# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Februar 1855_S42
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

42 On the Doctrine of the Holy Preaching Office

According to the well-known statement cited here from the Smalcald Articles (Wucherer, p. 63; Latin ed., Rechenb., p. 353), the church possesses the right and authority to call and install; he calls ordination merely a confirmation of the call, without deriving it from a divine mandate. And since he ascribes to the church the jus ordinandi wholly and in precisely the same way as the jus vocandi, which is indisputably given by God, it follows from his report that they employ what is less important, indeed what was introduced merely by human beings and used in Christian freedom, through the [illegible]

with the Father and the Holy Spirit, so that those who do not continually resist His gift of faith may realize it within themselves. The principal means by which this is realized is His own proclaimed Word, inspired by His Spirit in the prophets and apostles, whether it comes through hearing—from the mouth of the church as formal tradition—or through reading, although the former gives me guidance for understanding what is read in accordance with the faith; Chemnit., Exam. Concil. Trid. I, p. 120. Through faith in this Word, all who are His people are anointed with the Holy Spirit to be possessors of, and in their measure equal participants in, His prophetic, priestly, and royal offices, so that they may proclaim God’s counsel concerning themselves to others; in the power of His sacrifice, which takes away their sins, offer themselves to God and their neighbor for every kind of service, prayer, intercession, and blessing; and share in His dominion over heaven and earth, insofar as they are capable of it, and over flesh, the world, and the devil. Underlying all this is the Word that is believed, whose general administration is an office or calling. Now, because everything depends on this Word, so that it may produce its full benefit, spread its efficacy far and wide, and display its power for conversion and preservation in very many people, simultaneously and often, Christ, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, established the order that was already contained as a commandment in natural law but was instituted in the Gospel as a gift of grace: namely, that within the bond of the community as such, the Word is to be taught and preached by one or more persons; its seals, the sacraments, are to be administered; and both are to be applied particularly to every person for as long as he belongs to it, so that faith may be planted and preserved. This public office of the Word—the office in the narrower or particular sense, this public and official exercise and administration of the prophetic office, which is the inalienable foundation of all the priestly and royal glory of believers, and for which Christ and His Spirit give the necessary gifts—is conferred by the Lord, through those who confess His doctrine, upon those recognized and chosen as fit for it. This mediation could never take place if there were not true believers among that body, because they alone possess the spiritual power and influence that moves the others also outwardly to confess the Word with mouth and deed; and because they alone are those to whom Christ, with the Gospel, has given the Holy Spirit and the power of the keys—that is, the power to proclaim His rights and take His covenant into their mouths; on the basis of the Word, through prayer, to open and close the kingdom of heaven and its blessing; and to order and judge the things necessary for the preservation of the community, to judge doctrine, test the spirits, and appoint preachers. Thus believers retain possession of such prophetic, priestly, and royal dignity; for their sake God, who directs the election according to His will, calls and installs men for the particular exercise of the prophetic office. Therefore this office speaks not merely in the name of the church, but essentially (formaliter) also in the name of God, as His spoken message to the church and to other people, insofar as it does not intrude upon another, equal calling; and it contains within itself all other church offices as branches. In all matters, however, in which the congregation possesses autocratic freedom and self-government, it acts solely in the name of the congregation.