The theological crux of the matter centered around the authority of Scripture. Under Preus’s leadership, the conservatives staunchly maintained that the Bible serves as the foundation and guiding principle of the church’s doctrine. They emphasized that the essence of the Christian faith lies in the gospel of Christ, and they argued that Sacred Scripture, rather than human reason, defines the content of this salvific message.

The seminary professors tended to narrow the church’s teaching to just the Gospels; this practice is known as “gospel reductionism.” In this view, the Gospels alone are the standard that determines the church’s doctrine. Consequently, this approach marginalizes the teaching authority of God’s commands toward Christians and disregards certain aspects of the written Word, such as the Bible’s proscription against homosexual relations.

The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod fact-finding committee, however, emphasized the authority of Scripture: “Whatever the text says is the meaning of the text. [That meaning] is to be accepted as such because it is the Word of God. Whether a text should be taken literally or in some other way is determined by the text itself — its grammar, context, etc.”