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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 360

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

360

IX. 2016 RESOLUTION 13-01A TASK FORCE REPORT
him to a place where he can be cared for. We consider ourselves called to this task through the call
of Christian love. So if a Christian finds a person
wounded in his soul, and if he can do something to
help, then he should also not think, “What does that
concern me? The spiritual physician, the preacher,
can come and help him.” No, O Christians, here
you have the call of love, which you have also received. Yes, even if the priest and Levite pass the
needy person by, you should prove yourself, as a
merciful Samaritan, all the more zealous.104

Thus, royal priests share the Word in love for the wounded in
soul, bind their wounds, then take them to the church to be cared for
by pastors as they administer the healing Means of Grace.
This duty makes it incumbent on all of us as members of the
royal priesthood to study and grow in the Word of God. It is an act
of love to be well-prepared to make known the wonders of Christ.
As Lutheran Christians, we may rejoice that we have a simple
tool—the Catechism—to shape our lives as members of the royal
priesthood.105
The unambiguous perspective of Walther on the royal priesthood led the Missouri Synod to include a strong affirmation of the
individual Christian’s “gifts and rights.” Although the terminology of the royal priesthood is not present, article 30 from the Brief
Statement is very much pertinent to our discussion:
30. The Original and True Possessors of All Christian Rights and Privileges—Since the Christians
are the Church, it is self-evident that they alone
originally possess the spiritual gifts and rights
which Christ has gained for, and given to, His
Church. Thus, St. Paul reminds all believers: “All
things are yours,” 1 Cor. 3:21, 22, and Christ Himself commits to all believers the keys of the kingdom of heaven, Matt. 16:13–19, 18:17–20, John
20:22, 23, and commissions all believers to preach
the Gospel and to administer the Sacraments, Matt.
28:19–20; 1 Cor. 11:23–25. Accordingly, we reject all doctrines by which this spiritual power or
any part thereof is adjudged as originally vested
in certain individuals or bodies, such as the Pope,
or the bishops, or the order of the ministry, or the
secular lords, or councils, or synods, etc. The officers of the Church publicly administer their offices only by virtue of delegated powers, and such
administration remains under the supervision of the
latter, Col. 4:17. Naturally all Christians have also
the right and the duty to judge and decide matters
of doctrine, not according to their own notions, of
course, but according to the Word of God, 1 John
4:1; 1 Peter 4:11.106
The article on the public ministry follows in the Brief Statement. It provides the rationale for the public ministry while also
encouraging the daily application of the Means of Grace by every
believer: “the Christians of a certain locality must apply the Means
of Grace not only privately and within the circle of their families
nor merely in their common intercourse with fellow-Christians,
John 5:39; Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:16, but they are also required, by the
divine order, to make provision that the Word of God be publicly
preached in their midst, and the Sacraments administered according
2019 Convention Workbook

to the institution of Christ, by persons qualified for such work.”107
The important role of the royal priesthood in the Church’s
Gospel outreach is also addressed by a CTCR report from 1974:
“We affirm also that every Christian is a missionary through Holy
Baptism. By water and the Word we have not only been baptized
into Christ’s death and His resurrection but also into His body,
which is the church, and into His mission.”108 Once again, in 1991,
the heading of section V. of A Theological Statement of Mission asserts that, “God’s Mission Is My Mission.” The report adds: “The
mission God gives to the whole church he also gives to each individual member of the church. In Holy Baptism God adopted each of
us by name into his family, and called us to be involved personally
in the task of reaching out to all people with his saving Gospel.”109
The CTCR has also completed a full report on the royal priesthood as noted at the beginning of this section. After tracing this
teaching from its scriptural roots through the Reformation, The
Royal Priesthood: Identity and Mission offers seven helpful concluding statements:
1.

The royal priesthood is a biblical way to identify, teach
and confess the “one, holy, catholic (Christian), and
apostolic Church.” That is to say, the royal priesthood is
all believers, “from every tribe and language and people
and nation” whom God has made a kingdom and priests
(Rev. 5:9–10) by working in them faith in Christ by the
power of the Holy Spirit.

Individuals become priests of the royal priesthood, the
Church, by the saving promises of Baptism into Christ
where we receive the washing of rebirth, the forgiveness
of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit (John 3:5; Acts
2:38–39; Titus 3:5).

The royal priesthood finds its identity only in Christ, the
Great High Priest and only mediator between God and
man. Royal priests are in turn called to lives of priestly
mediation between God and the world. They offer living sacrifices of thanksgiving—not sacrifices of merit
or atonement. In prayer they intercede on behalf of all
people. They make known the excellencies of God in
Christ—sharing His Word, gifts, and blessings with all
nations. (See 1 Tim. 2:5; Rom. 12:1; Phil. 4:6; 1 Peter
2:9.)

As the people of God, both corporately and individually,
we mediate God’s truth of salvation and life to the world
around us. Every individual believer is called to confess
the faith to others since the mission of the whole church,
that is, the entire royal priesthood, is to make disciples
of all nations (Matt. 28:19–20). Members of the royal
priesthood share in that calling as they “give a defense
for the hope that is within” them in their daily lives (1
Peter 3:15).

Each royal priest is to exercise the functions of the royal
priesthood—sacrifice, prayer, proclamation—in a way
that accords with his or her vocation within the three
estates of home, church and society. (See Eph. 5–6; Col.
3; 1 Tim. 2.)