Professor Marquarts
Letter to Christian News
TO THE EDITOR
CHRISTIAN NEWS
Fax (573)237-3858
Sir:
It is embarrassing to have to restate the obvious. The public record is clear. I
enclose some documentation from the 1997 Pieper Lectures on church fellowship, which you
may or may not wish to print. Note Pieper's clear state went that a "congregation or
church body which abides by God's order, in which therefore God's Word is taught in its
purity and the Sacraments administered according to the divine institution, is properly
called an orthodox church (ecclesia orthodoxa, pura)" (III: 22).
Note also the "Aim and Purpose" of the former Synodical Conference, according
to its constitution (1872, during Walther's life time!): ". the consolidation of all
Lutheran synods of America into a single, faithful, devout American Lutheran Church."
If Pr. Cascione can understand and accept these two statements, our discussion is over.
If not, a private discussion among friends would be more edifying. Perhaps we need to
write less and pray more. Thank you for your patience!
K. Marquart
October 25 2000
LCMS Constitution Doesn't
Claim Divine Institution of Synod
Once again I appreciate Professor Marquart's response. In light of
Pieper's and Walther's statements (Vol. III., page 421) that the Synod is not a divine but
a human organization, I hope Professor Marquart is not suggesting that Pieper didn't agree
with himself.
However, if we want to use the term "church" in the collective sense, as a
sign of common confession and practice, the word "church" as a body of churches
is appropriate when applied to a synod. The LCMS title includes the word
"Synod." We are not called the Lutheran Church of Missouri.
The Preamble of the LCMS Constitution states: "Reason for the Forming of a
Synodical Union" 1. The example of the apostolic church. Acts 15:1-31 2. Our Lord's
will that the diversities of gifts should be for the common profit. 1 Cor. 12:4-31."
Rather than a variant reading in Acts 9:31, mistakenly suggested as an example of a
divinely instituted Synod by Professor Marquart, the LCMS appeals to the unity of
confession, practice, and sharing of gifts in Acts 15:1-31 and 1 Cor. 12:4-31 as an
example of what the Synod of congregations is trying to achieve by working together in the
LCMS.
The reality is that the Wisconsin Synod avoids the word "church" in their
title while Marquart attempts to call the Synod a divine institution.
It would be profitable for the LCMS if Fort Wayne and St. Louis would teach their
students that the Synod is exactly what is stated in its Constitution, which is only 8
pages long. Regretfully, neither Seminary appears interested in doing this. Constitutions
and synods are all of human and not divine origin. God only divinely institutes the
individual congregations.
Marquart will not agree to Voter Supremacy, but he leads us to the divine institution
of the LCMS.