# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1844 11 18_S21
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Der Lutheraner.

"God's Word and Luther's teaching shall never pass away."

Edited by C. F. W. Walther.

Volume 1.

St. Louis, Mo., November 18, 1844.

No. 6.

Terms: Der Lutheraner appears once every two weeks, at a subscription price of one dollar and twenty-five cents for out-of-town subscribers, half of which they must pay in advance, in addition to bearing the postage. — In St. Louis, each single issue is sold for 61 cents.

Word and Sacrament: The Only Infallible Marks of the Church.

In the second number of our paper we set forth the claim that it is one thing when we are asked: By what mark is the church known, and where does it become visible? and another thing: Who is the church? We added: to the first question we answer: it is known by the pure preaching of the divine Word and by the right use of the holy Sacraments; to the other: the Church is the assembly of all believers. This explanation of ours has been attacked by Mr. Oertel in his Wahrheitsfreund (vol. VIII, no. 7, p. 52). Mr. Oertel there rejects not only the Lutheran distinction of viewing the Church as visible and invisible, but also finds in our statement of these marks of the Church a circular argument. He further remarks that the marks we have given cannot be the right ones, because they are also claimed by those very communions which we ourselves exclude as sects, and because the very dispute among Protestants turns on who has the Word and the Sacraments purely and rightly; a disputed matter, he says, cannot serve as a mark.

That Mr. Oertel has devoted his attention to precisely this subject does not surprise us in the least. He has certainly felt what was at stake for him were he to concede that, as we have maintained, Word and Sacrament in their purity are the true marks of the Church. He knew very well that the Roman Church cannot, in fact, show forth these marks, and that this touches the sore spot of his own church; that therefore the whole edifice into which he has fled in this age of confusion would collapse over his head, and he would have to abandon the shaky ground on which he has taken his stand, unless he succeeded in making those marks appear doubtful and uncertain, both to himself and to others, and so blunting the compelling proof that lies in them.

But however vividly Mr. Oertel may try to make it appear to himself and his readers that the statement — "The Church is present wherever God's Word is taught in its purity and the holy Sacraments are administered and used according to Christ's institution" — contains a circular proof, he only deceives himself and others by doing so. His judgment, if we are to hope the best of him in love, can only have arisen from a false conception of the nature of the Church.

We are glad, however, to be given occasion by this to speak further to the readers of the Lutheraner on a subject on which, especially now, the fullest clarity is necessary for anyone who does not wish to be beguiled by the appearance of first one sect and then another. But to the matter itself.

The Church, dear reader, is the kingdom which Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the world, founded on earth. Of it, however, he says: "My kingdom is not of this world"; and in another place: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." From this the reader will see that when one speaks of what Christ's Church truly is in its essential nature, nothing outward, visible, or perceptible to any sense is meant by it, but rather something invisible — a spiritual, heavenly kingdom upon earth. For the human race has fallen into sin and thereby become estranged from God, subjected to divine disfavor, death, and eternal damnation. For this reason Christ was already promised in Paradise, and for this reason he lived, suffered, and died, when the time appointed by God was fulfilled, in order to gather to himself, out of this lost and condemned human race, a Church — that is, a congregation of those who are to be saved. For whoever believes from the heart in the Savior of sinners through the gracious working of the Holy Spirit is thereby rescued from the dominion of darkness and translated into the blessed kingdom of grace of the Son of God. The Church is therefore the whole company of all those who truly believe in Christ, wherever they may be found in the world. This is the spiritual body of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:18), and he is its head. The Church is invisible, then, not because one could not see its members, but because one cannot see the work of the Holy Spirit — the faith — that the members of this Church carry in their hearts, and because one can never with certainty distinguish true Christians, who alone actually constitute the Church, from hypocrites. We can and should hope, in love, that a person who confesses it with words and works stands in true faith; but we cannot know it for certain, for God alone is he who searches the heart and tries the reins (Jeremiah 17:10); the Lord alone knows them that are his (2 Timothy 2:19). That is why the third article of the Apostles' Creed does not say: I see, but rather: "I believe in one holy Christian Church, the communion of saints"; for if one could see the Church, one would not need to believe it. Luther speaks of this: "This article, I believe in one holy Christian Church, is just as much an article of faith as the others. Therefore no reason, even if it puts on every pair of spectacles, can perceive it. — It does not wish to be seen but to be believed; and faith is of that which one does not see (Hebrews 11:1). — A Christian is even hidden from himself, so that he does not see his own holiness and virtue, but sees in himself nothing but vanity, unrighteousness, and unholiness; and would you, coarse wiseacre, wish to see Christendom with your blind reason and unclean eyes? In sum, our holiness is in heaven, where Christ is, and not before our eyes like wares laid out at market." (Vol. XIV, p. 161.)

As surely, then, as it is true that the true Church, in its essential nature, is a spiritual, invisible kingdom, just as surely is it also true that everyone who wishes to be saved must enter into the fellowship of this Church, hold to it, and confess it. The Lord says plainly: "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold (the Jewish people): them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." (John 10:16.) John says the same thing when he states: "Jesus should die for the nation; and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." (John 11:51–52.) This gathering together of all the children of God into one Church was therefore the purpose of the death of the Son of God. Whoever separates himself from this true Church separates himself from the body of Christ, that is, from the Church herself; outside her