AG1a: 1873 Western: Walther's 'All Glory to God' Essays (Part 1)

   As I have done with Franz Pieper's convention essays recently, I am providing my own translations of Walther's essays that have already been translated and published by Concordia Publishing House. I am targeting Walther's series entitled 

"Only Through the Doctrine of the Lutheran Church is 

All Glory Given to God Alone",

in which there were 11 essays presented to the Western District from 1873 through 1886. The CPH versions were spread across 2 books: 1) Convention Essays (1981) and 2) Walther's Works: All Glory to God (2016)

      Why is this being done? For several reasons:

1. To make these essays available to the public free of charge so that no one is deprived of Walther's extensive teaching.
2. To restore portions omitted due to "space limitations", especially for years 1873-1876.
3. To correct any missing emphasis of wording.
4. To offer hyperlinks for navigation and references.
5. Allow immediate online linking to references in Walther's writings.

Walther outlined 12 points that he intended to cover in this series. Following each point, I identify in red what year it was addressed:

1. of the Word of God; [1873 Western Dist.]

2. the cause of sin, death, hell and damnation; [1873 Western Dist.]

3. of divine providence; [1873 Western Dist.; Thesis III, no. 2 deals with Election]

4. of the general will of God's grace; [1874 Western Dist.]

5. of the reconciliation and redemption of the human race; [1874 Western Dist.]

6. the justification of the sinner by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ without merit of works; [1875 Western Dist.]

7. the necessity of regeneration and sanctification; [1875 Western Dist.]

8. the foundation, validity, power and immutability of the means of grace; [1876 Western Dist.]

9. of conversion; [1876 Western Dist.]

10. of the invocation and worship of God; [1882 Western Dist.]

11. obedience to men in matters of faith and conscience; [1883, 1885, 1886 Western Dist.]

12. the election of grace. [1877, 1879, 1880 Western Dist.]

As one reviews this list, we notice that Point 12, Election of Grace, was pulled up to go ahead of points 10 and 11. This was because of the urgency of the great controversy on this doctrine.

      In this first of 11 essays, it should be noted that although most historians report that Walther first addressed the Election Controversy beginning in 1877, Walther already wrote about it in 1873. So we can see the beginning of the build up in the great controversy at this earlier date. — This segment is covered in the official report on pages 26-41. We introduce this essay by presenting some extracts:

Notable Quotes:

Thesis I: On Religion in general:

26-27: Religion "deals with the relationship of man to God.… the word used for it in Scripture is "religion" (Gottesdienst) (in Greek: ϑρησχεία)."

29: "the Christian religion is the true religion, because it alone gives all glory to God"

30: Atheists "do not even have what the pagans have."

30: "our intention to argue only with those who admit the existence of a God"

30: "The sects say: 'We give God the glory; but you must work out your salvation, pray, fight, wrestle'"

Thesis II: On the True Visible Church

31: "the only true church is the one that gives glory to God alone through all its teachings"

31: "the church differs from the state in that it is united by religion, while the state is united by the needs of this life"

32: All glory to God means "…that man is less than nothing; who brings man to fall down before God"

32: Luther complained "that it was becoming so difficult for him to… apply 'by faith alone'."

33: "Alas, it is not easy to give God the glory. It costs great struggles…"

34-35: "That is why Luther…repeated the first commandment in every commandment: "'We should fear and love God'…"

36: "…God's honor is diminished by the slightest false teaching"

Thesis III: Evidence from our forefathers

38: Luther: "the world becomes hostile to us precisely because we give all glory and praise to God and leave nothing to the world."

38-39: Ancient Fathers: "It is not the suffering that makes the martyr, but the cause of the suffering."

39: "'Alas,' said the enemies [of Luther], 'he puts all good works to shame, is an enemy of piety, says that God does everything.'"

40: "anyone who knows that a doctrine is the Word of God starts a war with the whole world."

41: Kromayer: "…the Lutheran religion… relates everything to God's glory"

41: "Methodist Nast claims to have penetrated to perfect sanctification…that he has given up smoking"

In the next blog post Part AG1b, we cover a section that gave me much encouragement: Of the Word of God.

- - - - - - - - - - -  Table of Contents  (Western District, "All Glory to God"  series  - - - - - - - - - - - - 

      At the beginning of Thesis III, Walther reveals the doctrines that he would eventually cover in the next 13 years under this Thesis, through a total of 11 essays presented to the Western District. I plan to follow Walther's original plan rather than strictly in chronological order. See the following, noting that "AG signifies "All Glory":

AG1a: This introduction, 1873 Western District: Theses I, II, and Thesis III partial

   AG1b: 1873: The Word of God; full download

     Excursus: Walther on the Apocrypha: "bad crumbs"

   AG1c: 1873: The cause of sin, death, hell and damnation (also Predestination, Election)

   AG1d: 1873: Divine Providence; full download

AG2a: 1874: The General Will of God's Grace

   AG2b: 1874: The Reconciliation and Redemption of the Human Race; full download

AG3a: 1875: The Justification of the Sinner

   AG3b: 1875: The Necessity of Regeneration and Sanctification

   AG3c: 1875: Good Works; full download

AG4a: 1876: The Means of Grace, their Foundation

   AG4b: 1876 Means of Grace: Validity and Power

   AG4c: 1876: Means of Grace, their Immutability; Conversion, Antichrist

AG5: 1877 The Election of Grace I

AG6: 1879 The Election of Grace II

AG7: 1880 The Election of Grace III

   AG7a: 1880 Pastoral Conference 

   AG7b: 1881 Pastoral Conference 

   AG7c: 1868 Northern, Siegbert Becker, Brenner, Wohlrabe, Eckhardt, G. Fritschel, Roy Suelflow, Kolb, MacKenzie

AG8a: 1882: Invocation and Worship of God (Prayer I)– what it is and is not

   AG8b: Saints worshipped, Christ robbed; Person of Christ (Prayer II)

   AG8c: Evangelical aspect to Prayer; against Pietism (Prayer III)

AG9a: 1883, Obedience to Men (or Worldly Authorities I, Churchly Authorities)

   AG9b: 1883, Churchly Authorities, part 2; with download

AG10a: 1885, Obedience to Men  (Worldly Authorities II, Secular Authorities)

   AG10b: Secular Authorities, part 2

     Excursus 1: Walther on Jesuit expulsion from… Catholic lands

AG11a: 1886: Obedience to Men  (Worldly Authorities III, Household Authority)  Thesis I: Parental

   AG11b: Theses II  (Women, wives) and Thesis III (Servants)

     Excursus 2A: Jesuit constitution in "black letter" (Walther's warning vs AI gods)

     Excursus 2B: Grok's & Britannica's reports on Jesuits' & Pope Clement XIV

AG12: Walther's All Glory to God book, 11 essays in one BTL book

"Zeremoniendienst"

    While preparing the full German text for one of Prof. Friedrich Bente's greatest books,  Gesetz und Evangelium: Buße und gute Werke (that is Law and Gospel: Repentance and Good Works) I ran across a term that struck me as particularly appropriate for a certain para-church organization calling itself "Gottesdienst". In my readings from those involved, I found little or no reference to the Old German Missouri Synod, leading me to believe they have a low opinion of them. So how would the Old Missouri theologians characterize this modern organization that is largely focused on ceremonies? Here is what I discovered in Bente's book, p. 7:

The doctrine of justification makes one secure and immune against Rome. In addition, it thoroughly clears away doubt and unbelief, works and ceremonial worship ["Zeremoniendienst"], as well as the tyranny of the papal church.

So as "Gottesdienst" chose a German word for their organization, I will chose a German word to describe them, one that they may not be pleased with:

"Gottesdienst" = "Zeremoniendienst" = ceremonies worship

Old Missouri focused first on the "Hauptartikel", the chief Doctrine of Justification, then defended true Lutheran ceremonies, not the other way around. (Compare them to Pastor Friedrich Lochner.)

Walther on the Apocrypha: "bad crumbs" (Purgatory)

      The subject of the Apocrypha books comes up at times. If one queries the search engines one is faced with much secondary information, opinions, and confusion among the populace. On the teaching of the Catholic Church Wikipedia reports: 

"Many of these texts are considered canonical Old Testament books by the Catholic Church, affirmed by the Council of Rome (382) and later reaffirmed by the Council of Trent (1545–1563)". 

So when I ran across C. F. W. Walther's comments on this subject, I took note of it. This was included in his essay to the 1873 Western District and his comments are most instructive. In this essay, Walther quotes John Gerhard as he refutes the pope's disrespect of the sacred Scriptures. Walther's comments are in parentheses. Gerhard points out how the popes achieve this (from page 46): 

"2. By appending to the certain and immovable Word of God presented in the canonical books the apocryphal writings, which contain uncertain and false assertions".

(This is very important. We also have the apocrypha in our Bible book, e.g. Jesus Sirach, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Maccabees, etc.; but it is stated above that they are not to be regarded as Holy Scripture, but only to be read carefully. From them we can read what the Jewish church believed after the appearance of the prophets up to the time of Christ, which otherwise the common people would not know at all. But they also contain many falsehoods. It says that the witch of Endor brought the real Samuel out of death, that a certain Rhazis performed a great heroic deed with his suicide, that Judas Maccabeus did well to send two thousand drachmas to Jerusalem as a sin offering, and that it was a good and holy opinion to pray for the dead that their sins might be forgiven. Of course, when the Roman priests read about the 2,000 drachmas, they thought: "This is a good passage, we must not delete it from the Bible," and they looked at the 2,000 drachmas with one eye and at purgatory with the other. The Book of Tobit then also condones shameful sorcery. Even though the Apocrypha contains a lot of valuable things, these are still very bad crumbs. The Roman Church, however, insists as much on the acceptance of the Apocrypha as on that of the Book of Isaiah or the Psalter, because it thinks it can prove purgatory, its sorcery at their consecration and the like; whereas anyone who knows history knows that the Apocrypha was never recognized by the Church of the Old Covenant. We have received the Old Testament from the Jewish orthodox Church, but in this Testament there is no Jesus Sirach, no Book of Tobit, no Books of the Maccabees, and so on. The Old Testament church already had these books, but they were not recognized as divine books. They were not originally written in Hebrew, but in Greek, and some of them only exist in Latin. In short, the papists are lying when they say that the Apocrypha is as good a word of God as the other books. We do not recognize them and give God the glory by not imputing to Him books that He did not make. For it is a great ungodliness for someone to write a book and put another name on the title, such as "Luther". But it is a small sin to write on it: "This book is from God", when it was written by men from their own spirit.) 

It was most instructive that Walther gives examples of falsehoods in the Apocrypha.

Does the Roman Catholic Church still teach Purgatory? 

• Yes, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, p. 268 (see here, sections 1030-1031). 

Do they still use the Apocrypha to justify this doctrine? 

• Yes, see section 1032 here., p. 269.

Do they also use Holy Scripture to justify this doctrine?

• Yes, falsely using 1 Cor 3:15 and 1 Pet 1:7 (see here). These do not speak of an intermediate period after death for "purification". Papists use the Apocrypha against Holy Scripture.

Does the Roman Catholic Church teach that the Apocrypha are inspired?

• Yes, section 1032 explicitly states "…Sacred Scripture: "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead" (Footnote 609: 2 Macc 12:46). The Apocrypha is identified with "Sacred Scripture".

      Many within the LC–MS attempt to soften the view of today's Roman Catholic Church, that it has changed for the better since the days of the Reformation. But we can see by the above that it has only become more deceitful by attempting to mask their doctrine by mixing false Apocrypha teaching with Holy Scripture. — May Walther's clear instruction provide Christians with the tool that they need to refute all false doctrine:

Sola Scriptura!

Pieper: "intelligent silence"

      This was a phrase attributed to Dr. Franz Pieper for which I had lost the source. Now I have discovered that source, and want to publish the phrase.  It is very short, but with a powerful message. 

      In Ludwig Fuerbringer's well-known book 80 Eventful Years, on page 169, he relates the following account:

“At  that  time  Dr.  Pieper  had  not  as  yet  coined  an  expression  which  I  have  since  then  quoted  a  number  of times,  that  there  is not  only,  and  should  not  only  be,  intelligent  speaking,  but  also  an  intelligent  silence,  'intelligentes  Schweigen,'  referring  to  Acts  15:12.”

What does Acts 15:12 say? 

"Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them."

There was no babbling, no opinions given, just silence so that one could hear God's message, keep silence so that one can hear God's voice in His Word. That is "intelligent silence". I have never forgot that phrase.

What is Christmas? Walther on Jn 1:14; why this is important (for Advent season)

      While working on a re-translation of Walther's 1882 essay to the Western District, I ran across a timely section that would be appropriate for this Advent season. Walther was covering the question of who our prayers are to be addressed. After defending against the papal church's worship of the past saints, he moves on to the pernicious error of the Reformed and the papists. We pick up on what he has labeled as his "Thesis II", p. 44-45:

Thesis II.

Our church teaches that Christ, God and man in one person, is to be invoked and worshipped, not his divinity alone.

When considering this thesis, one would naturally like to delve deeply into the wonderful doctrine of the person of Jesus Christ, of the personal union of both natures in Christ, and of the communication of attributes. But here we must content ourselves with the simplest explanation.

The Gospel of John begins with the mysterious and sublime words: 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:1-4, 14).

With these words, the Holy Spirit reveals to us that the eternal personal Word, through whom all things were made, that is, the true, living God Himself, became man. He, the only begotten Son of God, did not merely take up residence in the flesh; that could be an indwelling of God, as every believing Christian may experience. No, it says: “The Word was made [or became] flesh!” This is the greatest, highest, deepest, most wonderful, most worshipful mystery of divine wisdom and mercy among all those that God has revealed to us in His Word. Even the apostle Paul, filled with admiration through the Holy Spirit, must exclaim: "Great indeed is the godly mystery: God is revealed in the flesh! " (1 Tim. 3:16). Yes, even the holy angels desire to look into this depth, as Peter writes in the first chapter of his first letter, 1 Pet. 1:12.

However incomprehensible this mystery is, Holy Scripture speaks of it in very unambiguous terms. In Col. 2:9, Paul says: “In Him (in Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (σωματιχώς), that is, just as the soul dwells in the human body, so that both constitute a spiritual-physical human person, so the whole fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ's human nature, so that Godhead and humanity are one divine-human person. As it says in the Athanasian Creed: “Just as body and soul are one human being, so God and man are one Christ.”

Therefore, Holy Scripture also calls the God-Christ as Man and the Man-Christ as God, and speaks of human things concerning the God-Christ and divine things concerning the Man-Christ. It says, <page 45> for example: “The Prince of Life” — that is, the true God — “you have killed”; “the Lord of Glory” — that is, the true God — “you crucified.” (Acts 3:15, 1 Cor. 2:8) “Christ comes from the fathers according to the flesh, who is God above all, blessed forever” (Rom. 9:5), so the true God has a human lineage. “God acquired the church through His own blood.” (Acts 20:28). “The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7). Here, Holy Scripture attributes something purely creaturely and human to God, namely that He has blood. But again, Scripture speaks of divine things concerning Christ, who is human. It says: “The holy one to be born of you” — that is, the true man — “will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35), that is, He will be the Son of God. “The second man is the Lord from heaven” (1 Cor. 15:47). Christ himself, in his state of humiliation, calls Himself “the Son of Man who is in heaven” and “ascends to heaven” as the one who came down from heaven. (John 3:13). Yes, when He once asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” and Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Christ does not reject this answer as blasphemy, but on the contrary praises Simon Peter, because this was not revealed to him by flesh and blood, but by His Father in heaven. (Matthew 16:13, 16)

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It there ever was a teaching to explain the spiritual importance of Christmas, this is it. Lutherans pray to the Christ who was both God and Man in One Person. Other churches avoid the humanity of Christ when praying to him. — A translation of the full essay will be forthcoming in some weeks. —

(A previous translation of the above was done for CHI Director August Suelflow in the 1990s,  and was most recently published in the 2016 CPH book All Glory to God, pp. 389-390.)