The following is an excerpt from Lehre und Wehre XXVI translated by the sainted Erwin Koehlinger. Bolded letters added for editorial emphasis by yours truly. We invite you, dear reader, to compare the sainted Dr. Stoeckhardt’s statements with those following regarding modern teaching found in the Occupied Missouri Synod.
“Our Confession, the Formula of Concord, points explicitly to Scripture as being the norm in matters of faith and doctrine. We read in the introduction:
We receive and embrace the Prophetic and Apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the pure, clear fountain of Israel, which is the only true standard by which all teachers and doctrines are to be judged (FC SD Rule and Norm 3).
If we wish to be clear and sure, acquire divine certainty with regard to the doctrine of predestination, we must step into and draw from this fountain of Israel. We must above all search Holy Scripture regarding this doctrine. In this article Scripture decides what is true doctrine and what is false. And the doctrine of predestination is doctrine revealed in Scripture. Here too we are dealing with God’s Word and revelation. The passages cited, which we shall consider in the discussion of the individual theses, have been considered and treated as the proof-passages for the doctrine of predestination. Therefore, it is not true if one says that in this article he can think and teach this or that without doing harm. Here, too, God’s holy truth is at stake. The doctrine of predestination is before other articles of the Christian faith a mystery which we shall never be able to fathom. Nevertheless, the generally accepted rule of old Lutheran teachers applies also to this mystery: “It is possible to explain inexplicable things in clear and intelligible words.” Although unspeakably profound Holy Scripture is, nevertheless, clear and intelligible. It reveals to us inexplicable divine mysteries in understandable, clear language. The doctrine of predestination is also presented to us in Scripture in clear, unmistakable words. Scripture gives us the “what” even though it is silent about the “how” and “why.” Wouldn’t it be terrible were we of a mind to throw away the “what” because we are unable to understand the “how” and “why”? We hold fast to the “what” and believe it even though we are unable to make any sense out of it. The Bible is a bright sun. Except that it does not open up to us the depths that exist in God in such a way that we need expect no new disclosures in eternal life. So it is not right for one to say that, since the doctrine of predestination is so full of mystery, various interpretations are still tolerable. What concerns the substance of this doctrine is clearly revealed.”
Note the childlike faith so simply yet brilliantly shining forth in Stoeckhardt’s writing. And yet Occupied Missouri is burdened – populated – with the following captives of reason:
A member of the very Commision on Theology and Church Relations, in the sclerotic heart of Synod Herself, is not simply in violation of point V of the 1932 Brief Statement—no, more than a mere dismissal of some Synodical declaration from a bygone era, we are more importantly being told that the CTCR is happy to throw away the “what” of Scripture simply because it does not know its “why” or “how.” No longer does the Formula of Concord Solid Declaration Rule and Norm 3 apply, for these new teachings of today’s Young Lutherans in Occupied Missouri deny the very purity, the very clarity of the fountain of Israel by denying Scripture’s perspicuity on matters such as Young Earth Creationism. No, rather, they let their Reason get the better of them.
Stoeckhardt weeps.