Full Text for CTM Miscellanea 9-4 (Text)

Q.tnutnr~ttt IDl1rnlngitul ilnut1Jly Continuing LEHRE UND VVEHRE MAGAZIN FUER Ev.~LuTH. HOMILETIK THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY ~ THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY Vol. IX April, 1938 No.4 CONTENTS Page A Course in Lutheran Theology. Th. Engelder------------- --... -- _ .. ___ . __ ..... _ 241 Professional Growth in the Study of the Confessions J. Theodore Mueller_ ... _ .... __ ............. _ .... _._ ... _ .... 257 Kleine Danielstudien. L. Fuerbrlnger_. __ .. _ .. _._ .. _ ...... _. ________ .__ .____ "_"'_' __ "_ 268 Sermon Study on 1 Pet. 1:3-9. Th. Laetsch_ ....... __ ..... ___ .___ _ __ ._ .... _ ... _ .... _ 279 Miscellanea __ ..... _ .. _ ... ____ _ ... _ ...... _ ............... _ ... _ ... __ ............. _ .. ____ _____ ..... ___ .. _ 291 Theological Observer. - Kirchlich-Zeitgeschichtliches ... .. _. ___ ._. __ . 296 Book Review. - Literatur ................ _ ..___ ............. _ .... _ .... ______ ..... __ .. _ ......... ___ 313 E1n Predlger muas ntcht alleln Ulei- den, also daM er die Schafe unter- weise, wie ale rechte CbrIaten BOllen "In. BOndern auch daneben den WoeI- fen Ulehren, dus sie die Schafe nteht angrelfen und mit fal8cher Lehre ver- fuehren und Irrtum eInfuehren. Luther Es 1st keln Ding. daa die Leute mehr bel der Kirehe behae1t denn die gute Prediet. - Apolog!e, Art. 24. If the trumpet live an uncertain BOund who shall prepare h1mM1f to the battle? -1 CM. 14, I. Published for the BY. Lath. Synod of MJssoarl, Ohio, and Other States CONCORDIA PUBLISHING BOUSE, St. Louis, •• ~­ BCHIVE Miscellanea 291 Miscellanea ~tuubfii~e flit stiub'etgotte$bieufte jillit aHieten aus einem WrtiM bon ®iebraffe in ber "IDConati.lfcljrift fur @lottesbienft unb fircljIidJe stunft" , bet in einem WttifeI uber ,,~ie l.liturgie bes SHnbergottesbienftes" unter anberm fcljreibt: ,,1. 2ut~er hJorrte bie eingebeutjcljte, aItfircljIiclje stitcljenotbnung ber mette borne~mIiclj ag ben ®cljur~ unb :;sugenbgottesbienft fUr aUe Stage an~ gefe~en hJiffen .... ,,4. ~ie (Sotberung nad) bet llinbettiimIicljfeit bes SHnbergottesbienftes iff abauIe~nen. ,,[). @is ift au forbern, bat bet .mnbetgottesbienft nicljt finbertiimIiclj, fonbern gemeinbemiitig unb @lo±tesbienft im bolIen ®inne fei. lllicljt bas .~inb ift bas mat ber ~inge im llinbetgottesbienft, fonbern bie \lfnoetung @lottes unb bie iSetfiinbigung feines jillories. "a. ~mum folIen aud) grunbfiil.?Iid) bie @iItern unb fonftige @lemeinbe,; gIiebet bom ~inbetgottesbienft nid)t ausgefd)Ioffen fein. "b. ~atllm Iiiuten 3um SHnbergottesbienft bie @lIoden, ge~oti in ben SHnbetgottesbienft bas DrgcJflJieI, brennen bie 2id)ter aUf .oem \lIItat unb lJoUaieIj± berl.li±utg feinen ~ienf± im :JLalat." ~iefe @lrunbfii~e finben iIjre \lInhJenbung auclj un±er unfetn iSetIjiiltniffen Ijiet in \lImetifa, fohJo~I im IDCetten~ hJie im iSeflJetgottesbienf±, liefonbets aud) an ben gtoten (Sef±±agen llnb forrten uns fo balb ag mogIiclj betanlaffen, bon .oem 0 rOB e n ~ated)efen~ unb iSortragsgottesbienft abaufommen unb bet g a n a e n @l e m e in b e iIjt lRed)t, aud) in bem jilleiIjnad)ti.lfinbetgottes~ bienf±, einauriiumen. \1.5. @i. st. mll$ bie tfjeofogifdje "lffiiffeufdjllW' [tdj nenerbing$ in b,er itJjetfc~ung bet ~iliel feiftct @iin gana neues jill ed, bas bon ~eutfcljIanb aus feIjt ljod) gelJriefen hJitb, ift @imir 3'abets ,,~ie ~iIbetfpracljc bet @ibangeIien". @is ift hJitfiiclj ±raurig, bat ein mann, bet aUf bem @ebie±e ber ±Ijeologifcljen 1miffenfcljaf± atbeitet, bie @efd)id)tIicljfeit bet @ibangeIien beifeitefe~en roill, hJie bet iSet~ Ie get fcljteib±: ,,))JCit unferer neuen iSerbeu±fcljung ber @ibangeIien hJirb bet ~ehJeis [?J erbtad)± hJcrben, bat biefe ®cljtiften nicljt als Ijiftorifclje ~e~ ticlj±e, fonbern ag ft:)mvoIifclje ~unf±tDetfe, bie bie @iin~ei± ber :;Sbee roaljten, aUfilufaff en finb." ~ie bermeintIicljen @itgebniffe bet "fptad)fcljopfetifcljen 3'otfcljung" finb bon fo metftoiirbiget \lIt±, bat hJit Ijiet eine \l.5tove mit±eiIen, ljaulJ±fiicljIid) um ilU aeigen, luie hJei± man bon bet ®d)tif± abirren fann, hJenn man bie smotie nid)t einfaclj annimmt, hJie fie Lauten. IDCaitlj. 6, 24-28 [aute± be,; fanntIid): ,,j)liemanb fann ahJeien Sjetten bienen. @inihJebet et hJitb einen ljaffen unb ben anbern Iielien, ober et hJitb bem einen an~angen unb ben anbern beraclj±en. :;SIjt fonn± niclj± @loU bienen unb bem mammon. SDatum f age iclj eud): ®orge± nid)± fUt euet 2even, hJas i~t ell en unb ±tinfen lu etbe±, auclj nicljt fur euten 2eib, hJas iIjt an5ieljen hJetbet. :;Sf± nicljt bal> .2eben 292 Miscellanea mefjr benn bie ...5 of grace and their efficacy dependent en the hearer's and recipient's subjective attitude; and we need to warn ourselves continually against this fatal aberration. Dr. Pieper writes: "'The characteristic feature of our dear Evangelical Lutheran Church is her objectivity; this means that all her doctrines by their very nature keep man from seeking his salvation in himself, in his own powers, aspirations, performance, and condition, and lead him to seek his salva- tion outside of himself; while the characteristic feature of all other churches is their subjectivity; they all lead man to ground his salva- tion upon himself.' (Dr. Walther.) And that is done particularly through their denial of the Biblical doctrine of the means of grace." (Lehre u. Wehre, 36, p.119.) It is unfortunate that Dr. Garvie himself could write on page 113: "It is only as in the Sacraments faith receives and responds to grace that they can be both signs and seals of the Gospel." It is by faith alone that we obtain the profit of the Sacraments, but they do not get their efficacy as signs and seals from faith. E. 294 Miscellanea A Debito ad Posse non Valet Consequentia The Romanists are unable to see the force of this logical truth. They say that, since God commands the keeping of the Law, man must be able to fulfil the Ten Commandments. Erasmus and the syner- gists labor under the same logical weakness. They say that, since men are asked to repent and believe, it follows that natural man has some spiritual ability. (Read up in Luther's De Servo Arbitrio on this logical and doctrinal heresy.) And not even the master of philosophy, Kant, was able to escape this fallacious reasoning. In his book Religion within the Bounds of Pure Reason he says: "In spite of that defection (the apostasy from goodness to evil) the command 'We ought to become better men' still resounds undiminished in our souls. Consequently, we must be able to become better men." On this point A. N. Rogness writes in the Journal of the American Lutheran Conference, February, 1938, p. 31 ff.: "All these thinkers have realized, as Kant in his final postulate, that the inescapable implication of a must is a can. It would be folly for man's rational nature or a government or God to say, 'Thou must' if there were not existent the possibility of 'I can.' Kant met the prob- lem by postulating 'free will.' But his solution was not complete. For, though he boldly asserted the freedom of the will, his more practical observations caused him to admit that 'the niggardly provision of nature' prevented the will from conquest over the anarchy of man's perverse nature. So, in essence, freedom of the will became an ideal reality but an existential chimera. The problem of can was still unsolved, although in Kant the world received the classic of all philosophical attempts. . .. There have been those who, in order to produce a can, have implicitly discarded the must. These have been variously called materialists, empiricists, and later behaviorists. They have made man another unit in the deterministic order of a natural world." Then why does God command men to keep His holy Law? And what does it mean when God :1sks thp sinnpr to repent and believe? Luther told Erasmus that he had no right to turn imperative passages into indicative statements. The must does not imply the synergistic can. But there is a good reason why the must is demanded of the im- potent sinner. And there is a divine way of turning the must into a can. Our article says, in the spirit of Luther: "What, then, does the Church offer this immoral man in his immoral society? First, it offers him despair. It seeks by the Word to bring him into the dreadful tension of the imperative must and the impotent can; and in this tension it leads him to a recognition of his dilemma. In other words, it makes him see himself lost in trespasses and sin, standing creditless before the awful judgment of a righteous God. For it knows that this is the impoverishment which alone can make him rich. Secondly, it con- fronts him with the redemptive forgiveness in Christ, in which the must is resolved in the vicarious can of Jesus. It gives man the faith to appropriate this reconciliation and stands him up on his two feet before God a new man, where he inherits the peace of full righteousness. Miscellanea 295 And, finally, it makes him a new man not alone in a judicial sense, but in an actual. For the will of Christ living in him enlivens his will to all that is good, and he begins the journey of sanctification. It has removed him from the tyranny of the Law and has set him free on the high Gospel plateau of grace. In this Gospel is the resolution of the ethical difficulty. . The Law is the must of morals; the Gospel is the only synthesis of the must and the can." E. Another Attempt to Improve the Liturgy Among the various attempts to make a change in our Order of Morn- ing Worship, or the Holy Communion, one which recently came calls for just a remark or two concerning the entire movement. Whatever order is used, we must guard against the suggestion that the second part of the Morning Service, the Holy Communion, represents a higher summit than the service of the Word. It may have more significance for the faith of the communicant, inasmuch as it makes such a definite application of the divine promise of grace to the individual. But we must never forget that it is the word of God which is in and with the elements that gives the Sacrament its power and that the latter is effective only in the measure in which the word of the Gospel, as brought to the attention of the communicant specifi- cally in the mystery of the Holy Communion, is understood, accepted, and trusted. As for all the rest, it will be advisable for all pastors to read and study frequently the paragraph of Luther in his preface to the Small Catechism. (Concordia Triglotta, 537 f. §§ 21-27.) P. E. K. Second Notice of the Summer Session at Concordia Seminary Sf. ::"ouis, Mo. The Summer-school and Pastors' Institute at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo., will be held immediately after the sessions of Synod, from June 27 to July 9, inclusive. The faculty and lecturers will include such men as Dr. L. Fuerbringer, Dr. Theo. Engelder, Dr. F. Pfotenhauer, Prof. E. J. Friedrich, Prof. O. P. Kretzmann, Dr. J. T. Mueller, Prof. F. E. Mayer, and possibly one or two additional men. Among the leaders of devotions we shall have Dr. H. B. Hemmeter and Pastor Paul Koenig. All pastors who intend to take part are urgently requested to an- nounce as soon as possible to the Director of the Summer Session, Prof. P. E. Kretzmann, 801 De Mun Ave., St. Louis, Mo.