Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1973 · 50th Convention › Sheet 494
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Sheet 494

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

462 MINISTRY IN RELATION TO CHURCH

Confession, Article XIV of the Augsburg Confession was
approved, but with the proviso that the adherents of the
Confession “employ canonical ordination.”

To this Melanchthon responds that the Lutherans
deeply desire to maintain existing church polity and the
various ranks of ecclesiastical authority, in spite of the
fact that the adherents of the Augsburg Confession recog-
nized that these were ordered by human authority
(Apology XIV). It was the cruelty of the bishops toward
the adherents of Luther’s teaching and toward the
Gospel itself which compelled the Lutherans to give up
canonical ordination as practiced in the Church of Rome,
and to ordain their own ministers.

The manner in which the Lutherans viewed the min-
istry and ordination in their relation to the church is most
clearly set forth in the Treatise on the Power and Primacy
of the Pope, adopted at Smalcald in 1537 and intended
as a supplement to the Augsburg Confession. The
Treatise insists, first of all, that the right to call and or-
dain ministers belongs, not to the hierarchy, but to the
church. On this point it states:

When the regular bishops become enemies of the Gospel, and
are unwilling to administer ordination, the churches retain
the right to ordain for themselves. For wherever the church
exists, the right to administer the Gospel also exists. Where-
fore it is necessary for the church to retain the right of call-
ing, electing and ordaining ministers. [Treatise, 66-67, p. 331]

Secondly, the Treatise emphasizes that ordination is
nothing more than the confirmation of the election and
call of the pastor. On this point the Treatise states:

These words [I Peter 2:9] apply to the true church which,
since it alone possesses the priesthood, certainly has the right
of electing and ordaining ministers. The most common cus-
tom of the church also bears witness to this, for there was a
time when the people elected pastors and bishops. After-
ward a bishop, either of that church or a neighboring
church, was brought in to confirm the election with the laying
on of hands: nor was ordination anything more than such
confirmation. [Treatise, 70—71, pp. 331 —332]

Summary of the Biblical and Confessional Teaching
Concerning the Ministry

Holy Scripture teaches, and the Lutheran Confessions

affirm in accord with Holy Scripture:

1. That it is the will of God that the Gospel of forgive-
ness in Christ be preached in all the world.

2. That all who through such preaching and the ad-
ministration of the sacraments come to faith in
Christ constitute Christ’s church on earth.

3. That there should be Ministers in the church who
preach and teach the Word, administer the sacra-
ments, oversee the flock, and, where necessary,
exercise church discipline and even excommunica-
tion.

4. Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions do
not, however, teach that this Ministry must have
one form, but rather show that various functions
of the Ministry may be performed by various men.
According to their functions they may be called
elders, bishops, evangelists, pastors, or teachers.
The church distributes the various functions in-

cluded in the Gospel Ministry among a greater or
smaller number of persons, according to need and
circumstances. She may find it necessary at times
to increase the number of “‘offices” within the one
Office of the Ministry in order that all functions
necessary for the performance of this Office may
be adequately carried out. At other times, she may
find it expedient to abolish some “offices” and
commit the functions of the Office of the Ministry
to fewer people.

II. Application of the Biblical and
Confessional Teaching On the Ministry
to Various “Offices” in the Church

The Lutheran Church~— Missouri Synod, in the reso-
lutions referred to in the beginning of this document,
asked the CTCR to deal specifically with the ordination
of called male teachers, the nature and function of the
diaconate in the Lutheran Church, and the office of
evangelist. In dealing with these questions in the fol-
lowing paragraphs, the Commission is attempting to
apply the doctrine of the Ministry as it has been drawn
from Holy Scripture and formulated in the Lutheran
Confessions.

The Called Male Teacher

The task assigned by the Synod to the CTCR with
respect to called male teachers contains two distinct
questions:

A. What is the office of the called male teacher in

relation to the office of the Ministry?

B. Should called male teachers be ordained?

The Office of the Called Male Teacher in its Relation to
the Office of the Ministry

Neither Holy Scripture nor the Lutheran Confessions
describe an office corresponding exactly to the office
of the called male teacher in The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod. The teachers referred to in the New
Testament (e.g., in Acts 13:1; 1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11)
were teachers of the faith to congregations, not teachers
in anything like a Lutheran elementary or secondary
school.

The teachers in the schools advocated by Luther and
instituted by city councils in Germany were not called,
but employed by the city council. Moreover, the teaching
of religion to the children was not generally committed
to the teachers in the elementary schools, but to the
pastors.

The Lutheran elementary school is a development
particularly on American soil, and is found in congre-
gations of The Lutheran Church-— Missouri Synod with
greater frequency than in other Lutheran bodies.

In The Lutheran Church -— Missouri Synod the office
of called male teacher is as old as the Synod itself. The
Constitution of the Synod, worked out and adopted in
1846, contains a number of references to teachers. Pas-
tors and teachers are often named together. According