Church, Ministry and Justification: the Connection

(Excerpts from the following 1983 publication)

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

and

The Church and the Ministry

A DRAMATIC SHIFT

(Pg. 2)

This principle of hearing and doing was uppermost in the minds of our 16th century fathers, the Reformation bringing reform in both doctrine and practice. Later, Walther and our Missouri forebears felt constrained to leave their homeland for the very reason that both doctrine and practice had fallen to the point of apostasy in the German church. In our own day Synod has been torn by dispute over doctrine and practice.

The doctrine of Justification was central in the reformers' dispute with Rome. Nothing could be allowed to stand in the way of the pure teaching of this fundamental truth. And because the false views of the church and the ministry held by the Roman church produced "transactions and deeds which contribute to the destruction of the entire holy Christian church and come into conflict with the first, fundamental article which is concerned with redemption in Jesus Christ," they considered the doctrine of the church and the ministry to be of vital importance.

(Pg. 10)

'We are also convinced that the great decisive battle of the Reformation which our church fought against the papacy in the 16th century centered in the doctrine of the church and the ministry." (Walther On the Church; Preface, p. 12, Tr. John M. Drickamer)

But wasn't the battle centered in the doctrine of Justification? Right. But false teaching concerning this doctrine was the inevitable result of false teaching concerning the doctrine of the church and the ministry. Because of the latter, "by grace" had become "by works" and the "ministration of righteousness" had become the "ministration of condemnation."

Dr. Pieper wrote: "....the Church is both the product of the means of grace and the body to which the administration of the means of grace is committed." (Christian Dogmatics; F. Pieper, Vol. II, p. 420) The communion of saints, the believers, are such because they believe the promise of the gospel, the forgiveness of sins; and it is the communion of saints, the church, to whom the administration of the gospel and the forgiveness of sins is committed.

But it was not so at the time of the Reformation. Dr. Pieper can be paraphrased to describe the church of that era: the Church is both the product of the Law and the body whose chief function it is to administer the Law. And the ministry? A self perpetuating entity, agent of the church to enforce the Law.

Luther and the reformers rediscovered Justification. But they also restored the true, scriptural doctrine of the church and the ministry. However, by the time of Walther, that doctrine had been thoroughly decimated and justification all but lost. It is no wonder, then, that Dr. Walther and his contemporaries fought so vehemently to maintain a correct understanding of the church and the ministry.

(Pg. 11)

The following summary/digest [excerpts] of Dr. Carl S. Mundinger's classic work, Government in the Missouri Synod, pp. 26-40.

The congregation remained passive and inactive. It was the raw material upon which the pastor worked with the means of grace. Anything which resembled congregationalism was looked at askance

Rationalism dominated many of the pulpits and administrative offices. It was a crystallized, formalistic, dead rationalism. High sounding philosophical dissertations on trivial matters were declaimed with great solemnity. The church was out of touch with the people

(Pg. 12)

Rev. Martin Stephan, the man who led the company of Germans to America who were later to organize the Missouri Synod, was at this time pastor of a Bohemian-German congregation in the city of Dresden. The fact that the church was out of touch with the people gave him entrance to many troubled souls. He had a sensitivity to the hopes and fears of people who had a strong desire to be sure of God's grace. He satisfied this desire by preaching the doctrines of Martin Luther concerning sin and grace with warmth and understanding

By the fall of 1837 his word had become law and he exercised autocratic control over the men and women who were soon to emigrate to Missouri. He had by then convinced them that he and they were the Church; that outside the Church so conceived there was no hope of salvation; that his person was their chief means of grace; that only by means of his preaching and his leadership could they receive forgiveness of sins and salvation.

(Pg. 13)

Prior to their arrival in St. Louis, an episcopal polity was legitimized by the company. A document was drawn up at the direction of Stephan ["Declaration of Submission to the Bishop", A Century of Grace; Baepler, p. 29] in which all pastors and candidates of theology should formally request him to assume the title and office of Bishop. Twelve delegates elected by the people were to second the request. All dutifully signed. Stephan was anxious that this semblance of democracy be evident in order to show that the episcopal form of government was legitimate because it had its roots in the wishes of the people.

In February of 1839 Stephan arrived in St. Louis. Two months later he left there with his entourage for Perry County where the company had bought land on which they planned to develop their community. Just a little over a week later it was revealed in St. Louis "that their leader had become unworthy of the trust reposed in him. Pastor C. F. W. Walther was dispatched by the St. Louis clergy and candidates to Perry County to confront Stephan with his guilt and to secure from the immigrants the support of the colony trustees." (Baepler, p. 32)

Stephan was excommunicated, deposed and removed from the property

Chaos followed. Stephan had manipulated Luther's teachings in such a way that he had convinced them that he was their chief means of grace and that apart from him there was no hope. He and to a lesser degree the other clerics were the basis of their spiritual life. Now, overnight, this Ministry had fallen into disrepute. Suddenly disillusioned, they lost all confidence in the Church and the ministry.

( Pg. 14)

Having previously accused the clerics of trying to maintain the idea that the power to govern the Church is to be lodged in the hands of the clerics and having made a formal and strong public rejection of the entire Stephanistic concept of church government, Vehse [a layman] and his colleagues issued the last of several documents in November,1839. It contained the principles according to which the lay party wished to see the government of the Church based. It was made up almost exclusively of statements from the writings of Luther and the other 16th century theologians:

1) All Christians are priests through Baptism by faith - the priestly office must be exercised not only by right but by command; 2) As priests, laymen have the right to judge all doctrine and supervise the clergy; 3) Final decisions on all matters rests with the local congregation; 4) The local congregation has the power and the duty to establish all rules regarding liturgy, ceremony, and church constitutions; 5) It is dangerous to extol the clergymen as a class (estate), because such habit engenders servility and hypocrisy; 6) The best type of church government is the one that prevailed in the first centuries when congregations existed independently side by side; 7) An association of congregations is not necessary and may be harmful; 8) All pastors should be placed on the same level and exercise the same authority. The episcopacy develops love of personal glory and leads to papacy; 9) "Faith comes by hearing" does not apply only to men who have studied and who are ordained. It applies to all Christians; 10) In case of emergency, a congregation may engage a man who has not studied; 11) Ordinary laymen may administer the sacraments.

Another layman, Lawyer Marbach, a Stephan liaison man prior to leaving Germany, now came to the fore as leader of the lay faction. On March 3, 1841, he issued a manifesto: their whole church polity was built on a sinful foundation and until the foundation was demolished no polity could be established that could expect the blessings of God. By demolish he meant a public confession of guilt by the company and a return to Germany.

Although Walther had disagreed violently with Vehse's premises and conclusions at the beginning of the controversy back in September,1838, as a result of extensive study he now saw that these premises purged of certain extremes, could serve to save the day. Having thoroughly familiarized himself with the many quotations from Luther which Vehse had incorporated into his document, he was now ready to set forth his plan to the fast-growing lay party and rapidly diminishing clerical party. A public debate was set for April 15 and 20, 1841, in Altenburg, Perry County, between himself and Marbach.

[Here follows an overview of the Altenburg debate, the controversies with Grabau and Loehe and Walther’s Church and Minstry.]

(Pg. 24)

Although Walther's immediate purpose was to set down "the principles on which according to God's Word and the Confessions of our church the polity of a true Lutheran fellowship is based and according to which it must be constituted," "it was, according to his own assertion, the article on justification which guided him in the formulation of the teaching on the church." "We are not fighting for a particular constituted division which calls itself Lutheran....The object of our struggle is nothing else than the true faith, the pure truth, the unfalsified Gospel, the pure foundation of the apostles and prophets." (Ibid; Concordia Theological Monthly; Oct., 1961, pp, 601, 605)

When the doctrine of the church and the ministry fails to be preserved from all error, the administration of the Word and the sacraments will ultimately be affected. If the administration is affected so must the power being administered. The power being administered is the forgiveness of sins, the "ministration of righteousness", justification. What then was the chief purpose of Walther's Church and Ministry? Answer: to preserve from all error the administration of the forgiveness of sins and thus the doctrine of Justification itself.

Walther's work became the benchmark against which all discussion on the articles in controversy could be gauged and the bright light under which the polity of the Missouri Synod was first developed and afterward maintained for almost exactly 100 years.....

(Pg. 25)

"When all Europe failed, and failed again, and failed yet again, to reform the Church, Luther alone reformed the Church. How? 'Ye are a royal priesthood.' This has its roots in justification by faith." It is "the third great principle of the Reformation, the logical consequence of the other two (the supremacy of the Bible; the supremacy of faith)." (Walther and the Church; Dallman-Dau-Engelder, p. 42; Four Hundred Years; pp. 297, 298) "Ye are a royal priesthood." These words appear in his own handwriting under a familiar portrait of Walther. They are characteristic of the man, for the universal priesthood of all believers remained constant with him - as it had with Luther - throughout his life. And it is a principle that has remained constant in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod throughout its life.

At our seminaries and colleges, from our pulpits, in our confirmation classes, in our theological journals, in pamphlets and periodicals, this principle has been drummed into the heart and mind of pastor, teacher, and layman alike from the very first: You, together with all other believers, are a priest before God. It is to you and your fellow believers and to no one else in the world that Christ has entrusted the means of grace - immediately, without the intervening aid of any man or group of men. You therefore hold the keys of the kingdom of heaven and have been given the authority, indeed the command, to exercise the power of the keys; that is, to forgive sins through the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments, the only means whereby lost and condemned sinners can come to the knowledge of their Lord Jesus Christ, believe, and thus be saved.

All other principles formulated in defense of the true, Scriptural doctrines of the church and the ministry either lead up to or follow from this principle, to wit:

The Church in the proper sense of the word is the communion of saints, that is, the sum total of all those who truly believe in Christ, outside of which there is no salvation. The Church is, in this sense, invisible since only God can know who truly believes. It is to this Church that Christ has entrusted the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that is, the power to forgive or to not forgive sins, and the means whereby this is to be accomplished, namely, the Word and the sacraments. All believers are therefore priests before God.

Although this Church is invisible as to its essence, "its presence can be definitely recognized its marks being the pure preaching of God's Word and the administration of the sacraments according to Christ's institution."

In order that the Word might be preached and the sacraments administered "it is abundantly evident from Scripture that it is God's will and ordinance that Christians should establish and maintain local churches (particular churches; congregations)." (Christian Dogmatics; J. T. Mueller, p. 555)

(Pg. 26)

Although by virtue of his priesthood every believer has the authority to administer the office of the keys, yet God has Himself established a special office, namely, "the holy ministry of the Word or pastoral office (which) is an office distinct from the priestly office which all believers have." This office "has the power to preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments and the authority of a spiritual court."

This special office is "conferred by God through the congregation as the possessor of all ecclesiastical power - or power of the keys - by means of its call which God Himself has prescribed." Furthermore, this special office has the authority, "conferred by God through the congregation as possessor of the priesthood and all church power, to exercise the rights of the spiritual priesthood" - that is, administer the office of the keys - "in public office on behalf of the congregation."

"Since the incumbents of the public ministry of the Word have been entrusted with the keys of the kingdom of heaven which the church possesses originally and immediately [Matt.16:19; 18:18], in order that they may administer them publicly and officially on behalf of the congregation [John 20:21-23], their office must of necessity be the highest in the church, from which all other offices flow; for the keys embrace the whole power of the church." Respect and unconditional obedience are therefore due the pastoral office when the incumbent presents God's Word; nevertheless, he has no lordship in the church.

Finally, the duty to judge doctrine belongs to all Christians. Therefore both pastors and laymen have "seat and vote in the ecclesiastical courts and councils." (Re Quotes above cf. Sec. V)

These are principles that have guided the Missouri Synod throughout its history and principles that Walther repeatedly insisted guided Luther and orthodox Lutheranism throughout its history - even though at times it was not possible to carry them out in practice because of existing circumstances.

The very purpose of formulating principles is in the first place to inform practices. And the Missouri Synod has at all times diligently sought to pattern its practices in conformity with the principles laid down in Scripture, the bottom line ever being the proclamation of God's Grace in Christ Jesus for salvation's sake.

Scriptural principles, correctly formulated, are for all time. Practices, on the other hand, are for the most part subject to a certain latitude. But there are some practices which are so definite and unchangeable that they cannot be altered without at the same time altering or setting aside the principles that guide them. This is the case in several instances as the Missouri Synod has sought to do His will in carrying out His Great Commission through the agency of the church and the ministry which He established for this purpose:

(Pgs. 27 – 30)

1. Only a local congregation can establish the ministry of the Word (office of the ministry: pastoral office)

2. A divine call to the office of the ministry cannot be limited as to time.

3.The office of the Word (pastoral office) is the only office that God has Himself established. All other offices in the church are part of this one office or are auxiliary to it.

4.Ordination is nothing more than the public confirmation of the divine call to the office of the ministry of the Word or pastoral office

(Pg. 31)

It so happens that any time the true doctrine of the church and the ministry is under attack, there will be found, standing tall in the center of the battle, the warrior, ORDINATION. And by keeping your eye on the warrior you will be able to determine how the battle is progressing. If he continues to stand tall in his shining armor, surrounded by trumpets and flowing banners, you will know the battle is being lost; if he is laid low, there is hope for victory. So faithful a sign has the warrior proved to be that a maxim is in order: as ordination goes, so goes the church and the ministry.

Watch the warrior.

The doctrine of the church and the ministry has been under constant attack throughout the history of the New Testament church. It could be no other way. It is the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the universal priesthood to whom Christ has given the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And He has committed to its care the means whereby the power of the keys - the forgiving and retaining of sins - is to be exercised, namely, the Gospel.

But Christ has also commanded His church to proclaim the Law in order that man might come to the knowledge of his sins. The Law, however, apart from the Gospel, can lead man nowhere but to despair and hopelessness.

The goal of the Enemy is to see to it that man keeps his eyes on the Law and off the Gospel, for the Gospel is "the power of God unto salvation." And that's what he is determined to beat man out of - salvation. It is only natural, then, that the Enemy would attack at the point at which the Gospel, the power of salvation, is administered and the point at which that power is transferred.

History has revealed his plan. If he can separate the administration of the forgiveness of sins from the priesthood and place it directly into the hands of a special, arrogant class of clerics, he can soon turn the "ministration of righteousness" into the "ministration of condemnation."

Since the assembly of believers looks to this class of clerics, the hierarchy, for training and guidance, removing the forgiveness of sins from the 'Gospel' that the hierarchy proclaims, effectively removes it from the assembly. Salvation by grace alone is lost. Justification dies.

This is the situation that existed when the 16th century reformers came on the scene. Luther rediscovered "grace alone" and placed the administration of the forgiveness of sins back where it belonged, with the universal priesthood. But the Enemy did not rest. Within a short time he was successful in undoing the reformers' work. By the time of Walther and his contemporaries the priesthood had again been relieved of its God-given power and "grace alone" had been all but lost. Fighting the same battle that Luther fought 300 years earlier, they once again restored "grace alone" to its proper position and returned God's power to the priesthood. And so it remained for almost exactly 100 years, up until about the early 1950s. Then something happened. The Enemy was back.

(Pg. 32)

Experience has shown that whenever a doctrine of scripture comes under attack and controversy develops, the antagonists follow a tried-and-true, well-worn pattern of attack, two features of which especially stand out: l) the meaning of words, phrases and terms is thrown into hopeless confusion, and 2) sophistry abounds.

Experience has also shown that when the doctrine being attacked is the doctrine of the church and the ministry the bottom line is always the removal of the power of the keys, the power to forgive and to withhold the forgiveness of sins, from the priesthood to be placed into the hands of a special group or hierarchy .

If all these things are kept in mind, what follows will be easier to comprehend. If it is lost sight of, the reader will become hopelessly confused - which may happen in any case. Be advised also that no one is going to be found leaping up and shouting, "We want to take the power of the keys away from the priesthood." The Enemy is not dumb.

And there has been a controversy in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod over the doctrine of the church and the ministry. It has been going on for more than three decades. To introduce the reader to its salient features, the following is offered as taken from the February, 1951, Concordia Theological Monthly (CTM) pp 81-83, a journal edited by the faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis:

EDITORIAL PREFACE: In hope of resolving the points of disagreement relating to the doctrine of the call, the ministry, and the Church, which for a number of years threatened the unity of the constituent bodies of the Synodical Conference [the Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Synod, the Norwegian Synod, and the Slovak Synod], the convention in 1946 appointed an Interim Committee. In 1948 this committee of eight men submitted its findings to the Synodical Conference in a majority and a minority report.

(Pgs. 33 – 36)

[An overview of this controversy.]

(Pg. 42)

Dr. Walther pointed out that the real controversy of the Reformation was over the doctrine of the church and the ministry. The power of the keys had been taken from the priesthood early on in the history of the Christian Church and by the time of the Reformation, justification by grace alone had been lost - the inevitable result of the blight of hierarchism.

Exactly the same situation existed when Dr. Walther and his contemporaries came on the scene in the l9th century. We now are on the threshold.

(Pg. 44)

That it should ever happen in the Missouri Synod! Reading this document [Scaer’s Ordination: Human Rite or Divine Ordinance ] should make every Missourian's hair stand on end. It is a papist's doctrine that in another day would have meant expulsion from Synod. But not today. And the fact that it is published by the seminary says more than a thousand pictures. No one need have any illusions about this popish doctrine's place in the classroom. Professors do not keep their lights under bushels.

So that's the way it is going to be. No longer will the parish pastor be just one of the crowd. No longer a lackey to the Voters Assembly. He might be "in the ministry" like everybody else but he has been empowered by the ordination given him by the brotherhood and thus his estate is a special spiritual one. It sets him apart. He will also be a part - a part of a powerful hierarchical system that has wrenched the power of the keys away from the priesthood and placed it into the hands of an arrogant class of clerics.

The warrior is standing tall in the Missouri Synod. The trumpets are blaring, the banners are waving - the battle is being lost. The generals are on the line and the final assault has begun.

On Reformation Day, 1980, a professor at our Ft. Wayne seminary wrote to his students:

"On March 29, 1971....I began (a) class period with this remark: `Genesis 12:3 is the first clear statement in the Old Testament of what we call "objective Justification."' The twenty-three students who were taking this elective course objected almost unanimously. I thought they were kidding. But they told me that there is no such thing as objective justification. I told them that...subjective justification is destroyed if there is no objective justification....I was staggered when they informed me (who) they had learned this from....The next morning I spoke to (the professor)....He told me that our fathers have taught wrongly and that the situation must be corrected."

A controversy soon developed with sophistry its chief feature. It was denied that objective justification was being denied, yet, it was claimed that all those Bible passages that everybody says teach the doctrine really don't teach it. It was all quite maddening. Factions developed on both sides. Fine orthodox statements on Justification were produced with the strange aside that those who produced them apologized for (defended) those who denied what their fine statements said.

[From New Missouri Forty Years Later: Thirty years later his poison flows everywhere. In a widely reported case a year or so ago, a laymen brought charges of false doctrine against his pastor for denying the objectivity of justification. District officials were called in and after examining the pastor and acknowledging that the charges were justified, declared there was nothing they could do about it since the teaching had now spread widely throughout Synod. We are now at the point where members of the brotherhood are being excused/defended to the bitter end, even at the cost of jeopardizing the eternal welfare of tens of thousands of trusting souls.]

(Pg. 45)

CONCLUSION

In the August, 1950 Concordia Theological Monthly, an article appeared entitled "The Pastor and the Synod's Handbook" in which the author extols the blessings that had abounded in the Missouri Synod up to that time. He writes: "As you browse through your Handbook, you will note how marvelously this kind of government has worked out," and then notes that the same principles had guided the Church throughout. "You will also discover," he continues, "the one reason why under God all this expansion was blessed. It was because by His grace our Church today, as the Handbook shows, has kept the same basic principles intact. Do your part as a minister of the Word to maintain these principles. Then God will continue to bless our Church because it exalts His Word and gives His congregations the rights and privileges He has bestowed upon them."

[The continuing central theme of one Missouri Synod professor who wrote extensively on church and ministry can be summarized in five words: any old polity will do.

He was wrong. Any old polity will not do. Any polity that removes (usurps) from the laity the authority to publicly administer the power of the office of the keys to forgive sins and places that authority exclusively into the hands of the members of an arrogant class of clerics is an illegitimate, anti-Scripture polity. It is a polity of destruction. It destroys, without fail wherever it reigns, the central doctrine of Scripture, the doctrine of Justification.

It is the ultimate ecclesiastical rebellion against God and His Holy Word. It is the polity that, in opposition to its official position, currently governs the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. For the sake of the spiritual well-being of the members of its congregations it needs to be rooted out - soon, congregation by congregation - before it’s too late.]