EC9: Christianity gathered spiritually; Antichrist; hermeneutics (Eastern 1867) (Hrm04)

     This continues from Part EC8 (Table of Contents in Part EC1), a series restoring availability of English translations of several of Walther's convention essays that have seemingly been abandoned by Concordia Publishing House. — In this fourth of eight essays, Eastern District 1867, elucidating the Theses in Walther's True Visible Church book, he covers Theses XI-XIII.  The printed convention report prefixed each session's record with the following short statements:

• What the Lutheran Church should be regarded as. Grabau's erroneous teaching on this. False doctrine of the Reformed concerning the Lord's Supper. That there are also many believers outside the orthodox Lutheran Church.
• Believers are also under the papacy. The Pope is the Antichrist. He is still in the church. What to think of the Roman communion.
• Why no particular church can claim to be the only one that saves. Difference between division and sect.
• Holy Scripture alone is the source of divine teaching. Errors of modern theology in this respect. Consideration of the biblical passages cited.
• Reason cannot be the source of pure doctrine. Right use of reason in matters of doctrine. Traditions and new revelations cannot be a source of doctrine either. What the Office is.

This essay and the next deal in part with the subject of Hermeneutics and are being added to my ongoing blog series "HrmXX". This one will be listed also as Part Hrm04 (Table of Contents in Part Hrm02).

Notable Quotes:

8: The Lutheran Church "is also sometimes called catholic, but not in the sense that it includes all those who believe and are saved, but in terms of doctrine…"

9: Luther "did not want to bring the whole of Christendom out of the papacy in order to gather it around him"

11: "…even those who have been born again can still be caught up in various major or minor errors."

12: "a Christian should and must avoid the false churches with all seriousness if he does not want to sin against an explicit Word of God"

14: "the seventeenth century, when some Lutheran theologians corresponded with the heads of the Greek Church in order to pave the way for the Reformation there too; of course, the attempt was unsuccessful".

15: "Christianity is scattered physically, but gathered spiritually"

16: "some still follow the false prophets in simplicity and do not realize that they are fighting against Christ…"

17: "Is the church among the sects mutilated because the Word of God is not preached purely and clearly? Answer: No, not the church is mutilated, but only the characteristics of it."

18: "So we see that one and the same error can condemn one person but not harm the salvation of another." [Due to weakness and simplicity of heart.]

21: "The Salzburgers, for example, were such congregations; they were Lutherans, even if they did not bear this name.

21: "in apostolic times there was a true visible Catholic Church, outside of which there was no salvation. But this did not last long".

23: Written Word = "sole source" of doctrine: "means that there is nothing apart from it that can be a source … not reason; not traditions; not new revelations".

23: "Many German theologians [and Prof. Joel Biermann of Concordia–St. Louis, Part JB01] admit that it [Scripture] is the rule and judge of divine truth, but not the source alone".

24: "The Jesuits, of course, believe… that one could certainly add truth, for example from tradition".

24: "Before the Word was written down, God preserved and propagated it through oral tradition, … but when the life of mankind after the Flood was set by God for such a short period of time, …God had it recorded". [Cp. to Prof. Biermann on this subject, Part JB02.]

27: "That traditions or ecclesiastical customs cannot and must not be a source or judge of doctrine."

Paragraph breaks follow the 1992 CPH translation, hyperlinks added:

The file may be downloaded >> here <<; the German text >> here <<.

In the next Part EC10…