LOGIA
A JOURNAL OF LUTHERAN THEOLOGY
REFORMATION 1999 VOLUME VIII. NUMBER 4
CONTENTS DEC 8 7 1999
ARTICLES
What Can Presbyterians Learn from Lutherans?
D. G. Hart .... ; ........................................................................... ~ ..................................................................... .
Philip Jacob Spener and the Demise of the Practice of Holy Absolution in the Lutheran Church .
Gerald S. Krispin .............................................................................................................................. 1............................................. 9
Liturgy and Pietism -Then and Now
John T. Pless .................................................................................................................................................................................. 19
Map of the Kingdom of Piety
Valentine Erost Loescher, Translated by Matthew Co Harrison 0 ............................................................................................... 29
Oscar Feucht's Everyone a Minister: Pietismus Redivivur"~'·--~.~.. . 00 ••
Brent Kuhlman .................................................................................... : .............. : .... :: .. : ................. : .............................................. ~ 31
The Lutheran Confessiems on the Holy Ministry with a Few Thoughts on Hoefling
David P. Scaer ......................................................................................................................................... ~...... .................... ......... ... 37
The Nicene Creed and the Filioque: A Lutheran Approach
David Jay Webber .......................................................................................................................................................................... 45
REVIEWS ................................................................................................................................................. : ..... ;.: .................................... 53
REVIEW EsSAY: Martin Luther: The Christian Between God fiend Death. By Richard Marius. Review by Mark Sander
The Genesis of Doctrine: A Study in the Foundation of Doctrinal Criticism. Alister E. McGrath.
Shatteritlg the Myths of Darwinism. Richard Milton.
Baptism: My Adoption into God's Family. Gaylin R. Schmeling.
The Divorce Culture. Barbara Dafoe Whitehead.
The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts. Edited by Philip W. Comfort and David P. Barrett.
The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade. 1;'homas Lynch.
BRIEFLY NOTED
LOGIA FORUM .............................................................................................................................................................................. 63
Luther and Longfellow • Creative Worship ala 1732 • Vieker Installation • Rebuking Pietism
Emotions from Philosophy to Pietism • A Pious Walk • Beatitudes a la Pietism
Prostituting the Office • Liturgy Video Available • The Spirit of Christmas
ALSO THIS ISSUE
A Call for Manuscripts ....................................................................................................................................................... '" ..... ..... 18
Map (Kingdom of Piety) ..... ........ ........................................ .............. ...................... ....... .............. .......... ...... ............. ...... ......... ...... 28
, I
\.,,1'
The Lutheran Confessions on the Holy Ministry
With a Few Thoughts on Hoefling
DAVID P. SCAER
-----------------------~-----------------------
DEFINING OUR SITUATION placed it on the faculty study agenda for 1994-1995, though it
CHURCH BODIES DO THEOLOGY WITHIN their own traditions. seemed that the results were predetermined. Ours is the third con-Historical qu~rrels are re?earsed and their outcomes ference in the last three months (as of this writing) to take up the affirmed. Martm Stephan WIth J. A. A. Grabau on one side topic. It was also the topic of a joint meeting of the Council of
and Vehse on the other are Charybdis of ecclesiastical authoritar- Presidents and the seminary faculties in August 1996. We are here
ianism and Scylla of proletarianism, through which the Lutheran not approaching a new.issue. Clearly Lutherans are troubled.
Church'--Missouri Synod (LCMS) has traditionally located her Perhaps the issp.e is as much political as it is theological, since it .
position. l Problematic for any definition of ministry today are the has to do with who will tun the church. In these terms we are
multiple meanings attached to the words ministry anq min£~terso speaking of a buS~.ess and nO'longer a church. No more can the
that their meanings cannot be directly determined fr~\l£ll. . chur~h be defined as a hUmah organization than the ministry can
phrases as ordained minister (ministry), lay minister (mmiSl:ry)~-'>"·!J~elilned."l~simply another occupation. Simply put, the church
commj.~~ioned minister (ministry), and minister (ministry) of is not a business and"her cle;rgy are not employees, pace the IRS,
music. All are unceremoniously grouped as professional workers. but Christ's ministers.4 We confess Una sam;:ta catholica et apos-
Ultimate non-meaning is reached with the protestant decree that tolica ecclesia as an article of the faith. The church receives her
"everyone is a minister." With this the parishioner no longer feels holiness from Christl and she is established andmruntained by his
unfairly confined to the pew. Pulpit, lectern, and altar are within ministry given by hirnto his apostles.' ."
his or her reach.2 No longer is the chancel the holy of holies, but Only with great peril om we ignore the eCJlll1enka11?erspective.
"the friendly of friendlies." Any meaningful distinction between . Membership in the Lutheran World Federation(L~) ·ass\lllles
clergy and congregation other than a functional one is lost. What women as pastors .. Churches in the LWFordain woinenand have
the people do individually, the pastor does as a salaried worker of no agreed biblical· or theological reasons for it; We see the same
the church. The people are amateurs. He is a professional. The process afoot in t4e LeMS where a. doctrine of ministry is being
repercussions of such a view are enormous. One young man con- crafted to fit nomenclature already ,in. place in the . Lutheran
templating seminary said, "Why should I study for the ministry, if Annual. When the ministry is defined by and in regard to. the
I am already a minister?" A professional minister is accountable to church and not Christ, its distinctive character is lost. The self-
all other ministers as corporate stockholders who through boards consciously conservative Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
supervise him and to whom he is accountable. He now provides (WELS) finds no,·speci6.cbiblidllcommand for the pastoral office
annual reports as a corporate executive and can be removed if the and logically has ordained her male parochial school teachers.S ,
directors determine that the company's needs are not being met. Logic fails in her not ordaining women teachers.6 In the Rom~
Reversed is the New Testament idea of the pastor accountable to Catholic Church in America, women's ordination is supported by
God for the church.3 a majority of its bishops and people.
Ministry is the issue today. Shortly after Dr. Robert Preus had In my last conversation with Dr. Robert Preus, on November 1,
been removed as Concordia Theologidll Seminary president 1995, on the way to the Buffalo Airport, we discussed an article in
(1989), the interim executive brought the matter up for faculty the Concordia Journal endorsing lay readers at the weekly com-
discussion, but without agreed result. In the wake of the LCMS munion. He simply said that we have never done this before. His
1989 convention resolution to authorize lay preachers, the 1992 argument was one of tradition, an argument used by Paul in
convention assigned its Commission on Theology and Church regard to women preachers (1 Cor 11:16) and one more associated
Relations the task of preparing a paper on the call and the min- with the Church of Rome than with ours. But it is still valid.
istry; The immediate past president of CTS made setting straight Ministry and church are not abstract doctrines only, but we actu-
matters on the ministry one of his goals for his short tenure and ally see something happening, and sometimes that something is
different. Roman Catholicism has caught the Protestant conta-
DAVID P. SCAER, a contributing editor for LOGIA, is Chairman of
Systematic Theology and Professor of Dogmatics and Exegetical
Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
37
gion and given up its tradition also. Authoritarian priests and
ministers are replaced by friendly masters of ceremonies who are
assisted by lay men and women reading the Scriptures and dis-
tributing the.sacrament. Priest and minister are addressed by first
,0'
names, "Father Joe" and "Pastor Mike." "He's not my pastor. He's
my friend." Removing the distinction between clergy and people
was once only common among Pentecostal churches. A confes-
sional allegiance and conservative theology have not prevented
these practices from becoming ritualized in our own congrega-
tions. Traditional practice is surrendered under the guise that
what happens in a church service is really only an adiaphoron, a
matter of indifference. The position of the minister is trivialized
and the mystery of the church lost.
NEARLY RECENT EVENTS
The 1970S adoption of the practice of the ordination of Women in
the churches later comprising the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) and the same adoption by Seminex graduates
found support among Lutherans in three commonly accepted
theses: (1) the ministry is the possession of all Christians and not
simply ministers; (2) ordination is simply a custom, albeit an
apostolic and ancient one; and (3) congregations have a sovereign
right to ordain and may exercise it without regard to other con-
gregations of their fellowship. The ordination of Seminex gradu-
ates arose first as a political issue to challenge LCMS restrictions
about candidates for its ministry, but it raised the theological
issues of how one became a minister and by whose authority this
was done. If congregations separately and their members individ-
ually are in possession of the ministry, and if ordination is merely
a church custom without significations, there would have been no
theological but only procedural reasons to deny them membership
in the LCMS. After one congregation was determined to have the
right to ordain a pastor without synodical approval in the 1950S
and 1960s, the LCMS resolved that henceforth non-synodically
approved candidates would no longer be allowed to serve its con-
gregations as pastors. In principle a congregation had the right to
ordain, but by common consent it was exercised by the Council of
Presidents acting on the advice of seminary faculties-so it was
argued. Synodical regulation was substituted for a theology of
ministry and ordination. Those who ordained Seminex graduates
could be removed for infractions against the Handbook?
Differences over biblical interpretation, especially regarding his-
torical questions, but not the ordinations as divinely instituted
rites, were seen as disruptive.8 Ministry has again come into view
in a former church president'S veiled criticism of his successor's
stated agreement with the pope that women are prohibited from
the ministry because of Christ's selection of male apostles.9 This
criticism fails to recognize that behind the Word of God is a sub-
stantive reality from which that Word takes its form. God is not
arbitrary! Laws do not exist for the sake-of-themselves. Consider
that tlle gospel, the message of salvation, derives its reality from
incarnation and atonement and is more than a bland declaration
that God forgives. The "thou shalt not" concerning women in the
ministry is only the reverse of allowing only men to occupy this
office, behind which is a multifaceted reality encompassing the
near-total reality of Christian truth, including the created order,
the origin of sin, the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ as a
man, his choosing men as his apostles, and the doctrine of tlle
Holy Trinity (Father-Son). Adam was the first preacher and Eve
was tlle first church. Reversing this arrangement was the first sin
(Gn 3:17). These internal relationships between these fundamen-
LOGIA
tal doctrines are either denied or ignored as inconsequential in the
discussion of prohibiting women from holding the ministry, so it
is no coincidence that those churches ordaining women inevitably
see God ill feministic terms. He or she is as much Mother as
Father. Here is the modern gnosticism. It should be made clear
that our Augsburg Confession showed a wide fundamental agree-
ment with Rome on such doctrines as God, the Trinity, and the
ministry. Finding agreement with Rome in opposing the ordina-
tion of women is as appropriate as finding agreement on the doc-
trine of God (Ap J). Arguing from the male apostolate is proper
within the context of our Confessions, which see the ministry as
contained in the apostolic office. Opposing women's ordination
on the basis of Christ's selection of his apostles is confessional.
Allowing only specific biblical prohibitions against women minis-
ters to determine our position is a type of un-Lutheran biblicism
that leaves us at the mercy of the interpreters. In addition, such
naked prohibition would also place the doctrine of the ministry in
the category of the law. The ministry, like the apostolate and the
sending of Christ, belong to the gospel and not the law (order }.1O
Such is the position of our confessions,ll contra Hoefling, as we
shall soon see.
JOHANN WILHELM FRIEDRICH HOEFLING-
STILL CONTEMPORARY
In the same conversation mentioned above, Dr. Preus suggested
that I present a paper on the nineteenth-century German-
Lutheran theologian Hoefling's doctrine of the ministry. While I
was enthusiastic about the topic, carrying my enthusiasm over to
a remotely known theologian with a we~nedreputation was
another matter. Hoefling set forth his position in his Grundsiitze
evangelisch-lutherischer KirchenvetfassungP Perhaps the best
introduction to his position is the summary in the excellent index
prepared by Walter W. F. Albrecht for Francis Pieper's Christian
Dogmatics.l3
1. No express command for ministry can be shown.
2. Ordaining elders (pastors) was only of temporary and local
significance.
3. The ministry is sanctioned by God.
4. Finding a divine command for the ministry is reintroducing
Old Testament legalism.
5. Functions of the apostles are not biblically defined.
6. In the apostolic era the office of a presbyter (elder, pastor)
was one of governing.
7. Those opposing this position hold a strongly "Romanizing"
doctrine of the ministry.14
8. The ministry is nothing more than the means of grace.
Hoefling's view that the ministry is only of significance in the
New Testament times was typical of the earlier eighteenth-centu-
ry German Rationalism, which saw nothing permanent in the
commands to baptize and celebrate communion. The ministry is
an abstraction that takes form in the preaching of the word and
the administration of the sacraments. Ministry does not have to
do with a once-and-for-all divinely instituted office, but is the
"function of preaching the gospel:' or what Hoefling called "a spe-
cial application of universal preaching of the gospel."15 Through
t~e ministry God's gracious dealing in the gospel comes to expres-
THE LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS ON THE HOLY MINISTRY 39
sion and belongs by divine right to all Christians and accordingly
finds its basis in the universal priesthood. Hoefling opposed
understanding the ministry as an institution in order to avoid
making the gospel a new law and making the ministry another
means of grace.16 This was Rome's error. His idea of the church as
invisible did not allow for the ministry as an institution. Criticism
of his position that ministry was an office (Amt) belonging to all
Christians led Hoefling to make a distinction between the office in
wider and narrower senses. What was the common Christian pos-
session (wider sense) was exercised by certain persons (narrow
sense) for the sake of order and to distinguish between various
gifts of the Spirit 17 Recently two scholars noted that Hoefling's
position was strikingly similar to that of August Pieper (which is
also the current WELS view) and ofSchleiermacher.ls A contem-
porary LCMS view that the ministry in AC v is simply the means
of grace also bears a marked resemblance to Hoefling's views and
faith on account of Christ, but it leaves it to Article v to show how
this faith is obtained. "In order that we may obtain this faith [the
faith that justifies us before God, Article IV 1, the ministry of teach-
ing the Gospel and administering the sacraments was instituted"
(AC v, Latin). Though Maurer is right in holding that "the
emphasis in AC v falls entirely on the effect of preaching in creat-
ing faith:'24 still a specific office is here in view.25 The article on
In the end Hoefling fell into the trap of
the very legalism he wanted to avoid.
is in a sense already repUdiated by Pieper.19 By establishing min- ministry flows naturally out of the article on justification and is a
istry in the divine necessity for order, Hoefling, who opposed the continuation of it The·passive "was instituted" (institutem est)
idea of ministry as an institution as Romanizing legalism, intro- implies that God has instituted the ministry as an office with par-
duced a legalism of his own. In the end Hoefling fell into the trap ticular functions to perform.26 The confession does not speak of
of the very legalism he wanted to avoid. Common among us is the functions derived from'the congregation and accumulated into an
view that if the church authorizes this or that person, ordained or office representing pelievers from whom it derives its authority, as
not, to preach and ceJebrate the sacraments, all things are h~,£:.~~~:. in Hoeflitlg's position. Rather, God establishes the office. AC
Hoefling's view that the minister is supervisor of others is $;O-~'4XX'ylu,'7""lQ;~dno~ACy sets forth the biblical evidence on how
common today and also seems to have been borrowed from the ministry w~s mstituted, identifying Christ as its institutor. The
Schleieitna:ther.lo Ministry in the narrow sense has chiefly an fifth article of the Augsburg Confession was accepted by the
administrative function. Hoefling can rightfully be called the Roman Catholic Confutation with no attempt to refute it. The
father and the archheretic; Scbleiermacher. the grandfather of all parties agreed that the office was a divine institution, necessary for
functional views of the ministry.2! A functional view has no sup- preaching the gospel and admitIistering the sacraments, though
port in our Confessions, which place the establishment of the they disagreed on the shape and purpose oftheministry.27 With
ministry in Christ's call of his apostles. the condemnatory clause the Lutherans l1ad distaD,cedthemselves
THE AUGUSTANA, THE APOWGY, AND THE TREATISE
The proper understanding of ministry in AC v must be grounded
in (1) the article itself; (2) its place in the Augsburg Confession; (3)
Melanchthon's Apology and Treatise, which offered interpreta-
tions of the Augsburg Confession; and (4) Luther's prindples and
practices. At first glance the German title of AC v, Predigt4mt,
suggests an office with the function of preaching. Article XIV on
the proper calling of ministers, rite vocatus, addresses not the
establishment of the ministry, but filling of this office rite voca-
tus.22 The matter of the general priesthood's right to choose its
preachers is specifically handled not in the Augsburg Confession,
but in the Treatise (69), without specifying the method.23
The strategic location of the article on ministry (AC v) in the
middle of the Augsburg Confession's first discussion on
justification (AC IV and VI) cannot pass unnoticed. Since God
justifies the world through the preaching of the ministry, it is a
necessary office through which the church is established and
maintained, As faith is perfected, that is, brought to its perfect
conclusion in good works, so the office of the ministry is perfect-
ed, that is, brought to its perfect conclusion in the preaching of the
gospel. The raison d'etre for the ministry is the world's
justification. It is not a self-contained office, but one established
for salvation through preaching.
Article IV sets forth the heart of the Reformation doctrine by
stating that justification happens not by works but freely through
from the Anabaptists who; with their inner eXp~rience of the Spirit
had made the ministry along with the saqm:nentsunnecessary.
Functionalists with their general view of ministry hold to a min-
istry inabstmcto in AC v, the title Predigtamt notwithstanding.28
They prefer the title "Means of Grace;' . which has no support
within the article and would better fit in any event Article XIII on
the sacraments, which are widely defined to allow, for rites other
than baptism and,the'Wl;'q's Supper.
AC XXVIII, 7 understands the ministry of the apostles and bish-
0ps as one, a point of agreement for Roman Catholics and i
Lutherans. The Treatise, intended as an addition to the Augsburg
Confession, takes this argument one step further and places pas-
tors on the same level as bishops and hence recognizes the min-
istry of pas):ors as also that of the apostles. The distinction
between the titles of pastor and bishop is of human origin with-
out a divine mandate. Each possesses the same office of preaching
the gospel, but each is assigned different functions. Thus the
Treatise (65) allows pastors to perform ordinations, though this
was the bishops' customary function.29 The office of the ministry
is included in the institution of the apostolic office and derived
not from the una sanda. Nor is it simply an abstraction, as
Hoefling he1d.3° This ministry perpetuates the function of the
apostolic office in remitting sins through gospel preaching}1
AC XXVIII is not a separate article, but like the fowteenth arti-
cle is a commentary on the fifth.32 The bishops' power to admin-
ister the k~3-forgiving and retaining sins and administering
40
the sacraments-was given to the ministry by Christ's bestowal of
the Holy Spirit on the apostles. John 20:21-23 is cited to explain
under what circumstances the ministry was instituted. Note
should be made of Justus Jonas's "The Office of the Keys and
Confession:' which was substituted in the now commonly used
catechism for Luther's "How the Plain People Me to Be Taught to
The preaching office (Predigtamt) is
an extension of the apostolate and
not of the una sancta.
Confess" in the Small Catechism.34 Jonas's insertion belongs to
our heritage, not to our confessional subscription. But its use of
the John 20 citation is similar to AC XXVlm and the Treatise,35 Ail
three documents-AC XXVIII, the Treatise, and Jonas's "The
Office of Keys and Confession"-work on the premise that Jesus'
commission to the apostles embodies the institution of the min-
isterial (pastoral) office. In giving the Spirit to the apostles, Christ
established tlIe office of the ministry to forgive and retain sins, a
position also held by Chemnitz,36 The preaching office
(Predigtamt) is an extension of the apostolate and not of the una
sanda. The latter is the foundational presupposition for the func-
tionalist view of Hoefling, which makes no essential distinction
between the ministry and the church.
MELANCHTHON'S EXEGESIS
MelanchtlIon settled on John 20 to make his case for the ministry,
tlIough later Lutheran ilieologians added Matiliew 28:16-20,37
The John 20 citation was probably favored by Melanchilion over
Matiliew 28 simply because John specifically refers to tlIe apostolic
autlIority to remit and retain sins wiili a special bestowal of tlIe
Holy Spirit. The relationship to justification, tlIe central question
of tlIe Reformation, is obvious. Through ilie office of tlIe ministry
justification is transmitted to tlIe people,38
At iliis juncture a few exegetical comments may be in order.
J. A T. Robinson follows C. H. Dodd in seeing a parallel between
John 20:21-23 and ilie commission to Peter in Matiliew 16:18-20,
but not between John 20 and Matiliew 28:16-20,39 Raymond E.
Brown sees parallels to botlI Matiliean citations.40 Matiliew's and
John's apostolic commissions are strikingly similar.41
Melanchthon in tlIe Treatise sees ilie commissioning of Peter as
tlIe establishment of ilie ministry. The rock on which the church
is built is the ministry of tlIe confession of Peter.42 '« Super hane
petra'" id est, super hoe ministerium." In botlI Matiliew 28 and
John 20 ilie resurrected Lord confers on his disciples a commis-
sion to care for tlIe church in his stead.43
This apostolic ministry according to AC XXVIII belongs to tlIe
bishops, and according to ilie Treatise to ministers who, as the apos-
tles did, speak in Christ's stead remitting sins. This is made explicit
by MelanchtlIon in Ap VII, 28, 47, in which Luke 10:16 is cited.44
Though Melanchilion did not use Matiliew :i8 to establish ilie
LOGIA
ministry, note should be made of ilie Latin version of AC XXVIII.
After the John 20 citation, it adds Mark 16:15 ("Go and preach the
gospel to ilie whole creation.") This is similar to Matiliew 28:19, as
Raymond Brown notes.45 Boili the disputed ending of Mark and
Matthew 28:16 limit the audience addressed by Jesus to the eleven.
Also significant is MelanchtlIon's use of Luke 10:16 to establish the
ministry as a divine office, ilie occupants of which speak in the
name of Christ, and to whom ilie people listen (AC XXVIII, 22).
Since Luke 10:16 speaks of sending of tlIe seventy(-two) and not the
twelve, the suggestion is iliat the office of ilie ministry, while being
derived ilirough ilie apostles, was directly established by Christ.
Melanchthon's failure to make use of ilie commissioning of tlIe
twelve for ilie specific function as witnesses (Mt 10:2-4; Mk
3:14-19; Lk 6:13-19) may suggest tlIat he considered tlIis unique
apostolic function to be untransferable,46 but he does place tlIe
origin of ilie ministry in ilie commission given to Peter. "Therefore
Christ addresses Peter as a minister. The ministry of ilie New
Testament ... exists wherever God gives his gifts, apostles,
prophets, pastors, teachers."47 Ministers include ilie "apostles,
prophets, pastors, teachers;' an allusion to Ephesians 4:11.48
ONE MINISTRY: APOSTLES, BISHOPS,AND PASTORS
The dependency of tlIe twenty-eighili article of tlIe Augsburg
Confession on the fifth article is seen iliat both articl~s center on
ilie ministry's task to preach and administer ilie sacraments.
Originating in ilie ministry of ilie apostles is that of the bishops.
Ministry is not a derivative of tlIe una saI.eta as held by Hoefling.
Rather, ilie ministry's origin is in Christ's commission to the
apostles. Ministers now exercise Christ's office of proclaiming
forgiveness in his place, but, as Chemnitz contends, always in
such a way iliat it remains his ministry and office, and not ours.49
Hoefling, like all functionalists, does not see the ministerial office
contained in the call to the apostles and may even be reluctant to
claim iliat Christ held it. Dietrich Bonhoeffer reflects ilie confes-
sional reality:
Above there is the office of proclamation and below iliere is
tlIe listening congregation. In the place of God and of Jesus
Christ there stands before ilie congregation the bearer of tlIe
office of preaching with his proclamation. The preacher is
not ilie spokesman of ilie congregation, but, if tlIe expres-
sion may be allowed, he is ilie spokesman of God before the
congregation. He is authorized to teach, to admonish and to
comfort, to forgive sin, but also to retain sin. And at tlIe
same time he is the shepherd, ilie pastor of ilie flock. This
office is instituted directly by Jesus Christ Himself; it does
not derive its legitimation from ilie will of the congregation
but from the will of Jesus Christ. It is established in the con-
gregation and by ilie congregation, and at the same time it
is with the congregation.50
Preaching, according to tlIe fifth article of the Augsburg
Confession, refers not to a personal expression of faiili in ilie pri-
vate lives of Christians, but to ilie public, officially sanctioned
proclamation, a distinction some times not clearly made,51 Article
v uses doeend~ ilie Latin equivalent of ilie Greek 8L8claKw, mean-
ing to teach in an official way, and used in ilie New Testament of
THE LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS ON THE HOLY MINISTRY
the official proclamation of the gospel by apostles and pastors, for
example, in Matthew 28:19. The Larson Concordance shows that
the words teachers and teach refer to the official proclaimers' and
proclamation of the preached word.52 Particularly instructive is the
German rendition of the thirteenth article of Ap XIII, 9, 10. Tappert
provides this translation of the Latin version: priests "are called to
preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments to the people."
The German version, unavailable in Tappert, provides this:
If one wants to call the sacrament of orders [Ordensl a sacra-
ment of the preaching office [Predigtamt], so there is no
difficulty in calling ordination a sacrament. For God has
established the preaching office [Predigtamt] and attached
[to it] wonderful promises.53
The German Predigtamt is the equivalent to the Latin docendum
evangelium, the teaching of the gospel. Even the possibility that
ordination may be called a sacrament rules out the possibility that
this is a reference to activity which all Christians speaking of
Christ carry .. out in common. Ordination is attached to an
officially sanctioned preaching office and not functions common
to all Christians.
of unbelievers' being mixed in among believers, but its major pur-
pose is to uphold the value of sacraments administered by what the
German version calls impious priests, "false Christians and hyp-
ocrites:' who are contrasted with believers (Gliiubige [Latin: vere
credentium)). For the people the real problem is not whether
someone in the congregation was really a believer, but whether the
priest at the altar was. The reference of the Latin version of AC VIII
to the Donatists' refusal to agree to the ministry of evil men shbws
that the term ministry refers not to a general activity common to
all Christians, but to the ministers: ministerio malorum in ecclesia.
This is reaffirmed by the German text, which uses the term "priest"
in place of the Latin "evil men" in reference in their sacramental
duties: "the sacraments are efficacious even if the priests [die
Priester] who administer them are wicked men (that is, unbeliev-
ers )." Article VIII of ilie Augsb,urg Confession holds that the lack of
faith in the administJ:ators of the sacraments does not detract from
their efficacy or validity. This was a prqctical que~t\on for those
who discovered that their priests were impostors. Such people
Functions originate in the office and
OFF~CE PRE~EDES FUNCTIO.NS ",:~-~~",·,~·"theofficfis not constituted by the
Though the office IS not denved from the functlOns, the absence t' 'f't fi t'
of the functions suggests that the office may no longer be present. aggrega e 0 tS unc tons.
Where sinners are not hearing the justifying word, then the func-
tion of the ministry is not being carried out and one may also con-
clude that the office is absent. On the.otl;i()): hand, the office of the
ministry is not present merely because someone proclaintsthat it
is or is carrying out its functions. To demonstrate that works flow
from faith, Luther in his Freedom of the Christian Man uses the
analogy of a bishop and his functions.
A bishop, when he consecrates a church, confirms children,
or performs some other duty belonging to his office,. is not
made a bishop by these works. Indeed, if he had not first
been made a bishop, none of these works would. be valid.
They would be foolish, childish, and farcical.54
Functions originate in the office and the office is not constituted
by the aggregate of its functions. Luther's analogy is paralleled by
Apology VII, 48, where the German version offers this clear state-
ment: "Of course false teachers should not be received or heard;
because they do not stand in the place of Christ, but are
antichrists."55
The ministry is carried out in the congregatio sanctorum,but
may not be identified as their activity or as a derivative of it, as
Schleiermacher and later Hoefling held.56 In line with this, the
reformers did not envision the laity as public leaders of the
Eucharist even in emergencies.
FALSE PRIESTS WITH A TRUE MINISTRY
Article VIII of the Augsburg Confession makes explicit reference to
those priests who administer the sacraments in the congregatio
sanctorum, and thus a connection is made back through the sev-
enth article to the fifth. AC VIII begins by addressing the question
might opt for rebaptismfrom.the ever-willing'AI1.ab~ptists.They
would have rruse4 questions about the salvation, of deceased fami-
ly members, who had received Jhe~ac(a(llentS, :Q:om unbelieving
priests;57 This would have beena'pressing issue at a time of still
high infant mortality and when baptism was seen as' an absolute
necessity for salvation. ..'
Article VIII'S citation of Matthew 23:2, With its reference to the
scribes and Pharisee$ sitting in the seat of Moses, provides further
interpretation of tliefifth article. Seat refers to a position of author-
ity, as when Rj,ilman Catholics speak of the pope occupying
St; Peter's chair. To speak ex cathedra, which means speaking from'
the chair, is to promulgate a doctrine in an official way. JesJ!is'
admonition to listen to the scribes and Pharisees who sit in the seat
of Moses is his own recogrrition of the validity of their ministry
despite their unbelief and im:(Iloral conduct.. The ministry of the
priests rests not on faith but upon Christ's institution.
MINISTRY AS THE J(EY ARTICLE IN
THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION
The articles of the Augsburg Confession on Baptism (IX), the
Lord's Supper (x), Conf~sion (Xl), Penance (XII), and the Use of
the Sacraments (XIII) discuss issues first raised in Article V in con-
junction with the institution of the office of the ministry and elab-
orated in Articles VII and VIII.S8 There is no thought of a disem-
bodied preaching and sacramental activity, namely, means of
grace without clergy, or of assigning these functions to those who
do not hold the office. The connection between the office and its
functions are as necessary as that between the person of Christ
42
and his works, or between faith and works. The ministry cannot
be the ministry without its functions, but it does not come into
existence because its functions are being carried out. The function
no more creates reality than does tying apples to a tree make it an
apple tree. As shown above, Luther asserted that one becomes a
bishop by consecration and not by performing the works ofbish-
" op. Unless he was first made a bishop, everything he did would be
foolish. Because Article xv of the Augsburg Confession, the one
on liturgical practices, entitled "Church Usages;' shows a remark-
able resemblance to Article XIV, "Order in the Church" or
"Ecclesiastical Order;' each can serve to interpret the other. Both
LOGIA
articles develop and thus depend on previous articles. They do not
introduce new subjects, but speak of regulating practices already
in place. Article XIV does not establish the ministry, but speaks of
setting aside persons to carry out baptism, the Lord's Supper, and
confession and absolution, matters brought up in previous arti-
cles. Similarly, Article xv speal no. 2 (Winter 1992): 403-423, for a discussion of the these divisions. A functional
understanding of the ministry sees it as being established in AC XIV. This is the
Protestant view. Those who see it as an office with functions see its establishment in
AC v. This view is called Catholic or episcopal and some times Romanizing, an
adjective that Hoefling used of those who hold that the ministry is an office.
2. For a defense of both male and female lay readers see "Lay Readers in Public
Worship," Concordia Iournal21, no. 4 (October 1995): 400-414. Its author opines
that thjs function belongs to the universal priesthood of believers, a position that
could find support in Hoefling's view of church and ministry.
3. "Obey your leaders and submit to them; for they are keeping watch overyour
souls, as men who will have to give account. Let them do this joyfully, and not sadly,
for that would be of no advantage to you" (Heb 13:17).
4 John N. Collins has prepared excellent studies on ministers as representatives
of Christ and not the congregation. His more popularly written Are All Christians
Ministers? (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992) is based on his scholarly disser-
tation, Diakonia: Re-interpreting the Ancient Sources (New York Oxford University
Press, 1990).
5. While the great WELS theologian Adolf Hoenecke saw the ministry as an
office distinct from the universal priesthood ofall believers and inherent in the apos-
tolate, WELS does hold the functionalist position now. See John F. Brog et al., WELS
and other Lutheralls (Milwaukee: Northwestem Publishing House, 1995), 23: "The
WELS continues to teach that Scripture sets up no particular form of the church or
of the public ministry as specifically instituted by God. God has not given his New
Testament church such ecclesiastical, ceremonial directives." More telling is this
comment by the authors: "There are some [in the LCMS] who hold a position like
that of the WELS."
6. Adjustments in the definition of ministry are still being made in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to accommodate women's ordi-
nation. Some women are dissatisfied with the functional view used to support their
place in the ministry, since they rightly see it as common to all. "Open Letter:
Turning Down 'Stirring Up,'" Lutheran Forum 24 (May 1990): 8-9.
7. It should be pointed out that our Confessions see the wider association of
churches as divinely established. The "our churches teach" of the Augsburg
Confession are territorial churches, for example, Electoral Saxony, and not separate
_~ongregations. More telling is that Luther and not the congregations to which the
candidates were sent did the ordaining. Ministers have an association with one
another as they do with the churches. In both fellowships the unity of faith is evident.
Extreme congregationalism in which each congregation is seen as sovereign was not
known to the Reformation and New Testament churches. Martin Brecht, Martin
Luther: Die Erhaltung der Kirche (Stuttgart: Alwer Verlag, 1987), 3: 280. Luther's ordi-
nation practice is worth noting. In spite of his suggestion that the Bohemians estab-
lish a ministry among themselves through ordination, candidates for the ministry
were examined and ordained by hint and Bugenhagen in Wittenberg and not in the
congregations, as they were considered ill equipped to do this. Though Luther artic-
ulated the doctrine of the general priesthood, the congregation did not participate in
the ordination but offered prayers for the ordinand. From 1537 until his death in
15<\6, 738 candidates from both German and non-German parts of EUrope were
ordained in Wittenberg, with Latin being used for non-Germans!
8. AE, 5: 249. Luther in his Genesis lectures placed ordination on the same level
as baptism as an activity in which God works. "Thus the imposition of the hands is
not a tradition of men, but God makes and ordains ministry. Nor is the pastor who
absolves you, but the mouth and hand of God."
9. Lutheran Forum 30, no. 4 (Lent 1996),14. "Please permit a parenthetical ques-
tion while we're discussing this dimension of the sola scriptura principle: Ought not
Lutherans, iocluding both ELCA and LCMS, remind our Roman Catholic dialog
partners, and some in Missouri who use similar arguments, that the supposed impli·
cations drawn from Jesus' choice of a male apostolate are not sufficient basis to deny
ordination to women. Personally, I would find that fur more helpful and responsi-
ble than the actions of a Lutheran church body president who commended the Pope
for his conclusions on that issue, while completely ignoring his unacceptable theo-
logical rationale."
10. AC XXVIII, 5-6. "According to the Gospel the power of the keys or the power
of bishops is a power and command of God to preach the Gospe), to forgive and
retain sins, and to administer the sacraments." John 20:21-23 is given as support fur
this view.
11. Tr 9: "According to John 20:21 Christ sent his disciples out as equals, with-
out discrimination, when he said, 'As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.' He
sent out each one individually, he said, in the same way in which he had himself been
sent' (italics added.)
12. Johann Wilhelm Friedrich Hoefling, Grundsiitze evangelisch-lutherischer
Kirchenveifassung (Erlangen: Theodor Blasing, 1950). See especially Holsten
Fagerberg, Bekenntnis, Kirche ulld Amt in der deutschen konfessiQnel/en Thrologie des
19. Iahrhunderts (Uppsala: Lundequistrska, 1952), 271-285.
13. Franz Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 4 vo)s. (Saint Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1950-1957), 4= 445-49. Fagerberg agrees with Pieper but makes no
use of him, though he is quite knowledgeable.
14. C£ Lutheran Forum 30, nO.4-
15. Hoefling, 79. See also Fagerberg, 275.
16. Pieper notes that Hoefling finds any command or imperative for the min-
istry legalistic. Christian Dogmatics 3: 445.
q. Fagerberg, 276-282. "There are two reasons for a special ministerial office:
'the common divine command for order' and 'the special capacity [Weisung] which
places in order the differing charismas in relationship to the differences of individ-
ual callings n the congregation for the benefit of the congregation." Translation by
the present writer. Pieper makes a distinction between ministry in the wider and nar-
rower sense (Christian Dogmatics 3: 439). Collins questions whether in the New
Testament the word 8lQKOV(Q is used of the possession of the means of grace which
Christians have in common. Pieper, who distances himself from Hoefling on the
idea that the ministry arises from the universal priesthood, makes no mention that
his views on ministry in a wider and narrower sense bears a close resemblance to
Hoefling's distinction.
18. John C. Wohlrabe, Ministry in Missouri until 1962 (Privately published,
1992), and Erling Teigen, "The Universal Priesthood of All Believers," Confessional
Lutheran Research Society Newsletter 25 (Advent 1991): 1-5. A further study should
demonstrate Hoefling's obvious dependence on Schleiermacher.
19. Christian Dogmatics 4: 445. Pieper takes exception to Hoefling's denial of a
special command for the ministry. Hoelfing's other critic was A. F. C. Vihnar (Die
Lehre yom geistlichen Amt [Marburg, 1870], 100-101).
20. Friedrich SchIeiermacher, Christian Faith, trans. H. R. Mackintosh and J. S.
Stewart (New York: Harper and Row, 1963), 2: 666-667. Cf. also the observations of
Walter H. Conser, Church and Confession (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press,
1984),46. "For it was in the local congregation, composed of baptized and confirmed
individuals, that most of the ministerial powers authority and powers of the church
resided."
21. The similarity to the position of WELS theologian August Pieper can be
noted. "The rights of the entire communion and the command to good order
demand that within the congregation such functions of the ministry as cannot be
carried out by all at the same time without disorder and also such functions for
which all Christians are not equally capable be relinquished and turned over to capa-
ble persons so that they may carry them out in the name of the congregation. " Taken
from Wohlrabe, 22.
22. Wilhelm Maurer, Historical Commentary on theAugsburg Confession, trans.
H. George Anderson (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986) 191-197. Maurer points out
that "the legal form of a calI makes little difference to Luther" (193).
23. "Finally, this is confinned by the declaration of Peter, 'Y?u~ea royal
THE LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS ON THE HOLY MINISTRY 43
priesthood' (1 Pe 2:9)· These words apply to the true church, which, since it alone Matthew's, the special commissioning of Peter occurs for John in Galilee (21:W19)
possesses the priesthood, certainly has the right of electing and ordaining ministers." and corresponds to Matthew's commissioning of Peter in Ceasarea Philippi (16:13),
For a discussion of the call process see Robert D. Preus, The Doctrine of the Call in an area immediately bordering Galilee. Peter's commissioning before the crucifixion
the Canfessions and Lutheran Orthodoxy (Luther Academy: Monograph #1, Apm (Mt 16:)7-19) andafter the resurrection (Tn 21:WI9) happens within the company of
1991), 33-'\8. the other apostles.
24: Maurer, 355. . 42. Tr, 25. The church is built "super autoritatem homiuls, sed super ministeri-
25· Ibid., 187. "That article [AC v] of course bears the inclusive title 'The Office um professionis illius, quam Petrus fecerat, in qua praedicat Jesum esse Christum,
of the Ministry' and although it focuses on the spiritual engendering function oftltat filium Dei" ,
office ... it also includes tlte call to it" . 43.' John's explicit reference to tlte forgiveness of sins must also be imp~ed_in
26. The similarity of language between the articles on the ministry (v) and the Matthew's command to baptize, since for Matthew baptisrn' involves confeSsion of
sacraments (XI/I) must be noted. Of the foimer it is said "institutum est ministerium" sins and repentance (3!1-6). In botlt Matthew and John the apostolic ministry
and the latter "sacramenta instituta sint" The office of the ministry is no less divine. involves a ;revelat:i9n oftlJ.e Trinity. Matthew's ecclesiastical (liturgical) "Father-SoI).-
Iy instituted than are the sacraments. Both have their origin in God and consequent- Holy Spirit" is replaced by John's conception of God in action whereby the Father
Iy both share in a similar necessity. sends the Son and the Son gives the Spirit A complete doctrine of the Trinity must
27· Leif Grane, The Augsburg Confession: A Commentary, trans. John A incorporate both realities of what God is in himself (the ontological Trinity:
Rasmussen (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1987), 78"'19. Matthew) and of how he relates to thew-orld (the economic Trinity: John). In plac-
28. WELS theologian August Pieper says as much. "There is one office in the ing the apostles in ~he ministry on the occasion of Peter's confession, mention is
Church, the office of the spiritual priesthood. The public ministry is only another made of the Father and the Son. Only when the Spirit, who assists Jesus in his death,
phase of this same priesthood." Quoted from Wohlrabe, 21. has completed his work is the Spirit giv~. The problem of Matthew's eleven disci-
29· The Treatise is Melanchthon's and not Luther's work, but the latter fol- pIes and John's ten disciples is resolved bY,the later appearance to Thomas, which
lowed the principles set forth in tltat document by ordaining with Bugenhagen can- raises the apostolic cadre to eleven (In 20:26-8). Whereas Matthew's citation oblig-
didates for the ministry, presumably in St Mary's Church in Wittenberg. Though ates the eleven to speak all the words of Jesus, John designates the apostles as those
the Prussian bishops who had joined the Refimnatioll ca~~ might have assisted in who possess theHoly Spirit and thus represent Christ in forgiving and remitting sins
the ordination of Nicholas von Amsdorf as bishop 'of Naumberg in 1542> Luther, as he represented his Fatlter. This ministry is of the Holy Spirit and parallels Paul's
with the superintendents, performed the