Schrift 14: #9: Lack of proper order?; Reu's reticence; Boehme's defense

      This continues from Part 13 (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. — This segment highlights Luther's great spiritual understanding of Holy Scripture, of the "method of the prophets".  Walther brings choice passages from Luther so that we may learn to love... God's Word, the Bible.

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Translation by BackToLuther; all highlighted text, text in square brackets and in red font are my additions. Underlining follows Walther.
(continued from Part 13)

Lehre und Wehre, vol. 32, March, p. 69-71 "Foreword" by C.F.W. Walther

IX. Also the lack of proper order, which seems to be found here and there in the Scriptures, has its reason in the wisdom of God the Holy Spirit.

“To the first question (Matthew 24:3) he answers, when Jerusalem is to be destroyed, it says, ‘When ye shall see the abomination of desolation,’ saying that for the sake of the elect, the days shall be shortened.…  But the words are a little obscure, and Matthew and Mark conclude the tribulation for the world, and say that Jerusalem should be destroyed, and at times they also point to the  destruction of the world, so that they mix and mingle the two into each other; and it is the Holy Spirit's way in the Holy Scriptures, that he speaks. For, as Adam was created and Eva was yet to be created, the Scripture says: God took a rib and built a woman out of it.

There he uses the word ‘building’, as he could have said: he created or made a woman out of it. Then he uses the word 'building' as the carpenters build a house, and the Holy Spirit,  with this Word in the same history, indulges, and indicates something peculiar, that with the word 'building' not only is Eve described as Adam's bride, but that at the same time the Christian church is also indicated, which is also God's dwelling and temple, so God has built it and is still building it to the end of the world; for that is the spiritual Eve, so it taken from the side of Christ. For since the side has been opened, she is taken from His flesh and (Page 70)  blood. Adam rib has been with flesh and blood; So we, the Christian Church, are also being built out of the side of the right Adam, Christ. That must be the meaning of the word in the beginning of the world. Thus the Holy Spirit often sets forth, and from the history states that as Eve is the true woman, made of the rib of man, therefore is the Bride of the LORD Christ, the true Eve, the Christian Church, taken also of Christ, just as Eve was born and built out of Adam's flesh; because this is what is meant. So here Matthew also used several words that illuminate the last disaster in the world, which is meant as a result of the crash [Unfall] and destruction of Jerusalem. For then will be also tribulation of the churches, saying, ‘Unless the days were shortened, no man would be saved.’ This is what Matthew does. [Matt. 24:22] Now we want to apportion each in its own time.” (Sermons on the Several Chapters of the Evangelist Matthew, dated 1537-1540, Erlangen Volume XLV, page 119. f., [StL ??; NOT in LW] )

“But why does Moses mix up his laws in such a disordered way? Why does he not put the temporal laws together in one group and the spiritual laws in another and the laws of faith and love in still another? Moreover he sometimes repeats a law so often and reiterates the same words so many times that it becomes tedious to read it or listen to it. The answer is that Moses writes as the situation demands, so that his book is a picture and illustration of governing and of living. For this is the way it happens in a dynamic situation: now this work has to be done and now that. No man can so arrange his life (if he is to act in a godly way) that on this day he uses only spiritual laws and on that day only temporal. Rather God governs all the laws mixed together—like the stars in the heavens and the flowers in the fields—in such a way that at every hour a man must be ready for anything, and do whatever the situation requires. In like manner the writing of Moses represents a heterogeneous mixture. That Moses is so insistent and often repeats the same thing shows also the nature of his office. For one who is to rule a people-with-laws [Gesetzvolck] must constantly admonish, constantly drive, and knock himself out struggling with the people as [he would] with asses. For no work of law is done gladly and willingly; it is all forced and compelled. Now since Moses is a lawgiver, he has to show by his insistence that the work of the law is a forced work. He has to wear the people down, until this insistence makes them not only recognize their illness and their dislike for God’s law, but also long for grace.” (Prefaces to the Old Testament, 1523). XIV, 8 f. § 17-18 [StL 14, 8-9 § 17-18; LW 35 p 241)

“But before beginning with the text, I must pave the way with a general introductory remark. This is necessary and useful for a better understanding not only of this prophet but also of most of the others. For it has been most confusing in the past to hear the prophets speak (page 71) of the Jewish kingdom and then to break off so abruptly and intersperse remarks about Christ. Everybody who is not familiar with their method regards that as an odd way of doing things, and he supposes that they observe no order but ramble along from one subject to another. This seems incomprehensible to all; people cannot get used to it. It is indeed very irritating to read a book that observes no order, in which statements are so disconnected that they do not fit together and therefore lack proper coherence. All of that may reasonably be expected of correct and proper speech. Thus the Holy Spirit was accused of an inability to express Himself properly, of talking like a drunkard or a fool, of mixing everything together and of delivering Himself of wild and odd words and statements. But it is we who were at fault; we did not understand the speech, and we were not acquainted with the method of the prophets. For it cannot be otherwise: the Holy Spirit is wise, and He also makes His prophets wise. Now, a wise man must necessarily be able to speak well; this can never fail. But to him who does not hear well or is not sufficiently conversant with a language, to him a speech may seem faulty because he hears or understands hardly half of the words.” (Exposition on the prophet Habakkuk, 1526. VI, 3093. f. § 3-4. [StL 14, 1418 § 3-4; LW 19, p 152])

= = = = = = = = = =   continued in Part 15  = = = = = = = = = = =

J. Michael Reu, a well-known theologian of the old Am. Lutheran Church, wrote a scholarly book in English, Luther and the Scriptures (Columbus: Wartburg Press, 1944); reprinted in The Springfielder. Vol. XXIV, No. 2 (August, 1960). Chapters 5 and 6 are titled

• "Luther Never Admitted Any Error In Scripture." 
• "Even Those Parts of Scripture That Do Not Concern Our Salvation Were Considered Errorless By Luther."  

Even though he reported Luther's teaching accurately, it is sad that Prof. Reu did not come to fully confess with Luther on these points.  He could not fully confess with the Brief Statement, which teaches as Luther did.  — 

For those who want to believe their LCMS is still "orthodox", see Dr. Armand Boehme's 1977 essay "The Smokescreen Vocabulary", (CTQ) for a scholarly defense against those who use word-play sophistry to deny the divine Inspiration of all Holy Scripture.

      To finish this post with a quote:

“To fight for the doctrine of justification and for Holy Scripture and the Christian religion amounts to one and the same thing.” — Franz Pieper, "C.F.W. Walther as Theologian." here.

      In the next Part 15...