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| The LCMS has a faction that really hates Loehe, but he did not lead or serve as enforcer for a sex cult. Walther made a point of breaking with him. |
“ Your Word is the right doctrine, ” the holy singer prays
(Psalm 93:5 Luther). And what pastor should not rejoice, having this right
teaching, and finding in it a powerful means for his office? Being happy because
of this possession, we still want to go a little farther, looking at what the
holy singer says here. “God’s Word is the right doctrine.” This verse from the
psalm, on the one hand puts God’s Word on the same level with other teachings;
but it also lifts it above all others by saying: “It is the right teaching.”
Other teachings are not equal to it, not according to content (nobody denies
this!), yet neither according to power , with which it turns the hearts of men.
True, the Word of the Lord also appeals to the natural powers of man, to his
natural ability of knowing. It also takes for granted the powers of the natural
will, which tries to accomplish what reason has recognized as being right. That
means it enters a person in the same way as any other human thought. And through
the power of its arguments it works a human conviction in the human heart, just
like any human thought. Nevertheless it is no mere human thought and it works in
more than a human way. Nor is it a mere human conviction, but it brings with it
a power that can put down the resistance of natural reason, or un-reason, and it
can bestow on the Word an emphasis that enables it to grant a conviction capable
of overcoming any resistance or doubt. It is called
faith.
The Pastor, book 2, in the section titled, Shepherds and Teachers.
