Thesis I

The holy ministry [Prediptamt] or pastoral office is an office distinct from the priesthood of all believers.

Thesis II

The ministry of the Word [Predigtamt] or the pastoral office is not a human institution but an of fice that God Himself has established.

Thesis III

The ministry [Predigtamt] is not an arbitrary office but one whose establishment has been commanded to the church and to which the church is ordinarily bound till the end of time.

Thesis IV

The ministry [Prediglamt] is not a special or, in opposition to that of ordinary Christians, a more holy state, as was the Levitical priesthood, but it is a ministry of service.

Thesis V

The public ministry [Predigtamt] has the power to preach the Gospel and administer the holy sacraments as well as the power of spiritual judgment.

Thesis Vl

A. The ministry of the Word [Predigtamt] is conferred by God through the congregation as the possessor of all ecclesiastical power, or the power of the keys, by means of its call, which God Himself has prescribed.

B. The ordination of the called [persons] with the laying on of hands is not a divine institution but merely an ecclesiastical rite [Ordnung] established by the apostles; it is no more than a solemn public confirmation of the call.

Theses VIII

The pastoral ministry [Prediptamt] is the highest office in the church, and from it stem all other offices in the church.

Thesis Vll

The holy ministry [Predigtamt] is the power, conferred by God through the congregation as the possessor of the priesthood and all church power, to exercise the rights of the spiritual priesthood in public office in the name of the congregation.

Thesis IX

To the ministry [Predigtamt] there is due respect as well as unconditional obedience when the pastor [Prediger uses God's Word. The minister must not tyrannize the church. He has no authority to introduce new laws or arbitrarily to establish adiaphora or ceremonies. The minister has no right to inflict and carry out excommunication without his having first informed the whole congregation.

Thesis X To the ministry [Predigtamt] of the Word, according to divine right, belongs also the duty [Amt] to judge doctrine, but laymen also possess this right. Therefore, in the ecclesiastical courts (consistories) and councils they are accorded both a seat and vote [Stimme] together with the clergy.

Source: Church and Ministry
Dr. C.f.W. Walter
Translated by J. T. Mueller
Concordia Publishing House, 1987