LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1986, Sheet 91

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ALIVE IN CHRIST—THE CHURCH AND ITS MISSION 89

the church is, namely, holy believers and sheep who hear
the voice of their Shepherd” (SA III XU 2). Already in 1530
Philip Melanchthon had presented a clear, concise defi-
nition of the church in those often quoted words of Article
VII of the Augsburg Confession: “It is also taught among
us that one holy Christian church will be and remain for-
ever. This is the assembly of all believers. . . .” Together
with Christians through the ages, the Lutheran confessors
therefore joined together in confessing in the words of the
Nicene Creed: “I believe one holy, Christian, and apostolic
church.”

Il. The Invisible Church

In defining the church as “the assembly of all believers”
who “hear the voice of their Shepherd,” the Lutheran con-
fessors were quite consciously and deliberately rejecting
the unscriptural position that, as one theologian put it,
“the church is an assembly of men, an assembly which is
visible and perceptible to the senses just like an assembly
of the Roman citizenry, or the kingdom of France or the
Republic of Venice.”

In the face of such an understanding of the church as
an identifiable, external institution, the Lutheran confes-
sors over and over again express their strong objection.
Mere association with an external organization does not
make one a member of Christ’s body. Only faith in the
heart constitutes the church, not external associations. Be-
cause this is so, not all those who are nominal members
of an external institution are actually members of the
church.

This understanding of the church, based on scriptural
references such as Christ’s parables of the wheat and tares
(Matt. 13:24-30) and the net and fishes (Matt. 13:47-50),
brings to light an important distinction concerning the doc-
trine of the church: the distinction between the church in
the strict sense of the term and in the broad sense. Philip
Melanchthon writes in the Apology to the Augsburg
Confession:

Hypocrites and evil men are indeed associated with the true
church as far as outward ceremonies are concerned. But when
we come to define the church, we must define that which is
the living body of Christ and is the church in fact as well as
in name (Ap VII and VIII, 12—14).

The church, properly speaking, therefore, is not to be iden-
tified with a visible, tangible institution. Unbelievers might
well be members in such an organization by name, but they
are most certainly not part of the body of Christ, the church.

Since membership in the church is a matter of faith in the
heart, only God Himself can see who belongs to it. Dr. Walther,
following the precedent set by Luther, Gerhard, Chemnitz and
other orthodox Lutheran theologians, refers to the one holy
Christian church as invisible, or hidden.

Ill. The Marks of the Church

Let no one be misled, however, by terms such as “spir-
itual,” “communion of saints,” “hidden,” or “invisible” into
thinking that the one true church is not real or that it does
not really exist. The Lutheran Confessions directly reject
any such notion. Melanchthon writes:

We are not dreaming about some Platonic republic, as has
been slanderously alleged, but we teach that this church ac-
tually exists, made up of true believers and righteous men
scattered throughout the world (Ap VII and VIII, 20).

The body of Christ, the church, while its precise member-
ship is hidden from human eyes, is nevertheless made up of

visible, flesh and bone people. And what is more, we know
where this church is to be found in the visible assembly of
those gathered around the means of grace which the Lutheran
Confessions refer to as “the marks of the church.” It is through
these which God works to call sinners into His body. Writes
Walther: “Although the true church in the proper sense of the
term is essentially invisible, its presence can nevertheless be
definitely recognized, and its marks are indeed the pure
preaching of God’s Word and the administration of the sac-
raments according to Christ’s institution.”

IV. The Mission of the Church

The mission of the church is intimately connected to its
nature. St. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “All this is from
God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave
us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their tres-
passes against them, and entrusting to us the ministry of
reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God mak-
ing His appeal through us” (2 Cor. 5:18-20 RSV). The
church, properly speaking, is made up of all those who have
been made alive through the suffering, death, and resur-
rection of Jesus Christ. To this church has been given the
keys of the Kingdom which have the power to open and
close the door of heaven itself. The mission of the church,
therefore, is to proclaim the life-giving Gospel of Jesus
Christ to all the world. Dr. Walther puts it this way:

Our church teaches according to God’s Word that God has
commanded the whole, true, holy Christian Church to preach
His precious Gospel and to make it known. Wherever therefore
[even] a small congregation of believing Christians, that is, a
true church, is found, there also such a congregation has the
command to preach the Gospel. But if it has this command,
then thereby it naturally has also the power.‘

Conclusion

What a comfort the scriptural doctrine of the church
was to Walther and the disillusioned Saxons during the
time of their trial. Through their study of the Scriptures
and the Lutheran Confessions they came to see that the
existence of the church is not built on the person of a
bishop, although the office of the public ministry is cer-
tainly instituted by God. People, even leaders, may fail us,
but the Gospel in Word and Sacrament does not. God Him-
self promises that His powerful and active Word never
returns void (Is. 55:10-11).

But does this understanding of the nature of the church
have any relevance for us members of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod as we approach the 2lst century?
I am convinced that it does. Let me conclude this presen-
tation by suggesting three specific points.

First, there is only one church in heaven and on earth.
Because membership in this one church is a matter of faith
in the heart, we must never fall into the trap of trying to
identify the “one holy, Christian church” with any visible
institution, not even, as Walther reminds us, with the
Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Secondly, you and I, by the grace of God, have been
made alive in Christ. We are members of Christ’s body,
the church. But we are members of the one church, not
because we are so wise, so moral, or even because we make
such an orthodox confession of our faith. It is not that we
have decided for Christ and made a voluntary decision to
join the church. Rather, God has chosen us—even before