No. 56. >> Can just anybody get into the office? Aren't there special requirements and qualifications necessary to fill that office? And let me also ask about the call. You say that the Augsburg Confession in Article XIV states that no one is allowed to preach and administer the sacraments in the church without a proper call. Would you please explain the exact nature of a proper call? >>DR. KLAUS DETLEV SCHULZ: Josh, the second part of your question is the one that refers to the article in the Augsburg Confession. Namely, Article XIV, which speaks about the church order. Order ecclesiastical it is said. That is the church has understood that there is a certain order, that is a certain class in the church or structure, that allows pastors to be put in place. And that that needs to be respected and continued. And how do individuals get into that order, into that office, we may ask. And the answer here in this article is this: Concerning church order they teach that no one should teach publicly in the church or administer the sacraments unless properly called. Again, I have referred before to the word publicly as being crucial to understanding -- to understand the ministry of a pastor. Namely, on behalf of everyone in the church he is doing his duties. I maybe will come back to that later to expound on this, what it means to do it publicly. But let us then turn to the fact that this statement here also refers to those that are in the office, that they have to be properly called. The Latin word there is ***rita verkitos. You might want to remember that word. It is ***verkitos that comes from ***verkari. It is a perfect passive participle having been called. And ***rita is the adverb, which really refers to orderly. So it means that they must be orderly calls. What exactly does that mean you are asking. Well, I can explain it, perhaps, like this: There was a time in the Reformation during Luther's time at Wittenberg where so many congregations turned to the Reformation, the Protestant calls. To the teachings that Luther shared with all in his university and all members in Germany in the territory of Saxony. However, the problem was that many of those in the Roman Catholic Church who turned to Protestantism were usually laypeople. Not those in the priesthood. Those that were bishops. They had too much to lose if they became Protestant. Now suddenly the question was asked: How do we get individuals into the ministry when we have no bishops who will continue the ordination, that rita verkitos, if we will, of putting individuals orderly into the office? And Luther realized very well some order has to be maintained here. And it soon became a practice that at Wittenberg he would place individuals, those candidates for the ministry who have gone through the university who he has taught and other professors, as well, that they were placed into the office. What order was being followed here? Well, I think there were three things that need to be seen here. First, that the selection process is done properly and carefully. That individuals are chosen by congregations, by pastors, by those who are under the influence of that individual. Or who influence that individual. That they encourage him to join the seminary or the university and be trained as pastors. Some people may identify certain gifts in an individual and say that he is properly destined for the cause of pursuing ministry. We may then add that this individual will be referred to a proper education. That eligible have to be trained. And then finally, this individual will be placed into the ministry through a proper call from a congregation. And then through the ordination. You can see, therefore, that out of this ***rita verkitos really evolved a long sequence, a broad call, if you will, that allowed us to include a number of aspects. And it became a progress. Or a process, if you may say so. Of selecting an individual. Of educating him. Of then having him called by a congregation. And then ordaining him for that particular ministry. Some individuals who come to the ministry are called internally. We call that a ***verkatio interna. Obviously we want everyone to experience that personal persuasion that you want to pursue the ministry. Every individual should be convinced that what he's doing is the right thing. So that ***verkatio interna, that internal call, is an absolutely crucial one. However, we compliment that internal call also with an external one, which we call the ***verkatio externa. That is just like any other profession where there is maybe a surgeon or a farmer or a teacher or a lawyer, they all have to qualify in some ways for the work that they are doing, for the vocation they find themselves in. Nobody would say that the surgeon who cuts somebody open is performing here an illegal act. And so, also, we are interested that somebody who is teaching in the church, who are preaching and administering the sacraments is not performing an illegal act. And so this eternal call is placed upon that individual by the church. And as I've said, we can understand it in the broad sense as one that says he has to go through a number of steps in order to qualify and to be considered legitimately placed in that office. We can also speak of the call in the narrow sense, the call, the ***rita verkatos, meaning, thereby, that a congregation extends a call to that individual and asks him to call to -- into their midst and to serve them with the ministry. And that call also includes ordination, which is not just an arbitrary act. But one that actually places a stamp of approval on that individual that is going to pursue that ministry. Who qualifies for that office, therefore, is evident. Now I think both the internal call plus the external call must both come together. The church, however, has been very careful as to not allow anyone into the ministry. One issue that always surfaces is the ordination of women. We have very many women in our church that help the ministry of preaching and teaching. We know the Lutheran Women's League -- Missionary League, for example, is absolutely crucial in maintaining the missionary direction of our church. We also have women today who may vote in congregations. It's called the Women's Suffrage. We also have them serve sometimes -- and this is what our Synod has allowed -- to serve as presidents of a church. Or even in the capacity of elders. We know some texts in the Bible such as I Timothy 2 Verse 12 where Paul writes to the congregation and to Timothy that he does not permit a woman to teach or to have any role of authority over man. She must remain silent. We also have in Ephesians 5 Verse 22 a statement that she must submit herself to her husband. And in I Corinthians 14 Verse 34, we have the statement being made by Paul that a woman should remain silent in the churches. These are clear statements that the Missouri Synod has always affirmed as binding for the life of the church today. We know that those members of the Lutheran World Federation, such as the ELCA, they do permit women in the ministry. They see these statements that I've just quoted by the apostle Paul as being historically conditioned. That means they were uttered by him during a time when it was appropriately culturally speaking to say these things, that a woman must remain silent in the church and be submissive to her husband. However, we are cautious not to follow that line of thinking. For we see that those statements that the apostle Paul there made, especially the one in I Timothy in Chapter 2 where he refers to the order of creation we might say. The order of creation where Adam was created first and Eve second. We believe, therefore, that beyond the ministry being performed, that there must also be somebody incumbent in it who is male, who follows that order of creation that God designed also for his church and also for his ministry. Granted, this is sometimes a statement that the Missouri Synod makes against culture, against those that see that we need to move on, go ahead and allow women also in the ministry. But I am cautious here, as well, in terms of putting these statements in Scripture into a historical and cultural context only. We should see them still as binding. The way we deal with Scripture with these statements also indicate then how we will treat other statements that refer maybe to homosexuality and those that also refer to abortion and other things. We might say: Well, let's go ahead, also, with these. So the way we treat Scripture at times reflects, also, how we view it in terms of its authority over us today. And here as a Missouri Synod member and a teacher at the seminary, I clearly make statements to the effect that I would like to see Scripture to be binding in most things that it says. And we need to carefully engage the exegetical insights that we have been given by our exegetes and also those statements that have been made officially by our church before we come to reach a conclusion on this matter.