LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2010, Page 320

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THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
gifts and responsibilities God has given her. A wife is to respect,
support, and help her husband, willingly acknowledging his spiritual gifts and responsibilities in marriage and home. Such spiritual
leadership would be undermined if the church did not also reflect
it. The New Testament pattern for church leadership complements
the Biblical requirement for leadership in the home, by ordaining
qualified men to pastoral ministry.
Vocation
This study affirms Luther’s emphasis on vocation, which is connected with the previous two teachings. All believers are equally
God’s priests. Our priestly service, however, is unique to our own
individuality and circumstances—our created identity and our individual callings—so that the Christian life is not one of self-serving
chaos. One of the Reformation’s great “rediscoveries” was this
truth: that every Christian—ordained or lay person—is intended
to serve God in his or her individual circumstances, not only in
the church, but also at home, at work, and in society. I don’t serve
God as a priest “in general,” but in the specifics of my own life and
circumstance, serving the specific people that I encounter. So the
Augsburg Confession declares specific ways of serving God here
and now: “for example, that the father of a family works to support
his wife and children and raises them in the fear of God; that the
mother of a family bears children and looks after them …” (AC
XXVI 10). Gustaf Wingren explains: “Vocation means that those
who are closest at hand, family and fellow-workers, are given by
God: it is one’s neighbor whom one is to love. Therein vocation
points toward a world which is not the same for all people.”88 This
important insight is perhaps best known from the biblical Table of
Duties which concludes Luther’s Small Catechism. It also shows
itself in the variety of vocations in ministry established by churches
through the ages, most of which were and are open to both men
and women. In a similar fashion, this study reaffirms the continuing importance of our individual calling as man and woman today.
Third use of the law
The fourth teaching underlying this study is the use of the law
as a guide. Recent years have seen a growing number of Christians
reject this teaching, often called “the third use of the law.”89 The
idea is basic: although we are redeemed in Christ, by grace, through
faith, apart from the law, and the law has no more condemning power over us, believers continue to obey God’s commands
and guidance.90 Therefore we have sought to reaffirm and apply
what the Bible teaches us about man and woman, including its
specific directions for how we are to relate as male and female.
Avoiding misunderstanding
The preceding emphases help to correct misunderstandings or
abuses of biblical teaching in our daily lives. The biblical teachings of male headship and ordination are fraught with potential for
abuse. Therefore it must be clearly stated that any understanding of
male leadership in the home or the church as a personal privilege
or claim to power is a contradiction of Christ. Any emphasis upon
female submission that ignores the command to all Christians to do
nothing “out of selfish ambition or vain conceit” (Phil 2:3) inevitably misinterprets leadership as privilege or power instead of the
service Jesus teaches (Lk 22:26–27).
For a man to abuse his leadership is an affront to Christ and
the Word of God. Martin Luther recognized that marriage dare not
ground itself in selfishness, but only in sacrifice and gentle love.
He scolded men for seeing headship as the equivalent of a worldly
office of command and power and privilege.91 When men are au-

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thoritarian and selfish, women may find it impossible to respect
their husbands and, perhaps, morally necessary to reject his sinfully enacted “authority.” Similarly, where Christian women, out
of pride or other sinful emotions, reject the Word’s command to
submission “as to the Lord,” the Church’s witness to Christ suffers.
Additionally, the foregoing understanding should not be misconstrued as implying male superiority or female incompetence
in any way. Some of the earliest teachers of the Bible cautioned
against such misunderstanding—cautions just as necessary in our
day. We should not fail to see the responsibility of both men and
women to “obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29) and to witness
to the Christian faith. We should not allow male incompetence
or falsehood to stand unchallenged in the name of submission.92
A husband should listen to his wife with the recognition that her
wisdom, insight, understanding, and piety as a human person, holy
priest, and sister in Christ will complement his own.
Due to the rapidly changing environment of the contemporary
world, the discussion of male-female relationships must continue
also in the church. It is important that it genuinely be a discussion,
and that women be afforded full opportunity to take part. For this
reason, as indicated in the preface, the CTCR intends to continue
the process begun by this document, in whatever formats seem
most effective, to address both the questions and concerns of Christian men and women regarding their relationship with Christ and
one another. Women as well as men should be asked to provide
insights, concerns, and questions in the ongoing discussion. Our
goal is that questions—some old and others new—will be patiently
and effectively considered, and that young men and women in particular will be offered timely, constructive, and helpful guidance
according to the Word of God.

Conclusion: Centrality of the Gospel
In the end, our discussions and affirmations regarding our creation as male and female and our church’s public teaching and
practice must find their place within the life of faith in Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the greatest challenge for us is to speak about these
matters from the standpoint of the Cross. We dare not forget that
the heart of the Christian message is not guidance for marriage or
sexuality or any other current issue, but the truth of an irreparably
broken world that finds forgiveness, hope, and salvation only in
Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection.
Whatever we say about sexuality, it must not overshadow the
Gospel of Christ and His Cross. After all, the culmination of any
true appreciation of our creation as male and female goes beyond
the blessings that come of our sexual embodiment for this life, as
much as we rejoice in the gifts of marriage, disciplined sexuality,
and sanctified masculinity and femininity.
All these are good things—good gifts of God to be honored.
Yet, there is no higher honor given to humanity as male and female—no greater good—than that which was identified at least
as early as St. Augustine (354–430 AD). Augustine’s insight was
that in the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, God honors and blesses His work of making man, male
and female. By the means of Mary’s embodiment as a woman, and
our Lord Jesus’ embodiment as a man, the whole of humanity,
both male and female, plays a role in nothing less than the salvation of the world. 93 If God Himself gives such dignity to man and
woman, then each of us, whether male or female, is also called
to live within his or her individual, sexual personhood, uniquely,
yet toward God’s own eternal purposes within the tapestry He has
woven.

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