LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 417

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THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 417

use it refers to the more formal monologues designed especially to
give information (Matt. 4:23; 5-7; 13:36f; John 6:59; 1 Cor. 4:17;
| Tim. 2:12). A teacher is one who performs the function or fills
the office of instruction. Ability and fitness for the work are re-
quired (Rom. 2:20; Heb. 5:12).
Proslambano makes it very clear that Aquila and Priscilla “took
Apollos aside,” admitting him into their friendship and quite possi-
bly (according to many interpreters) into their home. That means
the “teaching” of Priscilla and Aquila was private and personal, not
public and general. This was a private conversation, not a gathering
of the “church that meets in their home.”
The “teaching” they did was also “ektithemi” rather than “di-
dasko.” At most, this example suggests that a woman may “ek-
tithemi” (tutor?) a man on an individual basis regarding the Chris-
tian faith. It does not contradict the normative declaration of 1 Tim.
2:12, which establishes that a woman may not “didasko” (teach au-
thoritatively and publicly in monologue or an interlocutory man-
ner) a man in the Church.
Finally, notice that Priscilla is accompanied by her husband,
Aquila, everywhere her name is mentioned in the Scriptures (here
in Acts 18 as well as Rom. 16:3-4; | Cor. 16:19; and 2 Tim. 4:19).
Some citations list her first, indicating that she was a woman of ad-
mirable talent and devotion.
3. The Commission concludes that a woman may serve as a
“teacher of theology”
in the sense of providing “instruction” or “explanation” analogous
to the instruction that takes place in, for example, theology departments
in secular or church-affiliated universities or in congregational Bible
classes or Sunday school classes.
No, she may not. The “instruction” the Commission would im-
properly permit here is “didasko,” not “ektithemi.” As explained
above, the latter word suggests that a woman might tutor theology
in such contexts, especially in the company of her husband.
As the Commission acknowledges, synodically affiliated uni-
versities are entities in and of the church. The teaching that occurs
there is (and must be) understood as the teaching of the church, and
the professors answer to the church and its pastors for what is
taught. Congregational Sunday school and Bible Classes are forums
in and of the church, and the teachers answer to the church and its
pastors for what is taught. Theological education at a “higher level”
is different in degree, but not in kind. | Timothy 2:12 clearly states
that a woman may not teach a man publicly in the church.
Teaching, preaching and the administration of the Sacraments
are not “portions” of the Gospel somehow incomplete by them-
selves. Each delivers the full gifts of Christ in the Gospel. For this
reason, many believe that theological professors at our colleges and
seminaries can and should be considered in the Predigtamt, or
preaching office, which is the one office of the Holy Ministry.
According to the CTCR’s 1981 report The Ministry: Offices,
Procedures, and Nomenclature, “‘an office is not defined solely by
what one who holds it does (function) but by the duties, responsi-
bility, and accountability assigned to it.”° To determine if the
“function” of “teaching” is an “office” or not, therefore, we look
to see if there are
* Duties: an expectation of tasks to be performed and objectives
achieved;

* Responsibility: those tasks and objectives will not be performed
or fulfilled if this person does not participate in them; and

¢ Accountability: this person answers to others for the manner of
performance, efficiency, effectiveness, and results.

Where these three are present—duties, responsibility, and ac-
countability—we may with confidence conclude that an “office”
exists.

Presumably, the professor of theology at a Concordia univer-
sity or seminary has assigned duties. The subject matter of his
courses is somehow circumscribed by the expectations of the pres-

ident, the dean of faculty, his department chair, his colleagues, and
his students.

How could the Scriptures, Confessions, and Catechism be pub-
licly taught (didask?) in an LCMS congregation by a Bible class
leader or Sunday school teacher without responsibility and ac-
countability for what is taught? How much more inconceivable is
this for a professor of theology at a synodical school?

To be “the teacher” is to exercise the functions of the office. If
the one asked, invited, recruited or hired to each is not “holding”
the office, he (or she) is certainly sitting in it.

Remember that more than anything else, Martin Luther was a
professor of theology. Through his academic writings and disputa-
tions, the Reformation he launched began first in the university. It
spread through the other faculty at the University of Wittenberg
and to its students, and then to other universities before it ever
reached local congregations to any significant degree (see Appen-
dix B).

If one wanted to bring about significant change in the theology
of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and the practice in its
congregations, one might begin by changing the professors of the-
ology at our institutions of higher education.

Cultural forces in America put strong pressures upon all insti-
tutions of higher learning in our country. Most secular institutions
have no means to resist them, but Christian universities can stand
upon the Word of God and the historic teachings of the church.

As the Board for Higher Education grapples with this question
regarding teachers of theology at our Concordia universities. the
cultural influence of feminism cannot be ignored. It must be rec-
ognized as a hostile thought system that is implacably opposed to
orthodox biblical Christianity. The seminaries and universities of
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod must resist this force. not
accede to it.

Appendix A

The Office of Teacher
in the Ancient Church

Herman Sasse delivered this, his inaugural lecture, as profes-
sor at the University of Erlangen, on May 18, 1946, 13 years
after it was supposed to have been presented.

(He had to flee the Nazi regime shortly after his appointment
in 1933.)

Sasse undertook to explain the essence of the office and assess
its history. He demonstrated that the three offices of apostle.
prophet, and teacher were intertwined with one another—different
manifestations over time of one office. The didaskalos or
doctor/teacher was the expositor of God’s written Word in the
Bible. Then he explained what this teaching in the church involved:

Two important ideas connected with the office of the ancient Chris-
tian teacher are explained by this connection: the ideas of tradition and
succession. ... Paul says, “I made known to you, brothers, the Gospel
which I have proclaimed, which you also have received. ... I have first
of all handed over to you (paredoka) what [ also have received (pure-
labon), that Christ was killed for our sins according to the Scriptures™
(1 Cor 15:1-3). Parelabon-paredoka: These are the technical terms of
the Oriental tradition, in which an authoritatively given teaching of a
great master or a teaching of practical wisdom for living or a godly rev-
elation would be handed down from one generation to the next.

... the parelabon-pardedoka goes back into the thought of the apos-
tle. When Paul spoke of the institution of the Holy Supper, he intro-
duced his report with these words: “I have received it from the Lord,
what I also have handed over to you” (1 Cor 11:23). However this
“from the Lord” may be understood, whether in the idea of “directly
from the Lord” or in the idea of a handing over, the Lord stands at the
beginning. The crucial thing is this, that the apostle regards it as his task
to pass on the content of the revelation which has been given to him,
undiminished and unaltered, without reduction and without ornamenta-
tion.

2004 Convention Workbook