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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 358

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

358

IX. 2016 RESOLUTION 13-01A TASK FORCE REPORT
and household; a brother, neighbor, citizen, or
peasant for the other. Certainly one Christian may
instruct and admonish another ignorant or weak
Christian concerning the Ten Commandments, the
Creed, or the Lord’s Prayer. And he who receives
such instruction is also under obligation to accept it
as God’s Word and publicly to confess it.81

Lastly, this priestly calling to proclaim Christ is most important where He is not known. So, Luther says that if a Christian is
“where there are no Christians he needs no other call than to be a
Christian, called and anointed by God from within.”82 He does so
out of “brotherly love at the need of the poor and perishing souls”
without waiting for any formal obligation. “For need breaks all
laws and has none.”83
Similarly, as noted above in several references, the catechisms
of Luther make evident the priestly responsibilities of holy living
in sacrifice and prayer. We add only one important confessional
reference, namely, the Small Catechism’s closing sections on Daily Prayer and the Table of Duties.84 As he did in the chief parts,
Luther offers a section on prayer with the subheading, “How the
head of the family should teach his household to pray morning
and evening.” Each Christian—each royal priest—is to come to
God, marked by the baptismal name, confessing the Creed, praying the Lord’s Prayer, giving thanks, and asking for God’s protection. Added to such prayer, all the priesthood is also instructed in
their sacrificial duties, according to their respective vocations in the
Table of Duties. It is worthwhile to add that Luther, in conclusion,
reminds “everyone” of the duty to love the neighbor and pray “for
everyone.”85
Throughout the foregoing discussion of the royal priesthood
we have regularly referred to a few of many Luther references. He
is rightly credited with having recovered the biblical teaching of the
royal priesthood in his reforming efforts.86 Moreover, his particular
calling as a doctor of biblical theology makes it appropriate to reference him liberally in our discussion of the biblical foundation for
the doctrine of the royal priesthood.
c)

The view from the LCMS—the royal priesthood
in Walther and official teaching

A thoroughgoing historical review of the royal priesthood in
Lutheran theology and even for the Missouri Synod in particular
is beyond the scope of this report. We will instead focus on C. F.
W. Walther as we conclude our discussion of the royal priesthood.
And, in looking at Walther’s work, we will largely confine ourselves to a brief consideration of his Church and Office [Ministry]
(C&O). Originally published in 1852 as Die Stimme unserer Kirche
in der Frage von Kirche und Amt,87 C&O is so foundational for
the LCMS that the Missouri Synod has twice affirmed Walther’s
work as the right understanding of our church body’s teaching.88
It is fully appropriate, therefore, to give him pride of place. However, one should note that referring to C&O as “Walther’s work”
would probably elicit a “Nein,” from Walther himself. As Roland
Ziegler has noted: “Walther’s claim is not to give his opinion, but
as the German title says, to present ‘The Voice of our Church on the
Question of Church and Ministry/Office.’ This is the reason why
the book consists mostly of quotations, because Walther wants to
give what the Lutheran Church historically has taught.”89
Walther’s work contains two sets of theses, one on the Church,
another on the Office of Public Ministry. The structure itself testifies to balance—that Missouri’s doctrine intentionally affirms
2019 Convention Workbook

a complementary relationship between the whole people of God
(the Church, royal priesthood) and the Office in which individuals
serve in the ministry of Word and Sacrament. However, the order
of his two sets of theses is significant. He lays out the doctrine of
the Church before that of its ministry, as a reminder that—as the
Treatise affirms—the Church, established by God, as bearer of the
Keys, has both the authority and obligation from God to call its
ministers.
Walther affirms the royal priesthood in C&O both explicitly and implicitly. Beginning with Thesis I on the Church, that
“The Church in the proper sense of the word is the congregation
of saints,” he defines “Church” as those whom the Spirit calls out
from humanity, those who “truly believe,” excluding hypocrites
(Thesis II). Thesis IV asserts that the Keys belong to the whole
Church and cites 1 Peter 2:9 as “Proof from God’s Word.”90 When
he turns to the Office, his Thesis I—“The holy preaching office or
pastoral office is an office distinct from the office of priest, which
all believers have.”—lists 1 Peter 2:9 as its first proof text. We note
again the way Walther balances Church and Office—or, as he puts
it here, office (the royal priesthood) and Office (the pastoral Office).
While “all believing Christians are priests” there is also “an office
to teach, feed, and rule” that is distinct from the royal priesthood.91
Then, in Thesis IV on the Office, he again cites 1 Peter 2 as proof
that the Office “is not a special state in opposition to or holier than
that of ordinary Christians.”92
On five occasions Walther cites the Treatise (69–72), with its
reference to 1 Peter 2,93 twice in part one on the Church and three
times in part two. In addition, Walther includes 1 Peter 2 thirteen
more times in quotations from the Fathers. Indeed, 1 Peter 2:9 is the
most frequently cited Scripture verse in the entire work. The majority of those citations are in the section on Office rather than in the
first part on the Church. Thereby, Walther denies that the Office of
Public Ministry may be given higher status than the priestly office
and, secondly, he affirms that the Office of the Keys—the office of
ministry—belongs to the whole priestly people of God and is then
exercised publicly—on their behalf—as one from among them is
called to act for them.94 From this perspective, Walther asserts that
the preaching office confessed in AC V is “in abstracto,” that is, in
reference to the Gospel by which alone faith is obtained, and not in
concreto, “in view of the persons who hold the office,” as it is used
in AC XIV (a matter we will return to in greater detail below).95
This perspective prevents any understanding of the Office that
undermines the royal priesthood in practice by suggesting that the
Gospel’s effect is dependent on it being spoken or administered
sacramentally by one in the public Office and that it is ineffective
or without authority when spoken by a lay person (member of the
royal priesthood). Rather, one cannot uphold the Office of Public
Ministry without upholding the priesthood’s continuing responsibility to teach the Word. Luther makes the case for Walther:
No one can deny that every Christian has God’s
Word and is taught and anointed of God to be a
priest, as Christ says in John 6:45: “They will all
be taught by God”; and Psalm 45:7: “God, your
God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness
beyond your companions.” These companions are
the Christians, Christ’s brothers, who have been
anointed with Him to be priests, as also Peter says
in 1 Peter 2:9. ...
Luther continues after quoting 1 Peter 2:9; 2 Corinthians 4:13;
Psalm 116:10; and Psalm 51:15: