Lutheran Synod Quarterly

LUTHERAN SYNOD QUARTERLY VOLUME 52 • NUMBER 4 DECEMBER 2012 The theological journal of Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary LUTHERAN SYNOD QUARTERLY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF........................................................... Gaylin R. Schmeling BOOK REVIEW EDITOR ......................................................... Michael K. Smith LAYOUT EDITOR ................................................................. Daniel J. Hartwig PRINTER ......................................................... Books of the Way of the Lord FACULTY............. Adolph L. Harstad, Thomas A. Kuster, Dennis W. Marzolf, Gaylin R. Schmeling, Michael K. Smith, Erling T. Teigen The Lutheran Synod Quarterly (ISSN: 0360-9685) is edited by the faculty of Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary 6 Browns Court Mankato, Minnesota 56001 The Lutheran Synod Quarterly is a continuation of the Clergy Bulletin (1941–1960). The purpose of the Lutheran Synod Quarterly, as was the purpose of the Clergy Bulletin, is to provide a testimony of the theological position of the Evangelical Contents Lutheran Synod and also to promote the academic growth of her clergy roster by providing scholarly articles, rooted in the inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures and the LSQ Vol. 52, No. 4 (December 2012) Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. ARTICLES The Lutheran Synod Quarterly is published in March and December with a Perspicuity: The Clarity of Scripture ..............................................267 combined June and September issue. Subscription rates are $25.00 U.S. per year Shawn D. Stafford for domestic subscriptions and $35.00 U.S. per year for international subscriptions. The Formula of Concord in Light of the Overwhelming All subscriptions and editorial correspondence should be sent to the following Arminianism of American Christianity ..........................................301 address: Timothy R. Schmeling Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary The Divine Liturgy and its Use .....................................................335 Attn: Lutheran Synod Quarterly Gaylin R. Schmeling 6 Browns Ct Mankato MN 56001 A Half-Century of Mission Involvement: ELS Foreign Mission Work Prior to 1968 ......................................................................369 Back issues of the Lutheran Synod Quarterly from the past two years are available Rev. Craig A. Ferkenstad at a cost of $8.00 per issue. Back issues of the Lutheran Synod Quarterly and Clergy Bulletin prior to the past two years are available at <www.blts.edu/lsq>. BOOK REVIEW AND INDEX Book Review: From Wilderness to Promised Land ........................403 The Lutheran Synod Quarterly is abstracted in Religious and Theological Timothy H. Buelow Abstracts, PO Box 215, Myerstown, PA 17067 (E-mail: <[email protected]>; Website: <www.rtabst.org/abstracts>). Index to Volume 52 ......................................................................407 Copyright ©2012 by Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary. Requests for permission to reproduce more than brief excerpts are to be directed to the Editor- in-Chief. 264 Lutheran Synod Quarterly Vol. 52 Foreword LSQ Vol. 52, No. 4 (December 2012) HE PERSPICUITY, OR CLARITY, OF Scripture, consists in this, that all the doctrines of salvation are set forth in words so simple and plain that they can be understood by all persons ofT average intelligence. The inerrant Scripture presents the two chief doctrines of the faith, the Law and the Gospel: the Law in all its severity and the Gospel in all its sweetness and beauty. We can take comfort in knowing that all truths necessary for salvation are clearly revealed in the inspired Scripture. The essay, “Perspicuity: The Clarity of Scripture,” is written by the Rev. Shawn Stafford, pastor of Hartland and Manchester Lutheran Churches in Hartland and Manchester, Minnesota. In his essay, the Rev. Timothy Schmeling provides an overview of classical Arminianism and its evolution in the American religious context. Prompted by Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s critique of the American religious landscape as “Protestantism without the Reformation” and an analysis of the Formula of Concord in light of the morphology of Arminianism, the essay joins the call for American Lutheranism to reclaim its classical Lutheran theology. Only in this way can an authentic American Lutheranism truly develop, which is capable of meeting the religious needs of the citizenry of the United States. The Rev. Schmeling is the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Sebastian, Florida. The essay, “The Liturgy and Its Use,” includes a summary of the development of the liturgy with special reference to the divine service in the Lutheran Church. The divine service is first and foremost God’s 266 Lutheran Synod Quarterly Vol. 52 service to us. Here God serves us with Word and Sacrament, and secondarily, we serve Him with praise and thanksgiving. A discussion of present-day worship forms is included in the essay. A beneficial guide- line in considering worship forms is that the church follow the historic outline of the divine service because it has served and continues to serve as the preeminent means to present properly the Word and Sacrament. As we approach the centennial of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) in 2018 and look back at the first half-century of the synod, we can see God’s blessings regarding foreign mission work. There were only Perspicuity: eleven years when the ELS did not have a foreign mission presence. The The Clarity of Scripture ELS never sought a foreign mission field by saying, “Where shall we go with the Gospel?” but the Lord opened many doors and thrust the fields Shawn D. Stafford upon us. We did not have the personnel but God sent the missionaries. Pastor, Hartland and Manchester Lutheran Churches This is the emphasis of the excellent historical essay entitled, “A Half- Hartland and Manchester, Minnesota Century of Mission Involvement: ELS Foreign Mission Work Prior to 1968,” written by the Rev. Craig Ferkenstad. He is pastor of Norseland LSQ Vol. 52, No. 4 (December 2012) and Norwegian Grove Lutheran Churches in St. Peter and Gaylord, SIMPLE LAYMAN ARMED WITH Scripture is to be Minnesota. 1 Also included in this issue is a review of the book From Wilderness believed above a pope or a council without it.” This oft- to Promised Land by Gaylin R. Schmeling. It was reviewed by the Rev. quoted statement from Martin Luther at the 1519 Leipzig Timothy Buelow, who is pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Carthage, “Adebate asserts the principle of sola Scriptura, that the Bible is the only Missouri. source for teaching in the church. Also implicit in this statement is that Scripture is understandable by the average laymen and so can be – GRS employed by the layman to defend and test the church’s teaching. This idea “that all Christians had the right to interpret the Bible for themselves” is called “Christianity’s Dangerous Idea” by Alister McGrath.2 McGrath argues that this is Protestantism’s defining principle throughout its history. Has this idea of the “simple layman armed with Scripture” stood the test of time? Is it characteristic of today’s heirs of the Reformation? When I was a junior at St. Olaf College, one of my classmates told me she was taught in the freshman religion class there that employing the historical-critical method of biblical interpretation was the starting point for any understanding of the Bible. No small task for “a simple layman.” No wonder so many laymen throw up their hands and surrender the right to read Scripture to the “experts,” the theological professors. Books such as The Bible Code would have us believe that the 1 Martin Luther at Leipzig debate quoted in Roland Bainton, Here I Stand (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1950), 117. 2 Alister McGrath, Christianity’s Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution - A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First (New York: Harper One, 2007), 2. 268 Lutheran Synod Quarterly Vol. 52 No. 4 Perspicuity: The Clarity of Scripture 269 real message of the Bible is not to be found in the words themselves but that the essential clarity of the Word of God was self-evident. in a code hidden in the text. Therefore, we should use a mathematical Bottom line, they were saying that the Roman idea, that the formula to decipher the code to find this hidden meaning. Again, a task Magisterium, (or the teaching office) of the church was the fitting for a computer or a mathematician, rather than “a simple layman.” only one that could interpret Scripture, was simply in error. Perspicuity defined Responsible interpretation of the Bible by those in the pews was not only accepted, but also encouraged.7 In the face of these assertions and challenges, Protestant theology, especially Confessional Lutheran theology, asserts the perspicuity of External and internal clarity Scripture. This assertion is based on the testimony of Scripture itself. What is the scope of Scripture’s perspicuity? “According to Scripture, The clarity of Scriptures is twofold. There is both an external clarity the perspicuity of Scripture consists in this, that it presents, in language and an internal clarity. External clarity means that “in the words and that can be understood by all, whatever men must know to be saved.”3 sentences of intelligible, comprehensible human language, it clearly expresses all the truths which God is pleased to reveal to us and which “When we say that Holy Scripture is perspicuous, or clear, we mean 8 that it sets forth all doctrines of salvation in words so simple and plain we need to know for our salvation hereafter.” “God moved His holy that they can be understood by all persons of average intelligence.”4 writers to write in a simple and clear way. They wrote so that all men “Speaking of the clarity of Scripture, we mean, above all, to say that, would have a clear account about the one and only true God and about the plan of salvation which He wrought through Christ Jesus, as God’s revelation to man, it clearly sets forth all that a person must 9 know to have everlasting life. The two chief doctrines of Scripture are our Savior.” The Bible was written in languages spoken at the time.

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