The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1909, Page 58

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

” The Office of the Keys, and Confession.

Tue PusBLic ADMINISTRATION OF THE OFFICE OF
THE Keys.
- (Continued.)

Whenever ministers of the Church perform the
duties of their office, whenever they preach the Gos-
pel in its purity and administer the Sacraments in
accordance with Christ’s institution, then such acts
of the ministers are as valid and certain as if God
Himself had done them. This is plainly said by
Christ when He declares: “Whatsoever thou shalt
bind on earth ‘shall be bound in heaven; and what-
soever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven,” Matt. 16, 19, and again: “Whosesoever
sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and
whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained,” John
20, 23. The Gospel proclaimed by the minister is
God’s voice, and in the Sacraments it is really God
who announces His grace unto us, the minister be-
ing merely the agent. As our Catechism puts it:
“J believe that when the called ministers of Christ
deal with us by His divine command .. . this is as
valid and certain, in heaven also, as if Christ, our
dear Lord, dealt with us Himself.”

This validity and certainty of what a minister
does in God’s name is particularly to be remem-
bered in two cases; namely, when they, as the
mouthpieces and agents of God and the congrega-
tion, exclude manifest and impenitent sinners from
the Christian congregation, and, again, when they
absolve those who repent of their sins and are will-
ing to amend.

According to God’s will a Christian congrega-
tion is to be composed of Christians only. When,
therefore, a person shows himself to be an unbe-
liever, he no longer belongs in a congregation of
Christians, and God wants him excluded. Now,
such excluding, or excommunicating, is to be done
in the following manner, which Christ Himself has
prescribed :
thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and
him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained
thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take
with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two
or three witnesses every word may be established.
And if he neglect to liear them, tell it unto the
church; but if he neglect to hear the church, let
him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publi-
can,” Matt. 18, 15—17. When you see your brother
sinning, you are to go to him privately and correct

“Jf thy brother shall trespass against ©

him with the intention of bettering him. You are
to speak to him in a brotherly, kind manner. But
if he will not listen to you, then you are to take two
or three fellow-Christians with you, of whom you
have reason to believe that they may succeed where
you failed, and’ another trial to gain the erring
brother is to be made. If, however, you should still
fail to lead the sinner to repentance, the congrega-
tion is to be informed of the case, and the congre-
gation is to regard him as a heathen and publican,
if he continues to be stubborn and impenitent; that
is, the church shall no longer look upon him as a‘
brother, but shall exclude, or excommunicate him.
Mark well, this the congregation shall do, for it is
the congregation that has received this command
from Christ. But this judgment of the church,
this sentence of excommunication, is to be publicly
pronounced by the minister, the mouthpiece of the
congregation.

But let us not forget that this whole procedure,
from beginning to end, has the one purpose in view
of bringing the sinner to repentance. Even when
he is excluded, such excommunication has in view
the repentance of the erring one. Not the destruc-
tion of the soul, but its preservation is the purpose
of excommunication. Whenever, therefore, such an
excommunicated sinner repents and signifies. his
willingness to amend, the church may and shall ab-
solve him of his sin and again receive him as a
brother, 2 Cor. 2, 6—8. 10. And when such a peni-
tent sinner is again received into the congregation
by the pastor in the name of the church, it is God
that receives him, just as it is God that excludes
the impenitent sinner when excommunication is
pronounced upon him. F..J. L.

SS

Peace in Storm.

I have heard the nightingale, tucked away in
a bush, sing its sweetest song during the severest
thunderstorm and in the darkest night; and so
have I heard earnest Christians joyfully sing, “All
glory be to God on high” in like storms. It filled
my heart with joy, and with tearful eyes I said to
myself: Sing on, sweet bird; sing on, ye Christian
souls! Jet us enjoy peace and tranquillity. Let
God terrify the obdurate world by the thunder and
lightnings of heaven and show: forth His power,
majesty, and glory; what matters that to His chil-
dren to whom He has promised grace and peace in
Christ ? — Scriver.