Full Text for "Private Interpretation," 2 Pet. 1, 20 (Text)

arnurnrbtu mlJtnlngtral j{nut~ly Continuing LEHRE UNO VVEHRE MAGAZIN FUER Ev.-LuTH. HOMILETIK THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLy-THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY Vol. VII September, 1936 No.9 CONTENTS Page Widmung ......................................... 641 Skizze und Schriften Dr. Theodor Engelders ............ 642 Pastoralkonierenzen. L. Fuerbringer. • . • • • . . • • • • • • . • • . • • •• 644 New Revisions of Comparative Religion. Th. Graebner. • • • •• 653 Der "andere Martin" und seine hohe Bedeutung fuer uns lutherische Theologen in Amerika. J. T. Mueller • • • • • • •• 661 Doctrinal Preaching. J. H. C. Fritz •.••••••..•••••.••••••• 671 The Pastor and Secular Literature. M. S. Sommer •••••••••• 677 "Private Interpretation," 2 Pet. 1, 20. w. Arndt •.••••••••• Recent Archeological Light on Nahum. w. A. Maier ••••••• Die biblische Theologie im Studium des lutherischen Theo· logen. P. E. Kretzmann ••••••••••.••••••••••.••.••••• Frederick August Craemer. w. G. Polack .••.••.•••.••.•••• The Blast that Wrecked the Pope's Power. Theo. Hoyer •••• How will Radio.Preaching Affect the Regular Pulpit of Our Church 1 E. J. Friedrich .••••••••.•••••••••••••••••••• 685 692 699 704 710 713 Eln Prediger muss nicht aUeln weid ... , also dass er die Schafe unterwelse, wie oie rechte Christen sollen eein, sondem auch daneben den Woelfen we",,,,, das. 81e die Schale nlcht angreilen nnd mit falscber Lebre verfuehren nnd Irrtum ein· tuehren. - LutMr. P. 1st keln Ding, das die Leute mehr bei der Kirche behaelt denn die gute Predi!;t. - Apolotrie, Art. Ii. It the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? 1 Cor.~, 8. Published for the Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States CONCORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE, St. Louis, Mo. ABom "Private Interpretation," 2 Pet. 1,20. 685 "Private Interpretation," 2 Pet. 1, 20. "Besides, for the curbing of quarrelsome spirits, it [i. e., the Holy Synod] has decreed that in matters of faith and morals belonging to the edification which is produced by Ohristian doctrine nobody, I'ely- ing on his own wisdom, should twist Holy Scripture to his own understanding or contrary to that sense which the holy Mother Ohurch has held and does hold, whose province it is to judge about the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, or again, that nobody should dare to interpret Holy Scripture itself against the unanimous consensus of the Fathers, even if interpretations of this sort have never been published before. Those who act contrari- wise are to be publicly mentioned by the officials and to be punished with the penalties fixed by a judge." Hardly any theologian has to be told that this statement is found in the Decrees of the Council of Trent (Sess. IV, chap. 2). What might appear disconcerting is that this strong blast against an interpretation of Scripture-passages which differs from that of the Ohurch and the Fathers apparently has Scripture authority to rely upon. Is it not evident that St. Peter in the passage appearing' at the head of this article opposes private interpretation of prophetic utterances contained in the Scriptures 1 "What other meaning can one find in the Authorized Version's rendering, "knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation" 1 It is a question which Johann Gerhard in his famous Loci Theologici courageously faces. Having quoted the statement in Greek, ;cuoa l"tQo