The Authorities Listed - Let's Not Turn It Upside-down

Fuller doctrine for fuller wallets, the motto of Church and Change.

Someone, perhaps Pastor Rydecki, listed the authorities in doctrine this way.

1. The Scriptures.
2. The Book of Concord.
3. The orthodox theologians - Luther, Chemnitz, Melanchthon, Chytraeus, Gerhard.
4. Synodical writers.

• The Scriptures are the very Word of God, His revealed will, inerrant and infallible. The Bible judges all books, so we always return to the source when a doctrinal matter is being disputed.
• The Book of Concord is not revelation, but man's witness to the revelation of the Holy Spirit. These Lutheran Confessions place the Reformation within the continuous orthodox tradition of Christian teaching.
• The orthodox theologians are the finest Biblical theologians of the Christian faith, but their extensive writings do not equal or supplant the Lutheran Confessions. One issue is brevity. The other issue is the agreement of all the parties about their harmony (concordia) of doctrine.
• Synodical writers are useful in many ways, but they do not equal the Concordists or the orthodox theologians. They cannot be used to override the meaning of the Book of Concord--or more importantly--the Word of God.

In this Age of Apostasy, the worst errors and practices are upheld in the name of recently deceased synodical leaders. In some cases they are alive but considered the walking dead: dead to the Word, dead to the Means of Grace, dead to correction. The false teachers tie them up in knots, saying such things as: 1. He is my classmate. 2. He is a professor. Are you saying the seminary has false teachers? 3. Are you saying you would not commune with him? 4. He is a nice guy. 5. This is a gray area of Scripture. 6. Have you been reading Ichabod?

Many of these leaders are unspeakably evil. They watch members and pastors being abused, either emotionally, sexually, or physically - and they do nothing. They are helpless. They are powerless, that is, until they get a chance to defend their abusive buddies. Suddenly they are braver than lions with the claws of a tiger.