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Show Pastor says, 'Judge by the Word of God' By REV. ERIC V. KAELBERER Pastor of Cross of Christ Lutheran Church i For many weeks I have been saying that we need to judge everything every-thing we do by the Word of God (Old and New Testaments). Over the past two weeks I have detailed some of the evidence for the truthfulness truth-fulness of the Old and New Testament Testa-ment scriptures. This week I would like to express ex-press the teachings of the Lutheran Church regarding the Holy Scriptures. Scrip-tures. Below is what we believe, teach, and confess as our official doctrine: "We believe, teach, and confess that the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments Testa-ments are the only rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be appraised and judged, as it is written writ-ten in Psalm 119:105, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path." and St. Paul says in Galatians 1:8, "Even if an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. (Formula of Concord, Tappert, page 464) This statement continues with our teaching about all other writings writ-ings and says: "Other writings of ancient and modern teachers, whatever their names, should not be put on a par with holy scripture. Every single one of them should be subordinated to the scriptures and should be received in no other way and no further than as a witness to the fashion in which the doctrines of the prophets and apostles was preserved in post-apostolic times." (FC, Tappert, p. 464-465) It should be noted that this document docu-ment was penned in 1577 and rati fied by the Lutherans in 1580. It has stood since then, unchanged and still subscribed to diligently. I should also point out that even the Lutheran Doctrinal writings fall into the category of "other writings of ancient and modern teachers" as described in the second paragraph. para-graph. This is the basis in our doctrinal writings for the stance we take on the place of Holy Scripture. Next week we will examine scripture on scripture. Until then, may the God of the Bible bless you as you search His Word. Amen. |