Lutheran Pastors Respond to Catholic Memes

Download Rome: Examined from Martin Chemnitz for free here: https://wolfmueller.co/rome-examined-part-1-full-text-published/ Key Passages on the Sufficiency of Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:15-17; John 20:31; Psalm 119:107; Luke 1:3-4; Deut. 11:18-25 Key Passages on the Clarity of Scripture: Psalm 119:105; 2 Peter 1:19; Deut. 30:11-14; John 18:20; Mark 8:31-32a; Luke 24:24-48; Psalm 19:8; Proverbs 6:23 Book of Concord, Solid Declaration, Binding Summary, 3: "First, we confess our adherence to the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments, as to the pure, clear fountain of Israel, which alone is the one true guiding principle, according to which all teachers and teaching are to be judged and evaluated." Chemnitz, Rome Examined, pg. 19 "Not merely on the basis of God’s counsel, but rather according to God’s own act was the pure doctrine given, preserved, and sanctified through the Scriptures which He gave. This is a remarkable phenomenon, whose evidence is found in history, for God first wrote the Ten Commandments. Therefore, the origin of Holy Scripture goes back to God." Chemnitz, Rome Examined, pg. 23 "When Christ had to contend with the Pharisees about traditions outside of and alongside Scripture, He could have easily invoked many other real words and works of the patriarchs beyond the written Word. Without a doubt He would have done this if He had not understood that Scripture contains everything which is necessary to salvation. But Christ not only refuted the human statutes of the Pharisees as delusions, but He also led the Pharisees themselves back to Scripture, without inserting traditions or arranging them alongside Scripture as necessary." From Rome Examined pg. 27. "We shall place first the marvelous statement of Irenaeus in his preface and first chapter of his third book (Against Heresies), which reads, “That alone is the true life-giving faith, which the church received from the apostles and passed on to her children. For the Lord of all gave His apostles the power of the Gospel, through which we come to know the truth, that is, the doctrine of the Son of God. For we only hear of the order of salvation through those who have brought us the Gospel. At one time they preached it, but then, according to the will of God, they delivered it to us in the Scriptures, which ought to be the foundation and pillar of our faith.” Chemnitz, Rome Examined, pg. 38 "Nevertheless, the papists find in this very epistle a principle to which they turn for the protection of their tradition against Scripture like the armor of Achilles, namely, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, “Hold on to the things which you were taught, either by us or by letter.” Thus, it is as clear as day, our opponents exclaim, that we owe the apostolic tradition the same reverence as Scripture. Among all the papists’ arguments against the complete sufficiency of Scripture, none are so brilliant as this one—this I admit. But what is established by the true apostolic traditions may not automatically be transferred to the papal notion of traditions."