LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Brock University

LTR XV (Academic Year 2002-03): 7-17
SHORT STUDY:
WHY MEN ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE NICENE CREED
Thomas M. Winger
who for us men, and for our salvation,
came down from heaven,
and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary,
and was made man
In the summer of July 2004 the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod gave
convention approval to Lutheran Service Book, the culmination of almost
a decade of hymnal revision work. At every stage representatives of
Lutheran Church–Canada were involved, as it is likely that large numbers of
LCC congregations will purchase the new book. During this lengthy process
the Lutheran Hymnal Project conducted the most extensive field testing our
churches have ever seen. 1
One of the most contentious issues with which the LCMS Commission
on Worship and its Liturgy Committee wrestled during the field testing
process was the translation of the Nicene Creed (and to a lesser extent the
Apostles’). Fierce reactions were received, both in favour of and opposed to
various proposed changes. Ultimately the LCMS convention voted simply to
retain the LW forms of the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds. Considering the
significance of these creeds to our church, this decision was probably for the
best.
Ironically, it is perhaps the one change not made that will be most
controversial in the future. For in retaining the LW translation, the
convention chose to keep the contentious phrase “for us men”. In recent
years many Christian churches have excluded or revised these words in
updating the Nicene Creed, bowing to the argument that they offensively
exclude women. On the other hand, in recommending the retention of these
words, the LCMS Commission on Worship contended that no adequate
alternative could be found.
If this is indeed to remain a contentious matter in our church, we need to
be well resourced to answer the inevitable questions that will arise when
Lutheran Service Book appears in our pews. The following short study is
intended as such a resource. It brings together many of the arguments
1 To speak of field testing of The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) would be entirely anachronistic.
Although in the 1960s and ’70s the LCMS had evaluated a whole series of contemporary
worship proposals, what finally appeared in Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) look very
different indeed. And when this book was rejected by the LCMS in its 1979 convention, the
rush to bring Lutheran Worship (1982) into print precluded any further field testing.