Version History
Current published version
Today's Business, Issue 1. p. 91. Original floor committee resolution.
No later published versions have been added.
Official Resolution Source Text
Resolution: 4-07
Canonical number: 4-07
Committee: Life Together
Source: Today's Business, Issue 1
Printed pages: p. 91
PDF pages: 91
Version: original, current-published-proposal
Source reference: Issue 1, p. 91
Line numbers follow Today's Business, Issue 1, with numbering reset on each printed page, so delegates can compare this page with the official PDF.
Page 91
- To Condemn Political Violence and Encourage Participation in Public Life
- RESOLUTION 4-07
- Overtures 4-45, 47–48, 53–55 (CW, 327–28, 330–32)
- WHEREAS, Scripture (Matt. 22:15–21) and the Lutheran Confessions (AC XVI; LC I 4) affirm that the entire civil
- realm is an institution of God to be respected and supported; and
- WHEREAS, Our Lord commands us to pray for those who serve in public office (1 Tim. 2:1–3) and to respect all levels
- of government (Rom. 13:1; 1 Peter 2); and
- WHEREAS, Our Lord reminds us through the words of St. Paul, that those serving in the civil realm have a God-
- ordained vocation (Rom. 13:6); and
- WHEREAS, The Large Catechism warns that the devil seeks to destabilize the civil realm through “contention, murder,
- sedition, and war”:
- He is not satisfied to obstruct and overthrow the spiritual order, by deceiving souls with his lies and bringing
- them under his power, but he also prevents and impedes the establishment of any kind of government or
- honorable and peaceful relations on earth. This is why he causes so much contention, murder, sedition, and
- war, why he sends storms and hail to destroy crops and cattle, why he poisons the air, etc. In short, it pains
- him that anyone should receive even a mouthful of bread from God and eat it in peace. If it were in his power
- and our prayer to God did not restrain him, surely we would not have a straw in the field, a penny in the
- house, or even an hour more of life—especially those of us who have the Word of God and would like to be
- Christians (LC III 80 [Tappert]); and
- WHEREAS, In recent years, political tensions have led to “contention, murder, sedition, and war,” in many forms and
- guises, even among those in the church, resulting in multiple assassination attempts of politicians and other public figures
- of various political persuasions, violent conflicts between law enforcement and civilians leading even to death, and many
- other sad examples of division resulting from political opinions, all of which contradict the peaceable and law-abiding
- witness of the church; therefore be it
- Resolved, That the Synod in convention declare its opposition to political violence in any form and urge its members
- to oppose such violence in their local context; and be it further
- Resolved, That pastors and congregations of the Synod be encouraged to affirm the importance of peaceful
- engagement in the public square; and be it further
- Resolved, That church workers and congregations of the Synod identify, encourage, and raise up from within our
- midst those with the gifts and abilities to serve God and their neighbor in public service, that through such representatives
- the church might provide a morally virtuous and theologically faithful example in this divisive climate; and be it finally
- Resolved, That the theological resources addressing matters of church and state from a Lutheran perspective be
- commended to the people of the Synod, including the publications of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty and the
- Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR), especially the CTCR’s 1995 report, Render unto Caesar… and
- unto God: A Lutheran View of Church and State and its forthcoming report on church, state, and the Christian love of
- neighbor, as requested by 2023 Resolution 11-05, “To Address the Relationship between Church and State in an
- Increasingly Hostile Environment.”
