“God's Word & Luther's Doctrine Pure”: Pardieck explains motto (Intro)

      From its inception, the Der Lutheraner magazine, started and edited by Prof. C.F.W. Walther, had a tagline motto:

“Gottes Wort und Luthers Lehr' 
vergehet nun und nimmermehr.”

Although later years were much more elaborate, here is how it was printed in the first issue in 1844:

Literally the German translates to “God's Word and Luther's doctrine will now and nevermore pass away.” But who can forget the later striking graphic banners that replaced this early plain one:

————— first in 1850 ————————— then in 1857 —————————— finally in 1871 —————

(click on image for large scale viewing)

The last one, my personal favorite, remained until Der Lutheraner ceased publication after 1934. Throughout the history of the Der Lutheraner magazine, from the beginning to the end, the motto "God's Word and Luther's Doctrine Pure Shall to Eternity Endure" graced its header.
      As the Missouri Synod added English speaking members, then began English language publications, and its main monthly periodical became the Lutheran Witness magazine.  I had the impression that somewhere in its history, this magazine had used the above motto translated into English in its title page banner but a search through its history up to 1941 came up empty -- too bad. — This motto has been popularly translated and published in other places as:

“God's Word and Luther's Doctrine Pure 
Shall to Eternity Endure.”

I will add to this post later if and when I find any English publications using this Lutheran motto.

Prof. Eduard Pardieck

   In 1912, a reader of Der Lutheraner wrote to the editors with a question about this well-known motto.  There was something about that motto that caused this reader a certain discomfort.  It is fortunate that this question arrived during one of the few short years that Prof. Eduard Pardieck was an editor.  I have blogged earlier on Prof. Pardieck and published his masterful essay on Luther's translation of Genesis 4:1 in Lehre und Wehre.  Although the reader's question was brief, Pardieck produced a lengthy serialized response spread over 5 issues.  This essay is truly another masterpiece of Lutheran teaching!  All Lutherans, all Christians should read Pardieck's essay for this year's 500th anniversary of Luther's Reformation.
      As I translated this series, it seemed that I wanted to highlight and comment on the entire series!  Alas, I will only do this for a few portions so as not to delay its publication.  I know that I will come back to this series for the edification of my Lutheran faith.  It becomes apparent from this essay that Pardieck was a true student of Luther... similar to... Franz Pieper himself.  I consider these old (German) Missouri Synod professors to be the true Luther scholars for today.  That is why I spend the time to translate their German works into English.

      I spent time cross referencing the many citations of Luther from the St. Louis Edition to those in the American Edition where possible using Steve Born's handy cross-reference website.   I also updated and hyperlinked all references to the Book of Concord and Triglotta. — 

      The full German text of the complete series is available > here < as a digital text Google Docs file.  — Because of its length, I am including a "Table of Contents" for ease of navigation:

- - - - - - - - -  Table of Contents  - - - - - - - - - - 

Intro – This introductory blog post
Part 1 – Question: Why not "God's Word and Christ's Doctrine?" (DL68-9 p. 134-136)
Part 2 – Luther's doctrine – in addition to God's Word?… over it?… beside it? (DL68-10, 151-152)
Part 3a – Two completely different things?... or one thing? (DL68-11, 167-168)
Part 3b – Papists’ admission; who is rightfully "Lutheran"?
Part 4a – Can not that be said of every pure teacher?… why speak especially on Luther? (DL68-12, 181-182)
Part 4b – How many Reformers of the Church are there?
Part 5a – Pure doctrine vs. rascal liberals; unionism, indifferentism (DL68-14)
Part 5b – Conclusion of essay: pure doctrine, imperfect life.
Finale – Confessional graphic for Oct. 31, 2017 based on the Lutheran (Der Lutheraner) motto.

Prof. Eduard Pardieck is a true spokesman for the Lutheran Church today, here and now.  In the next Part 1 (of 5), he introduces the reader's question and why the motto caused the reader to stumble.