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500Th Anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation 500TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LUTHERAN REFORMATION L LU ICA TH EL ER G A N N A S V Y E N E O H D T LUTHERAN SYNOD QUARTERLY VOLUME 57 • NUMBERS 2 & 3 JUNE & SEPTEMBER 2017 The journal of Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary ISSN: 0360-9685 LUTHERAN SYNOD QUARTERLY VOLUME 57 • NUMBERS 2 & 3 JUNE & SEPTEMBER 2017 The 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 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 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 Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Lutheran Synod Quarterly is published in March and December with a combined June and September issue. Subscription rates are $25.00 U.S. per year for domestic subscriptions and $35.00 U.S. per year for international subscriptions. All subscriptions and editorial correspondence should be sent to the following address: Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary Attn: Lutheran Synod Quarterly 6 Browns Ct Mankato MN 56001 Back issues of the Lutheran Synod Quarterly from the past two years are available at a cost of $10.00 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>. The Lutheran Synod Quarterly is abstracted in Religious and Theological Abstracts, PO Box 215, Myerstown, PA 17067 (E-mail: <[email protected]>; Website: <www.rtabst.org/abstracts>). Copyright ©2017 by Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary. Requests for permission to reproduce more than brief excerpts are to be directed to the Editor- in-Chief. Contents LSQ Vol. 57, Nos. 2 & 3 (June & September 2017) Luther, Dogma, and the Dogmaticians .........................................131 Erling T. Teigen The Second Martin of the Lutheran Church ..................................149 Gaylin R. Schmeling Johann Gerhard: Arch-Theologian and Seelsorger .......................175 Gaylin R. Schmeling Strenuus Christi Athleta Abraham Calov (1612–1686): Sainted Doctor and Defender of the Church .................................245 Timothy R. Schmeling A Sermon Study for Reformation Sunday: Romans 3:19–28 ..........283 Michael K. Smith BOOK REVIEWS Book Review: Reformation 500 ....................................................303 Christian H. Eisenbeis Book Review: Luther’s Protest ......................................................309 Nicholas Proksch 124 Lutheran Synod Quarterly Vol. 57 Foreword LSQ Vol. 57, Nos. 2 & 3 (June & September 2017) HE YEAR 2017 MARKS THE 500TH ANNIVERSARY OF the Lutheran Reformation. The events of 1517 and the resulting Lutheran Reformation are of vital importance to confessional TLutheranism. Here God through His servant Martin Luther restored true biblical doctrine which had long been a hidden treasure. The central article of this biblical truth is justification by faith alone. We are declared righteous by nothing we do or accomplish, but alone on the basis of Christ’s redemptive work which is counted as ours through faith in the Savior. He accomplished salvation for all on the cross and announced it to all by His resurrection declaring the whole world righteous. This treasure is brought to us personally through the means of grace and is received by faith alone in the Savior which is worked through those very means of grace. The biblical doctrine of justification alone can give the poor, lost sinner comfort now and at the hour of our death. On our own we are hopelessly lost. We sin daily and can do nothing to save ourselves. The doctrine of justification, however, shows us that our gracious God has done all for our salvation and that this salvation is offered to us as a free gift. We are declared righteous freely for Christ’s sake through faith in Him as our Savior. This alone can give us peace and purpose in this life and the confident hope for the life to come. For Lutherans, Martin Luther is a reformer in a class by himself. He is not merely the most important reformer, he stands head and 126 Lutheran Synod Quarterly Vol. 57 shoulders above his colleagues and associates. He was the creative genius of the Reformation. When Luther died he was considered to be a Second Elijah concerning whom Elisha cried out, “My father, my father. The chariot of Israel and its horsemen” (2 Kings 2:12).1 He was seen as the angel flying through the heavens with the everlasting Gospel (Revelation 14:6–7).2 During this 500th anniversary of the Reformation there will be many books and articles written about Luther and his writings. This is definitely appropriate. He has had a pervading influence on the entire Christian world. However, the purpose of this issue of the Quarterly is to show that continuum between Luther and seventeenth-century Lutheranism, which is usually referred to as the age of Lutheran Orthodoxy or the period of confessionalization. TheQuarterly follows the logic of this Post-Reformation dictum: It has been said that Johann Gerhard was third (Martin Luther, Martin Chemnitz, and Johann Gerhard) in the series of Lutheranism’s most preeminent theologians and after him there was no fourth.3 If one were to speak of a fourth, it would be Abraham Calov or Johann Quenstedt. These Lutherans considered their writings to be a continuum of the teachings of Luther. The purpose of their massive doctrinal dissertations was merely to systematize the biblical teaching of Luther and to defend it. One can see a dialectical pattern in Lutheran and Roman polemics during this period of which Luther, Chemnitz, and Gerhard were a part. Luther began the Reformation aided by Philipp Melanchthon, Johannes Bugenhagen, and others. Luther spoke against the abuses of the medieval church. The Council of Trent (1545–1563) rejected Luther’s Reformation and especially the central article of the faith. To this Chemnitz responded in his Examination of the Council of Trent. Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621), one of the main exponents of the tridentine doctrine, reacted against the writings of Chemnitz defending the teachings of Trent. Finally, Gerhard points out the fallacies of the Bellarmine and post-tridentine doctrine. In this defense, Chemnitz and Gerhard maintained the continuum with Luther’s teachings. 1 Martin Brecht, Martin Luther: The Preservation of the Church, trans. James L. Schaaf (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 378–379; Robert Kolb, Irene Dingel, and L’ubomír Batka, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther’s Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 529–230. 2 Brecht, 379; Franz Posset, The Real Luther(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2011), 35. 3 Erdmann Rudolph Fischer, The Life of John Gerhard, trans. Richard J. Dinda and Elmer Hohle (Malone, Texas: Repristination Press, 2001), 98–99. Nos. 2 & 3 Foreword 127 This continuum is of vital importance to confessional orthodox Lutherans today. When our forefathers came to America, they wanted to do no more than repristinate the theology of the seventeenth-century dogmaticians, which they considered to be the doctrine of Luther and the Confessions. To use a picture from the ancient fathers, we are merely pygmies standing on the shoulders of the giants before us, Luther and the seventeenth-century dogmaticians. This Quarterly is intended to portray how the gospel inheritance restored by God through Luther was handed down to us during the seventeenth century. It was passed down through men like Chemnitz, Gerhard, Calov, and Quenstedt, and Walther, Koren, and Hoenecke. Now we have the privilege and responsibility to carry it on to the next generation. The first essay discusses Luther and his relationship to dogmatics or systematic theology. It has been said that Luther was no dogmati- cian. He would best be remembered as an Old Testament expositor. The essayist points out that Luther was a biblical theologian, not restricted to a single theological discipline, and maintains the close connection between Luther and the Lutheran dogmaticians. This essay, entitled “Luther, Dogma, and the Dogmaticians,” was written by Prof. Em. Erling Teigen of Bethany Lutheran College. Martin Chemnitz was the leading light in Lutheranism after Luther, so much so that the seventeenth century had this saying: “If the second Martin (Chemnitz) had not come, the first Martin (Luther) would scarcely have stood” (Si Martinus non fuisset, Martinus vix stetisset). The essay, “The Second Martin of the Lutheran Church,” presents a brief biography of Chemnitz and summarizes a number of important theological points in his writings. The most important theologian of the seventeenth century was Johann Gerhard (1582–1637). After Luther and Chemnitz he is the foremost theologian of the Lutheran church. The essay, “Johann Gerhard—Arch-Theologian and Seelsorger,” is an introduction to the life and work of
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