Pieper's Das Fundament: The Foundation of the Christian Faith, a BTL Blogspot Book (BBB)

      The decision to publish the following came from a writing of Wallace McLaughlin from 1947, A Former U.L.C. Pastor Looks at the Agreement.  McLaughlin was working hard then, in the centennial year of the Missouri Synod, to inform his LCMS of the dangers of joining in fellowship with liberal American Lutherans because of their false doctrines.  McLaughlin knew first hand about these erring Lutherans because he was formerly one of them.  But during that time, he had grown in spiritual knowledge and began teaching his congregation pure Christian doctrine and began to use the writing of... Franz Pieper.  As he writes: "I used such literature as Pieper's Fundament des christlichen Glaubens in preparing doctrinal presentations for my congregation."  The reference is to a 1925 CPH book.  Wallace McLaughlin was a teacher in the mold of Franz Pieper, and one of the greatest Lutheran teachers of the last 75 years in worldwide Lutheranism.  And so, this translation was undertaken at his recommendation. McLaughlin would later, after he had left the LC-MS to form the Orthodox Lutheran Conference, be the one who translated Pieper's complete series "C.F.W. Walther als Theolog" into English (now available in a printed book).

      The following is from a 6-part running series in Lehre und Wehre in 1925.  The series was then assembled and republished in book form in the same year (see WorldCat).  It is one of the few books published of Pieper's writings outside of his magisterial Christliche Dogmatik books.  I struggled with the decision on whether to translate it because of the amount of work it required – it was a 48-page book.  But as I proceeded, it became increasingly apparent why McLaughlin had chosen it, for it is a wonderful summary and defense of Christian doctrine.  Pieper's Brief Statement was 22 pages long, this was 48 pages.  So it could be called a "Supplement to the Brief Statement".
      Note well, Pieper did not use the words "Lutheran faith", but rather the "Christian faith".  This is because his essay will show definitively that the differences that other fellowships hold against the Lutheran faith are actually held against the Christian faith, against the teaching of Holy Scripture.
      The German word for foundation is "Fundament", a word that strikes our English ears as the root of the term "Fundamentalist".  Don't let the irony be lost on this — the constant attacks by LC-MS teachers without any praise for the Fundamentalists' defense against modernists, … could it be that they have lost their "Fundament", their foundation?  We will learn about this in the last sections…
      I now begin my 21-part series that will not be presented contiguously because of its length.  Pieper lays out for us that, although the world (and external Christendom) may relegate true Lutheranism to the dust bin, the reality is that one must die on the foundation of the Lutheran faith to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matt. 7:21)

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Text preparation and translation by BackToLuther using DeepL, Google Translate, Microsoft Translate, Yandex Translate. All bold text is Pieper's emphasis. All highlighting, red text, and most text in square brackets [ ] is mine.

Das Fundament des christlichen Glaubens.

The Foundation of the Christian Faith.

[by President Franz Pieper, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri] 

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The present time offers ample opportunity to deal with this topic in more detail. Our church papers have reported on the dispute that is currently taking place in the sectarian churches of our country between fundamentalists and modernists. We also remember that in earlier times many pamphlets had been exchanged on whether the doctrines by which the Reformed Church is separated from the Lutheran Church are touching the Foundation of the Christian faith or not. 1) The Reformed were in general always inclined to answer the question with no, while the Lutherans represented a decided yes. 

In our time, then, the claim has come to the fore, that the question of the foundation [das Fundament] of the Christian faith should not be treated at all, because its treatment, as the past taught, necessarily ends without result. So for example, the Erlangen theologian [J.C.K.] von Hofmann, who is reckoned among the more positive modern theologians, suggests that “on the difference between the fundamentalists and the non-fundamentalists, there has been fruitless dispute up to this day”. 2)

The situation claimed by von Hofmann would naturally be catastrophic for the Christian faith. Faith without a foundation [Fundament] would no longer be faith, but constant doubt, the opposite of faith. (Rom. 4:20, 21; Heb. 11:1 ff.) But the matter stands, thanks to God, not so. We can only remain uncertain of the foundation of our Christian faith as long as we have not yet recognized, or have forgotten, what is the content or object of God's infallible Word, Holy Scripture, and thus also the foundation [Fundament] of faith whereby a person becomes a Christian and remains a Christian. The Christian faith does not consist of the teaching that there is a God who rewards the good and 

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1) Here belongs Nicholas Hunnius’ writing Diaskepsis Theologica: de fundamentali Dissensu Doctrinae Lutheranae et Calvinianae . Witteb. 1626.

2) Der Schriftbeweis 2   I, 9-10.

[page 34] 

punishes the evil. This belief is also found among the Gentiles. (Romans 1 and 2) The Christian faith is faith in the Gospel of Christ, (Mark. 1:15) that is, faith in the forgiveness of sins, which Christ, the incarnate eternal Son of God, through his vicarious satisfaction (satisfactio vicaria) has acquired for all men and has proclaimed through his Word until the Last Day in the Christian Church and by the Christian Church in the world so that it may be believed by men. When the apostle of Christ calls to the jailer of Philippi terrified by his sins, "Believe on the Lord Jesus ​​Christ," [Acts 16:31] he names the foundation of the Christian faith. He means Christ, the Savior crucified for the sins of the world, as he also summarizes the contents of his Christian sermon of 1 Cor. 2 as follows: “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” [1 Cor. 2:2] But this sermon generates the Christian faith in a human heart and becomes eo ipso the content or object or foundation of the Christian faith. 

The foundation of the Christian faith is described by Luther in his classic explanation of the second article: “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.” 

For faith in the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ's satisfactio vicaria can we also use faith in divine justification without the works of the Law, because Scripture expresses the forgiveness of sins and justification as synonyms, Rom. 4:6-8: “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth [or credits/counts/declares] righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Our righteousness before God is the forgiveness of our sins for Christ's sake. Whoever does not believe this Scripture doctrine of the forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake or the justification without works, is not faithfully in Christ in the meaning of Scripture. His faith does not have the foundation God has given. He is still, or again, outside the Christian church. As Paul so powerfully warns the Galatians: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” (Gal. 5:4) On the other hand, Paul confesses his and all Christians faith [page 35] at all times and in all places so: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Gal. 2:16)  This article of the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ, or of justification without works, by faith, is known to Luther as “the chief part and cornerstone which alone produces, nourishes, builds, sustains and defends the Church, without which the Church of God cannot exist one hour”. 8) And in another passage he adds, "those in the world who do not teach it are either Jews or Turks or papists or sectarians.” 9)

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8) Erlangen Opp. var. arg. VII, 512; St. L. XIV, 168. [not in Am. Ed.]

9) Ad Gal. Erl. I, 20; St. L. IX, 29. [Am. Ed. 26, p. 9]
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Now let us see what position the religious fellowships around us have on the foundation of the Christian faith, namely 

a. the Unitarians, 

b. the Roman Church, 

c. the Calvinist and Armenian Reformed sects and the synergistic Lutherans, 

d. the deniers of the God-ordained means of grace and 

e. the deniers of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.

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      Pieper answers the question: "Who is outside the Christian church?" -- and in this series he gets into the specifics of just how broad this field is, but "strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matt. 7:14). Let us now walk with Pieper down the Scriptural "garden path" and note the dangerous forks in the road. In the next Part 2...

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Part 1 – Introduction: McLaughlin's teaching aid; Fundamentalists, non-Fundamentalists
Part 2 – Unitarians; American classic literature; Lodges
Part 3 – Papacy and Lodges compared – one class, both are enemies of Christianity
Part 4 – Papacy 2 – Lodge outdone by Papacy; Luther declares Antichrist
Part 5 – Papacy 3: Luther’s experience; soul murder, Hell…; Papacy or… the Pope?
Part 6 – Reformed, first the Calvinists; Calvary Chapel example
Part 7 – Reformed: Arminianism; Synergism in Lutheranism; Piepkorn: "merciless", "monotonous"
Part 8 – Synergism 2– foundation abandoned; Grace; Erwin Kolb's confession, ‘But I have to believe, don’t I?’
Part 9 – Synergism 3: Saints & Fathers?; Rick Warren's Decision Theology… and Peter Drucker?
Part 10 – Means of Grace 1: Deniers of the Means; Nafzgers' folly
Part 11 – Means 2: Luther & enthusiasts; Nafzgers; Eric G. Phillips
Part 12 – Means of Grace 3: Can the Reformed be saved?; no certainty in enthusiasm
Part 13 – Means of Grace 4: German theologian vs. Luther’s teaching
Part 14 – Means of Grace 5:Luther's counsel continued
Part 15 – Means of Grace 6: “experience theologian”, bad psychologists, “insanity”; Julius Stahl
Part 16 – Means of Grace 7: Papists’ “infused grace”; LC-MS falsifies Church History
Part 17 – Means of Grace 8: Two religions, only two; Stahl, not Drucker or Rick Warren
Part 18 – Means of Grace 9: Luther’s summary and proof; erring LC-MS
     Walther & Scripture 1; Walther: call me a Biblicist, please! LCMS: not us, please!
Part 19 – Scripture 1: Schriftprinzip!
     Walther & Scripture 2; Deny divinity of Scripture? = "No more in faith”; Engelder's blind spot on Elert
Part 20 – Scripture 2: “outside the faith”, ultimate warning; “be silent… let them go”; Pelikan, Appold
     Walther & Scripture 3; CHIQ's fiction against Pieper, also Lutheran / Christian Cyclopedia
Part 21 – "The Final Word"