The Word of God in Human Words

No consensus on the doctrine of Scripture exists among Lutherans. As the Confessions contain no article on Scripture, Lutheran approaches to the doctrine have been shaped by theological trends of successive eras. Lutheran Orthodoxy, as well as fundamentalist strains within Lutheranism, have tended to treat Scripture as a “divine book” while underestimating its human dimensions. Liberalism has too often reduced Scripture to a witness to human religious ideas, consciousness, or experiences and denied the divine authority of texts. A confessional approach to Scripture will honor all of Scripture as the authoritative Word of God, while also recognizing (with Luther) that Scripture varies in quality, not least due to its human dimensions. A “Chalcedonian” approach that honors Scripture as fully divine and fully human offers the most promising way forward. Respect for the “shape” of the canon guides the church in discerning what in Scripture is binding and what is not.