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| Missouri loves to use old artwork that has nothing to do with their Calvinism. |
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| Chemnitz wrote that the devil always leaves a foul smell before he leaves the room, so use Febrezius for the next LCMS conference. |
Thoughts on The Relation
of Doctrine to Exegesis
Karl Fabrizius
gottesdienst.org
May 7, 2022
During the Gottesdienst conference last week I
was once again reminded that without good systematic doctrine exegesis will certainly go astray.
Sometimes we take things for granted and the obvious gets passed over. As one of my fellow editors
said, exegesis is more fun. However, if there is
not a sober doctrinal framework, one might become drunk as he imbibes of the Scriptures and
stumble around in all kind of dangerous territories. After all, every attractive heresy and false
teaching is proclaimed to be Scriptural. But we
have the advantage of our Confessions:
“For thorough, permanent unity in the Church,
it is necessary, above all things, that we have a
comprehensive, unanimously approved summary
and form of teaching. The common doctrine must
be brought together from God’s Word and reduced
to a small circle of teaching, which the churches
that are of the true Christian religion must confess. They must do this just as the Ancient Church
always had its fixed symbols for this use. Furthermore, this should not be based on private writings, but on the kind of books that have been composed, approved, and received in the name of the
churches that pledge themselves to one doctrine
and religion. Therefore, we have declared to one
another with heart and mouth that we will not
make or receive a separate or new confession of
our faith. Instead, we will confess the public common writings, which always and everywhere were
held and used as such symbols or common confessions in all the churches of the Augsburg Confession before the disagreements arose among those
who accept the Augsburg Confession. We will confess them as long as there are on all sides, in all
articles, a unanimous adherence to ‹and maintenance and use of› the pure doctrine of the divine
Word, as the sainted Dr. Luther explained it:
“First, we receive and embrace with our
whole heart› are the prophetic and apostolic
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as
the pure, clear fountain of Israel. They are the
only true standard or norm by which all teachers and doctrines are to be judged.”
Men like Robert Preus, David P. Scaer, and
Kurt Marquart taught how the love of the Confessions led one to the love of good exegesis. In
my Confessions I class at the seminary, it was
Robert who taught me that everything in the Bible
can be found in Genesis 1-3. I had come to seminary thinking I would be a systematician, but that
launched me into the love of Biblical exegesis. The
time spent with William Weinrich simply deepened my love for Lutheran exegesis and its connection to the historic Church’s confession of the
Incarnation. Never take for granted the great gift
we have been given in the Lutheran Confessions
and their strong Christological and Sacramental
emphases.
Quotation from Paul Timothy McCain, ed., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (St. Louis, MO:
Concordia Publishing House, 2005), 507–508.
***
GJ - Frabrezius hits the nail right on the thumb. I was thinking about the basic problems in Lutherdom this week and concluded that the rubrics (the ones in red, for those who went to Ft. Wayne) are the problem -
"Without good systematic doctrine, exegesis will certainly go astray."
Jesus is the exegete of the Father -
KJV John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him (εκεινος εξηγησατο).
This double-talk from Fabrezius, before his fawning fans - who slavishly love Objective Justification - is exactly what Walther, Pieper, and the WELS cats taught. Calvin could not attack Justification by Faith directly, so the American Calvin used double predestination, removing the Gospel and faith from his "systematic doctrine."
So brain-washed are the LCMS-ELS-WELS-ELCA leaders that they limit the Scriptures to the bizarre scope of their dogma. How did so many Seminex graduates become ELCA bishops?
Luther is despised today because of his Biblical knowledge and advocacy. Confessions of faith are good only when they express Biblical truths.
The basic thesis of this little talk, so eagerly quoted by Phil Hale, should have emptied the room.
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