# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Februar 1855_S41
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

On the Doctrine of the Holy Preaching Ministry. 41

applies, see what we noted above on p. 4. His defense, on pp. 36–54, of the entire tenor of the New Testament, especially the New Testament epistles, as fully compatible with his view, is also worthwhile and useful for us to read, although, despite our complete acceptance of the divine authorization of pastors, we have no need of our opponent’s defense, since we view these writings neither in his light nor in that of the other man. We cannot accept Clement of Rome (pp. 54–60) as testifying against us, both because in chapter 44 he expressly mentions the participation of the entire local church—naturally through a call—in the appointment of bishops; cf. Cypriani ep. 33; and because the words “kai metaxy ten epinomen dedokasin, etc.” can mean nothing else in context than that, after the apostles had appointed the proven firstfruits in the congregations as their successors according to the custom of the Church of God, they made the provision—that is, they gave the believers the instruction and direction—that after the death of these men, other approved men should continue their ministry. What follows agrees with this quite unmistakably, and the congregation’s mediating role is no more excluded here than in Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5; etc., etc. (epinome = allotment, assignment, ordinance, as it was already interpreted in older Lutheran translations as well.)

That 1 Peter 2:5, 9 (Wucherer, pp. 60–62) preserves for the holy people of the New Testament what constitutes the essence of this ministry of proclaiming Christ is evident from the words themselves. Because they had been called out of darkness into His marvelous light, they were now also to proclaim to others, for their salvation, the virtues of this Savior by which He accomplished the work of redemption. Compare with this chapter 4:10, 11, where priesthood and ministry originally coincide without distinction. For the ministry of the Aaronic lineage was not also a type of the New Testament episcopate, as one might easily be led to suppose, but rather only of the priestly dignity of Christ and, in Him, of all His own—a dignity whose beginnings and seeds, sanctified by the Lord, for that very reason already extend back into the Old Testament, Exodus 19:5, 6. And precisely herein lies the great difference between the Messianic kingdom that has entered into our midst and its root and preparation: in that kingdom there is no longer, as formerly, the immediate propagation under ceremonial law of a special ministry through its holders, but rather its free, evangelical development from the bosom of the priestly congregation, while in eternity even the temporal form of its manifestation in teachers and hearers disappears. The successive stages of God’s unfolding work of salvation plainly confirm all this.*

*) Note. What, then, is the relationship between the holy preaching ministry and the priesthood? The former, proceeding into the presbyterate, is a form in which the latter appears. As the supreme Prophet, Christ proclaimed with His divine-human mouth the counsel of God concerning our salvation from the very bosom of the Father; He put it into effect and carried it through as Priest kat exochen; as Lord and King, He rules over all things.