# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2004_S419
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS—-COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 419

For the Sake of the Gospel

The Divine Call is important for the sake of the Gospel. This is
vividly experienced by each Christian who confesses her sins to
her pastor, when he asks, “Do you believe that my forgiveness is
God’s forgiveness?” The penitent replies, “Yes, I do,” and thereby
confesses her faith in the Gospel—delivered through the voice of
the called and ordained servant of the Word. Here the Theology
and Practice of “the Divine Call” is connected clearly, directly, and
personally to the Gospel. In his exercise of the Office of the Keys,
the pastor then says, “Let it be done for you as you believe. And I,
by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, forgive you your sins in
the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen. Go in peace.’ ,

The person who hears these words of absolution needs the as-
surance that this is truly God’s man, and not a self-appointed or
heretical religious authority. She must have the comfort of knowing
he was given to her by God to stand in Christ’s place, speaking the
words of Christ Himself.

The pastor knows that of himself alone he is a powerless mortal.
To serve people with the Gospel he needs the assurance that all of
the promises given to aid and bless the apostles in the Holy Min-
istry are given to him as well, and that he is equipped by Christ
Himself for the seelsorge (“soul care”) and spiritual feeding of the
congregation to which he has been called.

The great Lutheran theologian Martin Chemnitz described the
Divine Call’s importance:

For what reasons is it so very important that a minister of the
church have a legitimate call?

One must not think that this is done by human arrangement or only
for the sake of order; but there are many weighty reasons, considera-
tion of which teaches many things and is very necessary for every min-
ister of the church.

I. Because God Himself deals with us in the church through the
ministry as through the ordinary means and instrument. For it is He
Himself that speaks, exhorts, absolves, baptizes, etc. in the ministry and
through the ministry. Lk 1:70; Heb 1:1; Jn 1:23 (God crying through
the Baptist); 2 Cor 2:10, 17; 5:20; 13:3. It is therefore absolutely neces-
sary that the minister as well as the church have sure proofs that God
wants to use this very person for this His ordinary means and instru-
ment, namely the ministry.

Now, a legitimate or regular call provides these proofs; for in this
way every minister of the Word can apply to Himself the statements of
Scripture [in] 2 Cor 5:19; [sa 59:21; Mt 10:20; Lk 10:16; 2 Th 4:8.

II. Very many and necessary gifts are required for the ministry,
2 Cor 2:16. But one who has been brought to the ministry by a legiti-
mate call can apply the divine promises to himself, ask God for faith-
fulness in them, and expect both, the gifts that are necessary for him
rightly to administer the ministry (I Tim 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6; 2 Cor 3:5-6)
and govemance and protection in the office entrusted to him (Isa 49:2;
51:16).

Ill. The chief thing of the ministry is that God wants to be present in
it with His Spirit, grace and gifts to work effectively through it. But
Paul says, Rom 10:15: “How shall they who are not sent preach”
(namely in such a way that faith is engendered by hearing)? But God
wants to give increase to the planting and watering of those who have
been legitimately called to the ministry and set forth doctrine without
guile and faithfully administer whatever belongs to the ministry (1 Cor
3:6; 15:58), that both they themselves and others might be saved (1 Tim
4:16).

IV. The assurance of a divine call stirs up ministers of the Word, so
that each one, in his station, in the fear of God, performs his function
with greater diligence, faith, and eagerness, without weariness. And he
does not let himself be drawn or frightened away from his office by fear
of any peril or of persecution, since he is sure that he is called by God
and that that office has been divinely entrusted to him.

V. Finally, on this basis the hearers are stirred up to the true rever-
ence and obedience toward the ministry, namely since they are taught
from the Word of God that God, present through this means, wants to
deal with us in the church and work effectively among us.®

God Himself works in and through the called minister of the
Word. The preacher is strengthened by the confidence that, because
he has been divinely called, God’s promises surely apply to him.
The hearers are strengthened by the confidence that, because the
pastor has been divinely called, the promises of God he speaks
surely apply to them. The Lutheran Confessions (AC XIV,
XXVIII, SC IV) underscore this certainly with the term rite voca-
tus.

The Divinity of the Call

“At all times,” noted Chemnitz, “there have been great, often
also bloody, controversies regarding the right to call.” To settle
those controversies, it helps to remember that the Lord Himself is
active and working in this Call:

Who, then, properly has the right or the power to send and call min-
isters of the Word and of the Sacraments?

[S)peaking properly and on the basis of Scripture, the right to call
and to send laborers into the harvest belongs to Him who is the Lord of
the harvest, and it is good to note in Scripture that ihe right and admin-
istration of this call are ascribed expressly to the individual persons of
the Trinity. For the Son says of the Father, Mt 9:38: “Pray ye the Lord
of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest”; Paul testifies of the
Son of God, Eph 4:8, 11-12, “He ascended on high [and] gave gifts to
people. ... And He gave some [as] apostles, and some [as] pastors and
teachers .... for the upbuilding of the body of Christ”; the same is also
attributed to the Holy Spirit [in] Acts 13:2, 4; 20:28.””

Chemnitz explained that the Call happens in two ways: imme-
diately (without means) or mediately (with means). God called the
patriarchs, prophets and apostles without any intervening human
means. He endowed them “with the gift of miracles or other testi-
monies of the Spirit with which to prove and confirm their call.”
Yet we are not commanded to wait for the miraculous immediate
Call. “We therefore observe, and should observe, the form that the
apostles have prescribed for us by the Holy Spirit, namely that, and,
how, God at this time wants to call and send ministers to His
church through a mediate [i.e., through means] call or regular
means.”*

What, then, are the regular means that God wants to use for a me-
diate call?

For a mediate call God ordinarily does not use the ministry of an-
gels, but the ministry of His church, which is a royal priesthood (1 Ptr
2:9). For to it as to His spouse has Christ entrusted the keys of the king-
dom (Mt 18:18). Likewise He entrusted the Word and the Sacraments
(Ro 3:2; 9:4). And briefly, all things are of the church, both the min-
istry and the ministers (Eph 4:12; Co 3:21-22).?

In his 1535 Lectures on Galatians (among the most important
and prominent of his writings), Luther described the importance of
the Divine Call by noting how the apostle Paul emphasized his own
office. Luther underscores our need to know “that the man who oc-
cupies the pastoral office has been placed there by God.” Several
paragraphs should be read in their entirety:

But what does Paul intend by this bragging? I reply: This doctrine
has as its purpose that every minister of the Word of God should be sure
of his calling. In the sight of both God and man he should boldly glory
that he preaches the Gospel as one who has been called and sent. Thus
the king’s emissary boasts and glories that he does not come as a private
person but as the emissary of the king. Because of this dignity as the
king’s emissary he is honored and given the position of highest honor,
which he would never receive if he were to come as a private person.
Therefore let the preacher of the Gospel be sure that his calling is from
God. It is perfectly proper that he should follow Paul’s example and
exalt this calling of his, so that he may gain credence and authority
among the people." ...

Now this doctrine of the certainty of the call is extremely necessary
on account of the pernicious and demonic spirits. Every minister of the
Word may boast with John the Baptist (Luke 3:2): “The Word of the
Lord has come upon me.” Therefore when I preach, baptize, or admin-
ister the sacraments, ] do so as one who has a command and a call. For
the voice of the Lord has come to me, not in some corner, as the sectar-

2004 Convention Workbook