building up of the body of Christ (that is, the Christian congregation or church). GOD S PEOPLE SELECT A PASTOR

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1 I remember arriving at the campus of Concordia Theological Seminary, in Fort Wayne, Indiana at close of summer in The first thing that captured my attention was a large statue of Martin Luther. Luther s hands were tightly fastened to the Word of God! Holding steadfast to the Word was the character and hallmark of Luther s preaching, teaching and hymnody. Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word; Curb those who by deceit and sword. Would wrest the kingdom from Your Son and bring to naught all He has done. It is the need and heart of the Holy Christian Church to remain steadfast in God s Word, to teach and to preach the pure Word of God, neither holding back or going beyond what Scripture teaches but heartily confessing its sacred and unchanging truths. Of course, the devil, the world and our sinful flesh will never allow the church to be at peace and at ease if it holds tightly to the Word. From time to time Christ s church is faced with difficult and controversial questions. It must always turn to and cling tightly to the Word of God. As it was in Luther s day, the church today is again struggling over issues of church and ministry. Even among Lutherans, some question whether pastors are needed, or whether lay people are permitted to do what God has called to pastors to do; there is the question of whether there is one divinely instituted ministry in the church or many, or even, many kinds of lay-ministers? I have seen these struggles of what is the ministry for myself. I remember serving in a large Lutheran congregation in the Milwaukee area, 1

2 in the state of Wisconsin. The senior pastor wanted to introduce the Meta-Church program to the congregation. It is a program for renewing the congregation, empowering people for worship and ministry. The key approach to Meta-Church is to help the congregation s transition into small inter-personal cell groups. It is a deliberate abandonment from a so-called pastor-driven ministry to smaller lay-led groups that develop their own leaders. Things have not changed since those early days as a young pastor. Statistics in the United States reveal that over 20 million people are attending house churches, churches which frequently permit no called and ordained pastor. The modernday house church movement is growing rapidly, even throughout the world. There is a very popular book, Everyone a Minister, by Oscar Feucht, published by Concordia Publishing House. This book makes only a single, passing reference to Jesus keys. Sadly, because of is lack of clarity, this book has caused terrible confusion in the church regarding the role of the keys for the pastors and laity. As a confessional Lutheran pastor I had to learn to hold tightly to God s Word as did Luther, who also did the same when he struggled with issues in his day, even concerning the one office of the ministry. With this in mind, we ought to hold most tightly to the Word of God concerning all Christian doctrine, including that of Church and Ministry. This presentation on Luther on the Ministry will endeavor to provide excerpts from Luther, which he was 2

3 moved to write in the midst of similar and dire controversies over the meaning of the office of the keys, the church and its ministry. Luther s writings regarding the Ministry bring light to the confusion of the role of clergy and lay people in Christ s church in our daily lives?. Firstly, I would like to provide you with some of Luther s writings as a frame work of what is the Office of the Ministry and then elaborate on other key points regarding the Ministry. These quotes are from Luther s Works, American Edition, vol. 13, pages Luther writes: This is the way it is in Christendom, too. Before anyone becomes a preacher or a bishop, he must first be a Christian, a born priest. No pope or any other man can make him a priest. But having been born a priest through Baptism, a man thereupon receives the office; and this is what makes a difference between him and other Christians. Out of the multitude of Christians some must be selected who shall lead the others by virtue of the special gifts and aptitude which God gives them for the office. Thus St. Paul writes (Ephesians 4:11, 12): And His gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipment of the saints (this means those who are already Christians and baptized priests), for the work of the ministry, for the 3

4 building up of the body of Christ (that is, the Christian congregation or church). GOD S PEOPLE SELECT A PASTOR Luther continues For although we are all priests, this does not mean that all of us can preach, teach, and rule. Certain ones of the multitude must be selected and separated for such an office. And he who has such an office is not a priest because of his office but a servant of all the others, who are priests. When he is no longer able to preach and serve, or if he no longer wants to do so, he once more becomes a part of the common multitude of Christians. His office is conveyed to someone else, and he becomes a Christian like any other. This is the way to distinguish between the office of preaching, or the ministry, and the general priesthood of all baptized Christians. The preaching office is no more than a public service which happens to be conferred upon someone by the entire congregation, all the members of which are priests. But you may ask: Wherein does this priesthood of Christians consist, and what are their priestly works? The answer is as follows: The very same that were 4

5 mentioned before: teaching, sacrificing, and praying. But you must know this, as I have also stated before, that Christ is the only High Priest. Before we attempt to do such priestly works, we must have the benefit of His priestly office; yes, we must possess it. The doctrine and preaching by which we are saved comes from Him; He brought it from heaven. He alone has made the complete sacrifice for us all by which we are reconciled to God. Therefore, He is also the only one who stands in the immediate presence of God to make intercessions for us all, and without this Mediator no prayer is acceptable to God. EVERY CHRISTIAN HAS THE RIGHT TO USE GOD S WORD AS NECESSARY Again, Luther continues: But after we have become Christians through this Priest and His priestly office, incorporated in Him by Baptism through faith, then each one, according to his calling and position, obtains the right and power of teaching and confessing before others this Word which we have obtained from Him. Even though not everybody has the public office and calling, every Christina has the right and the duty to teach, instruct, admonish, comfort, and rebuke his neighbor with the Word of God at every opportunity 5

6 and whenever necessary. For example, father and mother should do this for their children and household; a brother, neighbor, citizen, or peasant for the other. Certainly one Christian may instruct and admonish another ignorant or weak Christian concerning the Ten Commandments, the Creed, or the Lord s Prayer. And he who receives such instruction is also under obligation to accept it as God s Word and publicly to confess it. GOD HAS CALLED SOME TO DO A SPECIFIC TASK FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL Luther writes: Every Christian has and practices such priestly works. But above these activities is the communal office of public teaching. For this preachers and pastors are necessary. This office cannot be attended to by all the members of a congregation. Neither is it fitting that each household attend? to its own baptizing and celebrating of the Sacrament. Hence it is necessary to select and ordain those who can preach and teach, who study the Scriptures, and who are able to defend them. They deal with the Sacraments by the authority of the congregation, so that it is possible to know who is baptized and everything is done in an orderly fashion. If everyone where to preach to his 6

7 neighbor or if they did things for one another without orderly procedure, it would take a long time indeed to establish a congregation. Such functions, however, do not pertain to the priesthood as such, but belong to the public office, which is performed in behalf of all those who are priests, that is, Christians. Those who are boastfully called popes, bishops and Lords, says Luther, Scripture defines them as ministers, servants, and stewards, who are to serve the rest in the ministry of the word, for teaching the faith of Christ and the liberty of believers. For though it is true that we are all equally priests, even if we could, we cannot and ought not to minister and teach publicly. Thus Paul says, "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Cor. iv. 1). 1 To put it simply and succinctly, Luther taught from God s Word that the church is the priesthood of believers. What enormous and important responsibilities each priest has. But from this priesthood the church calls qualified men into the one divinely instituted office of the ministry, the Predigtamt, (literally: preaching office). Through the preaching of the gospel and the administration of sacraments, God creates and sustain faith. 1] That we may obtain this faith, the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. For through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, 2] 1 Luther, Martin. Concerning Christian Liberty (p. 20). Kindle Edition. 7

8 the Holy Ghost is given, who works faith; where and when it pleases God, in them that hear 3] the Gospel, to wit, that God, not for our own merits, but for Christ's sake, justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ's sake. 2 SPECIFIC CONSIDERATIONS FROM LUTHER S TEACHING ON THE OFFICE OF THE MINISTRY One Gospel-Ministry There is only one Gospel-ministry which AC V confesses to be divinely instituted. The German translation calls it the Predigtamt, to give Gospel and sacrament, while the Latin speaks of the (ministry of the teaching of the Gospel and of administering the sacraments). Ephesians 4:11, Saint Paul tells us that God gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. These comprise of the one great office of the Gospel and sacraments, distributing forgiveness, life, and salvation. Because there is one Gospel, there is fundamentally one ministry to serve it, and this one ministry is just as much a divine institution as are the means of salvation themselves. 3 The ministry is for the 2 AC Article V: Of the Ministry. 3 Marquart, Kurt E.. Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics: The Church and Her Fellowship, Ministry, and Governance (Kindle Locations ). Luther Academy. Kindle Edition. 8

9 distribution of Gospel-treasures and for that alone, because it is from that alone that the church lives. 4 Sadly, there are many Lutherans and non-lutherans who have made the pastoral ministry into something it is not. Though the term is perfectly satisfactory, people can and do take the word ministry and read into it something that it is not, such as social ministry, or the term I stated at the beginning of this paper, everyone a minister. Based on Scripture and Luther s writings, it is that there is only one divinely instituted office of the ministry. It is, as Professor Kurt Marquart wrote, a glorious and permanent (II Cor. 3: 11) ministry of life and justification. The Gospel and sacraments themselves not organizational chains of command are the content, nature, task, and power of the office. 5 With the term Everyone a minister, what you have is a term or phrase that implies that work in the church by laity is worthwhile only insofar as it resembles the work done by pastors. Many modern day freethinkers of the Word of God see, for example, Lay readers as CALLED "Assisting Ministers" and this practice is advocated on the grounds that it will involve others in the church as though the faithful reception of Christ's gifts was insufficient. Such people no longer believe it is enough to think of your daily life and work as your vocation, now it must be called "your ministry." 4 Ibid. (Kindle Locations ). 5 Ibid. (Kindle Locations ). 9

10 There is Minister of Music (the organist), or minister of evangelism, puppet ministry the list goes on! There is one holy office of the Ministry ordained by God to preach and teach, along with all the other duties of pastors, which the Scriptures make very clear. All other ministries are fabrications of sinful man, either terribly misguided or willfully selfdeceived. For such ministries you will not find in Scripture! The doctrine of vocation is an integral part of the Reformation teaching of the priesthood of all believers. This does not mean, at least for Luther, that the pastoral office is no longer necessary. Rather, being a pastor is a distinct vocation. God calls certain individuals into the pastoral ministry, and he works through them to give his Word and Sacraments to his flock. The priesthood of all believers means, among other things, that one does not have to be a pastor or to do pastoral functions in order to be a priest. What we have today, is a loss or confusion at best, of what the Office of Ministry is and what is the Priesthood of all believers. Both are distinct; both have such important roles, but should never be confused or made to suit itching ears (2 Timothy 4:3). Part of the problem that I see happening today is how everyone a minister is modern day manifestation of Pietism, which seeks to find its way in the life, faith and doctrine of the church. Pietism is not new to the church. It reared its ugly head after the death of Martin Luther with the teachings of Spener. 10

11 Unfortunately, there are many in the church today, who are promoting it in any way they can and whenever they get the chance. What is this Evangelical nonsense and what business does it have in a Lutheran Church? The parallels between Everyone a Minister (written by Oscar E. Feucht) and pietism are unmistakable. Both Spener and Feucht offer proposals for reforming the church. Both of their proposals reflect a shift in theology from God s objective external gifts [Word and Sacrament] to the subjectivity and activism of the believer. For both Spener and Feucht the real center of the church s life is not the Divine Service (where Jesus delivers the benefits of his dying and rising through the preached gospel and the sacraments ); and it is not the Keys given by our Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin; nor the vital importance of the Priesthood of all believers and that of Office of the Ministry for Feucht, the goal is changing the believer s life so that he exercises his priesthood by doing his ministry of evangelism. When the believer carries out this one vocation, there one now feels that Christ is present, and thus a boring and seemingly irrelevant church now becomes a most relevant church. The Pietism of Pia Desideria and Everyone a Minister is quite dangerous. The extra nos character of the preached gospel and the sacramental gospel are exchanged for an intra nos subjectivity and activism of the believer. This is a confusion of law and gospel that does not serve the church faithfully or well. 11

12 With this in mind, we should pay careful attention with regard to auxiliary offices, with the classic example in Acts 6: 1 6. The office being created here is neither a new divinely instituted office, nor a specialization within the one office of the Gospel and sacraments. It is rather an auxiliary service established by the church in Christian liberty precisely to enable the one apostolic office of the Gospel (διακονία τοῦ λόγου, the Ministry of the Word) to devote itself to its proper work. This is the origin of the diaconate, whose special responsibility is the care of the needy. In this technical sense we find διάκονοι (deacons) contrasted with bishops (Phil. 1: 1; I Tim. 3: 8). 6 This example ought not to be an occasion for confusion, concerning what is the Ministry; there is only one divinely instituted ministry of the Word. What Luther taught from God s Word is clear and unmistakable. However, there are many among Lutheran laity today who commonly confess that they do not know the difference between the call of a Sunday School Teacher and the call of an ordained pastor. Again, we see a departure from what Luther taught regarding the Office of Preaching (Predigtamt). Among English speaking Lutherans, the term Ministry is confused and used to mean something that it is not. Ministry is now often seen as an administrative convenience to create ministries within the church. This is a Reformed concept and it has come into Lutheranism today in the form of lay ministry. The preaching office is truly under fire because of the anti-confessional nature of Reformed 6 Ibid. (Kindle Locations ). 12

13 doctrine that has had so much influence. When the one pastoral office, the Office of Preaching is undermined, Wolves, says Kurt Marquart, move in to murder and steal among the sheep who are no longer being guarded. If pastors are not supposed to divide Law and Gospel, teach the truth of God s Word in spite of the consequences, and administer the Sacraments according to Scripture (i.e. close[d] communion), the members will have great difficulty distinguishing between a Sunday School teacher and a pastor. Then the pastor is just another employee, not worthy of double honor or even single honor. Congregations are more than willing to fire pastors, acknowledging in their practice that they no longer believe in the divine call from God through the congregation. 7 This brings me to another problem worthy of our concern, namely, the division of the LCMS and WELS, concerning the Doctrine of the Ministry. At one time the LCMS was in fellowship with WELS. With respect to the Office of the Ministry, since the days of C. F. W. Walther the LCMS has held that the office of the public ministry (the one pastoral office) according to Scripture, is the divinely established office in the church, while the church possesses the freedom to create other offices, by human institution, from time to time to assist in the carrying out of the functions of the pastoral ministry. As I understand it, the WELS' Theses on Church and Ministry, deny that the pastoral ministry is specifically instituted by the Lord in contrast to other forms of public ministry, such as teaching 7 Marquart s Works, Vol. III, Church and Ministry, Lutheran News, New Haven, Missiouri, p

14 Bible studies. The Divine Call Through the Congregation Luther began working on articulating the doctrine of the ministry already in He writes, Either we must learn how to provide ourselves with presbyters apart from papal tyranny, or if we are not willing to do so (though it is possible) we must give ourselves into captivity LW 40:18 Luther correctly argues that Jesus gives the obligation to publicly preach, teach, and administer the sacraments to his whole church, indeed to every Christian, not to a select few super-spiritual clergy persons who get to choose the priests who come after them. Yet, because it s the common property of all Christians to preach, no one individual can arise by his own authority and arrogate to himself alone what belongs to all. 8 However, we know that someone must preach, teach, and administer the sacraments. So Luther continues, But the community rights demand that one, or as many as the community chooses, shall be chosen or approved who, in the name of all with these rights, shall perform these functions publicly. 9 By 1529 Luther s language becomes clearer when he zeros in on Jesus instituting words for the public preaching office found in John 20: In the same way as the Apostles were 8 LW 40:34 9 LW 40:34 14

15 charged by Jesus to preach, so it must be for men in the preaching office today. Their call may be mediated through the church, but that doesn t make Jesus charge any less clear or important. Whoever is called to it and has the mandate should preach the Gospel, should baptize, should loose sins through the power of Absolution, should impose the ban through the power of the Keys, would rebuke and admonish, etc. Let him proceed with confidence and not be afraid, whatever may befall him on this account. 10 Those who publicly preach and administer the sacraments in the church must have a proper call. [Augsburg Confession, art. 14]. In the early 1530s Luther examined the nature of this ministry and the call of pastors in various writings. He specifically rejected wandering, secret preachers and affirmed the pastoral office when he stated, For to the pastor is committed the pulpit, baptism, the sacrament [of the altar], and he is charged with the care of souls. He then instructed faithful Christians to report these sneaky, uncalled preachers to their pastors. If these infiltrators did not have a call to preach, then Luther instructed them to be silent because they did not have a call to the pastoral office. [Luther, Infiltrating and Clandestine Preachers, LW 40: Luther included a lengthy discussion of the doctrine of the call in his lectures on Galatians in 1531 (published in 1535). He stated that every minister must be certain that his call is from 10 LW 69:

16 God. While Christ called the apostles without means, God continues to call pastors through human means. In the sixteenth century, city officials or princes often called pastors to certain parishes. (In twenty-first century America, Christian congregations normally call pastors.) However, this call was no less divine than the apostles call. He concluded, Therefore we who are in the ministry of the Word have this comfort, that we have a heavenly and holy office; being legitimately called to this, we prevail over all the gates of hell. Thus, when it comes to the call, there is nothing else to be said but what Luther and the Lutheran Confessors taught and what has been confessed ever since: It is taught among us that nobody should publicly teach or preach or administer the sacraments in the church without a regular call. (Augsburg Confession, Art. XIV, The call. Thus, there is no mention in Scripture, or by Luther and the Confessions of a term call : the pastor and the parish agree to a "term call" which has a fixed date when the pastor will leave or, in most cases, when the agreement can be renewed if everything is working out well. If we understand the clear teaching of Scripture, which Martin Luther taught and confessed, there simply is no admission, nor permission in Scripture, to change the call of a pastor to fit the will of man. Also, there is no divine authority to treat pastors as 16

17 those that can be hired and fired. Again, Professor Kurt Marquart explains the divine call with these words: A divine call, be it noted, binds both ministers and congregations. The former may no more resign arbitrarily from their charges, than the latter may arbitrarily dismiss them. To presume, without valid cause, to drive called ministers out of their divinely assigned tasks and responsibilities, is to interfere sacrilegiously with God s government of His church. It is to mistreat God s servants as if they were the servants and hirelings of men (Ps. 105: 15; Is. 55: 8 11; Mt. 9: 38; Lk. 10: 16; I Cor. 4: 1; Eph. 4: 11; Heb. 13: 17). Such lawless (II Thess. 2: 3.4!) usurpation of divine prerogatives amounts to temple-robbery (see Acts 19: 37 and Rom. 2: 22). It is in this context that the so-called temporary call must be seen for what it is: a call with built-in dismissal on unbiblical grounds. No one can without self-contradiction say to a minister: God wishes you here for now, but wants you gone by Jan. 1 three years hence, unless we are pleased to keep you another three years. It is another matter, of course, if the position or task is itself by its very nature temporary, e.g. chaplain 17

18 to an expedition, helping out in cases of illness, etc. What is objectionable is the limitation of the call without intrinsic need, simply to allow the calling persons to dismiss the minister at their pleasure, without having to bother about proving ungodly doctrine or life, or incompetence. So strong was the early Missouri Synod s conviction on this point that the original constitution expressly ruled out temporary calls as contrary to AC XIV. Equally abhorrent to Missouri s founders was the system, then popular in other synods, of granting provisional, temporary licenses to preachers to see how they would turn out. 11 In closing, The holy preaching office [Predigtamt] or pastoral office [Pfarramt] is an office distinct from the office of priest [Priesteramt], which all believers have. Luther distinguished between baptized priests and the office of ministry. He vehemently argued against papal bishops who claimed that they alone had the authority to ordain pastors, thus rejecting the Roman sacrament of ordination and the notion that pastors possessed an indelible character as a result of their Roman 11 Marquart, Kurt E.. Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics: The Church and Her Fellowship, Ministry, and Governance (Kindle Locations ). Luther Academy. Kindle Edition. 18

19 episcopal ordination. 12 From 1520 and onwards, Luther taught that, we are all priests, as many of us are Christians. But the priests, as we call them, are ministers chosen from among us. All they do is done in our name; the priesthood is nothing but a ministry. This we learn from I. Cor. 4 [:1]: This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. [Luther, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, LW 36:112-13]. Dr. Luther s basic understanding of the difference between pastors as servants of the Word and the laity as baptized priests never changed. While all members of a congregation are priests, all do not hold the office of holy ministry. A pastor has an office that he received through a divine call and command. The laity may be well educated, and so they should be, but this never gives them the right to teach publicly. 13 Throughout his years in the Holy Ministry, Luther expounded, taught and emphasized the Scriptural teaching of the Priesthood of all believers and Holy Ministry, as are clearly seen his sermons and lectures. While preaching on Ps. 110:4, he explained how Christ shares his priestly office with believers. This priesthood is the common possession of all Christians. As he did in 1520, Dr. Luther distinguished between baptized priests and those called to be pastors. The latter actually occupy an office by which they serve their fellow priests 12 See [Norman Nagel, Luther and the Priesthood of All Believers, CTQ 61 (1997): , 289]. 13 [Luther, Commentary on Psalm 82:4, LW 13:65]. 19

20 through preaching and teaching. [Luther, Commentary on Psalm 110:4, LW 13: ] He later taught, For none of us is born as apostle, preacher, teacher, pastor through baptism, but we are all born simply as priests and clerics. Afterward, some are taken from the ranks of such born clerics and called or elected to these which they are to discharge on behalf of all of us. [Luther, The Private Mass and the Consecration of Priests, LW 38:189.] C.F.W. Walther, who keenly understood Luther and studied his writings, when he was ill and bedridden for several months, wrote in simple words what Luther always taught: The holy preaching office [Predigtamt] or pastoral office [Pfarramt] is an office distinct from the office of priest [Priesteramt], which all believers have. [C.F.W. Walther, The Church and the Office of the Holy Ministry, trans. J.T. Mueller, revised, edited, and annotated by Matthew C. Harrison (St Louis, 2012), p. 151.]. Edward Brockwell Assistant Pastor luterilainen.com 20