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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 370

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370

IX. 2016 RESOLUTION 13-01A TASK FORCE REPORT

nevertheless every believer is bound, at the peril of losing his salvation, to flee all false teachers, avoid all heterodox congregations or
sects, and confess and adhere to orthodox congregations and their
orthodox preachers wherever such may be found.
A. Also in heterodox and heretical churches there are children of God, and also there the true Church is made
manifest by the pure Word and the Sacraments that still
remain.
B. Every believer for the sake of his salvation must flee all
false teachers, and avoid fellowship with heterodox
congregations or sects.
C. Every Christian for the sake of his salvation is in duty
bound to acknowledge and adhere to orthodox congregations and orthodox preachers, wherever he can find
such.
THESIS IX: To obtain salvation, only fellowship in the invisible Church, to which alone all the glorious promises regarding the
Church were originally given, is absolutely necessary.

Concerning the Holy Preaching Office or the Pastoral
Office
THESIS I: The holy preaching office or pastoral office is an
office distinct from the office of priest, which all believers have.
THESIS II: The preaching office or the pastoral office is not
a human institution but an office that God Himself has established.
THESIS III: The preaching office is not an optional office but
one whose establishment has been commanded to the Church and
to which the Church is properly bound till the end of time.
THESIS IV: The preaching office is not a special state in opposition to or holier than that of ordinary Christians, as was the
Levitical priesthood; rather, it is an office of service.
THESIS V: The preaching office has the authority to preach
the Gospel and administer the holy Sacraments, as well as the authority of spiritual judgment.
THESIS VI: The preaching office is conferred by God through
the congregation as the possessor of all ecclesiastical authority, or
the Keys, and through the call that is prescribed by God. The ordination of those who are called with the laying on of hands is not a
divine institution but an apostolic, churchly order and only a solemn public confirmation of the call.
THESIS VII: The holy preaching office is the authority, conferred by God through the congregation as the possessor of the
priesthood and of all churchly authority, to exercise the rights of the
spiritual priesthood in public office on behalf of the congregation.
THESIS VIII: The preaching office is the highest office in the
Church, from which flow all other offices in the Church.
THESIS IX: To the preaching office there is due respect as
well as unconditional obedience when the preacher uses God’s
Word. Yet the preacher has no dominion in the church. Therefore,
he has no right to introduce new laws or arbitrarily to establish
adiaphora or ceremonies in the church. The preacher has no right to
inflict and carry out excommunication alone, without the preceding
knowledge of the whole congregation.
THESIS X: To the preaching office, according to divine right,
belongs also the office to judge doctrine, but laymen also possess
this right. Therefore, in the ecclesiastical courts and councils they
are accorded both a seat and vote together with the preachers.
2019 Convention Workbook

Notes
1 The reader is encouraged to read the resolution itself (see Appendix
A).
2 Fourth whereas, quoted from The Private Mass and the Consecration
of Priests, (1533) AE 38:187–188.
3 Second resolve.
4 Fourth whereas, from To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation
Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate (1520), AE 44:127.
5 Fifth whereas. Although Luther refers to “office” in relationship to
the OT priests and then applies “office” to all members of the royal priesthood (AE 13:305ff.), we note that the NT designation of Christians as a
“holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5) is first and foremost a status and identity
that we are given by God. Neither is the public ministry a particular status
or spiritual estate, but an office instituted by God for the service of His
royal priesthood.
6 In this paper, the terms “Office of Public Ministry,” “Office of
Ministry,” “Office of the Holy Ministry,” or simply “Office” are all used
synonymously. In the LCMS we also often refer to this as the pastoral
office. The term Office of Public Ministry is broad enough to include not
only contemporary parish pastors, but also encompasses the many biblical
terms used at various times to refer to those responsible for public preaching and teaching, such as apostle, prophet, bishop (overseer), evangelist,
elder, and minister (deacon).
7 Sixth resolve.
8 The question of how the royal priesthood and the Office of the Holy
Ministry are related is not a new one as we can see from the Reformation itself. See Lowell C. Green, “Change in Luther’s Doctrine of the
Ministry,” Lutheran Quarterly 18 (1966): 173–183 and Hermann Sasse,
“The Lutheran Doctrine of the Office of the Holy Ministry” in The Lonely
Way, vol. 2, ed. Matthew Harrison (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing
House, 2002) 117–139. Roland Ziegler points out that, although there is
great attention to the royal priesthood in the “early Luther,” he continued
to uphold this important teaching throughout his life, citing a sermon from
1540 as an example. See Roland Ziegler, “Priesthood and Office,” (paper
presented at the Association of Confessing Evangelical Lutheran Congregations Free Conference, February 2014), 8, https://acelc.net/2014_free_
conference (accessed October 22, 2018).
9 Two English editions of Walther’s Kirche und Amt are frequently
cited in the LCMS: J. T. Mueller, Church and Ministry (Kirche und Amt):
Witnesses of the Evangelical Lutheran Church on the Question of the
Church and the Ministry (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1987)
and a newer edition, prepared by Matthew C. Harrison, which is distinct
from, yet based on Mueller’s translation and includes significant annotations. It is titled The Church and the Office of the Ministry: Kirche und
Amt: The Voice of Our Church on the Question of Church and Office (St.
Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2012). References herein will be to
the 2012 edition, abbreviated as C&O.
10 See the English translation of Walther’s theses in Appendix B.
CTCR reports pertaining to ministry include The Ministry in Its Relation
to the Christian Church (1973); The Ministry: Offices, Procedures, and
Nomenclature (1981); Theology and Practice of the Divine Call (2003),
www.lcms.org/ctcr.
11 Adopted in 2018. It is available at www.lcms.org/ctcr.
12 Mission of the Church in the World (1974) and A Theological Statement of Mission (1991) at www.lcms.org/ctcr.
13 AE 31:84–85.
14 Thesis VIII (Office), C&O 285.
15 See the words of absolution, LSB, pp. 151, 167, 185, 203. See also
Thesis VIII (Office), C&O 285–286.
16 Thesis IV (Office), C&O 188.
17 Ibid. Regarding status, Walther’s German reads: “Es ist unter ihnen
kein Unterschied des Standes ... .” Mueller’s translation for Standes is
rank.