We Value Truth

by Timothy Teuscher

At our 2022 synod convention, we are sharing with delegates our proposed Strategic Framework for Lutheran Church–Canada. This came about through a survey of many pastors, deacons, and lay members from our congregations, as well as from the resulting Purpose, Priority, and Planning retreat held in Winnipeg back in April. Through this process, some common, recurring themes were identified—value statements, as they are called—things which define who we are and inform and direct what we strive to do.

The first one is Truth. More specifically: “We value Scripture as the inerrant, written Word of God and the only rule and norm of faith and practice.” But why do we hold the Bible in such high esteem?

Our Lord Jesus Christ—“the Word who became flesh” (John 1:14) and who alone is “the Way and the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6)—answers: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me” (John 5:39). Or as St. John puts it: “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). Or as the apostle Paul says: “The sacred writings… are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).

But how can this be? How can a mere book—66 books actually—written thousands of years ago by mere human beings have the power to do this? St. Paul explains: “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). Or as St. Peter declares: “No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). What does this mean? Just this: since the Bible is not man’s book but God’s Book, it is thus infallible and inerrant, entirely reliable, giving us everything we need to know and believe for our faith, teaching, and life. Jesus Himself puts it simply and clearly: “Your Word is truth” (John 17:17).

The Formula of Concord summarizes it this way: “We believe, teach, and confess that the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments are the only rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be appraised and judged, as it is written in Ps. 119:105, ‘Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’” (FC Ep I.1).

Sadly, however, in many parts of Christendom the Bible is no longer valued in this way. Some have rejected what the Bible says about such things as marriage, the sanctity of life, the office of the holy ministry, the purpose and mission of the church, and even the person and work of Jesus Himself. They have swallowed the lies of the devil which go all the way back to the Garden: “Did God actually say?” (Genesis 3:1).

But let’s not be too quick to cast stones at those who have departed from God’s Word in these ways. To be sure, our synod and all of our congregations have in their constitutions a statement similar to this: “We accept without reservation the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament as the written Word of God and the only rule and norm of faith and of practice.” But do we really value the Scriptures as we claim to do? Or, to borrow St. Paul’s words from Colossians 3:16, does the Word of Christ really dwell in us richly?

How necessary it is that we all—pastors, deacons, and lay members alike—commit and dedicate ourselves to the precious, life-giving, truthful Word of God: to hear it read and proclaimed more frequently, to study it more diligently, to meditate upon it more devoutly, to preach and teach it more clearly, to sing it more fervently, and to support the spread of that Word to others more generously.

To that end we pray in the Collect for the Word: “Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life” (LSB 265).

Or as we sing in the hymn: “God’s Word is our great heritage And shall be ours forever; To spread its light from age to age Shall be our chief endeavor. Through life it guides our way, In death it is our stay. Lord, grant, while worlds endure, We keep its teachings pure Throughout all generations” (LSB 582).

Rev. Dr. Timothy Teuscher is President of Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC).