# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_September 1856_S257
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Lehre und Wehre.

Year II.                              September 1856.                              No. 9.

(From the "Kirchenblatt für die ev.-luth. Gemeinde in Preußen," by Pastor Ehlers.)
A Reply Letter from the Editor to a
dear Friend, concerning the Doctrine of the Church.

(Conclusion.)

But did the Reformers, then, err with their description of the church as I understand it? I think not! You fear, dear friend, that the church, as it appears outwardly, loses its significance if one sees the proper or true church only in the believers, and especially that it then appears a matter of indifference to which of the individual denominational churches, into which Christendom is split, a Christian adheres. This fear, however, is in my opinion unfounded. That the Reformers were not led by their definition of the church to deny the necessity of the church's becoming visible is taught by the 8th Article, appended to the 7th Article of the Augsburg Confession, of which the Apology explains that it was conceded to the seventh with the express intent "that no one should suppose we separate the wicked and hypocrites from the outward fellowship of the church." How, indeed, could they have held in low regard the visible fellowship of confessors, to whom the means of grace are entrusted, through which alone (according to their express teaching) man attains to saving faith? For they concede that the means of grace are efficacious even when administered by hypocrites, that is, by unbelievers (who are not members of the body of Christ or of the true church), and thus they attach a high significance to the church insofar as it visibly appears as an outward union of confessors of Christ, since by virtue of the service performed within it — and thus through it as a serving means — people are led to faith and to salvation. That the true church, that is, the truly believing, ought according to God's will to enter into outward ecclesiastical fellowship; that in the assembled congregation preaching and the administration of the sacraments ought to take place; and that the unavoidable danger, that hypocrites might also join in when believers gather bodily together, ought not to hinder this — it never occurred to the Reformers to call this into question. Their writings testify to this, and their labors testify to it as well; for they were at pains to

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