Gard Rebukes Becker for Promoting Historical Criticism on ALPB Forum

Gard Rebukes Becker for Promoting Historical Criticism on ALPB Forum
By David Becker
Christian News, September 12, 2011, Vol. 49, No. 35

The New York-based American Lutheran Publicity Bureau (http://www.alpb.org) operates an Internet discussion forum, one of the most popular such forums among Lutherans on the Internet. There are hundreds of pages of messages on that forum. Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Atlantic District President David H. Benke is among those who regularly post messages there. On Thursday, September 1, 2011, two theology professors clashed on the ALPB forum.

Valparaiso University Theology Professor Matthew Becker, Ph.D., wrote in the discussion topic, "Valparaiso University and The LCMS," (section 25) "The pastoral letters were not written by the apostle Paul. That settled conclusion has been a mainstream scholarly position for more than a century. (That there are some scholars, like Luke T. Johnson, who disagree with this consensus--and in his case, mainly just to be curmudgeonly with NT scholarly establishment--needs to be noted, but even Johnson's arguments have not met with any acceptance by historians of early Christianity.) "
The Biblical pastoral letters, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, claim to be written by the Apostle Paul.

Concordia Theological Seminary Professor Daniel Gard, Ph.D., responded to Becker, writing, "Matthew Becker, the Pastoral Epistles were written by Saint Paul the Apostle. They are not forgeries that only claim Pauline authorship. Your opinion or the opinion of other liberal 'scholars' cannot and does not change this fact. You stand in clear and absolute opposition to the teaching of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. I write this only to assure any readers that Matthew Becker's opinion does not reflect the consensus of the Church. You may trust the Holy Scriptures to be reliable and certain in everything that they assert in contrast to the opinion of human beings."

Becker responded later in the discussion, "Yes, there are some scholars who continue to think that Paul wrote the pastorals, as I mentioned, but they represent a minority position and are not persuasive to me and to most others. Perhaps there are some genuine fragments from Paul included (e.g., the biographical material), but the letters in their present form represent the work of a post-Paul author(s)."

Gard responded, "I am a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and can validate your claim that most would not accept the Pauline authorship of the Pastorals. But then most would not accept the deity of Christ, His Virgin Birth or His Resurrection. So the fact that they do not accept Pauline authorship means nothing to me. I am also one of the few Lutherans admitted to membership in the Catholic Biblical Association. Few there accept the Pauline authorship of the Pastorals. Like you, Matthew Becker and the SBL, they are wrong. I am also a member of the Evangelical Theological Society. Only a handful there might question whether Paul wrote the Pastorals. But these folks probably do not qualify as 'scholars' for you."

Reacting to an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America clergyman sympathizing with Becker, Gard added, "Frankly...your position does not surprise me or concern me. There is little that you affirm about anything that you and I can agree on. Your theology is between you, God and the ELCA. Matthew Becker's essential agreement with you does concern me. He is a clergyman of the LCMS and, as such, he is at variance with the Synod in a serious manner."

Later on Becker commented on another matter, "The Synod has misunderstood the genre and theological meanings within the first chapters of the Bible when it has insisted that these chapters must be interpreted to mean that God created the universe over the course of six, twenty-four-hour days a short time ago....Dr. Pieper, and other LCMS theologians have misled the synod in this area."

Becker went on even more a bit later, "Dr. Luther, of course, did not know about the history of the natural world prior to the emergence of hominids. He and all others in his century did not know about the evolutionary development of life on the planet. But we do. Thus, there is the need to formulate our interpretation of Genesis 2-3 in the light of physical evidence in the natural history of the world that indicates the reality of death prior to the emergence of the first human beings."

Others on the ALPB forum also took issue with Becker. One commented to Becker, "So those books of the Bible contain lies, Dr. Becker, when they claim to have been written by Paul the apostle? Some view of the Bible you have!"

LCMS Professor Daniel Gard has been Professor of Exegetical Theology at the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Concordia Theological Seminary since 1989. He is also Dean of Military Chaplaincy Programs and serves as a Chaplain in the U.S. Naval Reserves. His biography may be found at http://www.ctsfw.edu/Page.aspx?pid=325. Dr. Matthew Becker's biography may be found at http://www.val po.edu/theology/faculty/matthewbecker.php.
David Becker (not related to Dr. Matthew Becker)
Bismarck, North Dakota