Walther against Loehe/LCMS on Antichrist – Part 2

      This continues from Part 1, presenting an English translation of Walther's stinging essay against "Lutherans" who do not teach that the Pope is the very Antichrist.  This essay, perhaps better than any other, clearly demonstrates that the LC-MS is not the true "Missouri Synod" because it does not clearly teach "the Pope is the true, right, actual Antichrist himself".  Continuing  Der Lutheraner, vol. 30 (1874), p. 41-42 [EN] (underlining follows Walther's emphasis):

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The Loeheans and the Doctrine of the Antichrist.

(conclusion from Part 1)

After Loehe’s Freimund of January 15 of this year [1874] rejected another (erroneous) doctrine of the Antichrist, he continues: 

“But there is another interpretation of the Antichrist, which is found even more frequently; that is the interpretation that the Antichrist is nothing other than the Pope. This interpretation was general during the Reformation, Luther often and most forcefully expressed it, and it has even passed into our confessional writings.... Such an opinion is not in accordance with Scripture and is not in harmony with the truth. We think it understandable that at the time of the Reformation, when the antagonisms were strained to the utmost, one wanted to find in the Pope the Antichrist himself — one wanted to confess the truth that there is much anti-Christianity in the papacy; but we think it is contrary to Scripture if even today one calls the Pope ‘the Antichrist himself’. He who loves the Scriptures and pays attention to the prophetic Word should beware of such an outmoded delusion, which can no longer be offered to the people in our time.” — 

It is true, it is frightening that men who want to be regarded as Lutherans loyal to the confession can speak so shamefully of a part of our confession; but, as I said, we must be glad that the Lutherans, at least in Germany, no longer want to “play under the little hat,” as Luther used to express it, but honestly speak out their rejection of a clear piece of the Confession. It is easier to fight with such honest enemies than with false brethren who think just that way, but give themselves a better appearance and, while they teach the opposite of the symbolic doctrine, pretend to hold it firmly. Those brazen contradictors [i.e. Loehe] do by far not cause as much damage and not as much confusion in the church as those who are intent only on making the water turbid in order to then be able to cast the angles of their false doctrines out at the poor souls.

By the way, the latest omission of the Loeheans in Germany about the doctrine of the Antichrist is also of value because they bear witness to the importance of this doctrine. In the number of their Freimund shown here, they write, among other things, as follows:

“The Lord does not come unless the man of sin has been revealed first – so writes the Apostle Paul in 2 Thess. 2, thus giving us a mark that we do not deceive ourselves as if ‘the day of Christ is present’, but know how to pay attention to the signs of the times with a sober eye. The future of Christ presupposes the future of the Antichrist, the coming of the Lord must be preceded by the coming of the last (?) enemy, of the ‘adversary’, and whoever speaks of the coming of the Lord without focusing on the anti-Christian, follows his own thoughts and does not pay attention to the apostolic word, which gives us the appearance of the anti-Christian as a mark for the appearance of Christ. Should we not be under the illusion that it is unnecessary for us and our congregations to know anything more about the Antichrist and his future? Or do we no longer know how Paul held it in Thessalonica? The Apostle stayed here only for a short time, and if we take a closer look at 2 Thessalonians 2, we hear that the Apostle talked about the Antichrist a lot and in detail during this short time, that he interpreted the prophet Daniel, about whom so many do not want to know anything anymore, to the young Christians and suggested it to them, that he taught this young congregation in many matters completely different than it is common practice today. The Apostle Paul, who wrote the Epistle to the Romans and the Epistle to the Galatians, certainly placed the core and star of Scripture, Jesus Christ crucified and righteousness in Him, above all else; but the same Apostle also spoke to this young Christian congregation about the Antichrist and his future, as well as about Christ's kingdom and His appearing, in such a way that we should seriously consider whether we do not also have to learn from the Apostle in this matter.”

It is clear from this that the Loeheans in Germany declare the doctrine of the Antichrist to be so important only because they want to use this doctrine for their millennialism; but it is nevertheless of some value that they also confess that this doctrine is by no means such a minor side doctrine as so many now make themselves believe. For if their false doctrine of the Antichrist is so important to the Millennialists, how important our pure doctrine of it must be to us Lutherans! How important it is either to remain with the doctrine of our symbols in this point, or to depart from it! There is no doubt that also with regard to this doctrine, which was opened up and given to us by the Reformation and laid down in the precious confession of our Church, the call of Christ applies to us Lutherans: “Hold fast what you have, lest anyone take your crown.” Rev. 3:11. W. [Walther]

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*) ^ See: Loehe's writing: Our Church Situation. Nördlingen 1850. p. 60.

**) ^ See: Oeffentliches Colloquium 2c. Milwaukee, 1868. p. 24.

†) ^ See: Oeffentliches Colloquium 2c., p. 31.

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      All contrary claims by the LC-MS, that it is "Confessional", are empty claims because they do not teach as the Smalcald Articles teach.  I recall in my youth that this very issue was in controversy decades ago within the LCMS, and it was hard for me to believe that the LCMS would depart from such a foundational article of its Confession. — What would Walther say about the teaching of today's LC-MS on the Antichrist?  In the concluding Part 3, we answer this definitively.

Loehe denies Pope is the Antichrist = not Lutheran (Walther, Der Lutheraner) Part 1

      When I ran into this essay by Walther in Der Lutheraner of 1874, I realized that it was perhaps the most definitive defense against what the LC-MS teaches today. I had blogged in 2015 about Pieper's forceful teaching that the Pope is the Antichrist.  But here we see Walther defending against the Romanizing German theologian Wilhelm Loehe and his followers in America, the Iowa Synod, later the ALC, now the ELCA.  But the actual teaching of today's LC-MS is not only much the same, it is actually worse than Loehe's teaching!  How so?  Read Walther's clear, simple, direct defense, from Der Lutheraner, vol. 30 (1874), p. 41-42 [EN] (underlining follows Walther's emphasis):

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The Loeheans and the Doctrine of the Antichrist.

As is well known, all Millennialists [Chiliasten] deny that the Pope is the Antichrist proclaimed in the Word of God, namely 2 Thess. 2. Therefore, already in 1850, Pastor Loehe wrote in reference to the Smalcald Articles, in which the Pope is declared to be the true Antichrist (ipsum verum antichristum) [Triglotta]:  

“Nevertheless, one will have a just concern to agree: The pope is the Antichrist. ... One will therefore have to take the concrete language of Luther in this way: The papacy and every pope, as it has become in the Roman Church, has something anti-Christian; every Pope can be called an antichrist; but the Antichrist is still missing." *)  

The Iowans [Iowa Synod, ALC, ELCA], who are known to be Loehe's faithful disciples, therefore agree with Loehe also in this. They, too, wrote in 1858 in their Synod report with regard to the Smalcald Articles: “Thus that sentence only wants to express: the papacy is anti-Christian.” Furthermore: “It is not to be denied that the papacy is anti-Christian, or that many popes can be called antichrists, in the same sense in which 1 John 2:18 speaks of many antichrists. But the man of sin mentioned in 2 Thess. 2 is a definite human personality, and for that very reason still future.” Furthermore: “This apostasy” (2 Thess. 2:3) “in the Antichrist we also have to expect as still in the future.” (pp. 17, 19, 28) Therefore, as late as 1867, the Iowans, on behalf of their Synod, on the occasion of our public colloquy with them, made the declaration in writing: “But the Antichrist in the strictest sense is a single person, and will appear in the end to be destroyed by Christ in his future.” **) 

It would be foolish to be surprised about this – Millennialists [or Chiliasts] cannot judge otherwise. According to their view of the millennial kingdom, they cannot even assume that the Papacy is the prophesied great “apostasy” and that the prophesied actual “Antichrist” has therefore already come. If, however, they want to be considered good Lutherans, they are urged to believe that the doctrine that it is a clear doctrine of the Lutheran confessions, what do they do then?  Then they usually take refuge in the pretense that the doctrine of the Antichrist is only an “open question” or only an unimportant secondary doctrine, yes, the doctrine that the Pope is the Antichrist “cannot be drawn from Scripture, but only from history and experience,” †) therefore one can be a quite good, confessional [page 41 col. 3] Lutheran, even if one does not consider the Pope to be the actual prophesied Antichrist with the Smalcald Articles, but expects him only in the future (i.e. immediately before the millennial kingdom).  

This pretense is groundless, but in any case not as outrageous as if one waits for the actual Antichrist and thus rejects the Lutheran doctrine on this point, and yet claims that one wholeheartedly accepts what the Smalcald Articles confess about the Antichrist! This is such a blatant deception that it undoubtedly brings upon himself God's rebuke. We can therefore only rejoice that the Loeheans [Löhianer] in Germany have recently, at last, come out honestly with their language and decisively rejected the doctrine of the Smalcald Articles, that the Pope is the actual Antichrist, as an “outmoded delusion”, without hypocritically professing loyalty. 

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      We see that the doctrine of Millennialism is intertwined with that of the Antichrist. But Walther unravels the confusion and exposes the error for what it is. We also note that even Loehe understood that the Smalcald Articles meant the Pope, not just the "papacy", to be the Antichrist.  — In the next Part 2, the conclusion of Walther's essay, and more on how today's LC-MS's teaching is worse than that of Loehe's which Walther calls "honestly" done.

DL 4: How to read Der Lutheraner, and why

     This continues from Part 3 (and Parts 1 and 2) in a series presenting Walther's Der Lutheraner paper in full text versions, and with translations. —  There are many notes that would help potential readers of this paper, especially American readers:

1. The OCR software would not recognize Latin letters along with the German Fraktur font.  So all Latin and English words, where Der Lutheraner changed the font to Latin or Roman font, were not recognize properly.  In some cases I manually made an effort to recover the text, sometimes putting it in italicized font for ease of distinguishing it from the original German text. 
2. As mentioned in Part 1, most of the emphasized words in the narratives used spaced lettering ("sperrdruck") because they evidently could not underline words in their printing process.  The OCR software did not recognize this emphasis, so I manually added underlining in select cases, especially for Walther's major writings, and for all of Franz Pieper's writings.  In very rare cases they used bold text, which was retained by the OCR. NB: Although Pastor Baseley's translation is surely better than my machine translations, yet one may want to consult my volumes 1–3 to find the emphasized words that Baseley's translation does not have.
3. Broken paragraphs and sentences caused by page breaks, column breaks, and within the OCR process were generally not fixed manually.  I relied on the intelligence of the DeepL Translator to make sense of the text of broken paragraphs.  In many cases DeepL's translation, even with minor misspellings and broken paragraphs, recovered well and was acceptable for a general understanding.
4. Proper names were sometimes translated instead of passing through the translator, e.g. Schwan to Swan.  I generally did not correct these, except an embarrasing translation of "Fick" was changed back to his actual name.
5. If the reader requires a better translation than the machine translation, they may download the original German DOCX file and do their own proofing and translating.  I will be doing this myself as I continue publishing more articles from Der Lutheraner.

How one may read Walther's Der Lutheraner:

• Review the Tables of Contents for items or authors of interest, make note of the issue and page numbers, then use the hyperlinks there to go to the actual narrative
• Research the Indexes, both German and English, to find the subject or writer of interest, make note of the page number, then open it in the English version
• Search the text for individual's names, e.g. "Wyneken" or "Köstering", or specific topics, e.g. "slavery" or "catechism".
• In any case, it is best to have the original German version in view when reading the English translation. One will be better able to make sense of problem translations.

American readers may learn some of the major theological terminology of the German language in the process.  I certainly have.

Why read Walther's Der Lutheraner

      There is a lot of theological and pastoral material in these first 43 volumes. It is the publication Walther started, to begin to gather the true Lutheran Church in America. He poured out his heart into it.  His comment about the Lutheran Witness, that it showed "Melachthon's mildness", does not apply to his Der Lutheraner, which is pure "Luther boldness". If there is to be a resurgence of true Lutheranism in America, or anywhere in the world, it will surely draw not only on Martin Luther, but also on… C. F. W. Walther, Editor of Der Lutheraner.

DL3: PDFs of English translations – downloads

NOTICE: The Google Blogger platform is currently not allowing updates…=> This problem has been solved.

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       This continues from Part 2 and Part 1 in a series presenting the texts and translations of C. F. W. Walther's Der Lutheraner. — Although the DOCX files for all volume 1 to 43 were made available in Part 2, I wanted the convenience of directly going to any page of the English translations, so I am providing links to all of these English translated volumes on Internet Archive, where one may either use the viewer there or download the PDF files.  I will be using these Archive copies extensively in future blogs to link to the exact pages of the material I quote. English links will be labeled with [EN]:

English [EN] translations at Internet Archive, with PDF download:

          01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 (1844 – 1854)

          11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 (1854 – 1864)

          21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 (1864 – 1874)

          31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 (1875 – 1884)

          41 42 43                      (1885 – 1887)

Combined Tables of Contents 

• The combined Table of Contents on Internet Archive, German [DE] has been updated with corrections and more entries.  
• NEW: a combined English translation [EN] of the same is now available on Internet Archive or here. This includes hyperlinks to the English version of every issue to 1887.

Combined Indexes, volumes 1–43 (complete)

German original — Internet Archive, or directly here:

English translation — Internet Archive,  or directly here:

      In the next Part 4, my notes for reading these volumes of Der Lutheraner.

Sieker's NYC sermon at Walther's passing (Part 2)

      This concludes from Part 1 on one of the great sermons delivered at the passing of C. F. W. Walther in 1887.  — As I procured Pastor Sieker's original sermon in the German language and had it translated, I understood why Prof. Pieper highlighted it as a model sermon.  And it continues to amaze me that this sermon was delivered in the East, in New York City.  Whatever strength there may remain for Lutheranism in that city must certainly be traced back to the influence of Pastor Sieker's sermons at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church.  Before I present the full sermon, I would highlight a few passages not covered in Pieper's review:

Pg 4: "…is anyone else besides him who has had such a profound effect, such a beneficial change, such a great building influence on the church as he … You will find none."

Pg. 6: "Who could deny that also Dr. Walther, in this last afflicted time, was such a gift of God, through which the faithful Lord intended and bestowed incalculable blessings on his church?"

6: "In this time of the greatest danger for our church falls the beginning of Walther's work"

7: "Walther wanted to become a doctor. God, however, had seen him to something greater"

7: "Walther, too, lay deathly ill at the beginning of his work in St. Louis … only one thing he asked of God, to let him experience the appearance of the first number of the Der Lutheraner."

8: "we must look upon them [Luther, Walther] with deep gratitude – but this only for the purpose that God may be honored in fine gifts."

9: "We do not follow him and believe him because he taught it, but because we have recognized through his ministry that he taught God's truth to us."

11: "Now, in our church in America, no one dares to openly state that the pastor and the Synod are God-created powers to which the congregations simply have to submit."

Note: The seven footnotes contain helpful information about the Old Missouri Synod. — Translation by BTL using DeepL Translator:

Sieker recommended in footnote #4 the reading of Hochstetter's History of the Missouri Synod, and his praise of Walther echoes that of Hochstetter who said 

"…Walther does not make the spirits subject to himself but to the Word of God."

May New York City Lutherans today benefit from this timeless sermon of its pastor 134 years ago.

NYC sermon at Walther's passing: Pieper's review of Pastor J. H. Sieker sermon (Der Lutheraner 1887) — Part 1

      It was for only a small pamphlet that the young Prof. Franz Pieper gave a review, a published sermon, in Der Lutheraner, but it caught my eye while going through the old volumes.  The year was 1887, the year that Walther "went home".  The Synod was in great mourning over the loss of its founding father.  And as I ran the German text through the online translators, I sat up and was amazed that a sermon on the passing of Walther in New York City could be so thoroughly… Lutheran.  I understood why Pieper gave one of his rare book reviews to make sure the pamphlet would not fall into oblivion. The sermon was by a somewhat prominent pastor, Pastor Johann Heinrich Sieker at St. Matthew's Lutheran in New York City. From Der Lutheraner 43 (Aug. 15, 1887), p. 132: 

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New printed matter. 

How Should Christians Look Upon and Honor the Men of God in the Church, who are adorned with special blessings, in a manner pleasing to God even after their death? Memorial sermon on the blessed Dr. C. F. W. Walther, delivered at the behest of the Lutheran St. Matthew's congregation in New York on Trinity Sunday 1887 and submitted to print by J. H. Sieker. (The surplus funds are intended for poor students). 

 

The honored author answers the question, which forms his theme, on the basis of 1 Cor. 3:5-9, 21-23. with three things: Christians should regard and honor the teachers of the church adorned with special blessings even after their death 

“1. as gifts of God, whom He has chosen and equipped for His purpose; 

2. as servants of God, through whom He has blessed many souls; 

3. as blessings of God, which shall continue to work for the salvation of the church and the praise of God who abides.” 

From the rich abundance of thoughts, we highlight here some main ideas: great teachers of the Church 

“with their blessed efficacy are gifts, gifts of God to His Church, which He prepares and sends in times of need . . . . Who could deny that Dr. Walther, too, was such a gift of God in this last afflicted time, through which the faithful Lord intended and bestowed incalculable blessings on His Church? . .. It is true that the Lutheran Church still existed here in America when Walther began to teach in the far West, but how distorted was its appearance! Where it had not sunk into the deep sleep of indifference, it courted the erroneous sects and had almost lost the precious heritage of unadulterated doctrine. The adolescent youth was completely neglected. The walls of the Confession were broken down, and over the ruins were plowed negotiations with the enemies of the pure Word as to the most expedient way to go forth in a great union. In this time of greatest danger for our church falls the beginning of Walther's work, which was to prove awakening, teaching, gathering and building in wide circles, as subsequent times have proved." 

But the teachers, adorned with many blessings, are only “servants of God.” 

“God's love is directed toward his bride, the congregation. If this is disfigured, if it is in danger, if He wants to adorn it, He awakens and empowers ‘servants,’ ‘through whom’ his beloved congregation can become the intended blessing.” “True as it is that Dr. Walther taught pure divine truth, which he had learned in the school of the Holy Spirit, especially under Dr. Luther's guidance, we do not follow him or believe him because he taught it, but because we have come to know through his ministry that he taught God's truth to us. Were we to follow him because he was such a great, eminent, blessed man, we would be dishonoring him, so humble a disciple of Christ, to the highest degree and diminishing God's glory.” “If” (but) “God blesses His Church” (with great teachers), “it is done with the intention that on and on, to all generations to come, His blessing should be propagated as a precious inheritance . . Also with Walther God wanted to achieve more than that we would be happy in his brilliance for a little while. What God has given through him, we are to recognize by diligent use as a gift of God and use it for our joy and faithfully preserve it for our descendants.”

The author rightly lays the main emphasis precisely on this point. To be sure, he reminds us that there may also be those 

“who seek to prove their faithfulness by unchristianly exalting this noble instrument of God, and thereby, as much as they care for it, corrupt the very work which God has built through it.” “Above all,” continues the author “the temptation is close at hand to forget the wonderful blessing which God has given to His Church through Dr. Walther.” 

So it is. God's Word, looking to our church, is now properly in the land. All the articles of Christian doctrine lie before the coarser and finer error in their comforting purity clearly attested. In our lower and higher schools, the youth hears nothing but the unadulterated teaching of the Word of God. What an unspeakable blessing this is! So we have to beware of the sin of complacency and indifference to the great abundance of grace. Otherwise God can soon let it come out of just judgment that God's Word becomes “dear” again among us (1 Sam. 3:1, Amos 8:11). Pastor Sieker rightly says: 

“This has always been a most harmful sin of men, that they did not faithfully keep what was entrusted to them, and thus the children of those rich in heavenly treasures were later found to be poor beggars.” 

The sermon, which we hope will be widely distributed and, above all, taken to heart, can be obtained from Concordia Publishing House. Price: one copy 10 cts. the dozen $1.00.  F. P. [Franz Pieper]. 

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      What makes this Der Lutheraner book review so special is that it was written by the successor to C. F. W. Walther, the second president of Concordia Seminary, the "20th Century Luther", who was always most concerned with spiritual matters.   

   As with the disciple Nathaniel, who said (John 1:46): "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" so it can be said: "Can there any good thing come out of New York City?"   Franz Pieper calls out to us and says, as the disciple Philip responded (John 1:46): "Come and see".  And indeed, as I researched St. Matthew's Lutheran Church (or now Ev. Lutheran of St. Matthew) of New York City I was pleasantly surprised to find an LCMS church that had not fled to the very liberal ELCA, as some other LCMS churches have done. I believe Pastor Sieker''s influence from over 100 years ago can still be having an effect within this famous congregation. — And blessed be the memory of Pastor Johann Heinrich Sieker, Lutheran pastor, in the oldest  congregation in America… in New York City. — 

===>>>  In the next Part 2 we present Pastor Sieker's full sermon at the passing of Walther, in English, – so that it may fulfill Pieper's hope that it be more "widely distributed".

2021-08-27 Postscript: this pamphlet was also announced in the July 21, 1887 English language Lutheran Witness paper, vol. 6, p. 32.

Part 2: Der Lutheraner translations downloads

NOTE! Part 1 has locked up due to technical difficulties. This repeats it partially.

[Last update: 2021-08-23]

      This continues from Part 1, a series presenting the texts and translations of C. F. W. Walther's Der Lutheraner. — This Part 2 is repeating and completing all downloads  –unformatted and formatted.  Hopefully the Blogger platform will not lockup on this post.  If it does, search the label "Der Lutheraner" for later posts that correct the problem. The good news is that all formatted translation files are now ready for download:

German: 43 volumes, one ZIP file "DL01-43 text (DE)2021-08-16.zip"  (50MB)

English: Unformatted DeepL machine translations, DOCX files for downloading: (all volumes will be available before the end of August 2021)

          01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 (1844 – 1854)

          11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 (1854 – 1864)

          21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 (1864 – 1874)

          31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 (1875 – 1884)

          41 42 43                      (1885 – 1887)

English: Formatted DeepL machine translations. This third category of downloads allows the maximum utility for American readers because the formatting is much more convenient in navigating the great volume of narratives. More about the benefits below.  Click for example on #31 below and compare it to its unformatted version above. All files have now been completed so there is no more waiting for these formatted files.

          01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 (1844 – 1854)

          11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 (1854 – 1864)

          21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 (1864 – 1874)

          31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 (1875 – 1884)

          41 42 43                      (1885 – 1887)

The above listings supersede those in Part 1. There will likely be further downloads of these volumes, such as in a PDF format.  I am also preparing a searchable PDF of all Index pages combined. — Readers should be aware that I have added the text tag "[Walther]" and "[Pieper]" wherever I was certain the author was either of these men.  In most cases the writings were signed "W." or, in Pieper's case, "F. P.". In a few rare cases they were unsigned but I was made certain by other information.  So one only has to use my search tags to immediately find all the writings of each respective writer.

More details to follow in subsequent parts…