# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S368
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

368

IX. 2016 RESOLUTION 13-01A TASK FORCE REPORT
c.

District-level discussions:
i.

ii.

d.

We encourage consideration of the topic and
appeal for attention to it at future district
conventions, district pastor/church worker
conferences, and other continuing education
events sponsored by districts or taking place
under district auspices.
It would be beneficial for district and
regional mission training centers to offer an
instructional track on the complementary
relationship between the royal priesthood
and the Office of Public Ministry.

Synod-level discussions:
i.

We hope that discussion within the COP, as
has already begun, will continue.

ii.

A future convention of the Synod might
feature priesthood and Office as a theme, or
include essays exploring the relationship of
the Office and the royal priesthood.

iii. It would be helpful to explore ways that
Synod’s “Every One His Witness” program
can foster discussion of this relationship and
be included among educational resources for
districts and congregations.
e.

Discussion via various media, technology, and
events:
i.

ii.

It would be worthwhile to explore the use
of Facebook groups, chat programs, opt-in
email lists, and so forth (while exercising
caution in order to discourage anonymous
chatter and divisive blogging).
It may also be beneficial to break down the
report into briefer, topical segments with a
goal of fostering wider discussion through
the use of podcasts, “town halls,” or KFUO
segments. Subject matter experts and other
presenters could be identified for such presentations.

iii. Encourage articles and studies in publications like The Lutheran Witness, Reporter,
seminary or other journals (e.g., the Ziegler
essay referenced herein; or perhaps a book
published by CPH).
iv.

f.

Commemorate the 500th anniversary of Luther’s first emphasis on the royal priesthood
in 1519.

It is important to recognize that both lay members of the royal priesthood and members of
the Office of Public Ministry sometimes feel
uncomfortable when talking about these things
with each other. Discussions need to be aware of
this reality and those who lead discussions may
attempt to forestall or prevent the sense of threat
by

2019 Convention Workbook

i.

entering all discussions with a spirit of
humility and a desire to learn.

ii.

careful teaching of the proper, biblical,
and confessional understanding of both the
Priesthood and the Office.

iii. listening to concerns that are expressed
without argument, recognizing that actual
offenses often are the reason people feel
threatened.
iv.

acknowledgment of the kinds of behavior
that contributes to confusion or offense.

v.

encouraging confession and absolution.

vi. clarifying on the basis of Scripture and the
Confessions problems of confusion.
We want to reiterate a point from the very beginning of our report. Resolution 13-01A earnestly affirms both the royal priesthood
and the Office of Public Ministry. It reminds us that, though they
are distinct, they are nonetheless complementary to one another and
together provide a “blessed partnership” in the proclamation of the
Gospel. God grant that our discussion and conversation would encourage that blessed endeavor.

APPENDIX A
To Extol and Equip the Blessed Partnership
between the Royal Priesthood and the Office of
the Public Ministry
RESOLUTION 13-01A
Overtures 13–22, 13–28 (CW, pp. 452, 455)
Whereas, The apostle Peter affirms the royal priesthood, that
all are called to “proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you
out of darkness” (1 Peter 2:9); and
Whereas, There exists a blessed partnership in the ministry
of the Gospel between the royal priesthood and those called to the
Office of the Public Ministry; and
Whereas, The Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
quotes from the words of Jesus in Matt. 18:19–20, where He says,
“If two of you agree on earth,” to affirm that Jesus “grants the power of the keys principally and without mediation to the church”; and
Whereas, Martin Luther wrote:
We have been born of this bridegroom and bride
through holy baptism and thus have become true
clerics in Christendom in a hereditary manner,
sanctified by his blood and consecrated by his Holy
Spirit, as St. Peter calls us in 1 Peter 2:9: “But you
are … a royal priesthood” for offering spiritual
sacrifices. St. Paul also extols us as priests in the
Epistle to the Romans, chapter 12:1, for he calls
upon us “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God … .” Now to make
sacrifices to God is solely the office of the priests,
as the pope himself and all the world must admit.
Moreover, we are not only his children, but also
his brothers, as he says in [Ps. 22:22], “I will tell
of thy name to my brethren,” and in the Gospel of
Matthew: “Whoever does the will of my Father in
heaven is my brother, and my sister, and my moth-