LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 386

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386 THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS---COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

”

the sacraments are administered rightly.” As the Apology of the
Augsburg Confession explains, “the church properly speaking” is
the assembly of believers and it is seen where the external church
gathers around the marks, the Gospel and sacraments. Wherever
Christ’s Gospel is preached and His sacraments are administered,
the Spirit gathers believers into Christ’s one church. Though
presently hidden under suffering, the church is in no sense an ab-
stract idea as some might imagine.

The writings in the Book of Concord under the norm of Holy
Scripture comprise the Lutheran church’s solemn and official con-
fession of the pure Gospel and Christ’s sacraments and provide the
basis for and limits of fellowship among Lutheran churches. Un-
like the Roman Catholics and Reformed, Lutherans did not require
uniformity in certain ceremonies and church polity for external fel-
lowship. Nor did Lutherans consider it necessary to submit to the
authority of popes and bishops. Sufficient was agreement in the
Gospel, which they understood to be all of Christian doctrine de-
rived from the Scriptures. That is to say, the Gospel was more than
a minimal confession that Jesus died and rose for all, but it com-
prised the entire Christian faith (FC SD, X, 31).

Since for the Lutheran confessors a church lives by pure doc-
trine, false teachings had to be recognized and condemned or re-
jected. The Preface to the Book of Concord makes it clear that the
object of its condemnations was not persons “who err ingenuously
and who do not blaspheme the truth of the divine Word,” nor “en-
tire churches inside or outside the Holy Empire of the German Na-
tion,” but “only false and seductive doctrines and their stiff-necked
proponents and blasphemers.” Nevertheless, though heterodox
church members who err because of ignorance are exempted from
condemnation, this does not mean that they should receive Holy
Communion at Lutheran altars.

3. The Historic and Lutheran Consensus on Church Fellowship

In the ancient church altar and pulpit fellowship required doc-
trinal agreement and confessional unity. Lutheran theologian
Werner Elert states:

By his partaking of the Sacrament in a church a Christian declares that

the confession of that church is his confession. Since a man cannot at

the same time hold two differing confessions, he cannot communicate in
two churches of differing confessions. If anyone does this neverthe-
less, he denies his own confession or has none at all.

Similarly, and contrary to the practice of Reformed churches in
his day, Luther required confessional agreement for church fellow-
ship.

Some Lutherans in America were in favor of external unity with
Reformed churches (as coerced in the Prussian Union of 1817 in
Europe) and distanced themselves from the classical Lutheran po-
sition. Others (who were not directly associated with the Missouri
Synod) sought to resist the tide of unionism. For example, the Gen-
eral Council in 1875 adopted the Galesburg Rule: “Lutheran pulpits
for Lutheran ministers only. Lutheran altars for Lutheran commu-
nicants only.” (See also statements in the Minneapolis Theses of
the Buffalo, lowa, and Ohio synods [attached to the constitution of
the old American Lutheran Church], predecessor bodies of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Note as well the state-
ment by Franklin Clark Fry, president of the United Lutheran
Church in America [also a predecessor body of ELCA]: “Insistence
upon agreement in doctrine as a precondition for church fellowship
is the distinguishing mark of Lutherans among all Protestants and
should never be relaxed.”’)

4. The Official Position of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod on
Church Fellowship

Since its founding in 1847 The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod has insisted on agreement in doctrine for altar and pulpit fel-
lowship. Its first president, C.F.W. Walther, set forth the Missouri

2001 Convention Workbook

Synod’s position in Thesis XXI of his The Evangelical Lutheran
Church, The True Visible Church of God on Earth:

A. The Ev. Lutheran Church is sure that the teaching contained in its

Symbols is the pure [divine] truth because it agrees with the written

Word of God in all points...B. The Ev. Lutheran Church requires its

members and especially its teachers unreservedly to Confess and vow

fidelity to its symbols...C. The Ev. Lutheran Church rejects all fraternal
and churchly fellowship with those who reject its Confessions in whole
or in part.

In 1932 the Synod set forth its historic position on church fel-
lowship in A Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Mis-
souri Synod (prepared by Francis Pieper):

28. On Church-Fellowship.—Since God ordained that His Word only,

without the admixture of human doctrine, be taught and believed in the

Christian Church, | Pet. 4:11; John 8:31,32; | Tim. 6:34, all Christians

are required by God to discriminate between orthodox and heterodox

church-bodies, Matt. 7:15, to have church-fellowship only with ortho-
dox church-bodies, and, in case they have strayed into heterodox
church-bodies, to leave them, Rom. 16:17. We repudiate unionism, that
is, church fellowship with the adherents of false doctrine, as disobedi-
ence to God’s command, as causing divisions in the Church, Rom.
16:17; 2 John 9, 10, and as involving the constant danger of losing the
Word of God entirely, 2 Tim. 2:17-21.

29. The orthodox character of a church is established not by its mere
name nor by its outward acceptance of, and subscription to, an orthodox
creed, but by the doctrine which is actually taught in its pulpits, in its
theological seminaries, and in its publications. On the other hand, a
church does not forfeit its orthodox character through the casual intru-
sion of errors, provided these are combated and eventually removed by
means of doctrinal discipline, Acts 20:30; | Tim. 1:3.
This understanding of church fellowship is further delineated in
the standard dogmatics textbooks of the Synod.
Finally, as one of the “conditions of membership” the Constitu-
tion of the Synod requires:
Renunciation of unionism and syncretism of every description,
such as:
a. Serving congregations of mixed confession, as such, by min-
isters of the church;
b. Taking part in the services and sacramental rites of hetero-
dox congregations or of congregations of mixed confession;
c. Participating in heterodox tract and missionary activities
(Art. VI, 2).
While disagreement exists in the Synod regarding the application
of its position on church fellowship, the Synod has adopted resolu-
tions over the years affirming and applying its position to special
situations (e.g., joint wedding services—-1977 Res. 3-25).

5. Postscript

This document is offered as a study of the Synod’s position on
church fellowship on the basis of the Scriptures and the Confes-
sions, with reference also to church history— including the
Synod’s own history. It is presented in the conviction that true unity
in the doctrine of the Gospel is a priceless, undeserved gift to be
treasured and cultivated in humility. “Let him who boasts, boast of
the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:31; Jer. 9:24)

The Lutheran Understanding of Church Fellowship
Questions for Discussion

Fellowship in the Scriptures

1. Fellowship is having something in common with someone.
How does this definition apply to church fellowship?

2. What does the New Testament say concerning church fel-
lowship with those who teach false doctrine?

3. Discuss this statement concerning altar and pulpit fellowship:
“The church’s internal unity, known only to God (Eph. 1:4),
is expressed by an external or outward fellowship based on
confession.”