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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 365

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

IX. 2016 RESOLUTION 13-01A TASK FORCE REPORT
Pieper’s classic systematic theology, he begins his locus on Public
Ministry with: “The term ‘ministry’ is used both in Scripture and
by the Church in a general, or wider, and in a special, or narrower,
sense. In the wider sense it embraces every form of preaching the
Gospel or administering the Means of Grace, whether by Christians
in general as originally entrusted with the Means of Grace and commissioned to apply them, or by chosen public servants (ministri
ecclesiae) in the name and at the command of Christians.”145 Eugene F. Klug employs the same distinction: “The Church owes its
existence to the Word, not vice versa, and ‘wherever the Church is,
there is the authority to administer the Gospel’ ... .” Christ thereby
establishes a “single ministry” that “has both a wide and a narrow
sense.” Every Christian shares in the ministry in the wide sense,
proclaiming the Word in daily life. But a “proper and pointed sense”
of the term ministry refers to the Office of Public Ministry where
a man is called by gathered believers (a church) to “administer the
Means of Grace, Word and Sacraments, for themselves publicly.”146
So also the newest dogmatics text in use in the LCMS refers to
the Ministry of the Word in both a wide and narrow sense.147 With
respect to the relationship of the royal priesthood and the Office of
Public Ministry, it states: “A God-given, wholesome, and blessed
relationship exists between ministry in the wide sense on the part of
the royal priests and ministry in the narrow sense by the called servant of the Word.” Moreover, “The fact that the work of the pastor
is essentially the same as the ministry entrusted to all the ‘priests’
proclaiming the word is not intended by God to create an adversarial tension. On the contrary, these two lofty offices or stations, both
instituted by God, must be understood as two poles of a sphere,
around which the ministry of the Word turns, so that the gospel may
be smoothly and effectively promulgated in the world.”148
In its 1981 report The Ministry: Offices, Procedures, and Nomenclature, the CTCR quotes the aforementioned portion of Franz
Pieper’s work. It then adds: “There are those who would prefer to
use the term ‘ministry’ only in the narrower sense. They feel that
this avoids confusion. Others feel that to speak of ‘the ministry of
the laity’ is not only permissible but even essential, so that the individual witnessing and teaching of Christians in general may be
properly stressed and dignified.”149 This well-captures the potential
for confusion and also indicates one of the ways in which the relationship of the royal priesthood and the Office of Public Ministry
has sometimes been marked by tension rather than by harmony.
Our task force cannot resolve the difference of opinion indicated by
this quotation. But we can urge the Synod to recognize two facts.
First, our Synod’s theological tradition has chosen to use the word
“ministry” in a dual sense. Second, its dual use is intended to stress
the very focus of this task—on the complementarity of the royal
priesthood and the Office of Public Ministry. Both exist by God’s
intent and design for His purposes, and do so not as adversaries,
but in complementary harmony. Both are instituted by Christ. Furthermore, as a non-believer hears and responds to God’s Word as
proclaimed by the royal priest, the next step will be to connect the
unchurched individual to a congregation and its pastor, to be joined
in the communion of saints and to receive the Means of Grace.
Therefore, as the Confessions show, the public office is not
mere convenience or a matter of human orderly arrangement. It is
God’s gift. Walther quotes Gerhard: “The principal effective cause
of the church office is the one and only true God, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit.”150
Walther asserts that the Office is conferred mediately through
the congregation (assembly of believers) who have “the priesthood

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immediately.” The result is that both priesthood and Office are
given by God. Such points are enacted liturgically in the Synod as
we carry on the apostolic custom and ordain and install men into
the Office of Public Ministry. As ordination begins, the presider
says:
151

Beloved in the Lord, full name of candidate has
been called by the Lord of the Church into the Office of the Holy Ministry of the Word and Sacraments. He has been prepared for this ministry by
careful study and prayer. He has been examined
and declared ready and prepared to undertake this
sacred responsibility, and, by the guidance of God
the Holy Spirit, he has in the Church’s usual order
been called to be type of ministry of/at name and
place. According to apostolic practice, he is now
presented to be ordained and consecrated to this office established by God.
After the candidate hears the reading of a number of passages
describing the institution of the Office, its responsibilities, and its
strength and promise, the presider continues:
God gathers His Church by and around His Holy
Gospel and thereby also grants it growth and increase according to His good pleasure. That this
may be done, He has established the Office of the
Holy Ministry into which you have been called by
the Church and are now to be ordained and consecrated by prayer and the laying on of hands.152
The presider then asks the assembly: “Will you, the faithful,
according to the Church’s public confession, and speaking for the
whole Church, receive name as a servant of Christ and minister of
Word and Sacrament?” In so doing, the office is filled in that place
as God requires.
As the Synod’s liturgy reveals our theology, so also does our
catechesis. The 2017 edition of Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation includes the following question and answer:

214.

What is the mission of the Church on earth?

The Church’s mission is to confess and proclaim the
forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake (1) by preaching
the Word, administering the sacraments, sending missionaries, establishing new congregations, and (2) by
the daily witness of the baptized children of God, His
royal priesthood.
719 Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”
720 Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’
teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread
and the prayers.
721 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession,
that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who
called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
2019 Convention Workbook