Full Text for Christ's Ambassadors (Text)

LOGIA ,JUL a0 1998 A JOURNAL OF LUTHERAN THEOLOGY HOLYTRlNI1Y 1998 VOLUME VII, NUMBER3 CONTENTS Correspondence ........................ ................. ..... ....................................................................................................... ......................................... ...... 2 Preface .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Inklings by Jim Wilson .............................. ........ ............... ......................... .................................... ................................................................. ..... 4 ARTICLES ,~ Confessing Christ: Office and Vocation ;f; .J1f.:r.~ . h' M aki fl, '<:- ~B N 1 as ....................................................................···· ......·· ..·....·....·.. . .;:;..............................~. ....................... 5 Y aomlC ···....····.... · ..·..··../fl"" r'~ . ?r;;;;::~!':.~;:~.~.~~:~:l_~~~..~.~.:.:~.~:.~~:.~.:..~~~.~~~~.~~:::......._..~.):.................................. ..~...................... 13 Kenneth Scott Latourette: A Description and Assessment ofHis Historical '{::'>;.. d Analysis ofthe Spread ofChristianity in the First Five Centuries ·<:;:;'~S· ~.!; :'1~lS~~/ By Andrew Pfeiffer ....................................................................................................................................... ~::.~::;.::~::::................................. 19 The Motivation for Lutheran Missiology By Ralph Patrick .............................. :................................................................................................................................................................... 25 Lutheran Missions Must Lead to Lutheran Churches By Matthew Harrison ....... ........................................ ........ ... ..... ........................................................... ......... ............. ...... .................................. 29 How Are They to Believe? Romans 10:14-15 in the Light ofthe Lutheran Confessions By Jonathan Lange ."................. .............. ..... ............................... ........................................................................................................................ 35 A Call for Manuscripts .. ....... ......... ............................... ... ........................ ................................................................................. ........................... 43 The Borga (Porvoo) "Common Statement" By Tom G. A. Hardt ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 45 The Question of the Church's Unity on the Mission Field By Hennann Sasse ......... ......... ................ ......................................... ......................... .......................... ......................................................... ....... 53 REVIEWS .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 61 REVIEW ESSAY: Church under the Pressure ofStalinism: The Development ofthe Status and Activities ofthe Soviet Latvian Evangelical-Lutheran Church in 1944-1950. By Jonko Talonen. On Being a Theologian ofthe Cross: Reflections on Luther's Heidelberg Disputation, 1518. By Gerhard O. Forde. Dining with the Devil: TIle Megacharch Movement Flirts with Modernity. By Os Guinness. Galatians, Ephesians. By Armin J. Panning. 'The People's Bible Series. Welcome to Christ: Lutheran Rites for the Catechumenate. Edited by Paul Nelson, Frank Stoldt, Scott Weidler, and Lani Willis. ! Women and Religion: The Original Sourcebook ofWomen in Christian Thought. Edited by Elizabeth A. Clark and Herbert Richardson. I Prince, People and Confession: The Second Reformation in Brandenberg. By Bodo Nischan. Lord, Teach Us. By William H. Willimon and Stanley HauelWas. i Lost Daughters. By Reinder Van Til. Foreword by Martin E. Marty. BRIEFLY NOTED LOGIA FORUM .................................................................................................................................................................................... 73 A Missionary Prayer • Disappearing Disciples • How Christians Look at Graves Sacred Obstacles • Trivializing God • Pastoral Calls • Ecclesiastical Authority • Aesthetic Contradiction Supermarket of Desire • Luther Poster Available • The Fathers on Numbers • A Day's Journey into Nineveh The Baptism of the Penguins • Anatomy ofa Takeover • The Hymnals of Unionism and Rationalism Christ's Ambassadors A Confessional Perspective on the Missionary Office ofthe Church KLAUS DETLEV SCHULZ SOME MIGHT FIND THE ATTEMPT to interpret the Lutheran officially subscribed to what the fathers confessed in the Sixteenth Confessions missiologically a dubious undertaking. After all, Century.6 May this global reditus ad confessionem apply for all enough skeptics have raised their concerns against such Lutheran mission endeavors, as reviews and examinations con­ an endeavor.1 Some readers, however, will recall Werner Elert's tinue to extol the Lutheran Confessions' missiological value. famous defense of Refornlation theology, and ofLuther's thought THE UNIVERSAL GOSPEL AND THE MISSIONARYin particular, when he pleads for an understanding of the more OBLIGATION OF THE CHURCH profound missionary structure of his theology, rather than to look to it for advice on how to run a missionary society.2 This is The basic premise or window to a missiological reading of the precisely the point: Missiology as the so-called handmaiden to Lutheran Confessions is the programmatic statement in the theology (ancilla theologiae) devotes a dominant part of its task to Preface to the Book of Concord where the futhers, united in draw missiological insights from theological texts that are not their efforts to lay down foundational statements for the con­ explicit, but at first actually often seem quite worthless for mis­ cord of the Lutheran Church, raise their vision universally and sions. This approach has been adopted by missiologists for all jointly profess "to do and to continue to do everything that is major disciplines in theology where implicit references to mis­ useful and profitable to the increase and expansion of God's sions in many texts and statements have to be brought to light by praise and glory, to the propagation of that Word of his that the method of deduction. It thus stands to reason that the alone brings salvation ... and to the needed consolation and Lutheran Confessions should not be exempted from a similar instruction of poor, misguided consciences.''7 What is foremost undertaking3-especially in view of the numerous successful in the confessors' mind is the "propagation of the gospel" (prop attempts that have been made to highlight the inherent impetus . agatio verbi ipsius) among the spiritually poor and confused, and dynamic for mission work in Luther's theology.4 which not only serves the purpose to counteract mendacious Therefore, upon an investigation of the Lutheran Confessions, a calumnies and religious controversies, but becomes above all a multitude of theological ideas and reasoning emerge that prove matter of bringing salvation. This joint accord with the univer­ invaluable for any Lutheran missiology.5 Only a small part of this sal propagation of God's word as it is believed and confessed wealth can be highlighted in this essay as we confine ourselves to provides the center stage for all further statements made in the the task of establishing from the Lutheran Confessions the mis­ individual confessions that corroborate, as well as provide fur­ sionary obligation of the church as it culminates in the missionary ther insight, into the confessors' unfaltering commitment to the office. May this brief perusal ease the intransigence of a few who proliferation of God's word. seem to insist on the alternative of either confessional theology or The obligation of the church to proclaim God's word is mission theology, rather than recognizing a both/and relationship. embedded in the soteriology of the Lutheran Confessions, that Before we commence with our examination itself, allow me to is, what is believed of the condition of mankind and how it is add that while it is true that the Lutheran Confessions address overcome by what Christ did for the world. His sacrificial death controversial issues during the Sixteenth Century and thus func­ on the cross and the fallen state of the world are both confessed tion as a Notbuch of sorts for specific situations, we may nonethe­ as universal and world-embracing events, which in turn less note that their claim stretches beyond temporal and geo­ accounts for the church's responsibility for the universal graphical confines. This can be demonstrated today all over the preaching of the gospel. The Third Article of the Augsburg ecumenical world where former daughter churches, planted by Confession, "The Son of God;' understands his suffering, Lutheran missionaries, in their quest towards independence have death, and burial as "a sacrifice not only for original guilt but also for all actual sins of men" (AC III, 3; Tappert, 30). In Melanchthon's article on justification in the Apology, Christ's KtAUS DETLEV SCHULZ is currently serving as a missionary for the Selb sacrificial death "is a price and propitiation, for the sins of the staendige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Serowe, Botswana, Africa. He whole world."8 "After the whole world was subjected;' Christ earned a Th.D. at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1995, and came and "took away the sin of the whole world" (Ap IV, 103; has been a guest lecturer at Conc~rdia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Tappert, 122). Therefore, while in the hamartiological motif of 13 14 the Lutheran Confessions the whole world (totus mundus) is condemned under sin, Christ alone (solus Christus) is placed as its counterpart. These reflections have also found a place in the Formula of Concord's article on election, in which the universal significance of the Christ event is demonstrated most clearly. For "it is not God's will that anyone should be damned but that all men should turn themselves to him and be saved forever" (FC SD II, 49; Tap­ pert, 530). Christ "testifies to all men without distinction that God wants all men who are laden and burdened with sin to come to him" (FC SD XI, 70; Tappert, 627). Within this universal framework of Christ's life and death, the Formula of Concord affirms the missionary obligation of the church. After the statement that the whole world has been sub­ jected to sin and that the proclamation of repentance and the promise of the gospel extends "over all men" [promissio evangelii est universalis], the commission immediately follows that "Christ has commanded to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name among all nations." In a series of biblical citations the Great Commission is underlined: "It is Christ's command that all in common to whom repentance is preached should also have this promise of the Gospel proclaimed to them (Luke 24:47; Mark 16:15)" (FC SD XI, 28; Tappert, 620-621). A silent possession ofdoctrines or of the sacraments does not constitute the church. If we move to Luther, the same can be said: From the promise of God's grace flows the missionary obligation of the church. In his Smalcald Articles under the title "The Gospel" we read: "God is surpassingly rich in his grace: First, through the spoken word, by which the forgiveness of sin . .. is preached to the whole world" (SA III, IV; Tappert, 310). In an even more graphic expla­ nation of the Third Article in his Large Catechism, Luther joins the missionary proclamation with the gospel: "In order that this treasure might not be buried but put to use and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to be published and proclaimed, in which he has given the Holy Spirit to offer and apply to us this treasure of sal­ vation.... Where he does not cause the Word to be preached and does not awaken understanding in the heart, all is lost" (LC II, 38, 43; Tappert, 415, 416). With this in mind Luther prays his famous mission prayer: "Dear Father, we pray Thee, give us thy Word, that the Gospel may be sincerely preached throughout the world" (LC III, 54; Tappert, 427). Furthermore, world evangelization is not an impossible task to perform. Melanchthon's world ecumenical and missionary per­ spective on the sparsi per totum mundum expresses a belief com­ mon to all the reformers that there are "true believers and right­ eous men scattered throughout the world" who are devoted to preaching the good news ofChrist (Ap VII, 20; Tappert, 171; Ap VII, 10; Tappert, 170).9 In this way mission becomes a concern of all LOGIA Christians, which Luther assigns to the Gemeine that has been gathered by the Holy Spirit and is used by him "to teach and preach the Word" (LC II, 53; Tappert, 417).10 The univeral claim of the gospel therefore remains inseparable from what is said of the church. The precise nature of the church's mission is brought out in all clarity in the Augsburg Confession, which defines the church as the "assembly of saints" where "the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel" within their midst (AC VII, 1; Tappert, 32). It is important to note here that when the mission of the church is referenced elsewhere in the Lutheran Confessions to the preaching of the gospel or of the word, the terms gospel and word are used as generic terms that embrace four basic forms: the actual proclamation of the word, baptism, holy communion, and absolution. Consequently, if we speak of the church's mission, we should single out its four basic forms, which originate in the insti­ tution and commandment of the crucified and resurrected Christ. The church faithfully commits her mission to tlJe Lord by per­ forming among unbelievers these four actions: preaching the word, baptizing, celebrating holy communion, and absolving the sins ofcontrite confessors.ll What is also implied here is that a silent possession of doctrines or of the sacraments does not constitute the church, but she actu­ ally exists where the actions of teaching, preaching, and distribut­ ing the sacraments to people are performed. For as Luther says in the Large Catechism, "Where Christ is not preached, there is no Holy Spirit to create, call, and gather the Christian church" (LC II, 45; Tappert, 416). Baptism and holy communion are therefore nei­ ther pious nor optional acts, but effective means of the universal salvific will ofGod "intended to awaken and confirm faith in those who use them" (AC XIII, I; Tappert, 35). In, with, and under the church's preaching and the administration of the sacraments, the gathering of saints throughout the world takes place and the holy church ofGod is being built. In view of this, mission belongs to the very essence of the church, particularly when one is mindful of the important Lutheran premise that the mission frontier runs right through the midst of the church, where faith in Jesus Christ meets unbelieE This is based on the definition of the church as the corpus permix­ tum, where "many false Christians, hypocrites, and even open sinners remain among the godly" (AC VIII, I; Tappert, 33), as well as on the stark reality that also the believers are "daily under the dominion of the devil, who neither day nor night relaxes his effort to steal upon [them) unawares and to kindle in [their) heart unbelief" (LC I, 100; Tappert, 378). Thus a well-advised approach for the church is that she should place her trust in the reality and the effectiveness of word and sacrament. They are not only the means to renew the faith of those who have forgotten it or become estranged from it, but also to awaken faith in those who have not yet heard itP By implica­ tion, therefore, the church's goal in mission is not only to cater to her own needs, but also to keep her focus on the world. A church is a church of Christ insofar as she willingly submits herself to him and allows herself to be used as his instrument of proclaim­ ing the gospel to the entire believing and unbelieving world. The activities ofpreaching and administering the sacraments are not a hindrance or impasse to the church's outreach but essential to the 15 CHRIST'S AMBASSADORS divine mission in which she stands. In fact, the Lutheran Confes­ sions' strongest argument for missions is that conversion occurs where the means ofgrace are preached and administered.13 THE MISSIONARY OFFICE AS THE CULMINATION OF THE CHURCH'S MISSION At this juncture one should note, however, that further details in mapping out the missionary dimension of the entire church are absent from the Lutheran Confessions. If a mission scholar were to be on the lookout for the phrase "royal priesthood ofall believ­ ers" to elevate every Christian's mission service beyond his per­ sonal witness and vocation to newer and higher levels, he would be sadly disappointed.14 One may attribute this absence to the fact that--as already mentioned - the Lutheran Confessions are a Notbuch wherein not all aspects of the Lutheran belief have been given attention. After all, the Lutheran Confessions have nothing in common with the voluminous Summa of earlier and the SY5­ tema of later dogmaticians. More important, however, is the fact that the doctrine of the ordered office remains in the furefront of the confessors' minds, as will be shown later on. Beforehand, though, it would be helpful briefly to address and explain those responsibilities that have actually been given to all believers. Melanchthon establishes that the church retains "the right of electing and ordaining ministers" by divine right "when the bishops are heretics or refuse to administer ordination." "For wherever the church exists, the right to administer the Gospel also exists" (Tr 67, 72; Tappert, 331, 332).15 In conjunction with this, Melanchthon further concedes to the church-although restricted to an emergency situation (casus neces5itatis)- that in certain situations "even a layman absolves and becomes the min­ ister and pastor ofanother" (Tr, 67; Tappert, 331). It is worthwhile to recall here Luther's application ofthis emer­ gency situation to a mission setting. In his treatise The Right and Power of a Christian Congregation or Community to Judge All Teaching and Call, Appoint, and Dismiss Teachers, Established and Proved from Scripture of1523, he establishes that if a Christan were to find himself alone in the midst of a heathen world, the rite vocatus is not applicable; and in such a case every Christian has the right and obligation to assume the preaching office and wit­ ness in those areas: when he [the Christian] is in a place where there are no Christians, he needs no other call than the fact that he is a Christian, inwardly called and anointed by God; he is bound by the duty of brotherly love to preach to the erring heathens or nonchristians and to teach them the Gospel, even though no one call[ed] him to this work .... In such circumstances the Christian looks, in brotherly love, upon the needs of poor perishing souls, and waits for no com­ mission or letter from pope or bishop. For necessity breaks every law and knows no law; moreover, love is bound to help when there is no one else to help.16 Just as important, however, is Luther's defense of those rules applicable to a normal situation where ordinary circumstances prevail. If the Christian should find himself in a place where there are other Christians, the rite vocatus applies. The Christian is obliged to stand back and assume the preaching office only upon the consent, choice, and call ofthe congregation.l7 From the above an important question must be asked whether missions should be allowed to be reduced to the missio extraordi­ narium where Christians in remote and foreign areas single­ handedly apply the call of the church to themselves and assume the duty to proclaim the gospel among the heathen. This cannot be the case. The missionary obligation of the church remains an unrelenting service to the universal call of the gospel (vocatio universalis), which cannot be left to erratic occasions or pure chance events when a Christian happens to find himself in an extraordinary situation. Nor may the mission of the church be The missionary obligation ofthe church remains an unrelentingservice to the universal call ofthe gospel. reduced to every Christian's private and personal witness. In view of this, the church responds to the divine call for mission in foreign places by calling and ordaining individuals into the preaching office. The words of the late Lutheran theologian Peter Brunner are instructive here: Every Christian has been entrusted and ordered to the per­ sonal missionary witness in the surroundings of his home and in his civic sphere. But not every Christian is under the command to go to foreign parts of the world and apply all his physical and spiritual reserves to the service of the gospel among the heathen. Due to Christ's commission and for the sake of saving the lost, there must be those who will leave their home country as messengers of Christ and sacrifice all their strengths for the purpose of bringing the gospel to the heathen world. This missionary service may not be left to coincidence. IS As a result, the church not only places pastors in existing con­ gregations, but also sends missionaries into those foreign lands where through the proclamation of the gospel and the adminis­ tration of the sacraments churches are brought into existence. Contrary to the fallacy that with the end of the apostolic office organized mission work has been terminated as well, the church views the ministerium verbi as given to her in order to respond appropriately to the call for universal proclamation.19 Just as Christ ordered his disciples to preach, teach, and baptize in remote heathen lands, so too the church applies the commis­ sion to her ministry by caIling and sending individuals who in accordance with AC XIV will "publicly teach or preach and administer the sacraments" on a regular and consistent basis (AC XIV; Tappert, 36).20 This deeper and more concentrated meaning of the mission­ ary obligation of the church is rooted in the Augsburg Confes­ 16 sion itself. There, in the ordering of its individual articles, the inextricable connection between the gospel and the missionary obligation is truly apparent. For it is not without theological and missiological significance that the article on the office of the ministry follows that on justification and is situated before the article on the church: "In order that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments was instituted" (AC v, 1; Tappert, 31). The propaga­ tio verbi ipsius is thus qualified in such a way that through the action of proclamation, the viva vox evangelii, and administer­ ing the sacraments by a man ordained into the office of the ministry, the Holy Spirit works the saving faith among those who hear the gospel. The emphasis on justification and the sav­ ing faith in turn rests upon the fact "that since the fall of Adam all men who are propagated according to nature are born in sin" and that the son of God, Jesus Christ, through his suffering, crucifixion, death, and burial became "a sacrifice not only for original guilt but also for all actual sins of men" (AC II, I; Tap­ pert, 29; and AC III, 3; Tappert, 30). This sequence lays out the divine plan of salvation, the so-called salvation history (Heils­ geschichte) in which the functions of the office of preaching and administering the sacraments become pivotal for the believing community, the church, as well as for all those who due to their unbelief still fall under the curse of sin. By virtue of this regular call the missionary becomes the public servant of the church. Therefore, the ministerium verbi or ministerium ecclesiasticum as it is formulated in Augsburg Confession v cannot be confined (as is often erroneously assumed) to the historic and institution­ ali7£d office of the pastor.21 What stands out here is first of all the "functional, non-institutional nature of the ministry:'22 which allows the ministerium verbi to be applied also to the missionary, who, just like the pastor, teaches, preaches publicly, and adminis­ ters the sacraments. On the basis of these functions performed by the missionary, a "functional succession" exists between that of the missionary and the apostles (LC 11, 45; Tappert, 416). Just as the apostles themselves were ministers by Christ's commission, so too the missionary will consider himself a representative ofChrist by preaching, teaching, and administering the sacraments in his name and by his authority.23 In contrast to the apostles, however, the missionary's office and the pastor's are mediately received through the rite vocatus, albeit de jure divino.24 By virtue of this regular call the missionary becomes the pub­ lic servant of the church; and through his ministry of baptizing, preaching, and teaching he legitimately represents the church's mission in faraway regions. Accordingly, an individual's appeal to his inner vocation or baptism would not serve here as an ade­ quate legitimation. For when all Christians assume responsibil­ ity for their private and personal missionary witness in their LOGIA surroundings and civil sphere, they cannot claim thereby to stand under the authority and universal call of the church to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments in foreign lands among the heathen. Instead, the church, in faithful response to Christ's commission, and to the urgent need of sal­ vation for the lost, selects individuals as Christ's ambassadors. Thereby the missionary obligation is not left to pure chance or coincidence, when, for example, a businessman happens to find himself on a foreign trip among the heathen. In principle, all the services of any "self-chosen" missionary remain question­ able unless the nature of his ministry comes out clearly, namely, that of being called and commissioned by the church for the pure proclamation of the gospel and the right administration of the sacraments.25 What goal does the church pursue in her calling, ordaining, and sending individuals as incumbents of ministerium ecclesias­ ticum? The answer lies in God's salvation plan itself, which is, as already mentioned, "to call men to eternal salvation, to draw them to himself, convert them, beget them anew, and sanctify them through this means and in no other way-namely, through . his holy Word ... and the sacraments" (FC SD II, 50; Tappert, 531). This divine goal of bringing people to faith coincides with the act of planting a church. The ecclesiocentric goal of God's mission is affirmed by Luther, namely, that through word and sacrament the Holy Spirit creates, caUs, and gathers the Christian church.26 Not only is the church the instrument in God's salva­ tion plan, but it also becomes the end result or goal of his mission to the world. The church thus sends, calls, and ordains individu­ als with the purpose and goal to bring people to Christ and gather them into a community. The sequence described here is as follows: After the proclamation of the gospel, baptism will follow, and at the place where baptism occurs a church will come into being. Baptized Christians will congregate to worship and to cele­ brate the Lord's Supper for the first time. Despite the difference between the missionary's and pastor's geographical locality, in that the missionary collects a flock of Christ through the means of grace and the pastor is placed in the midst of an already existing believing community, the missionary has in common with the pastor that he also will assume the responsibilty of shepherding his recently baptized members. As shepherd of his young flock, the missionary, however, does not lose his status as messenger of the church, but he continues his missionary role in reaching out to the unbaptized in the immedi­ ate surrounding. Through the acts of preaching and teaching, the. Holy Spirit remains with the holy community, strengthening and nourishing it, but also incorporating new members into it who were before "entirely of the devil, knowing nothing of God and of Christ" (LC 11, 52; Tappert, 417). Ultimately, therefore, both the missionary and the pastor, as legitimate incumbents of the ministerium verbi divini, nurture their respective flocks through word and sacrament, although the explicit "sent" character of the missionary's office persists in that the missionary continues to reach out to the lost within the vicin­ ity of his church or eventually targets a completely new area where no churches have been planted before. From the sequence described above, one may surmise that the office of the pastor evolves from that ofthe missionary.27 17 CHRIST'S AMBASSADORS CONCLUSION Let us briefly recall what has been previously established. The important passages in the Lutheran Confessions on the minis­ terium verbi divini cannot be restricted only to the office of the pastor. This would relegate the missionary office to the royal priesthood of all believers, and consequently raise doubts about its nature and sphere of duties. Rather, the office of the ministry is and must be referenced to the universal claim of the gospel and God's desire to save the lost. Since the church's mission is single and confined to the proclamation of the gospel and the adminis­ tration of the sacraments, she calls individuals into the office so that the means of grace can be administered worldwide. Based on his call, ordination, and commission, the missionary legitimately carries out his church's mission. The missionary office is there by divine necessity and not by the church's choice. In light of this, an obvious rejoinder might be that the Lutheran Confessions propose a clericalization of the church's mission.28 There is some truth to this. The missionary office is there by divine necessity and not by the church's choice. For it is obvious that as long as word and sacrament remain the instruments in the mission of the church, the services of called and ordained men remain indispensable and final. The intention of this study, how­ ever, was to argue for the role of the missionary office within the total missionary service of the church. Admittedly, the service of the laity was only briefly touched, but the fact that mission belongs to the entire church remained the underlying premise. Regrettably, though, dramatic shifts are taking place in certain mission circles which, due to an unfounded latitudinarianism, are threatening to erode the important Lutheran distinction between the missionary service of the laity and of the ordained.29 One should stress emphatically that an abandonment of the missionary office will also destroy a clear definition of the royal priesthood of all believers. For one of its marks is that it supports equality, which prohibits anyone from elevating himself over the other and assuming a self-chosen authority. The priesthood of believers exists only in view ofwhat is common to all, and its sur­ vival will be guaranteed especially when a person is chosen from its midst, ordained, and set apart for the missionary service to the divine word.3° Any affront against the missionary office will have to deal with its scriptural and confessional support. But there is also the his­ torical argument. The organized mission movement of confes­ sional Lutheran churches in the nineteenth century indeed cul­ minated in the sending of specially called and ordained individu­ als. While it is true that Lutheran missions undergo changes, one confessional and historical conviction remains unshakable: as long as the mission of the church is defined as the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments in a commu­ nity surrounded by unbaptized unbelievers and in geographically remote areas, the church must continue to call and ordain men for missionary serviceY IIIDID NOTES 1. The missiologist James Scherer, for example, passes the following verdict: "However, the Lutheran Confessions make no statements what­ ever about mission theology or practice," although it then seems some­ what ironic that he chose for his tide a quote from Luther's explanation to the Second Petition in the Large Catechism. That the Gospel May Be Sin­ cerely Preached throughout the World. A Lutheran Perspective on Mission and Evangelism (LWF Report 11-12, 1982), 3. 2. Werner Elert, 'The Structure of Lutheranism, trans. Walter A. Hansen (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1962), 391. 3. Within the LCMS I can only recall one author who has undertaken a worthwhile investigation into the Lutheran Confessions from a missio­ logical perspective, namely, the late Robert Preus in his essay "The Confes­ sions and the Mission of the Church," Springfie1der39 (June 1975): 20-39. 4. Since some ofLuther's writings are contained in the Lutheran Con­ fessions, defenses of Luther's theology often make reference to the Lutheran Confessions, for example, Alfred Koschade, "Luther on Mission­ ary Motivation," Lutheran Quarterly17 (1965): 224-239. 5. The most serious attempt to date already goes back many years to Franz Wiebe's "Missionsgedanken in den lutherischen Bekenntniss­ chriften," in Lutherisches Missionsjahrbuch for das Jahr 1955, edited by Wal­ ter Ruf (Neuendettelsau: Selbstverlag der Bayerischen Missionskonferenz, 1955): 15-71. I also refer to my dissertation, 'The Missiological Significance of the Doctrine oflustification in the Lutheran Confessions (Concordia Semi­ nary, St. Louis, 1995). 6. It is quite astonishing that the Lutheran Church of Southern Africa (LCSA), which subscribed to the Lutheran Confessions in 1967, continues to include in its seminary's curriculum the history of the confessional Lutheran churches so as to kindle greater appreciation among the students for their confessional background and heritage. Also noteworthy is how the Batac-Church ofIndonesia (HCBP), in order to quaLiJ:Y as a Lutheran Church, compiled in 1951 her own confessions, which included the posi­ tive affirmations of the Augsburg Confession, whereas its condemnations were contextualized against Islam, Roman Catholics, Adventists, and other contemporary religious groups. 7. Tappert, 13. See also the essay by Walter Meyer-Roscher, "Die Bedeutung der lutherischen Bekenntnisschriften fUr die gegenwartige oku­ menische Diskussion," Lutherisches Missionsjahrbuch for das Jahr 1966 (Niimberg, 1966): 19-34. 8. German text of Ap IV, lines 8-11: "DerVerdienst Christi aber ist der Schatz; denn es muE ein Schatz und edles Pfund sein, dadurch die Suende aller Welt bezahlt seinn (BSLK, 171). 9. The German text is far more descriptive of the "catholic church": "namlich daB ediche Gottes Kinder sind hin und wider in aller Welt, in allerlei Konigreichen, Inseln, Landem, Stiidten vom Aufgang der Sonnen bis zum Niedergang, die Christum und das Evangelium recht erkannt haben" (BSLK 238, lines 45-50). Melanchthon's idea of the "ecclesia per totum orbem dispersa" should be seen in light of the unity between the gospel and mission, in the sense that the gospel takes its unstoppable course into all regions of the world through the preaching and life of the church as it spreads globally. This concept is elementary to Luther's theol­ ogy as well, and is later succincdy captured in Wilhelm Lohe's famous quotation: "For mission is nothing but the one church ofGod in motion, the actualization of the one universal church." Wilhelm LOhe, Three Books about the Church, trans. and ed. James L. Schaaf (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969), 69. 10. See also LC 1I,61 (Tappert, 419). In using the terms heilige Gemeine and Christenheit for his ecclesiology, Luther corroborates the expansive and universal ecdesiology of Melanchthon's term sanda catholica ecclesia. Both join hands with the term Gemeinschaft or Gemeine der Heiligen. See also Ap Vll, 8 (Tappert, 169) and LC 11, 49 (Tappert, 417). 11. Ap XlII, 3-5 (Tappert, 211). The church cannot abandon any of these four actions in her missionary task. For as Wilhelm Maurer says, "There is no distinction in rank between preaching and administering the sacraments." Historical Commentary on the Augsburg Confession, trans. H. George Anderson (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986), 360. Thereby Lutheran mission, broadly speaking, finds itself between two Protestant mission movements. The evangelicals, on the one side, nar­ 18 row the mission of the church down to only one of the gospel's forms, evangelization, and the ecumenical-conciliar movement on the other side, with a holistic understanding of missions, embellishes the church's mission with other concerns. It should be added, though, that there is no unanimity over the meaning of mission within these mission move­ ments themselves. See David Bosch, Transforming Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991), 389-400. 12. See Together in God's Mission: A LvVr: Contribution to the Under­ standing ofMission (Hannover/NeuendetteIsau, 1988), 27. 13. "That the ch urch' s mission is single and confined to the proclama­ tion of the Gospel and administration of the sacraments is clear ... in our Confessions" (Preus, 30). 14. The classical Lutheran illustration ofa Christian's missionary ser­ vice is done by means of the triangle of three responsibilities: The respon­ sibility (1) to confess and witness the word (1 Pt 2: 9; Phl 4-7); (2) to respond to his vocation in the secular world (Mt 5: 13-16; 1 Pt 2: l2); and (3) to assist in the dialronia ofthe c1lUrm (Lk 10: 25-37). 15. See also the similar argumentation employed by Luther in his SA lll, X on "Ordination and Vocation" (Tappert, 314). 16. Works of Martin Luther, Philadelphia Edition, 6 vols. (Philadel­ phia: Muhlenberg Press, 1915-1932; reprint Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1982, 4: Bo. 17. Ibid., 4: 82. This important reservation is often left out in missio­ logical writings, whim quote only the first half. See Werner Raupp, ed., Mission in Quellentexten (Erlangen: Verlag der Evang.-Luth. Mission. Bad Liebenzell, 1990), 16. 18. Peter Brunner, "Das Heil und das Amt," in PRO ECCLESIA (Berlin und Hamburg: Lutherisches Verlagshaus, 1966), 1: 293-309, espe­ cially p. 303. 19. An explanation for the reformers' reluctance to support an orga­ nized overseas mission enterprise demands closer attention than this essay can offer. A few reasons must suffice here. There were those based on his­ torical grounds: (1) The landlocked state ofmost Protestant countries; and (2) the dominance and control of church life by territorial churches made foreign missions almost impossible. (3) The numerous duties and obliga­ tions of the reformers within Europe allowed for no further commitments such as overseas mission. But there was also a theological reason: (4) Luther and all his followers believed that the apostolic office and the mandate for foreign missions had ceased. This belief must be understood in its context. Every Christian, however, was called to missionary witness even among the Turks when required to do so. See Raupp, 13. 20. It would have been helpful if Robert J. Scudieri had offered further insights into this question, beyond the truism he asserts that the churm confessed as "apostolic" continues to do missions. The Apostolic Cnurch: One, Holy, Catholic and Missionary (Lutheran Society for Missiology, 1996). Unanswered remains the important question whether all Christians are now called to perform the functions of baptizing, teaching, and preaching. I have already provided the answer in part from Melanmthon and Luther that such can only be the case under the emergency situation (casus necessitatis), which thlls away when a Christian finds himself in the midst ofothers as well as in the context ofan ordered sending of individu­ als by the church through her mission societies. This must be said espe­ cially in answer to the call of the Mission Blueprint ofthe LCMS for"a clear and accurate portrayal of the nature of ordained and lay leadership in the church." Mission Blueprint for the Nineties: A Report (The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, April 16, 1991), 19. 21. August Kimme thus observes: "Hat man diesen Artikel erst ein­ mal von seiner kirchlichen Verengung befreit, so entdeckt mn als den Missionsartikel der lutherischen Reformation," "Kirche und ihre Sendung," in Lutherische Beitrage zur Missio Dei (Erlangen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1982), 100. This must be said in view of the total gospel min­ istry, which to Wilhelm Maurer also includes in AC v the common priesthood of all believers: "The preaching office does not exclude the general priesthood," 355. The royal priesthood's duty within the mission of the church, however, has been noticeably confined by David J. Bosch, 137-138 (also 168), who concludes his exegetical research on the Pauline letters as follows: "The missionary dimension of the conduct of the Pauline Christians remains implicit rather than explicit. They are, to LOGIA employ a distinction introduced by Hans-Werner Gensichen, 'mission­ ary' (missionarisch) rather than 'missionizing' (missionierend). Refer­ ences to specific cases of direct missionary involvement by the churches are rare in Paul's letters. But this is not just seen as a deficiency. Rather, Paul's whole argument is that the attractive lifestyle of the small Christ­ ian communities gives credibility to the missionary outreach in which he and his fellow workers are involved. The primary responsibility of 'ordi­ nary' Christians is not to go out and preach, but to support the mission project through their appealing conduct and by making 'outsiders' feel welcome in their midst." 22. Preus, 23. 23. These apostolic duties also continue with the ministerium verb~ AC XXVIll, 5 (Tappert, 81-82), also Tr 9, 31 (Tappert, 321, 325). Peter Brun­ ner correctly elucidates: "From the principles ofthe Lutheran Reformation there can be no doubt that the missionary who was sent to a certain land with foreign tribes by a church which is gathered around the apostolic gospel and the correctly administered sacraments, is a legitimate represen­ tative of Christ's messengers." "Vom Amt des Bischofs," in PRO ECCLE­ SIA (Berlin und Hamburg: Lutherisches Verlagshaus, 1966), 1: 281. 24. AC XIV (Tappert, 36). The distinction between the apostle Paul and the missionary and pastor is, however, not as clear-cut. For despite his immediate call by Christ, the ecclesial chara,:ter of the apostle's office lies in the fa,:t that he too in all humbleness let himself be sent by a church and received from her his office, to which he held himself accountable (Acts 13: 3). See Georg F. Vicedom, Die Rechtfertigung als gestaltende Kraft der Mis­ sion (Neuendettelsau: Freimund Verlag, 1952), 10. 25. See here Walter Holsten, "Die lutherische Kirche als Trager der Sendung," in Das Wort und die VOlker der Erde. Beitrage zum lutherischen Verstiindnis der Mission (Uelzen: Niedersachsische Buch­ druckerei, 1951), 14. 26. LC 11, 45 (Tappert, 416). Shortly before, Luther explains: "In other words, he [the Holy Spirit 1first leads us into his holy community, placing us upon the bosom ofthe church, where he preaches to us and brings us to Christ" (LC 11, 37; Tappert, 415). 27. Brunner, "Das Heil und das Amt," 1: 304. 28. See, fur example, Bosch, 467-474: "It is true that Luther is to be credited with the rediscovery of the notion of the 'priesthood of all believ­ ers' .... In the end, he still had the clergyman at the center of his murch, endowed with considerable authority" (469). 29. A general consensus prevailed among mission circles on the definition of the missionary. An acceptable definition was supplied, for example, at the WCC's Seventh Assembly in New Mexico: "The mis­ sionary is a servant of the church, who leaves his own culture, to pro­ claim the Gospel in partnership with the Church if already present or with the intention to plant a church where it has not been planted before." See Peter Beyerhaus, "Missionar 1. (EV.)," in Lexikon Mission­ stheologischer Grundbegriffe, ed. Karl Muller and Theo Sundermeier (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1987), 278. Sadly, this definition has been abandoned by the World Area Secretaries of the LCMS Board for Mission Services, who now jointly operate missions with their own interpretation of the missionary: "Someone sent for a time, with authority, to empower others for ministry," Missio Apostolica 2 (November 1994): 66. The reason for this may lie in their heightened attempt to mobilize the laity for missions. 30. Leif Grane, Die Confession Augustana (Gottingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1980), 62. 31. This must also be said in view of the presence of Lutheran churches on all continents of the world, some of which the missionar­ ies may serve to realize their goal of "self-missionizing." But it is the identification of "unreached people groups" or "hidden people" who have been for either linguistic, social, or political reasons untouched by the Christian message, which has lead to a resurgence in cross-cul­ tural missionaries being sent by evangelical mission organizations. The same can be said of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Mis­ sion Board, which has also made the targeting of unreached people groups its foremost priority in overseas missions. See The Mission Blueprint for the Nineties: A Report (The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, April 16, 1991), 10.