LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 239

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VII. 2013 RES. 4-06A TASK FORCE REPORT TO THE SYNOD
called.” The restriction within this article is the relevant point: “without a proper [public] call” is based on the German ohn[e] ordentlich
Beruf, and “unless properly called” is based on the Latin phrase nisi
rite vocatus.25 Public ministry—preaching, teaching, and sacramental administration in and on behalf of the church—is restricted only to
those with a proper call, or, in other words, to those properly called.
So what does that phrase rite vocatus mean? What is a proper call?
While the question about the proper understanding of the phrase
rite vocatus is, in large measure, a topic we must consider from within
the realm of our confessional commitments, we should not ignore the
biblical texts underpinning Article XIV. As confessional Lutherans,
we subscribe the Confessions because they rightly express Scripture’s
teaching. Thus, C. F. W. Walther properly grounded the Office of
the Ministry not in custom or good order (as much as they may play
a role), but in the Word of God. It is the Word that restricts those
who should preach, even though the Word also affirms that every
Christian is a priest (1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10), that all Christians
are “taught by God” (John 5:45), and that, as Luther explained, when
any Christian is with those who do not know Christ “it is his duty
to preach and to teach the gospel.” “In such a case a Christian looks
with brotherly love at the need of the poor and perishing souls and
does not wait until he is given a command or letter from a prince or
bishop. For need breaks all laws and has none.”26 There is no biblical
restriction on sharing the faith in one’s daily vocation in the world.
In the Christian Church, however, “there is an office to teach, feed,
and rule, which Christians by virtue of their general Christian calling
do not possess.”27 The texts are clear: Paul asks rhetorically whether
all are apostles, prophets, or teachers in 1 Corinthians 12:29, knowing
that the answer is no, for God Himself appoints (sets in place) different people in different offices for the well-being of the whole Church
(1 Cor. 12:28).28 Paul himself declared that he was “appointed” to his
office as preacher, apostle, and teacher (1 Tim. 2:7, cp. 1:12).
This truth pervades the whole of Scripture. God, not man, calls
each of us to proclaim the message of His redeeming love in Christ
Jesus, yet God the Son also establishes this particular “office” in
which He gives specific men to preach, teach, baptize, and commune His holy people. He called prophets in the Old Testament and
then promised through them that He would give shepherds (pastors)
also in His new covenant to “feed” His people “with knowledge and
understanding” (Jer. 3:15). The Lord Jesus Himself saw to the fulfillment of this promise when He called His apostles and commanded
them to feed His sheep (John 21:15–17; cf. Matt. 10; 28:18–20; Luke
9:1–10; Mark 16:15; John 20:21–23). The apostles were unique as
eyewitnesses, but not as appointed preachers—for the office of public preaching and teaching and sacramental administration would not
end with them. Rather, they assured the growing Church that their pastors/elders/bishops (the name of the office varied) had been placed in
their office by the Holy Spirit, not human decision, in order that God’s
Church would be nurtured (Acts 20:28; cf. Eph. 4:11). Moreover, the
apostles, who had been called directly (immediately called) by Christ
Himself did not exalt themselves over those whom God later called
and appointed through the Church (indirectly or mediately). Rather,
Peter exhorts elders “as a fellow elder” (1 Pet. 5:1).29
It should be clear, then, that this responsibility—the Office of the
Public Ministry, as we are accustomed to refer to it in the LCMS—is
not optional, but commanded. Walther emphasizes that in his Thesis
III on the Ministry/Office; yet he immediately also reminds us that
this vital office is not in opposition to the priesthood of believers or
a sign of superior holiness, but one of service (Thesis IV). AC XIV
stands on firm scriptural ground as it restricts the public preaching

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and teaching of the Gospel and its sacramental administration to those
who have been appointed to such duties.
How does that appointment—that right and proper public calling—take place? In a variety of ways. No one particular method
of providing the Office of the Ministry has been followed either
through the tradition of the Church catholic or in Lutheran tradition. What is vital is that the public ministry be filled in a way that is
in keeping with the requirements of Scripture and the Confessions.
The proper calling—rite vocatus—involves several aspects. The task
force commends to the Synod the understanding of this phrase that
was emphasized in the CTCR’s 2003 report Theology and Practice of
“the Divine Call.”30 The report’s focus is “placement into the office
of the public ministry”—that is, the “divine call” or “call and ordination.”31 The report speaks of “the divinely established office referred
to in Scripture as ‘shepherd,’ ‘elder,’ or ‘overseer’ ” or as “the office
of the public ministry.”
After examining the scriptural evidence for the call into ministry, the report summarizes by noting that placement into the office
of Word and Sacrament occurs in several different ways and that
the texts that describe these methods provide guidance only inferentially. It also notes that the New Testament is less concerned with
procedure than with the qualifications of ministers and the importance “for the church to know that the man who occupies the pastoral
office has been placed there by God.”32 Prefatory to its examination
of the Confessions, Divine Call notes: “In general, the Confessions
stress two points: pastors are not self-appointed; and, bishops are not
the exclusive ones who may ordain.”33 The latter point is especially
emphasized in the Treatise: “Philip Melanchthon’s treatise is a theological rationale for Lutherans to undertake the ordaining of their
own pastors.”34 Melanchthon also obliquely addresses the development of the diaconate as a step toward the Roman view of a necessary
hierarchy in ministry. The report affirms Melanchthon’s view that,
“regardless of their title (pastor, elder, teacher [doctor], preacher,
minister, and occasionally bishop, though almost never priest), all
ordained clergymen have the same basic authority to discharge the
duties of their office (AC XXVIII, 8, 21; Tr 60–61, 74).”35 Noting
Melanchthon’s references to the rights of calling, choosing (or electing), and ordaining, Divine Call argues that, “taken together, the terms
used by the Treatise constitute and explain the ‘rightly called’ (rite
vocatus) of AC XIV.”36 Further, Divine Call suggests how the three
aspects of “rightly called” may be distinguished:
The “right of choosing” (jus eligendi) refers to the nomination and
selection of an individual. The “right of calling” (jus vocandi) designates the actual request or call of the individual to serve. The “right of
ordaining” (jus ordinandi) refers to the act by which one is placed into
the public office of ministry.37

Therefore, the confessional understanding of rite vocatus involves
three elements: examination (or certification), call, and ordination.
The examination identifies an individual who has been properly prepared in terms of doctrine and whose life will be in keeping with the
office he is to hold. The call is the congregation’s affirmation that God
has called this individual to serve them as their pastor. The ordination provides the means by which the wider church—the Synod, in
our case— recognizes the examination and call of the individual and
places him into the ministry of the church. Thus, the congregation’s
call is the local affirmation of an individual’s ministry, and ordination is the transparochial affirmation of the same. So the CTCR said
in 1981:
We stress the fact that ordination is the declaration of the whole
confessional fellowship. In the end, a single congregation or an agency
representing larger segments of the church does issue the call. Neverthe-

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