Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays

The Free Conferences then became less about the particular doctrines of
conversion and election that had separated the Ohio and Iowa Synods from the Synodical
Conference and more about what was and what was not the proper understanding of the
analogy of faith hermeneutical principle. One particular sticking point was the “proof
passage” for the analogy of faith hermeneutic supposedly found in Romans 12:6.
What bothered J.P. Koehler is that the entire discussion seemed to neglect a
proper exegesis of the assumed sedes of the analogy of faith, Romans 12:6. Therefore, in
the first volume of the Quartalschrift, he deals with this exegetical point. In the final
analysis, Koehler stated that there are exegetically no grounds for the translation of
Romans 12:6 as “the analogy of faith.” Since such is the case, and since much of the
argument has stemmed from a misunderstanding and/or misuse of this term, the term
itself should be dropped. Not surprisingly, Koehler’s conclusions were immediately
questioned by both those outside and inside the Synodical Conference. 110
The struggle to make each generation deal directly with the text of Scripture has
the natural effect of sounding fresh and independent of past language. As noble as this
goal is, it is not without its side-effect. Such a method causes some to wonder what is
motivating the change of language and why such a change is needed. Some of the most
vociferous critics of August Pieper, J.P. Koehler, and John Schaller were Franz Pieper
and many of the faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Indeed, when all parties got
together to discuss exactly what was said, much of the criticisms disappeared, but that did
not settle the feelings among their students that a change in expression must mean a
change in doctrine.
110 Peter Prange, “John Philipp Koehler and the Exegetical Task: The Science and Evangelical Art of
Biblical Hermeneutics.” [Lecture, 39 th Annual Reformation Lectures, Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato,
MN, October 26-27, 2005].
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