CFW Walther had to be the big dog, the bishop of all Lutherans. It is easy for the bully to take over and imagine he is infallible. If one can start a small enough sect, anyone can be a bishop today, but that is not the Chief Article. Walther cleverly excommunicated the American Lutherans who came from the same Halle traditions as Pope Walther and Bishop Stephan.
Jacobs explored his options in Christian doctrine, because he came from the ecumenical General Synod, which sought to unify the Calvinists and Lutherans in a watered-down version of the Scriptures, where the Biblical doctrines of efficacy, the Means of Grace, baptismal regeneration, and the Real Presence were faded away.
Jacobs was no different from Walther in starting out in rationalism and ecumenism. But Jacobs saw the importance of Lutheran doctrine, which is actually just Biblical doctrine. We can see the difference in style. Walther taught:
- The Glories of Walther.
- The Glories of His Synod.
No one was more Calvinistic in expression than Walther. His puffed-up theses are full of Calvinistic pomp and puffery. He started the fissure in American Lutheranism with his Easter Absolution, but made a complete split with his patented election without faith, so Calvinistic that most people will not touch it. Notice that false teachers like Valleskey, Wayne Mueller, and Jay Webber carry on the same way.
Jacobs began at Gettysburg but ended up a leader at Philadelphia's seminary, sometimes called Mt. Airy. That history is lost to most Lutherans. But that came from the Book of Concord Lutherans breaking from the revivalistic Church Growth General Synod to form the General Council. They needed a seminary and built one in Philadelphia, where great professors taught and published.
ELCA will not admit to that era; naturally the Walther-worshiping Synodical Conference also ignores the General Council. It was handy for Walther to stick with German-only churches and be treated as infallible in his own sect.
I published one account of Walther trying to push his view, being horribly offended, and withdrawing his opinion in a huff. That is how he related to the Ohio Synod.
- Krauth was the early, central figure of the Philadelphia Seminary.
- Jacobs came later, and
- Schmuak last of all.
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| WELS pastor - "First they took away the Small Catechism, and I said nothing. Then they took away the Augsburg Confession, and I said nothing. Then they pushed the NIV and took away the KJV, and there was no one to join my cries of despair." |
No one needs to believe my account. One can chase rabbits down their hidey-holes all day long. Krauth supplied a Dutch Reformed Church for three months! Oh no!
Can anyone name the Four Open Questions? Not one of them is The Chief Article.
The Chief Article of the Christian Faith
But this issue remains, and it can be checked with a good translation of the Bible - which excludes the NIV, ESV. I suggest any Bible with KJV on its title page, like "after Luther" on a German page. Actually, that is almost the same.
In that research, find out which one is the Chief Article, regardless of what I write.
- Is it UOJ, world absolution and salvation without faith? - Zarling and Bivens, WELS genius professors. Sig Becker too.
- Or is it Justification by Faith - Luther, Melanchthon, Chemnitz?
