` A Little Loehe for Lutherans

A Little Loehe for Lutherans



"His Word and the Word of his apostles is clear and understandable to all. This is the most important point in the doctrine of the church. Everything I have said in this little book is nothing at all if the apostolic Word, the Scripture, is not clear. Right here is the great danger. If we win on this, we have won; if we lose on this, all is lost. It will not just be lost for this or that denomination but for the whole Christian community on earth. If the Scriptures cannot be the uniting force of the church, then there is nothing to unite it since everything else without the backing of the Scriptures is empty and vain." [Three Books About the Church, p.65]

"God be praised, it is the chief parts of the truth which are preserved in otherwise corrupted churches. In so many places the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, baptism, absolution, the Lord's Supper, and many precious passages of the Holy Scriptures are to be found that there is always a possibility that a man may come to repentance and saving faith. The Spirit of the Lord is all-powerful, so how can it be impossible for him to achieve the goal He desires through the Commandments, the Creed, other uncorrupted portions of God's Word, the baptismal blessing, and the hearing of the Lord's Prayer? It is difficult to find the way to life through the clouds of strange doctrine in some communions, but it is still possible, and at the last day there will be many examples of this from the history of the nations." [Three Books About the Church, p.95]

"Let us remember at the very outset that entire churches would not have been founded as a result of slight differences. It is true that men frequently dispute over trifles, but in religious matters there are no trifles, and where religious distinctions and divisions are concerned men are not in the habit of being frivolous. To be sure, in England and North America there are some sects which are distinguished by trifles, but they are ephemeral. They come and go, and often they know no truth except that which distinguishes them from others. We are not speaking about them. We are discussing the larger communions -- e.g., the Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, the Reformed, the Lutherans, etc. These things that divide them are by no means trifles, and the articles about which they dispute and for which they contend are truly worth fighting for. To want to disregard these differences is the beginning of gross ignorance or indolence or an arrogance which deifies one's own ego." [Three Books About the Church, p.101,102]

"The name 'Lutheran,' however, pertains to the content of the teaching itself and was applied to our denomination [confession] by its enemies because in their vain arrogance they claimed the names 'Christian,' 'catholic,' and 'apostolic' for themselves and on account of their egotism could not apply them to others." [Three Books About the Church, p.112]

"We know what our opponents always say. They say, 'When were you united? You have always argued; since when have you begun to praise the one church again? It is not very long that you have been talking this way and it is not been very long since you forsook your own confession and were not at all the church that you now boast of being.' There is nothing in our opponents' mockery which frightens us. We have enough courage to tell the whole truth---the courage to repent---and in this courage is a new life whose winnowing fork they should fear. It is true that our fathers argued. In the bright light of our church they saw tiny rough spots in the road, flecks of dust in the air; this is what they argued about. But our fathers did the fighting for us, and now there is concord." [Three Books About the Church, p.113,114]

"Truth is not always surrounded by an equal number of confessors. The number is an adiaphoron, an accident which has nothing to do with the substance. We must never ask how many confessors there are but what they confess. Word, confession, doctrine--that is all; everything else changes. If only the church is apostolic, it will then be large enough, no matter what its fixed membership. The word 'catholic' cannot be defined in terms of any fixed number but is properly explained by the doctrine of the universal grace of God which wants to see true doctrine and the true church spread as widely as possible, and they would be widely spread if it were not for the opposition from men's wickedness. It is the Lord's unalterable decree that nothing can prevail against his grace except for the wicked heart of man." [Three Books About the Church, pp.123,124]

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This page was created on 02/28/2007 and last edited on: 02/28/2007
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