# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Januar 1855_S5
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

On the Doctrine of the Holy Office of the Ministry.                5

The preachers, then, and their office are given to the congregation through Christ, by virtue of his supreme authority from the Father. But from the very fact that both what is divine in the servants and the holy office itself, which preaches reconciliation, come down from above, it follows that this office, when exercised by the former, is no mere congregational service, no congregational authorization, but rather Christ's own institution and plenary power. And the word in which and through which they are given is none other than the gracious Gospel — a word, as goes without saying, of promise, not of law. The command to preach is, to be sure, grounded and contained in the two stone tables of love toward God and toward one's neighbor; in particular, the Second Commandment demands the right and abundant use of the word of Christ (Col. 3:16), just as the Third requires the order of hearing and teaching, as common worship in general requires, and the Fourth includes within itself the mother of believers and the spiritual fathers. But it is the Gospel alone that effects this: that we are not under the law (of sin and death), but in the law (because in the life of Christ, of the Spirit, the perfect law of liberty — 1 Cor. 9:20-21; Rom. 8:2; James 1:25) — that we, once we have recognized and believed the love that God has toward us and has revealed in the Gospel, let it likewise come again and again to the knowledge of others, as to ourselves, each one always doing so to the extent that he can, out of the ability that God supplies him. Now as the Gospel is given to all who believe, so also is the office, which cannot be separated at all from the former, for through this office comes preaching, just as it necessarily brings with it that, once received through hearing (Akoë), it spreads in ever wider circles (Rom. 10:17, 15; Luke 2:10, 17).*) It is the heir of the promises, of their full content unto salvation of body and soul, of the power to proclaim it again to others, because that belongs to salvation; of its office as flowing out of love, through which the faith that saves is active; as inseparable from the gifts of its preaching as from what is promised in the Gospel — not a special, legally instituted estate, but the whole believing congregation, whether it be a self-given apostle, presbyter, or so-called layman, so long only as he is a member of the invisible church. But it is this same congregation which the Lord, according as his Spirit, by equipping the instruments especially suited for the office, chooses, marks out, and designates as such — through the fulfillment

*) Note. Compare the Smalcald Articles, German ed., Rechenberg, p. 554f. Augsburg Confession, Art. 5: "To obtain such faith God instituted the office of preaching, giving the Gospel and the Sacraments" — the words "giving the Gospel and the Sacraments" are added as explanatory, as coordinate, not as primary; for otherwise it would have to read: the Gospel and the Sacraments were given, and the office of preaching (as the means of service at Word and Sacrament) was instituted. Formula of Concord, p. 1102: "For the Word, through which we are called, is an office of the Spirit," etc.