# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_December 1858_S361
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Kraußold and the Doctrine of the Ministry. 361

Above, he had removed the relevant passage outright from its context; the present one he treats as though it were not to be found in our confessions at all — and yet it is of great importance for setting forth the Lutheran-symbolical doctrine of the ministry. It is important here, first, that the keys are given originally to the whole Church — that is, to the believers, were it even only two or three of them (not only as opposed to the one Pope, but also as opposed to "certain particular persons," that is, also as opposed to the pastors!) — which already overturns the whole Kraußoldian theory. But it is especially important that the choice of preachers is finally granted to the true Church of believers precisely because, according to 1 Peter 2:9, it alone — namely the congregation of believers — has the priesthood. The conclusion is this: where all have the priesthood themselves, there all can naturally also choose some from among themselves for a service or an office that has to do with priestly works; just as, for example, the Levitical priests could choose one of their own number to perform the service. This passage is so important precisely because it clearly shows that the preaching office is not an estate specifically distinct from the priesthood of Christians, but only a divine ordinance among those who are originally equal.

A similarly important passage of the symbol, one not explained by Kraußold, is the one immediately preceding: "Where the Church is, there is always the command to preach the Gospel; therefore the churches must retain the authority to require, choose, and ordain church servants." The conclusion here is this: if all have something to do, then they can naturally also appoint people who do it; since now the Church has the command to preach, she must naturally also have the power to appoint people who do this. From this too it is perfectly clear that our Church teaches that the whole Church originally has the office, and therefore also has the power to let it be publicly administered through pastors appointed by her for that purpose; just as the mistress of a household, who herself has authority over the household, naturally also has the authority to hire servants and maids for it, and just as a still-free people, in whom all state authority is united, also has authority to choose and install its state officials.

At such statements, to be sure, our Romanizing Lutherans tear their garments over the dreadful doctrine that falls upon their ears. But by this they only reveal how foreign the doctrine of the Lutheran Reformation has become to them, and how badly entrenched they have become in the Roman view of the ministry, so that they are no longer able to understand the simplest statements of our precious confession. There is no doubt that, were those statements not found in the confession of our Church, under whose flag they gladly wish to sail, they would without further ado curse and condemn these statements as an abominable error and fanaticism. —

We have already noted above that Kraußold, fortunately, is not consistent in his doctrine of the Church and of the ministry, and that therefore in his writing