A Word of Encouragement

A word of encouragement from Prof. Kurt Marquart, one of my favorite professors from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, now at rest in Christ. Written more than nine years ago, it still speaks to our Synod’s present struggles. It is reprinted here from Pastor Riley’s blog.

A Word of Encouragement

from

+ Kurt Marquart +

Having been asked by friends to address the plight of those who are so deeply discouraged by the turn of events in our Missouri Synod that they are tempted simply to leave, I humbly offer a few thoughts:

It is quite natural to become discouraged when things go wrong. To see our Synod—once known throughout the world for its firm, unyielding, and united stand for the pure Gospel of Christ—now awash in confusion and contradiction, even about such clear and basic issues as joint services with official representatives of paganism, that is of course profoundly and painfully sad.

And while the Lord founded His Church so solidly on Himself that the very gates of hell shall not prevail against her [Matthew 16:18], it is true that no visible church of a particular town, region, nation, or continent has the guarantee of remaining faithful to the truth forever. Indeed, history teaches us that even great and strong churches can ultimately abandon the truth. Think only Jerusalem, Rome, Wittenberg!

But now is not the time to abandon our Synod. It is not a false, heterodox church, but an orthodox church with serious troubles. For confessionally sound pastors and people to leave the Synod now, is simply to hand it over to those who hate its strict, confessional stand. Besides, we didn’t get into this mess in a hurry, and we’re not going to get out of it quickly either. But, to put it colloquially, “the old girl is worth fighting for”! Think of all the generations of devout souls who prayed and sacrificed for this Synod—and of those many who still do!

Our Dr. Walther himself wrote to a confessional student in Erlangen, who wanted to leave the Bavarian Lutheran state church:

“I can advise separation from a degenerated communion which formerly had taken the right stand, only when it is notorious that it has ‘hardened’ (verstockt) itself; and that is notorious only when everything has been tried to lead it back, but in vain... Would to God that I had this understanding thirty-some years ago, then I would likely still be in America, yet not as one who had abandoned his office, but as an exile.” [Briefe von C.F.W. Walter, Concordia, 1916, pp. 196-197, my translation]

And to another pastor in Germany he wrote:

“From a heretical or schismatic communion one must exit without consulting flesh and blood, also from a syncretistically constituted one; it is not so with a church which originally took the right stand, and in which false faith and unbelief still fight for the right to exist. Here it is a matter of leaving the sinking ship, not the one that has sprung a leak.” [p. 194]

It seems that most of our troubles in doctrine began as loose practice: open communion, neo-Pentecostalism, joint services with official representatives of false doctrine, and so forth. Then there came the pragmatic urge to adjust our formerly strong theology to our weak practice. The basic problem, it seems to me, is an organizational, bureaucratic approach to theology and church life. People want to justify any status quo that has become customary, and habitual—“like petty public officials [who] quietly approved the errors of their superiors, without understanding them.” [Apology XII, 69, Tappert, p. 192]

The problem is not new: The Commission on Constitutional Matters (CCM) “now has well-nigh total and absolute power to turn any issue involving the practical application of the Confession into a constitutional one,” and then to issue a “binding” decision! “The real question is the wisdom of such total concentration of virtually unchallengeable power in a small body of administrative appointees. Should someone be thinking of theological, churchly remedies?” [Church Polity and Politics, John Fehrman and Daniel Preus, eds, Luther Academy and Association of Confessional Lutherans, 1997, pp. 199-200]

The cat is fully out of the bag in the new CCM ruling that one can’t be charged for actions for which one had prior approval from one’s ecclesiastical supervisor! The practical import is that bureaucratic standing may now override Holy Scripture and the Confessions! For details see the argument in the attached resolution. You are free to use this resolution, or any part or aspect of it you find helpful, as you see fit.

Of course only God can help us. Relying on Him alone let us do what we can to encourage good outcomes at the 2004 Convention, and the one after that, and the one after that, etc. That will mean sharing relevant factual and doctrinal information, also at District conventions, sending in appropriate resolutions, nominating and electing confessionally responsible people, and defeating the dishonest emotional propaganda which seeks to exploit the sacred urgencies of Mission to sweep inconvenient doctrinal issues under the carpet.

Finally, the battle for the sacred truth of the Gospel must be fought with kindness and love. We must not demonize human opponents, but realize, as St. Paul teaches us, that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” [Ephesians 6:12, NIV] The Lord of the Church bless us with zeal and courage and joy in Him Whose mercies are new to us every morning!

Fraternally yours,
Kurt Marquart
Fort Wayne, IN

8 May 2003

HT: The First Premise (Rev. Donavon Riley)

Disproved

HT: Rich Heinz (via Facebook)

God Is Still Speaking

“God is still speaking,” [sic]

So says the United Church of Christ (UCC). I would agree. God is still speaking. The question is: What is He saying?

The UCC believes that God is still speaking new revelation—revelation that contradicts what He has formerly said in His Holy Word. And so they began a new campaign/initiative in 2003: “Never place a period where God has placed a comma,” [sic]

The problem with such a campaign is that a “comma” allows you to add to God’s Word and believe whatever you want to believe, despite what God has revealed in His holy and inerrant Word. But God doesn’t use a “comma.” He uses a “period.” He identifies black and white, right and wrong. That “period” is His holy Word—the sixty-six books of Old and New Testament Scriptures.

• For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. [2 Peter 1:21]
• Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar. [Proverbs 30:6]
• I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. [Revelation 22:18-19]

How, then, is God still speaking? Through His holy Word. Period!

• Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. [Psalm 119:105]
• The sum of Your word is truth. [Psalm 119:160]
• “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” [John 8:31-32]
• “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” [John 17:17]

So, the next time you see a large “comma” or hear the phrase “God is still speaking,” remember this:

God is still speaking.

And He is still saying the exact same thing!

Marriage = Man + Woman

1 Man + 1 Woman = MARRIAGE

• Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. [Genesis 2:24]
• Because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. [1 Corinthians 7:2]
• Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. [Ephesians 5:25-33]

1 Man + 1 Man = SIN   and   1 Woman + 1 Woman = SIN

• For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. [Romans 1:26-27]
• Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral ... nor men who practice homosexuality ... will inherit the kingdom of God. [1 Corinthians 6:9-10]
• The law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for ... the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, ... and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. [1 Timothy 1:9-11]

Christ and the Church: Foundational to Marriage

On Sunday, Cardinal George posted an article entitled Reflections on “Chicago values” on the Catholic Chicago Blog (hosted by the Archdiocese of Chicago). I commend him for this well-written article, hope you will take the time to read it, and pray it will spark some informed conversation on this topic.

However, there is one statement I wish he would reconsider:

“The Church, because Jesus raised the marital union to the level of symbolizing his own union with his Body the Church, has an interest in determining which marital unions are sacramental and which are not.”

The Church indeed has an interest in marriage. After all, God instituted and sanctions it. But Jesus did not raise the marital union to the level of symbolizing His own union with the Church. Just the opposite. The union of man and woman was, from the very beginning, a reflection of Christ and His bride (the Church). The Church existed the moment man and woman were created. There was the Son of God with His bride. Then God joined the first man and first woman together, and their union reflected that of the Son of God and His bride.

This is why Saint Paul writes:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. [Ephesians 1:3-4]

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of His body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. [Ephesians 5:31-32]

The first passage reminds us that God chose us—the Church—in Christ before the foundation of the world (i.e. before He brought the first man and first woman together). The second passage reminds us that the relationship of man and woman in holy matrimony is based on the relationship of Christ and His bride (the Church). It is not the other way around.

The relationship of Christ and His bride is foundational. The relationship of husband and wife is simply a reflection of that.

Christ—the Son of God—became man. The Church is woman. And God the Father has joined these two together as one. That is why marriage is exclusively between one man and one woman.