Former President of the LCMS, Dr. Ralph Bolhmann has placed his objection to President
A. L. Barry's criticism of the agreement on Justification between the Roman Catholic
Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in a number of American newspapers.
There are a number of discrepancies in Bohlmann's objection to Barry's news release.
- The 1998 LCMS Convention adopted Resolution 3-8A "To Express Deep Regret and
Profound Disagreement with ELCA Actions." In regard to the ELCA's agreement on
justification with the ELCA 3-8A states in part: "...also its [ELCA's] adoption of
'The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification ' which claims a common
understanding between Lutherans and Roman Catholics on the sinner's justification by God's
grace through faith in Christ in spite of continuing lack of agreement between them on
critically important aspects of the doctrine of justification-have significant
implications for all Lutherans and other Christians in the United States and around the
world;.." Yet Bohlmann writes, "As the immediate past president of that church
body, I want to assure readers that the ad does not present the official position of the
church body on that agreement,.."
- Bohlmann claims the ad represents the personal opinion of the current President.
However, he ignores the fact that part of the duties of the Office of President according
to the LCMS Handbook XI.4 state that, "THE PRESIDENT SHALL SEE TO IT THAT THE
RESOLUTIONS OF THE SYNOD ARE CARRIED OUT." Barry has only brought the official
position of the LCMS Convention on the Joint Declaration to the attention of the general
public. Many LCMS Lutherans were not aware of their church body's position on this issue
due to confusion in the media. The media presents the agreement as representing all
Lutheran and Catholics.
- Bohlmann claims that Barry is only speaking for himself. Then who is Bohlmann speaking
for when he writes, "To all who may have been offended by this ad, I offer this
unofficial but very profound apology."?
- Bohlmann feels compelled to oppose Barry in public and then writes people don't like
Barry's ad because: "ads in the public media are not a helpful way for church bodies
to deal with their differences." Bohlmann has only shown that disagreements in the
Synod on the doctrine of justification extend from the congregations to the Office of the
Synodical President.
- Bohlmann says we should rejoice when other Christians come to agreement, yet the
agreement between the ELCA and Rome is an agreement without the Words of Christ.
The laity is witnessing a public disagreement between the current and past presidents
of the LCMS on the Synod's most central teaching, the doctrine of justification, how God
saves sinners through faith alone in the work of Christ.
The Convention's response to the public humiliation Bohlmann has brought to the LCMS
will most certainly be a standing ovation for President A. L. Barry in July of the 2001
Convention for his courageous confession of the doctrine of justification. One wonders if
Bohlmann called up Barry and asked him how he could help Barry get reelected in 2001.
Letter to the Editor,
St. Louis Post Dispatch from Dr. Ralph Bohlmann
Lutheran ad was a personal opinion.
A large ad in the Dec. 9 Post Dispatch and other major newspapers criticizing the
international Lutheran-Roman Catholic agreement on the doctrine of justification appeared
to speak for the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
As the immediate past president of that church body, I want to assure readers that the
ad does not present the official position of the church body on that agreement, nor was
its content or placement authorized or approved by any official board, commission,
council, agency or convention of the church body. In reality, the ad represents the
personal opinion of the current president, and it was paid for by a private contribution,
not church body funds.
I know of no one in our church body who would disagree with the ad's statement on the
Gospel of Jesus Christ or its promise to work toward reconciliation among Christians.
However, the fact is that thousand of members and congregations of the Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod are chagrined by the ad, not only because of its misleading
statements about the joint agreement as well as the position of the Roman Catholic Church,
but also because the ads in the public media are not a helpful way for church bodies to
deal with their differences.
To all who may have been offended by this ad, I offer this unofficial but very profound
apology and assure you that the vast majority of the 2.6 million members of our church
body continue to regard all fellow Christians with friendship and good will, and to
rejoice whenever there is progress in resolving the doctrinal differences that have
divided us over the years.
Dr. Ralph A. Bohlmann
President Emeritus
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Kirkwood
LCMS PLACES NEWSPAPER STATEMENT ABOUT 'JOINT DECLARATION'
The following release was issued today by the
Office of the President of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Dr. A.L. Barry:
A statement from The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod appears (as a full page) in
today's issue of USA Today, the nation's largest daily newspaper.
The statement will appear tomorrow in 15 major metropolitan daily newspapers in Chicago
(two newspapers), Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Detroit, Houston,
Indianapolis, Kansas City, Saint Louis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Toledo.
The statement seeks to offer clarification and provide correct information about the
recent signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.
The text of the newspaper statement follows this message. A typeset version of the
statement, suitable for use in parish newsletters, will be posted to the LCMS President's
Office Web site on Thursday afternoon. Notice will be sent about the availability of this
item on Thursday.
The statement is being mailed to each LCMS congregation, with a letter from the Synod's
President, Dr. A. L. Barry, in which he encourages every LCMS congregation to distribute
the statement to its own members and then consider placing the statement in their local
newspapers.
Those who wish to have a detailed, theological analysis of the Joint Declaration on the
Doctrine of Justification may download analyses of the document prepared by the faculties
of both of the LCMS' seminaries. That document is available at:
http://www.lcms.org/ctcr/docs/pdf/justclp.pdf
The text of the statement follows:
TOWARD TRUE RECONCILIATION
A Comment on Lutheran-Roman Catholic Relations.
You may have heard that a declaration was signed that claims to resolve a key
difference between the Lutheran Church and the Roman Catholic Church. What you may not
have heard is that more than 45 percent of the Lutheran church-bodies in the world did not
support the declaration.
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is the oldest and second-largest Lutheran
church-body in the United States. We would like to explain why we could not support the
declaration.
We rejoice that we have much in common with our fellow Christians in the Roman Catholic
Church. Because of what we have in common, we are committed to working toward true
reconciliation of our important differences. We could not support the declaration because
it does not actually reconcile the difference between us concerning the most important
truth of Christianity.
What is that truth? God loved the world so much that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to
live a perfect life in our place and to die for our sins. God declares us to be totally
righteous and completely forgiven because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. God gives us eternal life as a free gift through trust in Christ alone.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that something more than trust in Christ is necessary
for us to be saved. It teaches that we are able to merit, through our works, eternal life
for ourselves and others. We believe this teaching obscures the work of Jesus Christ and
clouds the central message of the Bible.
Therefore, despite what has been reported in the public media about the Lutheran-Roman
Catholic declaration, very significant differences remain in regard to how we understand
salvation, a fact that the Roman Catholic Church acknowledges.
We pray for genuine reconciliation of differences among Christians. Our church is
intent on working for the day when the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed with one
voice. We will continue to work toward true reconciliation.