The graphic above includes one of the greatest statements in the Book of Concord, but I also like what Chemnitz said in Examination of the Council of Trent. In ancient days, the men discussing doctrinal issues put aside all confessions to return to the truth of the Scriptures alone. A muddy stream is purest at its origin, so they relied on the Scriptures alone and paraded the Gospels before the discussions to emphasize this method.
J-019
"If anything is said without Scripture, the thinking of the hearers limps. But where the testimony proceeds from the divinely given Scripture, it confirms both the speech of the preacher and the soul of the hearer." [Chrysostom, commenting on Psalm 95] ~Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, trans., Fred Kramer, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971, I, p. 156.
J-020
"Whatever is required for salvation is already completely fulfilled in the Scriptures." [Chrysostom, commenting on Matthew 22]
~Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, trans., Fred Kramer, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971, I, p. 157.
J-021
"There is a short way for pious minds both to dethrone error and to find and bring out the truth. For when we return to the source and origin of the divine tradition, human error ceases." [Cyprian, Ad Pompejum] ~Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, trans., Fred Kramer, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971, I, p. 158.
J-022
"He speaks with us in this way, that we may understand his speech." [Ambrose, Book 3, Letter 5] ~Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, trans., Fred Kramer, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971, I, p. 167.
J-023
"God wanted this same word to be complete and brief, and not obscure: brief, lest men should not have time to read it; clear, lest someone might say: I could not understand it." [Augustine] ~Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, trans., Fred Kramer, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971, I, p. 167.
J-024
"In Contra Faustum, Book 13, chapter 5, we read that although the Manichaeans did not accept the Scripture, they maintained that they believed the report concerning Christ. Augustine replies: 'If you believe the report about Christ, see whether this is a proper witness; consider what disaster you are headed for. You reject the Scriptures which are confirmed and commended by such great authority; you perform no miracles, and if you performed any, we would shun even those in your case according to the Lord's instruction, Mt. 24:24.' He wanted absolutely nothing to be believed against the confirmed authority of the Scriptures, etc." ~Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, trans., Fred Kramer, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971, I, p. 172. Matthew 24:24.
J-025
"However, it had slipped my mind that the faith of the papalists stands outside of and beyond the Scripture; therefore they are able to teach without a translation of Scripture into vernacular languages." ~Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, trans., Fred Kramer, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971, I, p. 200.
J-026
"Beautiful is the statement of Cyprian, which Augustine declares to be the best without any doubt, showing what ought to be done when examples and customs are held up to us which do not have the authority of the canonical Scripture. 'If,' says he, 'we return to the head and origin of the divine tradition, human error will cease. For if the channel of water, which before flowed copiously and purely, either fails or brings muddy water, then certainly one goes to the source in order to find out whether there is something wrong in the veins or in the source, or whether something got in midway.' So also it is rightly, necessarily, and indeed safely done when things that happened in later times in matters of religion must be examined." ~Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, trans., Fred Kramer, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1986, III, p. 237.
J-027
"Don't let the world paint us into a corner of antiquarianism on subjects like a six-day creation or verbal inspiration." ~Rev. Paul Calvin Kelm, WELS, "How to Make Sound Doctrine Sound Good to Mission Prospects," p. 13.
That is why I wrote The Path To Understanding Justification as a Scripture book. That is also why I am teaching the Gospel of John in Greek...again.
Unfortunately, Walther did not have much of an education. He came from a rationalistic parsonage and was good enough in repeating their ideas to be certified as a pastor by the rationalistic church structure of his region. His buddies in Pietism were denied ordination and had to serve as children's tutors.
Walther relied on dogmatic statements because of his weakness in the Biblical languages, the equivalent of Ft. Wayne today, where the Biblical languages were not required for entry and treated lightly for graduates.
