The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1906, Page 35

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

35

The Visible Church.

Those whom the Holy Ghost calls He also
gathers. Wherever the Gospel is preached, there
congregations are formed. Through Peter’s sermon
on the first day of Pentecost three thousand souls
were brought to Christ, and of these three thousand
we read that they “continued in fellowship,” that
they “were together,” that they continued “daily
with one accord in the temple.” And so it has ever
been; wherever the Gospel has been preached, there
those who heard this Gospel came together and
formed congregations, or, as the Bible calls them,
churches. ‘Thus the Bible speaks of the Church of
Ephesus, of the Church of Smyrna, and of many
others. Such churches, or congregations, are to-
day found over the whole world in great num-
bers. Wherever Christ is confessed and His Word
is proclaimed, there such confessors and hearers
form Christian congregations, or visible Christian
churches. The whole number of .these Christian
congregations upon earth forms the visible Church
of Christ. Che visible Church, then, is the “whole
number of those who profess the Christian faith
and are gathered about God’s Word.”

In the visible Church, however, there are among
the confessors, besides the true Christians, also
hypocrites. Christ says, Matt. 13, 47. 48: “The
kingdom of heaven” [the visible Church] “is like
unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered
of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew
to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into
vessels, but cast the bad away.” The Church as it
appears to man’s eye is here compared to a net that
has in it good and bad fishes. In this same chapter
of Matthew Christ says that the visible Church is
like a field in which tares are growing among the
wheat, Matt. 13, 24—26.

As long as the Church is in this world, there
will be hypocrites among the true Christians, bad
among the good, ungodly among the godly, children
of Belial among the children of God. Among the
chosen twelve was Judas the traitor. In the con-
gregation at Jerusalem were hypocrites like Ana-
nias and Sapphira. In the Church of Corinth a
member was guilty of incest, and in the seven
churches of Asia Minor, of which we read in the
first chapters of Revelation, tares in plenty were
found among the wheat. And so to-day there is
not a church without hypocrites. Of course, these
hypocrites do not really belong to the Church; they
are not of the true invisible Church, but only in

the company of the true believers, for whose sake
the whole body of hearers is called the visible
Church.

Unlike the true invisible Church, the visible
Church is not one, but is divided into many de-
nominations, also called churches. Such denomi-
nations are the Lutheran, the Methodist, the Bap-
tist, the Roman Catholic, and the Presbyterian
churches. In all these churches Christ crucified is
preached, in all of them Baptism is administered,
and therefore true believers are to be found in them
all. But while this is true, it is also true that as
these denominations differ in their teachings, they
cannot all be right in their doctrine. If, for ex-
ample, one church teaches that Baptism is a means
of grace working forgiveness of sins, and other
denominations claim that Baptism is no more than
an outward sign, only one of these teachings can be
right. Or if a certain church teaches that Christ’s
true body and blood are really present in the Lord’s
Supper under the bread and wine, and other de-
nominations deny this, claiming that bread and
wine are mere symbols of the body and blood of
Christ, it is again plain that not both teachings can
be right. To give another instance: If one church
teaches that man is saved alone by grace, through
faith in Christ’s merits, and another denomination
denies this, claiming that salvation depends in part
on a man’s good works, every sensible man must
sce that here is a contradiction, making it impos-
sible for both churches to have the truth. But how
are we to find the truth? How are we to know
which church, if any, has the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth? No doubt, there is but
one touchstone and that is the Bible. Christ gave
command to His disciples to teach men to observe
all things whatsoever He had commanded them,
Matt. 28, 20. That church which teaches not only
some, but all things that Christ has commanded is
without a doubt the true visible Church, the church
to which it is God’s will that we should belong.

But is such a church to be found? Is there
anywhere upon earth a church that teaches the en-
tire Word of God in all its purity, and administers
the Sacraments according to Christ’s institution?
Yes, thank God, there is such a church; there is a

_church which, by God’s grace, has in all things

clung to the Law and Testimony, which, despite
all the weaknesses and frailties of its members and
the treachery of hypocrites in its midst, teaches
and confesses all things that Christ has commanded.
And what church is this? It is our dear Lutheran