The Very Gospel of Christ is at Stake

After unanimous recommendation by its Commission for Theology, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany (EKD) has formally rejected the Augsburg Confession of 1530 as among its fundamental documents. There was a time when merely the idea of such a thing would have made Lutherans weep.

In an official statement published this past Fall, the EKD (Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland) jettisoned the keystone document of Lutheranism as no longer a primary confession. Such surrender, although a scandalous demonstration of what happens when a church abandons God's Word, should be no surprise. Many claiming the name Lutheran in America are also rapidly abandoning Scripture as the sole rule and norm of doctrine and practice.

Such neglect of the Bible leads swiftly to a disregard of the very substance of the Gospel of Christ and the doctrine of justification through faith by which the church stands or falls. At stake in our generation is not how we look to the world (relevant, sharp, inclusive, or booming) but whether we are the church holding only to the truth of Christ.

Are we to believe the Reformation has nothing to teach our “enlightened” progressive age? Apparently, the confessional documents which generations of Lutherans have cherished with uncompromisingly loyalty are disposable. Many of us are descendents of those who left their homeland in large part to preserve fiercely the pure Lutheran faith for their children. No wonder churches in Germany are empty.

The Augsburg Confession’s solid, faithful exposition of the Christian faith is as robust and wonderful today as it has ever been. It stands absolutely in contrast to the paper thin, makeshift nonsense being passed off today as the voice of Christ in so many places. Frivolous practices introduced into churches today have preachers trying to be perky and chummy instead humble heralds of God's Word. How is this not related to the devaluation of Scripture and the Confessions?

Can anyone imagine Luther clowning around in the pulpit or prancing around in the house of God? Can anyone imagine Bach’s music inspired by anything less than the glory of the Gospel? Can anyone envisage C.F.W. Walther or any of our Lutheran forefathers tolerating doctrinally questionable, insipidly shallow and repetitive ditties in worship when great hymns with theological meat on their bones are available?

Can the Augsburg Confession actually now be merely an insignificant hand-me-down, inadequate and maybe even detrimental to modern thought? Is the church of the Augsburg Confession to be a pipsqueak where one can be a Lutheran without the source and substance of Christ?

Nothing could be further from the truth. The core doctrine of justification by grace through faith in the incarnate, crucified, and risen Christ according to Holy Scripture stands against all alien opinions, canons, and judgments of men. To be Lutheran is inseparable from Holy Scripture and the Confessions. To be Lutheran is to rest in the mercy of God who delivered His only-begotten Son to a cross that we might live thereby. To be Lutheran is to cling to the theology of the cross, to confess our sins and receive the undeserved mercy and compassion of the only God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Let us be unashamedly Lutheran. Why? Because our worship is centered in the Word and Sacraments, not in cultural niceties or clever style. Let us be uncompromisingly Lutheran. Why? Because our catechesis is Christ-centered. Our practice is evangelical, and our liturgy is profoundly biblical. We are neither conventional nor contemporary. Why? Because our life doesn’t flow from old routines or the latest novelties. Our life is Christ. Our preaching is Christ. Our worship is Christ’s service to us -- never centered is us but expounding God's grace and delivering His gifts.

If the distinctive truth and good news of Jesus Christ, the very heart and soul of Christianity is compromised or dismissed in favor of moral relativism or ecclesiastical innovation, the church will soon be stone dead.

This could happen to The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod if we yield doctrinal ground and Lutheran practice. If we flatter Scripture but never read it, what is that but blatant condescension? We could hardly call ourselves Christian let alone Lutheran if subscription to the Confessions is only so much talk without conviction. If allegiance to the Gospel is limited to an occasional acquaintance with a back pew divorced from daily life, then repent and come again to the place of honor God has given you in His throne-room.

Take a Bible in hand with the creeds, catechism, and confessions and never let go. Why? Because from the Holy Scriptures you receive life and light in Christ. You find there the source of what the true church of God believes, teaches, and confesses. And what is this? It is precious good news! Good news of Christ.

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