LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1986, Sheet 90

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88 BIBLE STUDY AND DEVOTIONAL ESSAYS

3. Alive in Christ—the Church and Its Mission

Introduction

“Thank God,” says Martin Luther, “a seven-year-old
child knows what the church is” (SA III XII 2). This may
well be true, but one would never come to such a conclusion
on the basis of a survey of the contemporary ecclesiastical
scene. It would be far easier, I suspect, to find agreement
with an assertion that the understanding of the church is
one of the most disputed doctrines in Christendom today.
To complicate things, disagreements concerning the doc-
trine of the church frequently manifest themselves indi-
rectly in other areas such as the ministry, inter-Christian
relationships, and polity matters. Must the pastoral office
always be attached to a geographical parish? How should
members of the LCMS relate to members of Christian de-
nominations in doctrinal disagreement with the Synod?
What is the relationship between a synod and the church?
The answers to such questions are to a large extent de-
pendent on the way the doctrine of the church is under-
stood.

Debate about the doctrine of the church is not new, of
course. Questions concerning this doctrine have arisen in
every era of the history of the church, and they surfaced
in crisis fashion very quickly after the arrival of our fore-
bears in this country in 1839. Under the leadership of
Bishop Martin Stephan, the Saxon immigrants arrived in
this country with some rather definite ideas about the na-
ture of the church and their relationship to it. Dr. Marbach,
one of Stephan’s most avid followers, later described their
views about the church with these words:

A chief occupation of our group was to pass uncharitable
judgments on all outsiders or on all such as had fallen into the
disfavor of the leader. In open defiance of all government and
all divine and human laws and statutes and duties and under
the thunder and lightning of our crackling condemnation of
Europe we left the shores of our fatherland.

We announced to all Europe that Christ was leaving the
Old World with us, and to America that Christ was coming to
her. To Europe, especially to those who were left behind on
the scorched earth of God’s disfavor, we announced fire and
brimstone; to America we played ourselves up as bearers of
grace, blessing, and salvation. And after all this had taken
place we made our debut in St. Louis as the true Church.!

But when it became necessary, scarcely weeks after
their arrival in Missouri, for this zealous band of immi-
grants to depose their bishop because of charges of im-
morality, they were forced to come to grips with
troublesome questions concerning this understanding of
the church, questions which touched the heart of their en-
deavor and their existence as Christians. What is the
church? Were they still the church apart from their bishop?
Should the laity have authority over the clergy in the
church? How should they now proceed with organizing
themselves in the face of their great disillusionment?

On the basis of Holy Scripture and the writings of Mar-
tin Luther and the Lutheran Confessions and under the
leadership of a young pastor by the name of C. F. W.
Walther, these our fathers in the faith found answers to
their questions about the doctrine of the church, answers
which provided the foundation for their formation of the

Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States just nine years
later in 1847.

In this morning’s portion of the convention essay, we
want to address the topic “Alive in Christ—the Church
and Its Mission.” As we do so, we shall draw on some of
the insights from the Scriptures and Confessions pre-
sented by Dr. Walther.

But first let us spend a few minutes looking at select
portions of the inspired Scriptures, especially the words of
the apostle Paul in Ephesians 4 which directly address the
doctrine of the church.

I. The Unity of the Church

In the beginning, God created the world and everything
in it, and everything which He created was good and was
characterized by perfect peace and harmony. But God’s
good creation did not stay good—it fell into unbelief and
sin. As a result every thing and every relationship in this
world are marred and out of kilter. Brother fights against
sister, society is scarred by division, and even the world of
nature testifies to the curse of sin in the form of natural
disasters.

It is into this darkness that the brilliant light of God’s
Gospel has shined (John 1:5; 1 Peter 2:9). “When the time
had fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman,
born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the
Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4
RSV). In opposition to all human wisdom, the Creator God
Himself entered space and time and became a man so that
He might save the world from sin and death.

Wherever this Good News of what God has done in
Christ is proclaimed, say the Scriptures, there God the
Holy Spirit is powerful and active, working the miracle of
faith in human hearts. And where there is faith in Jesus
Christ, there is life. The apostle Paul writes to the Gala-
tians: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live” (Gal.
2:20). And then he continues with this great Good News:
“In Christ Jesus you are sons of God, through faith. For
as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on
Christ” (Gal. 3:26-27 RSV). Spirit-wrought faith in Christ
Jesus brings believers into spiritual unity with their God
and Lord and gives them life.

But the Scriptures teach that faith in Christ also unites
believers with one another. The apostle Paul writes to the
Romans: “We, though many, are one body in Christ, and
individually members one of another” (Rom. 12:5 RSV). To
be brought to faith is to be alive in Christ. And to be alive
in Christ is to be made part of Christ’s body, the church,
of which He is the head (Col. 1:18).The church is therefore
one. As St. Paul puts it in these words from Ephesians:
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called
to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all” (Eph.
4:4-5 RSV).

The Lutheran Confessions are crystal clear on this
point. Luther continues the quotation from the Smalcald
Articles with which we introduced this presentation by
saying: “Thank God, a seven-year-old child knows what