity is both truth and life, we hold that the education which ignores it is to that extent inadequate, and a non-Christian teacher, however technically qualified and however admirable in his personality, is lacking in something essential to the best educationist. . . . "Real conversion of souls to God as distinct from mere transference from one social community to another is the object of all our endeavor. It is because God has laid it on us to preach and to teach to this end that we are missionaries. We can do no other .... "Christian teachers must set the Lord Jesus Christ before their pupils in such a way as to attract them to His allegiance; and in the long run this means conversions, with their normal ultimate sequence of open con- fession and joining the Church. . . . "The missionaries stand squarely upon the principle that education in all its branches should be building up the native Church, and are prepared to defend it on that principle .... "The Christian faith has to be taught to adults as well as to children and to children out of school as well as in it .... "It was not for nothing that in a recent antichristian agitation the Chinese were using the slogan, 'Close the schools, and the churches will soon be empty .... ' "For equipping the mind both against old traditional errors and against antichristian tendencies which in these days are coming from the West there is nothing so effective as sound education by Christian thinkers." FREDERICK BRAND. The Chief Feature of Barthianism. In the recent book by Adolph Keller Karl Barth and Ohristian Unit'll there is a splendid analysis of this phenomenon known as the "theology of crisis," or the "dialectical theology." The author describes the Barthian theology as being dialectic in the sense of favoring vehement discussion with modern man, in a real disputation; "an antithesis, not only to culture, but also to theology and Church as we know them. It is a 'com- batant theology.''' The Barthian system opposes relativism and hence does not believe in the immanence of God. It denies the inherent efficacy of the Scriptures. In the second place, Barthianism represents a profound and fundamental pessimism, which means chiefly that it opposes the cer- tainty of salvation. The crisis, according to Barth, is a state of excitation produced in man, not through the power of the Word, but merely at the instigation of the Word of God, man himself fitting his mind and heart to the acceptance of the transcendent God. Barth is a Reformed tbeologian, who according to Brown (God of Work) is going back to the original Cal- vinism, with its insistence upon the sovereignty of God. Hence he rejects every kind of mysticism which seeks to lay hold on God in a person's inner Miscellanea. 553 life. According to Barth the sermon cannot speak the Word of God. It is intended to produce a m'isis, an attitude of radical repentance, a vacuum, or silence, in which man can do nothing but wait for God to speak to him. Barthian theology endeavors "to keep the divine action safely removed from every human claim, every control over the Spirit, every too intimate con- nection between the human and the divine, and this out of constant fear of mixing, or confusing, the two. A new pathos of remoteness is required which will banish all impudent intimacy, every all-too-sure certainty of faith, all sweet communion from the presence of God, who, as man's Lord, Judge, and Redeemer, addresses him from the solitude of His high place." P. E. K. Nudism. Are we going to hold out against this cult? That is the questioll which has come from several brethnn. The answer is : We certainly shall, in fact, we must, if we want to l'f main true to our trust, our calling as watch- men of the flock entrusted to us. For surely the Word of God is clear enough on the question, in the field of ethics though it may be. In the state of innocence they were both naked, the man and his wife, and weTe not ashamed, Gen. 2, 25. But no sooner had they fallen into sin than they were ashamed of their nakedness, Gen. 3, 7; and after God had pronounced their punishment upon them, He Himself made coats of skins and clothed them, v. 21. That the consciousness of nakedness and of shame continued to be felt by men is apparent from the story of Noah and his sons; for when he lay uncovered in his tent, Ham sinned in neglecting to cover his father's nakedness, while Shem and Japheth were commended and blessed for their consideration in covering the shame of their father. This attitude is evident throughout the Bible, especially in the books of the prophets. It is pictured as a special mark of degradation that men should be led away as prisoners, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, Is. 20, 4. Just as distinctly the Lord speaks in Is. 47, 3: "Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen," and that on account of the fact, as v. 2 has it, that they will "make bare the leg, un- cover the thigh." Other passages are Lam. 1, 8 ("All that honored her despise her because they have seen her nakedness"); Hos. 2, 2. 3 ("Let her put away her whoredoms out of her sight and her adulteries from between her breasts lest I strip her naked"); Micah I,ll ("Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked"); Hab. 2, 16, and elsewhere. It may be true that there are a few savage races that have the greater portion of their bodies habitually bare (in which case the color, as has been said, serves in a measure as a protection); but the number of races that have their entire bodies uncovered after the age of puberty is very small indeed, almost negligible, as a reference to the reports of the Amer- ican Anthropological Society will show. As numerous writers on psycho- pathic topics have stated, the exhibition of even the secondary sexual characteristics has the effect of arousing desire; how much more that of the entire body! So far as the attitude of the Bible is concerned, we may well say: Nudism is either a direct flaunting of God's order concerning the covering of the body or is a pathological condition, one which has been given the name "exhibitionism." P. E. K.