LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2010, Page 293

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THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
assisting pastors and congregations of the Synod in implementing
the above stated position.
Bylaw 3.9.6.3.1 of the LCMS’s official Handbook (2007) provides
the following guidelines:
It is the solemn, sacred, and God-given duty of every pastor properly
to instruct his people concerning the sinfulness of all organizations that
(1) explicitly or implicitly deny the Holy Trinity, the deity of Christ, or
the vicarious atonement;
(2) promise spiritual light apart from that revealed in the Holy Scripture;
(3) attach spiritual or eternal rewards to the works or virtues of men;
and/or
(4) embrace ideologies or principles that clearly violate an express
teaching of the Holy Scriptures concerning the relationships of men
to one another.6

How seriously the LCMS considers this matter is especially
clear from guidelines for ministering to prospective members who
are already members of such organizations. “The responsibility of
diligent and conscientious pastoral care requires that pastors of the
Synod do not administer Holy Communion to nor admit to communicant membership members of such organizations who, after
thorough instruction, refuse to sever their affiliation with such
organizations.” Direction is given that ongoing efforts should be
made to bring individuals to recognize “their contradictory confessions.”7
Recognition is given to exceptional cases which may permit the pastor to administer Holy Communion to a person who
is outwardly connected with a lodge or other fraternal organization. However, in such cases the individual concerned should be
under the pastoral care of the congregation and should be willing
to renounce the anti-Christian character of the organization’s rituals and ceremonies. The final paragraph of the bylaw noted above
includes the following statement: “The Synod instructs its officials
to exercise vigilant care and urges all pastors and congregations to
carry out these provisions and faithfully eradicate all compromise
or negation of the Gospel through members’ identification with objectionable organizations.”8
Confessing Christ Alone9
The preceding summary of the LCMS’s historic position regarding membership in certain lodge and fraternal organizations
shows that the Synod’s central concern has been that pastors and
congregations (and their individual members) give a clear, truthful,
and uncompromising witness, both publicly and privately, “to the
one and only Gospel set forth in Holy Scriptures. …”10 By holding membership in such organizations a Christian is not to give a
public witness that contradicts what he or she otherwise publicly
confesses by virtue of holding membership in a Christian congregation—namely biblical truth concerning the Holy Trinity, the person
and work of Christ, and eternal salvation only by God’s grace received through faith in Christ alone.
Holy Scripture clearly teaches that God’s love and His gift of
eternal salvation is for all people. All people have sinned. That
sin has separated sinners from a holy God (Is 59:2). Man’s sinful
human nature places him under God’s condemnation (Rom 5:16–
18), and the sinful transgression of God’s Law brings death (Rom
6:23). What hope can a sinner have of being saved from the deserved wrath and punishment of God? God planned the salvation of
sinners from eternity (Eph 1:3–10). He began working out His plan
by choosing Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob
to bring His blessing of salvation to all peoples (Gen 12:1–3). God
continued working out His plan through one particular nation, His
chosen people Israel. Yet, His salvation would be brought “to the

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ends of the earth” (Is 49:6). God brought His saving plan to fulfillment when He “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that
whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”
(Jn 3:16). While it is certainly true that “all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23), it is also true that “Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15). The Christian confesses by virtue of membership in a Christian congregation
that he or she believes that there is only “one God and there is one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave
himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:5). Further, a Christian confesses that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself” (2
Cor 5:19). Christ “is the propitiation … for the sins of the whole
world” (1 Jn 2:2).
God’s plan of salvation is universal. Indeed, Christ “died for
all” (2 Cor 5:15). It is equally true that “there is salvation in no
one else, for there is no other name [other than the name of Jesus]
under heaven, given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts
4:12). God’s work and gift of eternal salvation is universally inclusive; it is for all people. Yet, the gift of salvation is also exclusive;
it is given only through faith in Christ. In response to the Philippian
jailer’s question “What must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas responded, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts
16:30–31). Jesus made clear the exclusive nature of God’s work of
salvation when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6).
Christians who confess Christ alone as the only hope of eternal
salvation are compelled by His love to “no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor
5:15). Such living for Christ means that Christians in all they do
will seek first the kingdom of God (Mt 6:33). They will strive in
thought, word, and deed in every area of life, both private and public, to bring honor to the triune God (Jn 5:23). To be sure, the individual Christian will fall short in such striving. Perfection does not
exist on this side of heaven. However, that reality does not give the
disciple of Christ permission knowingly and willingly to engage
in actions and associations that will, in one way or another, compromise his or her witness to and for Christ. Clearly, Jesus expects
His followers to deny themselves and lose their life for Him (Mt
16:24). The allegiance that Jesus requires, and the serious consequence for failing to give that allegiance, are summed up in Jesus’
words: “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will
acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in
heaven” (Mt 10:32–33).
Membership in Masonic Lodge Organizations
When Christians join in the public worship assembly of the
congregation in which they hold membership, they are in effect
saying by such participation, with St. Paul: “I am not ashamed of
the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone
who believes” (Rom 1:16). It would be a compromise of this public
witness to their faith given in corporate worship for them publicly
to associate with an organization that through its religious rituals,
ceremonies, and prayers “waters down” or obscures this Gospel.
By holding membership in such an organization a Christian may, in
effect, be saying, “I am ashamed of the gospel.”
The most “religious” fraternal organization when it comes to
rituals and ceremonies that contradict or compromise the Gospel of
Christ is the Masonic Lodge and its various related organizations
such as the Shriners, the Eastern Star, and Job’s Daughters.11 Many
in Masonic leadership would contend that while Freemasonry has
religious elements—an altar, a sacred book (which varies based
on the dominant religion in the culture where the local lodge is
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