LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 90

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90

CONVENTION ESSAYS AND REACTIONS

other. The practice of close Communion is a consequence of
believing that our church teaches the Word in its truth and
purity and that other churches do not. If that is true, then
non-Lutherans should be encouraged to think about these
differences and not be lulled into believing that the differences do not matter. The alternative is misleading and dishonest, unless one really believes that the differences do
not matter. Then by all means open the Communion table
to a variety of beliefs and practices, but do not maintain
that your church is any more Lutheran!
We can easily see that different churches teach different
things about God, man, sin, morality, salvation, and the
Savior. But are these differences important? Again, if your
answer is no, they are not important, then obviously close
Communion makes no sense. But if they are important and
you are a Lutheran out of the conviction that the teachings
of the Lutheran Church are in accordance with the Word
of God, then the errors that other churches hold to are unacceptable to those who love the truth.
Now let’s be very clear about this. On the one hand, we
readily acknowledge that true Christians exist in all the
churches where there is still some saving Gospel by which
the Spirit creates faith, even if there are also a host of errors. We are not saved by true doctrine but by faith in
Jesus. But we also insist that belonging to churches that
teach or tolerate false doctrine is dangerous to salvation. It
matters whether people hear that they are saved through
faith in Jesus alone without the works of the Law; it matters whether they believe that God has clothed them with
Christ in Baptism; it matters whether they are taught that
the Bible is absolutely reliable in all that it teaches and
says. Such things matter greatly; and people risk their salvation by adhering to churches that mingle errors with the
truth.
But, some may protest: if we refuse routinely to commune the members of other churches who are visiting our
own, doesn’t this mean that we are withholding the
consolations of the Gospel from them? Of course not, because they can still hear the preaching of Law and Gospel
from our pulpits. Indeed, the practice of close Communion
is actually an act of love, because it shows people that doctrine still matters, truth and error still matter. It may
make us uncomfortable to point to the differences between
churches; but it is hardly loveless when the differences
arise on account of being faithful to the saving Word of God.
Furthermore, our concern in close Communion is not
only for members of other churches but also for our own
members, who may be disturbed in their faith by the practice of open Communion. How confusing it must be if, on
the one hand, in our catechetical instruction we insist on
correct doctrine and in confirmation we pledge our members to the Small Catechism, but in our Communion practice we welcome Christians of all denominations as if the
doctrinal differences or aberrations from that same catechism do not matter. To confuse people about the importance of true doctrine is no more an act of love than it is
loving to confirm people in false doctrine.
If we truly believe that doctrinal error is dangerous to
one’s salvation, then we want to take those steps that lead
200l Convention Proceedings

one away from that error. Practicing close Communion is
one of those steps.
Fellowship at the Lord’s Table, like cooperation in proclaiming the Gospel, presumes unity in the Christian faith.
We express that unity in many ways, not least of all by confessing the faith, namely, doctrine in all its articles. But this
doctrine in turn comes from the Scriptures in which God has
clearly spoken the truth in words we can understand.
These words have not changed in the centuries since
God gave them, so the doctrine is still there. We can know
it and confess it. I am convinced, however, that the problems in our church today regarding fellowship stem largely
from the difficulties we have in modern society in acknowledging and confessing the truth, especially about religion.
But every age has had its own peculiar challenges in following the command of Jesus, “Whoever confesses Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father who is in
heaven; but whoever denies Me before men, him will I also
deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 10:32–33,
NKJV). Luther had to confess the faith at Marburg against
Zwingli and in the face of war; but by the grace of God he
did so and in so doing preserved the saving Gospel in the
Lord’s Supper for the church that bears his name.
Today, the circumstances are far different but the challenge is the same: to remain faithful in the face of powerful
temptations to yield our confession. But by the grace of
God, we too, like Luther, will remain faithful to the truth,
the truth that matters, the truth of God’s Word, because it
is the truth that saves.
Cameron A. MacKenzie
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, IN

Notes
1. For the story of the Marburg Colloquy, see Martin
Brecht, Martin Luther: Shaping and Defining the Reformation, 1521–1532 (Minn.: Fortress, 1990), 325–34.
2. For background and analysis of the debate over the
real presence at Marburg, see James M. Kittelson,
Luther the Reformer: The Story of the Man and His Career (Minn.: Augsburg, 1986), 195–201, 206–08,
220–27; and Hermann Sasse, This Is My Body:
Luther’s Contention for the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar (Adelaide, Australia: Lutheran Publishing House, 1977).
For the Marburg Articles as well as historical accounts
of the proceedings, see Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T.
Lehmann, eds., Luther’s Works, 55 vols. (Phil.: Fortress
and St. Louis: Concordia, 1955–86) 38:3–89.
3. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America entered
into full fellowship with three Reformed church bodies
in 1997 and with the Episcopalians and Moravians in
1999. See “Roller Coaster in Philadelphia,” The
Lutheran, October 1997, 8–12; and “Setting the Stage,”
The Lutheran, October 1999, 9–12.
4. Unless otherwise noted, Bible quotations are from the
New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978,
1984 by International Bible Society.