Essays (Page 2)

Are the Lutheran Confessions a Practical Document Today? DAVID JAY WEBBER I.  Are the Lutheran Confessions a practical document today? This is the question that has been posed for the purposes of this paper, and this is the question that we will seek to answer. However, before we reach any conclusions about whether or not the Confessions are “practical,” we must first be clear on the question of what the Confessions are.  First, the Lutheran Confessions are sound Biblical exegesis.…

Church and State, Congregation and Synod With Special Reference to the Church Polity of the Lutheran Church in the Netherlands in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries DAVID JAY WEBBER Basic Principles The authority of civil government has its origin in God and in God’s will for the temporal welfare of the human race. Therefore we should honor the State as an institution of God for the regulation of the outward affairs of men, that we may lead quiet and peaceable…

One Ministry in Two Senses: The Lutheran Doctrine of the Public Ministry of the Gospel I. In the Formula of Concord, the Lutherans of the sixteenth century acknowledged and confessed that in his immeasurable goodness and mercy God provides for the public proclamation of his divine, eternal law and of the wondrous counsel of our redemption, the holy gospel of his eternal Son, our only Savior Jesus Christ, which alone can save. By means of this proclamation he gathers an…

krauthchemnitz

Is it Proper for a Woman to be Called to Administer the Lord’s Supper to Other Women? In conservative Lutheran circles where women “pastors” in the usual sense are not allowed, it has recently been proposed by more than one individual that it would be proper for a woman to be called by the church to administer the Lord’s Supper to other women. While recognizing that such an arrangement might in some cases be a stumbling block to the weak,…