LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 373

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IX. 2016 RESOLUTION 13-01A TASK FORCE REPORT
that you in your homes are to help us carry on the ministry as we do in the
church” (AE 51:137).
86 One should not ignore the attention given to this theme by other
reformers, including Philip Melanchthon.
87 Debates among German Lutherans about the right understanding of
the church and its ministry raged in the 1800s, especially in North America
where Lutherans were planting churches and preparing pastors to care for
them. These churches and programs of training were not associated with
the state churches of Germany and some questioned the very status of the
newly planted churches as true churches and denied that the ministers were
rightly called and ordained. Many felt that Lutheran theology on church
and office was inadequate and required further development in light of
such challenging circumstances. Walther believed that the Word of God,
the confessions and orthodox theological tradition were unambiguous
about church and office. His goal in C&O is to state clearly and succinctly
(in theses) what has been believed and taught (thus providing extensive
references and quotations with minimal commentary) so that we continue
to do so. See his Preface to the First Edition (1852), especially page xvi,
in C&O.
88 The Synod first declared Walther’s Theses on Church and Ministry
to be its doctrine in 1851. In 2001 Walther’s Kirche und Amt was reaffirmed “as the definitive statement under Holy Scripture and the Lutheran
Confessions of the Synod’s understanding on the subject of church and
ministry” Resolution 7-17A, Convention Proceedings (LCMS, 2001), 172.
89 “Priesthood and Office,” 10.
90 Each thesis is followed by a section titled “Proof from God’s
Word,” followed by a section with Confessional references and lastly
other orthodox witnesses. Walther cites 1 Peter 2 as a “proof text” only for
Thesis IV on the Church (C&O 38).
91 Thesis I (Office), C&O 152.
92 Thesis IV (Office), C&O 188.
93 Theses IV and VII (Church), C&O 40, 79; Theses VI and VII (Office), C&O 215, 243, 265.
94 Thesis VII (Office) is most emphatic on this point. C&O 262–283.
95 See Thesis II on the Office, confessional witnesses, where he quotes
Hartmann and Luther. C&O 169–170.
96 The translation with all bold emphases is from Thesis I (Office),
C&O 155; italics added. The original source is That a Christian Assembly Has the Right to Judge All Teaching (1523), Halle 10:1801–2 (AE
39:309–310).
97 Thesis I (Office), C&O 156; bold emphasis in the original.
98 Martin Luther, That a Christian Assembly Has the Right and
Power to Judge All Teaching and to Call, Appoint, and Dismiss Teachers, Established and Proven by Scripture, AE 39:309–310. See also from
Luther: “Whoever maintains this distinction between office and person can
also properly distinguish between false preachers and true preachers, sects
and teachers of the truth. And this judgment must rest with you. You must
be certain of when your pastor and teacher is remaining in his office and
not stepping out of it, so that you may know when you should avoid him.
As distinguishing marks you have the Ten Commandments, the Christian
Creed, Baptism, the Sacraments, the Keys.” Luther then says about a pastor who fails to teach faithfully according to the Catechism: “Therefore, I
am not obligated to be obedient in this matter but should much rather flee
and avoid you.” AE 69:357–358.
99 Thesis I (Office), C&O 163–164. Bold emphasis in the original.
100 Thesis VII (Office), C&O 262. Thesis VII says: “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.”
101 Ibid., 264.
102 From Gerhard’s Loci Theologici, De baptismo, 36, in C&O, 280.
103 Note: He does not include the Sacrament of the Altar.

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104 Ziegler, 11. The quotation is from C. F. W. Walther, Gnadenjahr
(Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1891), 440, translated by John
Martin Drickamer (The Doctrine of the Church in the Writings of Dr. C. F.
W. Walther, Th.D. Thesis, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, 1978), 250–51.
Ziegler includes this additional quote: “No one should say, ‘But I am no
pastor, no teacher, no preacher. Let him teach, admonish, comfort, convert
and bring to Christ. But I will stay in my vocation. No, my Christian. You
have been baptized and through holy baptism you have already been called
and anointed a priest of God. Through holy baptism every Christian is
consecrated, ordained and installed in the office of teaching, admonishing, comforting and rebuking his neighbour. Through holy baptism every
Christian has received not only the power, the full authority, and the right,
but also the obligation, under penalty of losing divine grace, himself to
watch, care, and help that other may also be enlightened and brought to
Christ, the Bishop of their souls” (C. F. W. Walther, Gnadenjahr, 438,
Drickamer, trans. ibid., 256–257).
105 See John Pless, “Catechesis for Life in the Royal Priesthood,”
Logia 3:4 (October 1994): 2–10.
106 Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod,
8, http://www.lcms.org/Document.fdoc?src=lcm&id=958. We should note
that Walther’s Thesis X on the Office makes this same point.
107 Brief Statement § 31, 8–9.
108 The Mission of the Christian Church to the World, http://www.
lcms.org/ctcr, 8.
109 Ibid., 16.
110 AE 13:333, emphasis added.
111 C&O 264, emphasis added.
112 Martin Luther, AE 40:18; emphasis in the original.
113 The English word pastor is derived from the Latin word for shepherd. The term shepherd, although generally unused as a reference to the
Office of Public Ministry in English, is valuable. Its use as both a noun and
a verb—“A shepherd will shepherd a flock”—(which is also the case in
Greek, ποιμήν [poimen] and ποιμαίνω [poimaino]), associates the shepherd’s
title with his work.
114 Walther quotes Johann Gerhard on this in C&O, 175: “The
principal effective cause of the church office is the one and only true God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” The quotation continues from 175–178
(bold in original).
115 The Confessions do not derive the Office from the royal priesthood, but from the Lord’s apostolic mandate. See the following Scripture
references in the BOC: John 20:21–23 (AC XXVIII:6–7; Tr 9, 23, 31);
Luke 10:16 (AC XXVIII:22; AC VII/VIII:28, 47); Matthew 16:18–19 (Tr
22,25); Matthew 28:19–20 (Tr 31); John 21:17 (Tr 30).
116 So Walther: “The holy apostles place themselves on an equal
footing with the servants of the church who were called mediately as their
co-laborers in the office” (C&O 168).
117 With regard to this passage, Gregory Lockwood notes that in this
list Paul “turns from the three kinds of persons who held specific offices to
which they were called [that is, apostle, prophet, and teacher], to list five
gifts which could be exercised by various members of the church. These
gifts did not necessarily involve a call to a continuing role or office.” In
Concordia Commentary: 1 Corinthians, (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing
House, 2000), 453.
118 Πρεσβύτερος [presbyteros] is the most common of several NT titles
for leaders in Judaism and within the church.
119 The Greek term for “overseer” is ἐπίσκοπος [episkopos], also
translated as bishop.
120 Elders are aligned with the chief priests (e.g., Matt. 21:23 and
Matt. 26:3) and are identified as church leaders in Acts 11:30; Acts
15:1–29; Acts 16:4; Acts 20:17; Acts 21:18; 1 Timothy 4:14; 5:17–19;
Titus 1:5; James 5:14; 2 John 1:1; 3 John 1:1).
121 Paul employs titles for the ministry of the Word in the pastorals
such as “overseer” (1 Tim. 3:1–7; Titus 1:7) and “elder” (1 Tim 4:14;

2019 Convention Workbook