 |
| Luther and Melanchthon - by Lucas Cranach II |
The publication of Stump's Life of Melanchthon prompted me to look for graphics of them together. I understand there is a stained glass window of them together.
I do not think this generation is interested enough in history to care, but the old Synodical Conference seemed to be especially hard on Melanchthon. One example is the Historical Introductions to the Concordia Triglotta, published by the LCMS.
Although the Introductions contain a lot of good information, the slant against Melanchthon strikes me as odious. Read in the light of the UOJ capture of the Missouri Synod, the attitude makes sense. Melanchthon's essay on Justification by Faith - aka the Apology article on Justification - is a model of Biblical clarity.
 |
| Apostates love UOJ - just ask the current Synod Presidents - including Liz Eaton of ELCA. |
WELS Essay File: In 60+ gaseous essays on Justification - including Webber's assault on the Gospel - did anyone even mention Melanchthon's work? No. If you can find a single mention, let me know and I will post it with a groveling mea maxima culpa, provided the author clearly agreed with Melanchthon (quia subscription and all that).
 |
| Melanchthon, Luther, and the Concord editors,including Chemnitz - but not Stephan, Walther, or Pieper. |
Webber the Clueless mentioned Luther's Galatians Lectures,but left that alone, as if it were a test sample of Ebola Zaire.
So the problem today is not only a non-historical view of Biblical doctrine - ignoring the Lutheran Reformation - but over a century of kissing up to Stephan-Walther's UOJ. The LCMS-ELS-WELS fanatics have conveniently forgotten anyone in their midst who taught Justification by Faith.
Walther cleverly dismissed all his Lutheran counterparts in the US - especially the Muhlenberg tradition - so the insular LCMS-WELS-ELS partners could bypass any clear teaching about Justification by Faith. Walther came over as a co-conspirator with a bully and sex-offender, his bishop Martin Stephan. They were all Pietists - that was the glue that kept the Stephanite fanatics together - but Walther pretended they were the pure ones, the rest were false teachers.
 |
| Sally - "Oh, you have a special spatula. What does it mean?" Gretchen - "Yes, dear neighbor. Whenever I make eggs or a home-made cake, I think of how Luther taught the whole world was forgiven - without faith." Sally - "You are Missouri, and I am ELCA, yet we agree about God absolving and saving the entire world." Gretchen - "Yes, dear neighbor. And we both adore Mark Jeske. He is one of ours." Sally - "I thought he was ELCA." Gretchen - "No, I'm pretty sure... Oh what does it matter, dear neighbor, we believe and teach the same thing. And we support Planned Parenthood with our Thrivent dollars." Sally - "Is that from Concordia Publishing House?" |
Unionism with Halle University was the rage for all the Lutherans at that time. That mistake yielded the rationalism that engulfed:
- The LCMS.
- The various parts of the Wisconsin sect.
- The noble but phony outrage of the ELS walk-out.
- The furtive eruptions of Pentecostalism.
- The various parts of the ELCA.
Do you remember one of Jeske's ELCA women pastors saying she was already tired of the Reformation's 500th? I vividly recall that sneer, and she might as well have been the synod president of the LCMS, WELS, or ELS.
As I was about to say at the beginning - knowing about Melanchthon and reading his work in the Book of Concord are twin antidotes to the poison being administered to the LCMS-ELS-WELS today. At first the victim is passive, then numb, then almost beyond hope.
 |
| "We are almost there! Amazing Grace!" |
