LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 383

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THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 383

with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send
them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.”

The Pauline Epistles

Paul makes reference to the call of ministers in all of his epis-
tles, and especially in the greetings where as an apostle he lists
himself with Timothy and Silas who share in his ministry (Phil 1:1;
2 Cor 1:1; Col 1:1; 1 Thess 1:1; 2 Thess 1:1; cf. 1 Cor 1:1). Paul
wrote the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus) primarily
to give instructions regarding the ministry and its functions, and el-
igibility for service in this office in the post-apostolic period. He
gave to Titus (1:5) the task of appointing ministers to churches that
he had established—a responsibility that he often assigned to his
co-workers (2 Tim 2:2; 1 Tim 5:21; cf. 2 Cor 8:16-19). It seems
as if the apostles and their successors (such as Titus and Timothy)
were more concerned with the qualifications of the candidates for
the ministry than they were with setting down a once-and-for-all
procedure for selecting them. Paul and his assistants took the ini-
tiative in selecting candidates and the churches testified to their
character. In this way, the whole church—pastors and people—was
involved in the selection of candidates for the ministry and guarded
against those who would usurp the office.

Summary Observations

As we summarize the biblical data that pertain to the call into
the public ministry of the Word, we can say in general the follow-
ing. First, the biblical writers give us several pictures of how the
church actually went about the process of selecting pastors in “nor-
mal,” settled situations. Second, the texts that address the issue are
largely descriptive and narrative in character. This raises the diffi-
cult hermeneutical question as to whether these texts are unique to
themselves, or whether they provide normative guidance for the
church in all times and places. In any case, however, they do not
provide any explicit directives regarding the practice of the call.
Any guidance drawn from these examples, therefore, will neces-
sarily have to be inferential.

We may further conclude that the New Testament appears to be
more concerned with the qualifications and characteristics of the
individual called to serve than with the procedure for placing him
into office. It also seems more important for the church to know
that the man who occupies the pastoral office has been placed there
by God (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 4).

The Lutheran Confessions —

The Lutheran Confessions emphasize that one must be rightly
called in order to function in the public office of the ministry, but
they do not say much about how this is to be done or what this
means. The clues they give can be illuminated by what the reform-
ers did historically. In general, the Confessions stress two points:
pastors are not self-appointed; and, bishops are not the exclusive
ones who may ordain. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession
deals primarily with the former while the Treatise on the Power
and Primacy of the Pope takes up the latter.

Augsburg Confession and Apology XIV

As we consider Article XIV of the Augsburg Confession, it is
important, first of all, to note where this Article appears within the
Confession. Articles I through VI set forth the Reformation mes-
sage based on the theology of the ancient church and her creeds.
That message then shapes the ecclesiological portion of the AC
(Articles VII through XVI). In these articles, the reformers demon-
Strate that the Lutherans were not establishing a new church, but
were making their claim to be church.'’ AC VII and VIII provide a
definition of the church as the assembly of believers gathered
around the Gospel that is preached and the sacraments adminis-
tered. Articles IX through XIII describe those sacraments together
with their purpose in arousing and strengthening faith. Article XIV

addresses the question of who preaches the Word and administers
the sacraments (IX-XIII) within the assembly (AC VII and VII).
AC XV deals with the antitheses of AC VII on churchly traditions.
AC XVI speaks of the relation of the church to the wider society.

Article XIV confesses that to‘serve within the church (that is,
in the office of the public ministry) one must be “rightly called”
(rite vocatus). This brief article, however, does not elaborate on
what the “rightly called” means or involves.

The Roman Confutation approves AC XIV, but with a stipula-
tion. The first draft of the Apology acknowledged this when it for-
mulated the Confutation’s proviso in the words, “that ordination be
performed by bishops (ut ordinatio fiat ab episcopis).” In its final
form the Apology restates this condition as follows: “as long as we
use canonical ordination (si tamen utamur ordinatione canonica).”
The Apology, however, points out that episcopal ordination is not
available to the Lutherans because Roman bishops refuse to ordain
pastors for them. The implication “is that they may have no alter-
native but to avail themselves of ordination by clergymen in pres-
byter’s orders.”'® Melanchthon would make this very point in the
Treatise. For now we note only that in 1530 “rightly called” re-
ferred to a procedure that required nomination by a medieval
bishop and the approval of local patrons, noble or municipal. This
becomes somewhat clearer in the Treatise.

Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope

Although Lutherans were not unwilling to accept ordination
from papal bishops, they were being deprived of such ordination
as a form of punishment. Melanchthon in the AC had already al-
luded to this.'® The refusal of the bishops to ordain was an attempt
to confine the spread of Lutheranism. By 1537 the situation had
become quite serious. The progress of the Reformation depended
on supplying recognized pastors for the congregations. When bish-
ops refused to ordain, the Lutherans responded that the church
could no more be deprived of pastors than it could be deprived of
preaching, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, or any other gift that
the Lord intended for the church (pastor and means of grace go to-
gether).

There was no question that Lutherans must have pastors. Nor
was there any doubt that they should be called and ordained. But
how do Lutherans obtain pastors? Under Roman polity, only bish-
ops could ordain. But they refused. In response to the bishops’ re-
fusal Lutherans ordained their own pastors.”° Philip Melanchthon’s
treatise is a theological rationale for Lutherans to undertake the or-
daining of their own pastors. He tackles the issue in two ways.
First, he stresses the unitary character of the ministry. Second, he
emphasizes that since every pastor possesses the full authority of
the office, any pastor may ordain. The question in the Treatise,
therefore, is this: who may call and ordain? And it should be re-
membered that the main point at issue is the authority of bishops
vs. pastors in territorial churches, not the authority of local congre-
gations vs. the pastor.

While the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
spoke to the question of the equality of bishops over against the
Roman claim to the supremacy of Peter as the first pope (Tr 1-59),
the supplemental and companion treatise on “The Power and Ju-
risdiction of Bishops” speaks to the equality of all clergy, bishops
and pastors (Tr 60-82). According to Roman tradition, priests
could administer five of the seven sacraments, with confirmation
and ordination reserved for the bishops.

Melanchthon does not call into question or address the issue of
the ministry’s existence by divine right (jure divino). However, he
does question the post-apostolic differentiation of grades within it
by the separation of the presbyterate from the episcopate and, by
implication, the subsequent introduction of the initially lay office of
deacon into the major orders of the sacred ministry. These devel-
opments, he insists, exist only by human right (de jure humano).”'

2004 Convention Workbook