Lutherans on the purpose of Scripture

In response to a Lutheran reader, I have been running a brief series on Christ’s divinity and His miracles.

The first post addresses Christ’s man-God nature and the second explores human difficulty with faith.

Today’s excerpts from Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod beliefs. Part IV – Holy Scripture is an excellent exposition of belief about the Bible. Each section has ‘what we reject’ statements, often drawn from ancient heresies which persist to this day. Those who are searching for Lutheran apologetics will find this useful. Emphases mine below (other than the titles).

IV. Holy Scripture

The Inspiration of Scripture
We believe, teach and confess that all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit and that God is therefore the true Author of every word of Scripture. We acknowledge that there is a qualitative difference between the inspired witness of Holy Scripture in all its parts and words and the witness of every other form of human expression, making the Bible a unique book.

We therefore reject the following views:

1. That the Holy Scriptures are inspired only in the sense that all Christians are “inspired” to confess the lordship of Jesus Christ.

2. That the Holy Spirit did not inspire the actual words of the Biblical authors but merely provided these men with special guidance.

3. That only those matters in Holy Scripture were inspired by the Holy Spirit which directly pertain to Jesus Christ and man’s salvation.

4. That noncanonical writings in the Christian tradition can be regarded as “inspired” in the same sense as Holy Scripture.

5. That portions of the New Testament witness to Jesus Christ contain imaginative additions, which had their origin in the early Christian community and do not present actual facts.

The Purpose of Scripture
We believe that all Scripture bears witness to Jesus Christ and that its primary purpose is to make men wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. We therefore affirm that the Scriptures are rightly used only when they are read from the perspective of justification by faith and the proper distinction between Law and Gospel.

Since the saving work of Jesus Christ was accomplished through His personal entrance into our history and His genuinely historical life, death and resurrection, we acknowledge that the recognition of the soteriological purpose of Scripture in no sense permits us to call into question or deny the historicity or factuality of matters recorded in the Bible.

We therefore reject the following views:

1. That knowing the facts and data presented in the Scripture,without relating them to Jesus Christ and His work of salvation, represents an adequate approach to Holy Scripture.

2. That the Old Testament, read on its own terms, does not bear witness to Jesus Christ.

3. That it is permissible to reject the historicity of events or the occurrence of miracles recorded in the Scriptures so long as there is no confusion of Law and Gospel.

4. That recognition of the primary purpose of Scripture makes it irrelevant whether such questions of fact as the following are answered in the affirmative: Were Adam and Eve real historical individuals?   Did Israel cross the Red Sea on dry land?  Did the brazen serpent miracle actually take place?  Was Jesus really born of a virgin?   Did Jesus perform all the miracles attributed to Him?   Did Jesus’ resurrection actually involve the return to life of His dead body?

There is much more at the link about Scripture.