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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 363

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

IX. 2016 RESOLUTION 13-01A TASK FORCE REPORT
pel must be proclaimed! But it is not proclaimed only by its public
ministers. Therefore Walther says in one of his convention essays:
Mark well in this connection that when we speak
about the office of the Gospel we thereby do not
mean the ‘Herr Pastor’ or parson or a holy man
(Geistlichen), as one is accustomed to say, but really nothing else than the divine order according to
which a person is brought to God’s grace through
the verbalizing of the Gospel, whether he reads it or
hears it or merely thinks of it. It doesn’t make any
difference whether he hears it from a preacher or
from any other person, even if the latter is a mere
boy or a little girl or a little old grandmother. When
these speak the Word of God, that is the preaching
office [or office of proclamation]. One needs to distinguish very strictly between the preaching office
(Predigtamt) and the office of the ministry (Pfarramt). The office of the ministry [i.e., the pastor
himself] is not absolutely necessary to bring people
into heaven; the preaching office [the Gospel verbalized] is absolutely necessary.129
In other words, salvation always requires the Gospel to be spoken, but it will not always be a pastor who speaks it.
Does this make pastors unimportant? By no means! As St.
Paul (and Walther) would note, the highest privilege and a most
noble calling (1 Tim. 3:1) is given to the pastor. He is to serve the
church as its public minister and boldly share the Means of Grace
with the people of God, and with these means, life and salvation.
We turn then to the Confessions’ view of the Office in its “concrete”
dimension in AC XIV: “Concerning church government it is taught
that no one should publicly teach, preach, or administer the sacraments without a proper [public] call.”130
Note well: here the focus is clearly on the person who should
teach, preach, and administer “publicly.” That man should have a
proper, orderly call. He must be appointed in such a manner that
his responsibility and work are certain and sure. No one else should
preach, teach, or administer publicly for the Church.
We also must clarify that references to “public” ministry indicate a distinctive sense of “public.” Ordinarily, something done
“in public” implies an open setting and a wide audience. But in
the context of the Office of Public Ministry “public” refers to a
publicly recognized Office and responsibility. A pastor’s sick call
in a private home is still an act of “public ministry.” But when a
lay person speaks of Christ “in public” to a group of people, it is
surely a witness to Christ, but it is not an act of public ministry in
the sense of AC XIV.
The nature of the proper call became the point of debate with
Rome, which approved AC XIV with the proviso that Rome would
determine who is or is not properly called by means of “canonical
ordination.”131 The Reformers desired a circumstance in which they
could comply, but were unable to do so in good conscience because
Roman bishops would provide ordination only at the cost of the
Gospel.132 Moreover, the Reformers could confidently assert that
the denial of canonical ordination could not prevent the existence of
the Church in their midst: “We know that the church exists among
those who rightly teach the Word of God and rightly administer the
sacraments. ...”133 Later, Melanchthon would articulate the conclusion implied in this train of thought: “Therefore, where the true
church is, there must also be the right of choosing and ordaining

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ministers, just as in an emergency even a layperson grants absolution and becomes the minister or pastor of another.”134
Finally, AC XXVIII again discusses the Office, distinguishing
ecclesiastical and secular power.
Our people teach as follows. According to the
gospel the power of the keys or of the bishops is
a power and command of God to preach the gospel, to forgive or retain sin, and to administer and
distribute the sacraments. For Christ sent out the
apostles with this command (John 20[:21–23]):
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you. … Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any,
they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any,
they are retained.”
The same power of the keys or of the bishops is
used and exercised only by teaching and preaching
God’s Word and by administering the sacraments
to many persons or to individuals, depending on
one’s calling. Not bodily but eternal things and
benefits are given in this way, such as eternal righteousness, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life.135
Note that in AC XXVIII Melanchthon defines the power of the
bishops as the power of the keys, not “secular power, sword, and
authority” (§ 4). He then speaks, furthermore, of that power as it is
exercised (see Latin text of § 8), showing that only in this way are
eternal benefits given.
In Article XIII the Apology also develops a narrow sense of
the Office of Ministry or preaching.136 Melanchthon objects to the
Roman view of sacrificial priesthood which does “not consider the
priesthood as a ministry of the Word and of the sacraments administered to others” (§ 7). Arguing that “priests are called to preach the
gospel and to administer the sacraments,” Melanchthon declares
that the confessors would not object if ordination into this public
office of preaching and administering the sacraments were called a
sacrament because “the ministry of the Word” has God’s command
and “magnificent promises.”137 Even as AC V refers to the ministry
of the Word, or preaching office, in a wide sense (Walther’s in abstracto), Melanchthon can then elsewhere refer to the ministry of
the Word or office of preaching in the narrow sense (in concreto) of
the ordained preacher of the Word. (Therefore, both a wide/abstract
and narrow/concrete sense of ministry [preaching office] usage is
evident within the Confessions themselves. It is not a later development of Lutheran Orthodoxy, much less Walther.)138
Turning to the catechisms, we first note the manner in which
the Small Catechism Table of Duties assumes and affirms the public
office in quoting 1 Timothy 3 and, in later texts of the Catechism,
What Hearers Owe Their Pastors, quoting 1 Corinthians 9:14; Galatians 6:6; 1 Timothy 5:17–18; and Hebrews 13:17.139 In addition,
Luther’s reference to the office holders as “spiritual fathers”140 in
the Large Catechism should be considered—a title belonging “only
to those who govern and guide us by the Word of God” (citing
1 Cor. 4:15). He chides those who fail to provide for these men
and encourages the preachers to be faithful despite their want. “We
ought to be willing to run to the ends of the earth to obtain them
[faithful spiritual fathers]” (§166)—so highly does Luther commend the Office of Public Ministry.
c.

The Office of Public Ministry in fathers of the
church (Luther, Walther, et al.)
2019 Convention Workbook