Woman Lobbies LCMS Commission About Removing 'Men' From Creed

By: Rev. Jack Cascione

Tammy Haga writes:

"I decided to call SP Kieschnick to see what he thought about the possibility of the word 'men' being taken out of the Nicene Creed.  I was informed that President Kieschnick will be either in meetings or traveling for the next several months and that getting a hold of him may be quite difficult.  I was then told that I could speak to his assistant. However, I was only able to leave a message since he also was busy.

Later that day I received a call from President Kieschnick's assistant who did not want to answer the question about the proposed change in Nicene Creed.  Kieschnick's assistant directed me to call the Commission on Worship.

While I was unable to get a hold of any of the leaders in the Commission on Worship, I was told by the secretary that the suggestion was brought up to omit the word 'men' from the Creed.  Recently however, they have been receiving a lot of phone calls rebuking this suggestion.  Because of this, the office of the Commission on Worship feels that the suggestion will not pass.  The meeting for the final decision will be held in two more weeks and will be posted on their website.

It seems calling does help matters.  Everyone should call them with their concerns about this issue.  If we don't speak up, I fear that their tampering with the Creed will go through.  Since this has not been voted on as yet, I would encourage people to call the Commission on Worship at 1-800-248-1930 and register their opinion"

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Reclaim News Writes:

Changing the Nicene Creed from, "who for us men" into "who for us," introduces the acceptance of feminist theology and logic into our worship our understanding of who God came to save.  This must inevitably change the identity of Who came to save us.

Once we accept the premise that feminist theology is valid there is no way to argue against all its conclusions.  Either the entire Bible is the Word of God or it is not.  Either Jesus is true man and true God or He is not. Either all men fell because of Adam or they did not.

God did not say that Eve was the final cause of the fall, but that Adam was the final cause of damnation, even though Eve was also guilty.  Adam was ultimately responsible.  God does not hold Adam and Eve equally responsible because Adam, the man, is a higher human authority and has a higher responsibility before God than does Eve, the woman.  The Bible does not teach equality between men and women regarding their responsibility before God.

Romans 5:12 states: "Wherefore, as by one MAN sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all MEN, for that all have sinned."

The Bible teaches that all men fell because of Adam.  Adam brings the human race to the grave, not Eve, even though Eve also sinned.  If only Eve had sinned Adam had more ribs.

The first virgin birth was Eve born from Adam, hence in English it says "woman" or from the womb of man.  The great chiasm or reversal is that Eve came from a man; therefore Christ must come from a woman by virgin birth. The Bible leads us from Adam to Eve and then from Mary to Christ.  Christ is the new Adam.

As Adam was overcome by the devil with fruit from a live tree, so Christ overcomes the devil with his sacrifice on a dead tree.  Christ had to be not just human, but also a man.

The suggestion that the Nicene Creed can be changed because gender does not matter means that Christ's and Adam's gender are not significant.  All people are descendants of Adam, as was Eve.  Adam was set up by God as the earthly father-creator to be a reflection of God the heavenly Father-Creator.

The male gender is maintained in Roman's 5:12 in order to demonstrate the total salvation achieved by Christ.  The phrase, "who for us men" must be maintained in order to confess God's order of creation and salvation.  The Christian religion must not be brought down to the level of a pagan, female fertility cult.

Without the male gender, Roman's 5:12 would read: "Wherefore, as by one person (man) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all people (men), for that all have sinned."

Yes, all people sin but men bear the greater responsibility because Adam was created first.  Jesus is true man, not just true person!  "Who for us men" ultimately signifies all people, but also maintains the more complete explanation that the sin committed by the one male has been removed from all the males and consequently all people.  By one man came sin and by one Man came salvation.

The relationship before God between Adam and Eve is to be maintained between husbands and wives until the end of time.

November 19, 2002