LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — May 12, 2017, Page 7

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4. Suspension Power of the President of the Synod, Constitutionally Considered
The request for reconsideration argues that Const. Art. XII 6 grants to district presidents powers and duties
of the President of the Synod, within their districts, and that Const. Art. XII 7 and 8 enumerate additional
powers and duties of the district presidents originating in their own unique office, which are in no way
derivative of powers inherent to the office of the President of the Synod. The commission finds this analysis
to be contrary to the sense of Const. Art. XII 6, which clearly states that the district presidents, among other
officers of the districts, “have the same rights (Rechte) and duties (Pflichten) as those outlined in this
Constitution for the officers of the Synod but only insofar as these apply to the district and only within the
boundaries of their districts.” The commission also finds reasonable the argument advanced in 2003, that
Const. Art. XI B 2 and 7 and XIII 2 provide constitutional allowance for (and indeed, as Op.16-2791
indicates, warrant) the existence of bylaws outlining the manner in which the President may carry out his
duty and responsibility of ecclesiastical supervision by initiating formal proceedings against a member who
is under district supervision where the matter involves doctrine or practice and the district president has
failed to act or declined to suspend.
Const. Art. XII 7 does indeed indicate: “The district presidents shall, moreover, especially exercise
supervision over the doctrine, life, and administration of office of the ordained and commissioned ministers
of their district…” [emphasis added]. An examination of the underlying parallel German indicates these
words provide no basis to understand that the power of supervision within the district is an extraordinary
power given only and finally to the district presidents. Const. Art. XI speaks of the “rights (Rechte) and
duties (Pflichten)” of the officers of the Synod, to which the “same rights and duties (dieselben Rechte und
Pflichten)” of the district officers correspond (Const. Art. XII 6), “insofar as these apply to the districts and
within the boundaries of their districts.” Const. Art. XI 1 has that “The officers of the Synod must assume
only such rights as have been expressly conferred upon them by the Synod (haben nur solche Rechte in
Anspruch zu nehmen, welche ihnen ausdrücklich von der Synode übertragen sind).” The word right is used
of a power conferred on an office, and the word duty, in a corresponding but distinct way, of an obligation
expected of an office. Officers are to assume only those rights expressly conferred by the Synod (no
distinction is made whether this assignment is by Constitution, Bylaw, or resolution, excepting of course
that Bylaws must be consistent with the Constitution and that resolutions must be consistent with the
Constitution and the Bylaws).
Const. Art. XI B 1 states that the President has the supervision (hat die Auffsicht) over those named
(including “the individual districts of the Synod.”) This is not delineated either as a right or duty, so it is
appropriately considered to be both. Const. Art. XI B 2 spells out a duty (hat die Pflicht) to see to it, etc.,
not a right per se. Const. Art. XI B 3 speaks of the President’s power (Gewalt, here apparently a synonym
for right) to advise, admonish, and reprove, etc.—note that it is not an exhaustive description of his power,
as it does not say “only”—but that it does say “has and always shall have,” extending into the districts of
the Synod, as the last phrase indicates (“in all the districts of the Synod”). Finally, with regard to Const.
Art. XI B 7 10 the phrase “all additional duties” is not a straight translation of the German for “all other
work” (alle weitere Arbeit), which implies that additional (i.e., such as are not enumerated explicitly here)
duties and powers or rights (consistent, of course, with constitutional authority) can be conferred on the
President by the Bylaws or special resolutions of the Synod.
When we compare Const. Art. XII 6 and 7, dealing with the rights and duties of the district presidents, we
see the “same rights and duties” of the President of the Synod conferred on the district president, confined
to the matters of his district, as noted above. But in Const. Art. XII 7, we find not an additional right
conferred, to supervise the members of his district, but that the district president is, moreover, especially
obligated (noch besonders verfplichtet) to carry out such supervision. There is no language of right here,
only language of duty. Const. Art. XII 7 underscores an obligation district presidents, in particular, have
10

Const. Art. XI B 8 in the 1924 Constitution, due to the removal of the previous Const. Art. XI B 7 (relating to the
President’s signing of official documents in the name of the Synod) in 1998.

CCM Minutes – May 12, 2017 – Page 46