# Pieper Correspondence_St. Louis Missouri_Pieper Dau and Graebner to C. K. Preus and I. B. Torrison 9 January 1917_S1
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

St. Louis, Mo., 9 January 1917.
Professor C. K. Preus and
Pastor I. B. Torrison
Dear Brethren!
We herewith present to you the written record, which you requested, of the judgment we pronounced at the discussion held here on 28 December, which you had asked for.
The matter you laid before us does not concern the question whether the minority should enter into conditions such as are now found in the Norwegian Synod, which we could advise no one to do, but the question whether the minority is compelled to leave the Norwegian Synod now for conscience' sake, or whether conditions still stand such that it is your duty to bear further witness to the truth.
Our opinion is:
1. Because it is conceded by the union committee that the minority's demand to eliminate Thesis 1 of the "Opgjör" is in accord with Scripture and Confession;
2. Because the union committee publicly declares that the expression in Thesis 4 of the "Opgjör" (sense of responsibility regarding the "acceptance or rejection of grace") is to be understood to mean that God alone is the cause of acceptance, man alone the cause of rejection;
3. Because silence is not imposed on the minority, but freedom of speech regarding the "Opgjör" is expressly conceded, we hold that the time to dissolve the connection with the Norwegian Synod has not yet come, but rather that your duty is to obtain, God willing, full acknowledgment for the truth in the Norwegian Synod through testimony.
Respectfully,
Dr. Pieper, Professor Dau, Professor Graebner.