In the Name of Jesus
20. Sunday after Trinity, Proper 24C
Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch and student of the Apostle John. Martyr 108
17. October 2010
O Lord Jesus Christ, who has commanded us to search the Holy Scriptures and promised that in them we have the impulse of faith and everlasting life; who alone is worthy to open and break the seven-fold seals of the Book; open now our eyes to behold the wonders of Your law. Show us the paths of righteousness, so that we continue therein unto the end. From heaven above, pour out Your Holy Spirit upon us, and from Your throne of glory send Him to be with us; to work in us so that we learn to know what is pleasing to You; to do all our work in Your Name, unto Your glory; and to fill our hearts with true faith, love, hope, humility, long-suffering, fear, and blessedness in the Lord (Löhe 37-38). Amen.
Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the 2. Epistle to Timothy where the Apostle Paul writes: As for you, Timothy, abide in what you learned and was entrusted with, having known from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and valuable for doctrine, for refutation of error, for correcting faults, and for instruction in justification, so that the man of God may be fully qualified, having been equipped for every good work. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His reign: preach the word; be insistent when the time is right or not right; show a person his error, warn, and encourage, with all patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. This is our text.
In our day and age, it is common to hear the phrase, ,,The Bible is just another religious book like other religious books“ or ,,The Bible was written by human beings“. Behind these statements are more than 130 years of historical-critical approach to the Bible, wherein the Bible is only understood as a human product that is devoid of Yahweh’s inspiration and inerrancy. This enlightened-humanist philosophy can furthermore be traced back to the early 1700s. ,,For at least 300 years the Church has been torn between the danger of an historical-enlightened understanding of Scripture and an enthusiastic-fundamentalist understanding of Scripture“ (Wenz 1).
The Apostle Paul tells Timothy who is a pastor and bishop that all Scripture is given by Yahweh. ,,In short, it is not merely a human or theological conclusion, but a direct assertion of Scripture that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are God’s own and therefore infallible Word. All who hold otherwise, all who … would not ,,identify“ the Holy Scriptures and God’s Word, lack reverent fear of God’s Word and become critics of the Word of God“ (Pieper 683).
In our 21st century, many churches and denominations have denied and rejected the words of the Apostle Paul in 2. Timothy 3,16 which declare: »All Scripture is breathed out by God and valuable for doctrine, for refutation of error, for correcting faults, and for instruction in justification.« This denial and rejection is the result when a person, a church, or a denomination lacks the fear of the Word of God. Historically, the Church has erred in two ways when rejecting the doctrine of Biblical inspiration.
Historical-enlightenedism, aka the historical-critical method, rejects Biblical inspiration and inerrancy out of hand, and furthermore denies the miracles, Christ’s virgin birth, and His resurrection. Historical-criticism was pioneered in Germany in the 19th century and is the normal methodology taught at most universities and seminaries in Europe and America. This methodology even infected the LCMS in the 1960s and 70s until it was purged from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis in 1973. Small pockets of resistance and devotees to this errant methodology still hide in dark corners of our Synod, but by and large it is a dying methodology in our midst. Nevertheless, pastors and churches must remain vigilant lest this dragon’s head rear up again and threaten the landscape of the Missouri Synod. The disease of the historical-critical methodology is its forthright denial of Christ’s vicarious sacrifice which then leads to its Biblical approach that Scripture is not inspired by the Holy Spirit and correspondingly Scripture contains errors and mistakes. The Bible, then, ceases to be the final authority and norm for Church doctrine, practice, and Christian living.
The other incorrect Biblical methodology that afflicts the Church is enthusiastic-fundamental methodology. If you watched last week’s PBS six-hour documentary ,,God in America“ then you saw many examples of this error cropping up throughout our country’s Christian experience. This methodology holds to the Christian fundamentals, such as the Divine inspiration of Holy Scripture and that the Bible does not contain any errors, but the enthusiastic nature of the approach exalts an individual’s personal thoughts and feelings above the Word of God. The proper (orthodox and catholic) approach to reading the Holy Scriptures is to let Scripture interpret Scripture (scriptura sacra sui ipsius interpres). The errant enthusiastic approach to interpretation relies more heavily on the quickening of one’s spirit to interpret the Bible. As a result you have Quakers who will sit in church for two hours and there will be no sermon unless someone feels moved to speak. Pentecostals and Charismatics will use dreams, visions, and other mystical and esoteric experiences to understand Scriptural passages, so that you get the heretical statement made by one prominent Pentecostal (Benny Hinn) that the Holy Spirit revealed to him by divine revelation that God is not Triune, but there’s really nine of them in the Godhead.
It is imperative that Holy Scripture is understood properly and interpreted rightly. The proper methodology of Holy Scripture is that the Bible does indeed distinguish itself from all other books in the world (Wenz 2). ,,This precise understanding is focused upon the person named Jesus Christ. He is not only the central content of the Scriptures, but He is their Lord, their Source, and their Interpreter. He is also Lord over the purpose and objective of the Holy Scriptures“ (Wenz 2). Thus we do not first confess that the Bible is Divinely inspired and without errors, and then believe in and confess Jesus Christ as our savior, but we first believe in and confess Jesus Christ as our savior which then leads us to correctly confess that the Bible is Divinely inspired and without errors. Jesus is the Source and Content of Holy Scripture; the Bible is all about Jesus and what He does to save and redeem His people.
Since Jesus is the subject of Holy Scripture, the Bible then has specific properties. The Holy Scriptures are authoritative (auctoritas divina). The Scriptures do what they say (efficacia divina). The Scriptures are sufficient (perfectio) and clear (perspicuitas, sive claritas) (Pieper 307). Holy Scripture possesses divine authority and is entitled to the same faith and obedience that is due Christ because Holy Scripture is God-breathed (Pieper 307). The word of the law has the inherent power to work such a knowledge of sin so that we realize our eternal damnation and despair of all self-help; the word of the gospel has the inherent power to deliver us from the fear of death and thus to make us the victor over death, to work faith in the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sin, and to change us inwardly so that we gladly subject ourselves to God’s law and will (Pieper 316). The sufficiency of Scripture is that the Bible teaches everything that we must know to obtain salvation (Pieper 317). The clarity of Scripture is that Scripture uses a language that can be understood by everyone (Pieper 320).
Thus the Apostle Paul writes that the Scriptures have specific usages. The Holy Scriptures are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, establish doctrine, refute error, correct faults, and instruct in justification, so that the people of God may be fully qualified, having been equipped for every good work (3,15-17).
The Holy Scriptures are thus preached. Yes, the Scriptures must be preached for we live in a world that rejects Christ and follows the many philosophies of this world. Yahweh has blessed our nation with the free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, and the freedom of the press. These wonderful freedoms, however, are exploited by wicked people. Charlatans, false teachers, and heretics ply their ideas from their pulpits and in their books. Pseudo-Christians and false churches thrive in America. Many unsuspecting people are deceived by their lies and are lead down the golden path that ends in hell and condemnation.
The only way to counter these wolves is to preach Christ. Christ, the enfleshed Word, acted to restore humankind through His life, death, and resurrection (Kolb 173). Scripture provides the only authoritative source for the use of God’s Word that, on the basis of Christ’s death and resurrection, delivers life and salvation to sinners in our age (Kolb 173). The crucified and risen Christ must be preached for only in Him do we have the forgiveness of our sins and only Jesus is our savior from death and the devil. Never take your eyes off of Christ and Him crucified for you, for He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life unto Paradise. Amen.
Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer, we rejoice that You hear our prayers and quickly give us justice so that we may be reassured that we are justified and righteous in our Heavenly Father’s sight. Amen.
One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!
Harrison, Matthew C. At Home in the House of My Fathers. Copyright © 2009 Matthew C. Harrison.
Kolb, Robert and Arand, Charles P. The Genius of Luther’s Theology. Copyright © 2008 Robert Kolb and Charles P. Arand.
Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.
Pieper, Francis. Christian Dogmatics, Vol. III. Copyright © 1953 Concordia Publishing House.
Wenz, Armin. ,,The Holy Scripture as foundation and means of grace for the Church of Jesus Christ, formulated for the instruction of the Lutheran Confessions“. A lecture by The Rev. Dr. Wenz presented at the Bü ndener Conference on 14. March 2009. Copyright © 2009 The Rev. Dr. Armin Wenz. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2009.
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