The Authority of Scripture
Whence and Whither
The purposes of Scripture
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Doctrine
Proclamation
Edification
Instruction in righteousness (ethics and church
practice)
The Purposes of Scripture: Doctrine
• Doctrine is a combination of Scripture and
tradition
– Messiah
– Trinity
– Divine and human natures of Jesus
• Doctrine has not been particularly a bone of
contention in the ELCA, except for
• The Doctrine of Scripture itself
– The humanity of the Scriptural authors
– The role of interpretation
The purposes of Scripture:
Proclamation
• Law and Gospel
– Useful for reproof and correction
– Norm for what we call good news
• The insufficiently explored diversity of
Scripture
– Divergent responses to Israel’s exile
– The four Gospels
Responses to Israel’s Exile
• Exile is God’s judgment. Joshua-2 Kings.
– Exile could not be averted by military alliances or
fighting to the last person.
– Exile is not the result of God’s weakness
– Exile is the result of a centuries-long pursuit of
“other gods.” We know that idolatry that fears,
loves, and trusts in something, or someone, other
than God
Responses to Israel’s exile Isaiah
40-55
• You have already received twice as much punishment
as your sins deserved
• Forget about the former things; Yahweh is about to do
something brand new
• Creation is not just a thing of the past, but a guarantee
of God’s present power and a blueprint for what he
would do with barren deserts and physically disabled
people in a new era
• A time for new obedience. And don’t be surprised if
the shape of new obedience is suffering.
Responses to Israel’s Exile
• A time for maintaining identity—Sabbath and
circumcision—articulus stantis et cadentis
ecclesiae
• Banking on the old promises—The everlasting
promises after the flood and to Sarah and
Abraham—so that they could move into the
future
• Practicing the presence of God around
tabernacle/temple and the sacrificial system
The Diversity of the Gospels: Mark
• Jesus did not die [in Mark’s Gospel] so that
sins might be forgiven; rather the courage of
Jesus to live for others in the face of execution
liberates others from the grip of selfpreservation in order that they too might live
for others, thereby creating humane
communities of mutual service.
The diversity of the gospels: Luke
• Out of compassion for those who suffer, God
has sent Jesus to champion the poor, heal the
sick, and accept the outcasts. 19:10
• The immoral way for a nation is to have great
inequities in the society—an unequal
distribution of wealth, a lack of justice, power
in the hands of a small group who benefit
themselves, and a great gulf between the
haves and the have-nots.
The diversity of the Gospels--Luke
• In the Magnificat, the prophecy about what
God will do through Jesus is stated in the past
tense, as if the results were as good as done.
By sending Jesus, God has brought down the
powerful from their thrones and lifted up the
lowly. God has filled the hungry with good
things and sent the rich away empty.
The diversity of the Gospels--Luke
• In Luke, forgiveness is not connected to the
death of Jesus. Jesus does not die for the
forgiveness of sins or as a ransom for others.
Jesus’ rejection and death are the
consequence of his prophetic ministry against
oppressors and on behalf of the oppressed.
Repentance and forgiveness are major themes
of Jesus’ whole ministry apart from any
connection with his death.
The purposes of Scripture: Edification
• We are unanimous in affirming Bible study as
a good thing
• We are unanimous in admitting that we
Lutherans are not doing a very good job of this
• Hence
– The Bible Book of Faith Initiative
– Pastoral and congregational efforts to increase
personal and corporate study of Scripture
The purposes of Scripture: Instruction
in righteousness
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Matthew 25
God’s preferential option for the poor
Humans as created in the image of God
Identification of “big sins” in our sermons or ministry
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Racism, sexism
Waste of natural resources and pollution of the environment
Violence and militarism
Neglect of the poor; poverty, and hunger/starvation
The fractures in interpersonal relationships (marriage, congregational
life, society and politics)
– Not loving God (all sins are finally sins against the first commandment)
– Not loving the neighbor (most sins against God are also sins against
the neighbor)
Division about Scriptural instruction in
righteousness in the ELCA
• Sexuality and in particular homosexuality
1. What does Scripture say?
2. How normative are those words today?
3. How church divisive are different answers to the first two
questions?
• Implications of the Bible and the gospel for our
ecumenical actions
1. Do compromises to effect ecumenical changes (e.g. on
apostolic succession) contradict the authority of
Scripture or the Lutheran Confessions?
2. How church divisive are different answers to this
question?
Scriptural authority: Whence?
• God’s word in human words
• Basis of Scripture’s authority: Its central,
saving message
Scriptural authority: Whither?
• The present and the future
• Crisis and/or opportunity?
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Secularization of society
Biblical illiteracy
Biblical fundamentalism
Examples in the Bible of adaptability and change
Consistent themes—grace (need for and abundance
of), faith, responsibility, community
– How we speak authoritatively about the Christian
gospel to those who have never heard it—or who
have misheard it?