Concordia Theological Quarterly Volume 76:3-4 July/October 2012 Table of Contents Justification: Jesus vs. Paul David P. Scaer ..................................................................................... 195 The Doctrine of Justification in the 19th Century: A Look at Schleiermacher's Der christliche Glaube Naomichi Masaki ................................................................................ 213 Evangelicals and Lutherans on Justification: Similarities and Differences Scott R. Murray ................................................................................... 231 The Finnish School of Luther Interpretation: Responses and Trajectories Gordon L. Isaac ................................................................................... 251 Gerhard Forde's Theology of Atonement and Justification: A Confessional Lutheran Response Jack Kilcrease ....................................................................................... 269 The Ministry in the Early Church Joel C. Elowsky ................................................................................... 295 Walther and AC V Roland Ziegler ..................................................................................... 313 Research N otes ................................................................................................. 335 The Gospel of Jesus' Wife: A Modem Forgery? Theological Observer ...................................................................................... 338 Notes on the NIV The Digital 17th Century Preparing the First English Edition of Johann Gerhard's Theological Commonplaces Can There Be Peace? Violence in the Name of Religion Book Reviews ................................................................................................... 359 Books Received ................................................................................................ 380 Indices for Volume 76 (2012) ......................................................................... 382 Justification and the Office of the Holy Ministry The first five articles in this issue were originally papers presented at the 35th Annual Symposium on the Lutheran Confessions held in Fort Wayne on January 18-20, 2012 under the theme "Justification in a Contemporary Context." The final two articles, by Joel Elowsky and Roland Ziegler, were first delivered as the plenary papers of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Theology Professors Conference that met at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, on May 29 to June 1, 2012, under the theme "To Obtain Such Faith ... The Ministry of Teaching the Gospel" (AC V). It has been the practice of the two seminary journals to alternate in publishing plenary papers from this bi-annual conference in order that these studies may be shared with the wider church. The Editors CTQ 76 (2012): 313-334 Walther and AC V Roland Ziegler c.F.W. Walther's doctrine of the ministry has received considerable attention over the years. This study will consider only one detail: how does Walther interpret Article Five of the Augsburg Confession (hereafter, AC V) and how does Walther's view compare to his sources and to other interpretations of AC V in his time and later? The central question is the meaning of the words ministerium and Predigtamt. Do they mean Pfarramt and nothing else, or does the ministerium go beyond the Pfarramt? This question is debated not only in the North American context, but, as the last part of this study will show, continues to enjoy ongoing discussion among Lutherans in general.1 My goal here is to examine the understanding of AC V as it is presented in Walther's Kirche und Amt, and then put it in context: the context of the interpretation of AC V in Lutheran orthodoxy, in which Walther puts himself, as well as the later history of the interpretation of AC V. This study will not engage in a detailed interpretation of AC V in its original historical context. I. AC V in Kirche und Amt The Differences between First and Later Editions of Kirche und Amt In the series of theses on the ministry found in the first edition of Kirche und Amt, the second thesis reads: "The preaching office or pastoral office is not a human ordinance, but an office established by God himself."2 In the chapter "Witnesses of the Church in Her Public Confessions," Walther quotes the first sentence of AC V in German.3 The second edition of Kirche und Amt (as well as all subsequent editions), 1 There is, of course, much more to AC V than this question, such as the rejection of enthusiasm and the binding of the work of the Spirit to the means of grace. For Walther's view on the means of grace, see Franz Pieper, "Walther als Theologe. Die Lehre von den Gnadenmitteln," Lehre und Wehre 36 (1890),113-121. 2 "Das Predigtamt oder Pfarramt ist keine menschliche Ordnung, sondern ein von Gatt selbst gestiftetes Amt," c.F.W. Walther, Die Stimme unserer Kirche in der Frage von Kirche und Amt, 3rd ed. (Erlangen: Verlag von Andreas Deichert, 1875), 193. All translations are, if not otherwise marked, my own. 3 "Solchen Glauben zu erlangen, hat Gatt das Predigtamt eingesetzt," c.F.W. Walther, Die Stimme unserer Kirche in der Frage von Kirche und Amt (Erlangen: C. A Ph. Th. Blasing, 1852), 215, first edition; 194, third edition. Roland Ziegler is Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. 314 Concordia Theological Quarterly 76 (2012) includes an additional, lengthy annotation in the text. In it, Walther distinguishes between the office in concreto, (i.e., the pastoral office), and the office in abstracto, pointing the reader to Ludwig Hartmann's Pastorale evangelicum for this interpretation.4 This distinction is necessary, says Walther, because of those who want to make the pastoral office a means of grace and coordinate it with word and sacraments. To do so would make the pastoral office U absolutely necessary" for salvation, meaning that no one can come to faith or have his sins forgiven without an ordained pastor. Against this, AC V only states that the external or bodily word is necessary for salvation, which argues against an enthusiastic teaching that postulates that God operates immediately.5 Nevertheless, Walther holds, even though AC V cannot be restricted to the pastoral office, it also includes the divine institution of the pastoral office. 6 Walther on the one hand understands ministerium here as primarily functional. The systematic concern is the issue of whether or not faith and forgiveness of sins depend solely on God's word and sacrament or also on the ordained person administering them. Thus, word and sacrament are not restricted to the ministration of the pastor; the forgiveness of sins is communicated also through the word spoken by a person not called and ordained to the pastoral office. Walther's Argument Walther argues for his position from the Schwabach Articles, which served as a source for the Augsburg Confession, and he quotes the following from Chytraeus's History of the Augsburg Confession: UTo obtain such faith or to give to us men, God has instituted the preaching office or oral word, namely, the Gospel ... "7 Additionally, for this understanding of Predigtamt as synonym for gospel, Walther quotes from the Formula of Concord (SD XII, 30). There, in the German, Kirchendienst stands without a conjuction next to U das gepredigte und gehorte Wort," whereas the Latin 4 c.F.W. Walther, Die Stimme unserer Kirche in der Frage von Kirche und Amt, 2nd ed. (Erlangen: Verlag von Andreas Deichert, 1865), 198-199. I will be using subsequently c.P.W.Walther, Die Stimme unserer Kirche in der Frage von Kirche und Amt, 3. auf Anordnung der Synode aufs neue durchgesehene und vermehrte Auflage. (Erlangen: Verlag von Andreas Deichert, 1875). The section of interest is in this edition on pages 194-195. 5 Walther, Die Stimme unserer Kirche, 195. 6 Walther, Die Stimme unserer Kirche, 195 7 "Solchen Glauben zu erlangen oder uns Menschen zu geben hat Gott eingeseyt das Predigtamt oder miindlich Wort, nehmlich das Evangelium .... " Walther, Die Stimme unserer Kirche, 194. Ziegler: Walther and AC V 315 translation reads: 1/ Quod ministerium ecclesiasticum, hoc est, verbum Dei praedicatum et auditum."8 The Latin thus clearly identifies ministerium ecclesiasticum with the preached and heard word, not as an estate in the church or as the pastoral office. If this does not prove that AC V is to be understood in Walther's sense, it at least proves that ministerium ecclesiasticum was not always used in the 16th century or in the confessions as synonymous with the pastoral office. Walther quotes another passage from the Formula for this understanding of ministerium which reads in the Latin translation: "Verbum enim illud, quo vocamur, ministerium Spiritus est (2 Cor 3:8)."9 Thus, the ministry of the Spirit is the word, meaning that the ministry is not the pastoral office, but rather the preached word itself. Ludwig Hartmann's Pastorale As already noted, Walther quotes the Pastorale evangelicum by Ludwig Hartmann for the distinction between the ministry in abstracto and in concreto as well as a proof that AC V does not deal with the ministry in concreto, (i.e., the pastoral office or Pfarramt). Hartmann describes two ways in which one can speak of the ministry: 1. Abstractly, the position itself and the same office is, in a Christian way, subject to consideration in which respect the ministry is treated in article AC V. 2. Concretely, in regard to the persons, who are engaged in this office, thus treats AC XIV this subject, that namely no one is allowed to preach or administer the sacraments without being lawfully called. Therefore, the ministry or pastoral office is the office/ duty to preach in the public meeting the word of God and lawfully to administer the sacraments, instituted by God, entrusted to fit persons through the mediation of a lawful call, so that through the true knowledge of him it kindles faith and 8 Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-Iutherischen Kirche, 5th ed. (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1963), 1097,17-19. This edition is subsequently abbreviated as "BSLK." In Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, tr. Charles Arand, et aL (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), this sentence is translated: "That the church's ministry-the Word as it is proclaimed and heard-is not a means through which God the Holy Spirit teaches human beings ... " 9 FC SD XI, 29 (BSLK 1072, 23-24). Kolb-Wengert has, "For the Word through which we are called is a ministry of the Spirit." The German follows Luther's translation of 2 Cor 3:8 and has, for ministerium (5l