05.04.2013 Views

The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

general. Now the bread (as bread) is not the body of Christ (as body).<br />

Bread <strong>and</strong> body are heterogeneous ideas, which can no more be united in<br />

one than the propositions: Wood is iron, Hegel is Napoleon, <strong>and</strong> such like.<br />

So soon as a proposition cannot be taken literally, as, for example, in the<br />

one just given, 'Hegel is Napoleon,' the figurative exposition is in place--<br />

Hegel is a Napoleon in the sphere of science.<br />

"So, also, in the SECOND place, it is beyond dispute that the<br />

proposition, This is My body, may be figurative (metaphorical). <strong>The</strong><br />

Scripture contains innumerable figurative propositions. From the copula<br />

'is' it is alike impossible to demonstrate the figurative or the literal<br />

character of the proposition. <strong>The</strong> copula allows of no change of meaning.<br />

Those who say that 'is' is equivalent to 'signify' mean to say that either the<br />

subject or the predicate of a proposition is to be taken figuratively.<br />

"THIRDLY, as to the words of the Institution as they sound, it may<br />

be affirmed, without contradiction, that in them the body of Christ is<br />

regarded as a body which is to be delivered to death. Though the body of<br />

the risen Saviour bore on it the marks of the crucifixion (John xx.), <strong>and</strong><br />

men shall recognize Him at His second coming as Him whom they<br />

pierced (Rev. i. 7), from which it follows that the slain body <strong>and</strong> the<br />

glorified body are identical, yet the words of the Institution contemplate the<br />

body, not as glorified, but as put to death. That the blood which was to be<br />

shed, that is, literally, the blood of Jesus, which in His death left His body,<br />

has to be understood of the death of Christ, is shown by the proposition as<br />

Paul <strong>and</strong> Luke have it: This cup is the New Testament in My blood. <strong>The</strong><br />

blood which has mediated a new covenant is that which was shed upon the<br />

cross, to wit, is the sacrificial death of Christ. If, then, these propositions<br />

st<strong>and</strong>, we have a sure basis for exposition. <strong>The</strong> Lutheran Church has the<br />

indisputable fundamental principle of hermeneutics, that the literal<br />

exposition has the first claim, if the literal sense be at all tenable--a<br />

principle of special force in this case, in which the words are of such great<br />

importance--words which were given of the Lord to Paul by special<br />

revelation. 1 Cor. xi. 25. (See Kahnis, Lehre v. Abendm. 14 seq.) But this<br />

is only possible when in the

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!