This continues from Part 7 (Table of Contents in Part 1) in a series presenting an English translation of C.F.W. Walther's major essay on the Inspiration of Holy Scripture in the Missouri Synod's chief theological journal, Lehre und Wehre. — Walther has been noted for his use of "Theses" (or Axioms) in several of his writings. Now he begins his final published list of "Theses" asserting the authority and inspiration of Holy Scripture. These may be seen as Luther's grand building blocks for the true Lutheran theologians who would follow him.
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Translation by BackToLuther; all highlighted text, text in square brackets [] and in red font are my additions. Underlining and bold follow Walther.
(continued from Part 7)
(continued from Part 7)
Lehre und Wehre, vol. 32, February 1886, p. 36-38: "Foreword" by C.F.W. Walther
I. All of Holy Scripture is a work of the Holy Spirit.
On the words of David: “The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue” (2 Sam. 23:2), Luther writes: “Here David begins to speak too strangely and too loftily for me. God grant that I may understand at least a bit of it in spite of that. For here he begins to talk about the exalted Holy Trinity, of the divine essence. In the first place, he mentions the Holy Spirit. To Him he ascribes all that is foretold by the prophets. And to this and to similar verses St. Peter refers in 2 Peter 1:21, where he says: “No prophecy ever came by the impulse of man; but moved by the Holy Spirit, holy men of God spoke.” Therefore we sing in the article
of the Creed 1) concerning the Holy Spirit: “Who spake by the prophets.” Thus we attribute to the Holy Spirit all of Holy Scripture.” (Interpretation of David's Last Words, 1543, III, 2796. f.; [StL 3, 1889 f., § 9, LW 15, p. 275])
“Here also the text of Daniel (7:13-14) gives powerfully the article of the deity in three Persons and of the humanity of the Son; for there must be another person who gives, and another who receives it. For the Father gives the everlasting power to the Son, and the Son has it from the Father, and all this from eternity; otherwise it would not be an eternal power; so it is the Holy Ghost who speaking through Daniel. For such a high secret thing no one could know where the Holy Ghost did not reveal it through the prophets; as often said above, that the Scriptures are spoken by the Holy Spirit.” (Ibid., III, 282l § 42; [StL 3, 1907 f., § 42; LW 15, p. 291-292; WA 54, p. 48)
To the words: “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it” (Deuteronomy 4:2), Luther notes : “Moses here says to the people, not to God: ‘Ye shall not add, ... ’ etc. For who doubts that God, as the time demanded, could or would do so? For, whether He adds or subtracts, He Himself always remains true; … So also all the prophets, if they have learned something other than Moses, so God has revealed it to them, just as to Moses, or as Peter says 2 Peter 1:21: ‘Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’” (Lectures on Deuteronomy, 1525. III, 2080, § 22; StL 3, 1410 ; LW 9, p. 52 “For who doubts…”; WA 14 586: Latin text) [NB: Caemmerer translated LW 9.]
“The Psalter ought to be a precious and beloved book, if for no other reason than this: it promises Christ’s death and resurrection so clearly—and pictures his kingdom and the condition and nature of all Christendom—that it might well be called a little Bible. In it is comprehended most beautifully and briefly everything that is in the entire Bible. It is really a fine enchiridion or handbook. In fact, I have a notion that the Holy Spirit wanted to take the trouble Himself to compile a short Bible and book of examples of all Christendom or all saints, so that anyone who could not read the whole Bible would here have anyway almost an entire summary of it, comprised in one little book.” (“Preface to the Psalter”, 1531 . XIV, 23. f. § 4; StL 14, 20, § 4; LW 35, p. 254.)
“You can not prove it from Scripture that Peter is called the Pope at all. This explanation is correct, for we are sure that it has not been devised by man but has been drawn from God’s Word. Now what is written and proclaimed in the prophets, says Peter, has not been invented
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1) See the Nicene Creed in the Book of Concord, Müller, p. 30. § 7 [BookOfConcord.org, Triglotta p. 30, p. 7 § 7].
or devised by man; but the pious and holy men have said it as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (Sermon of 2 Peter, 1524. IX, 858. f. § 45; StL 9, 1362-1363, § 45; a close proximate is in LW 30, p 167.) [see addendum below, Marquart’s use of Luther on 1 Pe. 3:15]
To the words: “In the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God” (Lutherbibel Ps. 40:8-9 [KJV Ps. 40:7-8]), Luther adds: “The spirit speaks as if He knew of no book (even though the world is full of them), except only this book of Sacred Scripture. . . This is the book of the Holy Spirit, in which one must seek and find Christ.” (“Exposition of Many Beautiful Passages of Holy Scripture, which Luther Wrote to Some in Their Bibles”. IX, 1364-1365 [StL 9, p. 1775; not in LW])
“Moses is the source from which all the holy prophets and also the apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit, extracted divine wisdom. This being the case, we shall not live up to our calling better and in greater harmony with God’s will than by leading our followers to this source and showing them in our own way the seeds of divine wisdom which the Holy Spirit, through Moses, has sown in such a manner that neither reason nor the power of human nature, if it does not possess the Holy Spirit, can see or understand them.” (“Lectures on Psalm 90”, 1534. V, 1081; [StL 5, p. 733; LW 13, p. 75; WA 403 484;)
“We censure the doctrines of men not because men have spoken them, but because they are lies and blasphemies against the Scriptures. And the Scriptures, although they too are written by men, are neither of men nor from men but from God.” (“Avoiding the Doctrines of Men”, 1522. XIX, 739 § 66 [StL 19, p. 621 § 66; LW 35, p. 153; WA 10-2 p. 92].)
“In this passage the Holy Spirit (Gen. 12:11-12) provides instruction about home life when he relates that Abraham spoke so amicably to Sarah. In the first place, he entreats her; in the second place, he adds those words about her beauty.” (“Lectures on Genesis”, 1536-1545, I, 1197 § 210 [StL 1, p. 794 § 210; LW 2, p. 296].) 1)
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“… the overwhelming divinum and the tough humanum of Scripture”.
Franzmann was (and is) highly regarded by both the so-called "moderates" and the "conservatives" within the LCMS. But his words (and the officially published words of today's CTCR) are clearly refuted by... Martin Luther, who said
❝the Scriptures… are from God❞.The current Wikipedia article on Franzmann says "he was notable for his traditional stance on Biblical inerrancy and inspiration..." But we see from his statements and writings that this assertion is at least questionable. Franzmann is also known as a hymnist – two of his hymn titles speak of the "Word". In these titles, could he have meant "Preach You the (tough humanum) Word" and "Thy Strong (tough humanum) Word"? As an author, maybe Franzmann really meant as a title of one of his books The (tough humanum) Word of the Lord Grows:A First Historical Introduction to the New Testament? — The most appropriate description of Prof. Franzmann would be that he was a "mediating" theologian, and perhaps the most confusing theologian for Lutherans in the last 70 years. I may have more to say on Franzmann in a later installment.
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To confirm that the LCMS is today teaching the "tough humanum of Scripture", Prof. James Voelz of Concordia Seminary in his book What Does This Mean? stated the following, p. 242:
What Prof. Voelz asserts here is what German theology asserted in Walther's time and is exactly what Martin Luther (and the 1886 Synodical Conference) defended against.“...one cannot become 'Docetist' on this matter: the Scriptures still are products of human authors writing from a particular perspective at a particular point in time.”
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Paul L. Maier, son of Walter A. Maier, in a Lutheran Forum essay "Bohlmann and the 44: A Response" February 1996 p. 20 said: "…some in Missouri overemphasize the divine aspect of the Old and New Testaments … such overemphasis courts the danger of bibliolatry". Maier clearly placed himself in the LC-MS that long ago overturned Luther and Walther.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - [The "Read more »" section below publishes an excerpt of Prof. Kurt Marquart’s use of Luther on 1 Pe. 3:15]
Walther's quote of Luther on 2 Peter above, from pages 37-38 ("Sermon of 2 Peter, 1524"), reminded me of a similar use of Luther. In 1967, Pastor Kurt Marquart (then of Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia) gave a series of lectures for Bethany Lutheran Seminary's Reformation Jubilee for the 450th Anniversary (Parts I/II, Parts III/IV, Archive1, Archive2). In Part I, p. 21, Marquart introduces a quote of Luther on 1 Peter 3:15:
Let Luther conclude with this dialogue-stopper, printed in 1539:
When you hear such people, who are so completely blinded and hardened, that they deny that what Christ and the Apostles spoke and wrote is God’s Work, or doubt it, then just keep silent, don’t speak one word with them, and let them go; only say thus: I will give you plenty of argument from Scripture; if you will believe it, good; if not, be gone. But you say: Oh, then God’s Word must suffer shame. Commend that to God.40 (40. St. Louis ed., vol. IX, col. 1238., [not in LW.]) [NOTE: Here is German text at bottom of column 1238; although the 1539 version is NOT in American Edition, it is closely followed in the printed 1522 version, LW 30, p. 107:]
“If you hear people who are so completely blinded and hardened that they deny that this is God’s Word or are in doubt about it, just keep silence, do not say a word to them, and let them go their way. Just say: “I will give you enough proof from Scripture. If you want to believe it, this is good; if not, I will give you nothing else.”
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