Biblical inerrancy "is a lie and a deceit of the devil that can be maintained only by a succession of illogical fallacies." That is the assertion of the Rev. Paul Bretscher, pastor of the Missouri Synod's Immanuel Lutheran Church at Valparaiso, Indiana. Dr. Bretscher made that charge in the keynote address at the annual assembly in October of Evangelical Lutherans in Mission. ELIM is an organization of Missouri Synod Lutherans who are in sympathy with the position of the former Concordia Seminary faculty members and LCMS pastors who left the Synod to establish the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches.



Bretscher's attack on inerrancy contained nothing new. Its signficance lies in the fact that it was presented as a direct challenge to the Synod and its leaders who recently succeeded in getting their Synod to return to the Scriptural teaching on inerrancy.



Missouri's leaders have in recent years displayed a questionable preference for dealing with those who deviate from Scripture on the basis of the Synod's bylaws rather than on the basis of Scripture itself. Bretscher's challenge to the Synod ought to make clear whether or not the Synod has the inclination and the will to deal Scripturally rather than politically with pastors and people who blaspheme against God and His Word.



Missouri's time of testing is far from over. We still hope and pray that a good beginning will not end in failure because of irresoluteness and an unwillingness to return all the way to the orthodox Lutheran position Missouri once championed to the world.