So That We May Obtain This Faith: What is the function of the Office of the Ministry?
ACL Conference 2026| Pastor James Preus| April 21, 2026
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over His household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when He comes.” Matthew 24:45-46
Introduction: The Faith That Believes and the Faith That Is Believed
The title of this conference is The Faith That Believes: According to the Lutheran Confessions. The faith that believes is what the dogmaticians call faith in the subjective sense, fides qua creditur, that is, faith by which one believes. Subjective faith is personal faith. This faith is the activity of a person’s mind and will, which believes God’s promises for Christ’s sake. It is this faith in the subjective sense, which St. Paul refers to when he says, “We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” (Romans 3:28)
Faith in the objective sense is called fides quae creditur, that is, faith that is believed, meaning, the doctrine by which men are saved when they believe it.[1] For example, in Acts 6 St. Luke tells us, “A great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” (vs. 7) And St. Paul says that the Christians in Judea said of him, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” (Galatians 1:23) The faith that is believed is summarized in the Creeds. Creed, of course, comes from the Latin word for I believe. For Lutherans the clearest and most succinct articulation of the faith that we believe is found in Article IV of the Augsburg Confession:
[1] Our churches teach that people cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works. [2] People are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. By His death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins. [3] God counts this faith for righteousness in His sight (Romans 3 and 4 [3:21–26; 4:5]).[2]
Yet, in this articulation of the faith that we believe, we find a description of the faith that believes. “When they believe that they are received into favor, etc.” “God counts this faith,” that is, the faith that believes, “as righteousness in His sight.”
The title of my paper is So That We May Obtain This Faith: What is the function of the Office of the Ministry? I got this title from Article V of the Augsburg Confession:
1] So that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. [2] Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given [John 20:22]. He works faith, when and where it pleases God [John 3:8], in those who hear the good news [3] that God justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake. This happens not through our own merits, but for Christ’s sake.
[4] Our churches condemn the Anabaptists and others who think that through their own preparations and works the Holy Spirit comes to them without the external Word.[3]
These two articles together show the inseparable relationship between the faith that believes, as our conference is called, and the faith that is believed. The faith that is believed does not do you any good if you do not believe it! And if you have faith that believes, but it does not believe the doctrine of the one true saving faith, then your faith does you no good.
The Sacramental Function of the Office of the Ministry Depends on Justification by Faith Alone
And so, our Lutheran Confessions teach, so that we may obtain this faith, that is, the faith which holds onto the promises of Christ and obtains salvation, the ministry of teaching the faith, that is, the doctrine of the Gospel and the administering of the Sacraments was instituted. The function of the Office of the Ministry is to proclaim that faith in the objective sense, which, when one believes it through subjective faith, he is saved. In other words, the function of the Office of the Ministry is to proclaim the saving Gospel, so that people may believe it and be saved by faith alone. Our Lutheran fathers did not come up with this idea by themselves, but it is clearly taught in Holy Scripture. St. Paul writes in Romans 10:
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:13-17)
Here St. Paul reasons exactly as the Lutheran Confessions reason. Christ instituted the Office of the Ministry so that we may obtain saving faith. And because saving faith comes from hearing the word of Christ, the function of the Office of the Ministry is to proclaim Christ’s Word. And because the Sacraments are nothing more than God’s Word added to visible elements to dispense God’s grace to be received through faith, Christ added the administration of the Sacraments to this Office of preaching. Throughout Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, we find this tight relationship between the function of Office of the Ministry, namely, the preaching of the Gospel and administration of the Sacraments, and the doctrine that we are justified and saved through faith alone. Philip Melanchthon writes in Article XXVIII of the Augsburg Confession, On Church Authority:
[5] Our teachers’ position is this: the authority of the Keys [Matthew 16:19], or the authority of the bishops—according to the Gospel—is a power or commandment of God, to preach the Gospel, to forgive and retain sins, and to administer Sacraments. [6] Christ sends out His apostles with this command, “As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you … Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld” (John 20:21–22). [7] And in Mark 16:15, Christ says, “Go … proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation.”
[8] This authority is exercised only by teaching or preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments, either to many or to individuals, according to their calling. In this way are given not only bodily, but also eternal things: eternal righteousness, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life. [9] These things cannot reach us except by the ministry of the Word and the Sacraments, as Paul says, “The Gospel … is the power of God for salvation to everyone that believes” (Romans 1:16). [10] Therefore, the Church has the authority to grant eternal things and exercises this authority only by the ministry of the Word. (AC XXVIII, pghs 5-10)[4]
In Mark 16, the risen Christ commands that His disciples go out into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation, stating, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” St. Luke records Jesus’ instruction after His resurrection in chapter 24, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (vss. 46-47) St. Paul instructs Timothy, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. … Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4:13, 16) The Lutheran Confessions follow Christ’s and His apostles’ teaching that the purpose of the Ministry of the Word is so that people may be saved through faith.
The entire ministry of the Church and thus of the Office of the Ministry can be summarized in the Office of the Keys, which our Catechism teaches us is the special authority which Christ has given to His Church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent. Norman Nagle wrote, “When the Office of the Keys has been confessed, what remains to be still confessed of the Holy Ministry?”[5] Melanchthon makes no distinction between the Office of the Keys and the Office of the Ministry in Article XXVIII of the Augsburg Confession.[6]
To withhold forgiveness from unrepentant sinners and to forgive the sins of the repentant is to preach the Law and the Gospel. Excommunication is simply the most extreme form of preaching the Law that the Church exercises according to the Ministry of the Word. Yet, the preaching of the Law is indispensable to the preaching of the Gospel. Edmund Schlink writes in Theology of the Lutheran Confessions, “To preach the Gospel always involves preaching the law and the Gospel. To forgive sins always involves administering the office of both keys, the loosing and the binding. Gospel without law would not be Gospel. Authority to forgive sins without authority to retain sins would not be authority to forgive sins.”[7] In every proclamation of the Gospel and administration of the sacraments, we see the exercise of the Office of the Keys, not only in excommunication and Confession and Absolution. The primary function of preaching the Law is always to make sinners realize their need for the Gospel, as St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5, “Deliver this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” (vs. 5)
The Office of the Ministry is entirely devoted to the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. Schlink writes, “The ministry of the spiritual realm is completely circumscribed by the commission to preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments. All additional statements of the Confessions do not add anything new to this delimitation but merely unfold it.”[8] The Lutheran Confessions maintain this function of the Office of the Ministry, because of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone. Because Christ Jesus has made atonement for all sin by His death on the cross and has justified all mankind by His victorious resurrection, there remains nothing lacking for us to be reconciled to God (Romans 5:10). This is why St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (vss. 18-21)
This means that we are justified by faith alone apart from our works. “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” (Romans 4:4-5) The preaching of the Gospel does not demand works, but only faith. It demands to be believed and trusted in. Therefore, the command to preach the Gospel reinforces the doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone. Martin Luther writes in his Quasimodo Geniti house postil:
Now here is the proper domain of faith, which takes hold of the word from the mouth of the apostles and preacher, and holds fast to the forgiveness won by Christ’s suffering and resurrection, and declared and distributed in the word. That is the foundation of our doctrine: We are justified and saved by faith in Christ alone.
The Word of forgiveness which was obtained by Christ and placed in the disciples’ mouths can neither be grasped with the hands nor with works, whether fasting, prayer, almsgiving, or whatever works they may be. Faith alone can take hold of this word, and the heart is the only legitimate vessel which may enclose it. Let this, therefore, stand purely and for sure: We must be justified by faith alone.[9]
Melanchthon uses the sufficiency of Christ’s salvific work to prove this function of the Office of the Ministry in Article XIII of the Apology, The Number and Use of the Sacraments:
We teach that the sacrifice of Christ dying on the cross has been enough for the sins of the whole world. There is no need for other sacrifices, as though Christ’s sacrifice were not enough for our sins. So people are justified not because of any other sacrifices, but because of this one sacrifice of Christ, if they believe that they have been redeemed by this sacrifice. [9] So they are called priests, not in order to make any sacrifices for the people as in the Law, that by these they may merit forgiveness of sins for the people. Rather, they are called to teach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments to the people. (Ap. XIII: The Number and Use of the Sacraments. Pghs 8-9)[10]
Because we believe in justification by grace through faith alone, we believe that the function of the Office of the Ministry is to proclaim the Gospel and Administer the Sacraments, which create faith and which are received through faith alone apart from works.
Former president of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Rev. Dr. John Johnson wrote, “Since justification—and with it salvation—comes from faith alone, the church’s Ministry has only one task. In other words,” he then quotes Robert Kolb, “‘the public Ministry of the church is inextricably linked with God’s tools for creating faith, for recreating creatures as God’s children—the Means of Grace, Word, and Sacrament. The Pastoral Office is the Holy Spirit’s instrument by which the power of God’s Gospel is conveyed to people. …’”[11]
The Office of the Ministry is sacramental. And by sacramental, I do not mean what the stereotypical Fort Wayne alum means when he interprets every puddle in the Bible to be Baptism and every loaf of bread the Lord’s Supper. I’m not arguing with those interpretations; it is just not what I mean by sacramental. What I mean by sacramental is how the Lutheran Confessions describe a Sacrament. “A Sacrament is a ceremony or work in which God presents to us what the promise of the ceremony offers.” (Ap. XXIV. The Mass, 18)[12] In the liturgy, those are called sacramental actions when the pastor faces the people and speaks to them on behalf of God. By this understanding, preaching is sacramental in the same way as Baptism, the Absolution, and the administration of the Lord’s Supper, because the pastor is acting in God’s stead as God’s steward to give God’s promised grace to be received by the hearers through faith. This is why Melanchthon even said of ordination, “But if ordination is understood as carrying out the ministry of the Word, we are willing to call ordination a Sacrament. For the ministry of the Word has God’s command and has glorious promises, ‘The gospel … is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).’” (Ap XIII. 11)[13] While Melanchthon stops short of calling ordination a sacrament, he clearly defines the Office of the Ministry as a sacramental office, that is, an office which carries out the ministry of the Word so that hearers may receive God’s salvation through faith alone.
Commenting on President Johnson’s observation that the Lutheran Confessions use the doctrine of justification as its starting point to discuss the Office of the Ministry, Kurt Marquart writes, “The clear contours of the genuinely evangelical Lutheran understanding of the Gospel Ministry stand out against the double contrast of Rome on the one hand and Geneva on the other. The Roman concept may be labeled ‘traditionalism,’ inasmuch as it attributes divine institution and authority to the mere human traditions about sacrifice-oriented three-tiered ministry: deacons, presbyters, and bishops. Geneva, on the other hand, represents ‘biblicism’ that is, the legally-minded illusion that there is a divinely mandated outward church polity or structure, which then means restoring the various New Testament offices, of which Calvin identified four. Leaving aside such manmade complications and requirements, the Church of the Augsburg Confession simply treasures the divine gift of the one apostolic Gospel-Preaching Office, that St. Paul defines as the stewardship of the Divine Mysteries (1 Cor. 4:1).”[14]
Roman Catholic Understanding of the Sacerdotal Office
The Lutheran Confessions’ devotion to the doctrine of justification determines their understanding of the Office of the Ministry. For this reason, there is a departure between the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church in their doctrine and practice of the Office of the Ministry. So much of the Confession’s critique against the papist understanding of the ecclesiastical office, especially in Melanchthon’s Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, focuses on the papal claim of civil authority. Today, the civil authority of the Roman Church has dwindled so much that few take it seriously. And so, many Lutherans underestimate the great chasm between the Lutheran and the Roman Catholic understanding of the Office of the Ministry. Yet, a wide gulf still remains, because of the enduring disagreement on the doctrine of justification. Melancthon articulated this disagreement way back in Article XIII of the Apology, Number of Sacraments:
The adversaries understand priesthood not about the ministry of the Word, and giving out the Sacraments to others, but as referring to sacrifice. This is as though there should be a priesthood like the Levitical one [Leviticus 8–9] to sacrifice for the people and merit the forgiveness of sins for others in the New Testament. [8] We teach that the sacrifice of Christ dying on the cross has been enough for the sins of the whole world. There is no need for other sacrifices, as though Christ’s sacrifice were not enough for our sins. So people are justified not because of any other sacrifices, but because of this one sacrifice of Christ, if they believe that they have been redeemed by this sacrifice. [9] So they are called priests, not in order to make any sacrifices for the people as in the Law, that by these they may merit forgiveness of sins for the people.[15] Rather, they are called to teach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments to the people. [10] Nor do we have another priesthood like the Levitical, as the Epistle to the Hebrews teaches well enough [Hebrews 8]. (pghs 8-10)[16]
While the Lutheran Confessions deny that we have another Levitical priesthood, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states, “The liturgy of the Church, however, sees in the priesthood of Aaron and the service of the Levites, as in the institution of the seventy elders, a prefiguring of the ordained ministry of the New Covenant.” (CCC 1541)[17] The Catholic Catechism states that the Levitical priesthood was “instituted to proclaim the Word of God and to restore communion with God by sacrifices and prayer…” (CCC 1540).[18] It finds the same function for the New Testament priesthood.
While the Catholic Church maintains the sacramental function of the Office of the Ministry in preaching and teaching, they emphasize the priestly function to offer sacrifices. “Whilst not having the supreme degree of the pontifical office, and notwithstanding the fact that they depend on the bishops in the exercise of their own proper power,” the Catholic Catechism states, “the priests are for all that associated with them by reason of their sacerdotal dignity; and in virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, after the image of Christ, the supreme and eternal priest, they are consecrated in order to preach the Gospel and shepherd the faithful as well as to celebrate divine worship as true priests of the New Testament.” (CCC 1564)[19]
Although the Catholic Catechism states that the first task of bishops and priests is “to preach the Gospel of God to all men.” (CCC 888)[20], it also asserts:
‘It is in the Eucharistic cult or in the Eucharistic assembly of the faithful (syntaxis) that they exercise in a supreme degree their sacred office; there, acting in the person of Christ and proclaiming his mystery, they unite the votive offerings of the faithful to the sacrifice of Christ their head, and in the sacrifice of the Mass they make present again and apply, until the coming of the Lord, the unique sacrifice of the New Testament, that namely of Christ offering himself once for all a spotless victim to the Father.’ From this unique sacrifice their whole priestly ministry draws its strength. (CCC 1566)[21]
And so, you can see how central to the Office this sacrifice of the Mass is to Catholic theology. This sacrifice offered by the priests is understood as a propitiatory, that is, an atoning sacrifice. The Catholic Catechism teaches concerning the Eucharist, “At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, …” (CCC 1323)[22] and:
The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: ‘The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.’ ‘And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner … this sacrifice is truly propitiatory.” (CCC 1367)[23]
The Catholic Catechism goes on:
The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of the Church. The Church which is the Body of Christ participates in the offering of her Head. With him, she herself is offered whole and entire. She unites herself to his intercession with the Father for all men. In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his body. The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire a new value. (CCC 1368)[24]
And to show the necessity to continually offer this propitiatory sacrifice, the Catholic Catechism adds, “The Eucharistic sacrifice is also offered for the faithful departed who ‘have died in Christ but are not yet wholly purified,’ so that they may be able to enter the light and peace of Christ…” (CCC 1371)[25]
This is why Martin Luther writes in Smalcald Articles II on The Mass:
“[1] The Mass in the papacy has to be the greatest and most horrible abomination, since it directly and powerfully conflicts with this chief article. Above and before all other popish idolatries the Mass has been the chief and most false. For this sacrifice or work of the Mass is thought to free people from sins, both in this life and also in purgatory. It does so even when offered by a wicked scoundrel. Yet only the Lamb of God can and will do this [John 1:29], as said above. Nothing of this article is to be surrendered or conceded, because the first article does not allow it. (pgh. 1)[26]
Perhaps nothing highlights the papist church’s denial of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone more than their teaching and practice on the sacrifice of the Mass, because by it a continual sacrifice of the Church is needed to attain eternal life.[27]
Two Types of Priest and Two Types of Sacrifice
While the Roman Catholic Church teaches that the office of bishop and priest is a New Testament continuation of the Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament, which continues to offer an atoning sacrifice in the Mass, Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions teach only two New Testament priesthoods and two corresponding sacrifices. First, is the High Priesthood of Christ Jesus Himself. Hebrews 4:14 states, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” And again in Hebrews 9, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” (vss. 11-12)
Second, is the priesthood of all believers or the priesthood of the baptized. St. Peter writes in 1 Peter 2, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (vs. 9) Martin Luther, in writing against the sacrifice of private masses, wrote, “Therefore also the Holy Spirit in the New Testament diligently prevented the name Sacerdos, priest, or cleric [pfaffe] from being given to any apostle or to any other office, but this is the name only of the baptized or of Christians as a congenital or inherited name from Baptism.”[28]
The two types of sacrifice correspond to the two priesthoods. First, there is the sacrifice of atonement, which is offered by Christ alone. “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:14) Christ “is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2) Second, are sacrifices of thanksgiving, which do not atone for sins, but are a free response to receiving the benefits of Christ’s atonement. St. Paul writes in Romans 12, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.[29]” (vs. 1)
Melanchthon writes in the Apology, Article XXIV on the Mass:
Furthermore, there are two kinds of sacrifice and no more. One is the atoning sacrifice, that is, a work that makes satisfaction for guilt and punishment. It reconciles God, or reconciles His wrath and merits the forgiveness of sins for others. The other kind is the eucharistic sacrifice, which does not merit the forgiveness of sins or reconciliation. It is practiced by those who have been reconciled, so that we may give thanks or return gratitude for the forgiveness of sins that has been received, or for other benefits received. (pgh 19).[30]
Melanchthon goes on, “In fact there has only been one atoning sacrifice in the world, namely, Christ’s death.” (pgh 22)[31] (He then cites Hebrews 10:4, 10; Isaiah 53:10, and Romans 8:3.[32]) “Now the rest,” Melanchthon writes, “are eucharistic sacrifices, which are called sacrifices of praise (Leviticus 3; 7:11[-18]; Psalm 56:12).” And listen carefully to what Melanchthon lists as sacrifices of thanksgiving. “These are the preaching of the Gospel, faith, prayer, thanksgiving, confession, the troubles of saints, yes, all works of saints. These sacrifices are not satisfaction for those making them, nor can they be applied to others to merit the forgiveness of sins or reconciliation by the outward act (ex opere operato). They are made by those who have been reconciled. These are the sacrifices of the New Testament, as Peter teaches, ‘a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices’ (1 Peter 2:5).” (Ap. XXIV 25-26)[33]
Melanchthon includes the preaching of the Gospel among the eucharistic sacrifices of the priesthood of all believers. Now, Article XIV of the Augsburg Confessions states, “Our churches teach that no one should publicly teach in the Church, or administer the Sacraments, without a rightly ordered call.”[34] So, although the Office of the Keys, which includes the preaching of the Gospel belongs to the entire priesthood of believers, the Christian Church, these functions ought not be exercised publicly without a rightly ordered call, as St. Paul writes in Romans 10, “How can they preach unless they are sent?” (vs. 15) Furthermore, the preaching of the Gospel is rightly a sacramental, not a sacrificial act. The function of the pastoral office is primarily sacramental, while the congregation’s is sacrificial. The pastor sacramentally delivers the benefits of the atoning Sacrifice of Christ to the priesthood of all believers through the preaching of the Gospel and administration of the Sacraments, so that they may both receive saving faith and receive the benefits through faith, and also, so that they may respond with sacrifices of thanksgiving. Even when the minister preaches the Gospel, the Confessions state that the hearers offer the preaching of the Word as a sacrifice of thanksgiving, as Melanchthon reiterates, “We include the preaching of the Word among the sacrifices of praise, that is, among the praises of God. So the reception itself of the Lord’s Supper can be praise or thanksgiving. But it does not justify by the outward act, neither is it applied to others to merit the forgiveness of sins for them.”
Here Melanchthon demonstrates both the passive and active aspects of the faith that believes or the faith by which one believes. Passively, faith receives the benefits of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and receives justification and salvation, which is imputed and given by God apart from our works or merits. Actively, faith responds with thanksgiving and praise, which begin even as the hearer listens and continue even outside of the service through confessing Christ to one’s neighbor and doing acts of love. This is why those who think to get the laity active in worship they must carry out the functions of the Office of the Ministry like reading lessons, preaching, etc, are misguided. By saying, “Amen,” to a faithful Gospel sermon, the hearers offer a more pleasing sacrifice of thanksgiving than if they busied themselves with tasks rightly given to the pastor. The hearer claims the preaching of the Gospel as his own sacrifice of thanksgiving, pleasing to God on account his faith in His promise. Former president of the Missouri district, Rev. Dr. James Kalthoff wrote, “For the spread of the Gospel, it is the matter of ‘both/and’—Public Ministry and the royal Priesthood of all Believers in Christ. Yet at the same time, I would like to suggest that the fulfillment of the Royal Priesthood’s responsibilities lies not in things that laypersons do at the church to ‘assist’ the Public Ministry, such as serving as lay lectors to read the lessons, or assisting with the liturgy, etc. It lies in their being witnesses to Christ by word and deed to relatives, friends, neighbors in the context of their family, their workplace, their social life and their community involvement.”[35]
The pastor is a member of the priesthood of all believers, but the office of pastor is not a distinctly priestly office in the sense that it offers an atoning sacrifice. Rather, the pastor preaches the one atoning sacrifice of Christ and administers the sacraments which give the benefits of that one sacrifice. The pastor does represent the congregation in offering eucharistic sacrifices in forms of prayers, praise, and offerings during the Divine Service. And throughout history, those in the Office of the Ministry have been called priests, because of their association with the altar, as the Confessions quotes John Chrysostom in Article XXIV of the Augsburg Confession, “that the priest stands daily at the altar, inviting some to the Communion and keeping back others.” And we still have fellow Lutherans, especially overseas, who use the term priest to denote their pastors, because that is the traditional term, and we should not condemn them for that. However, the Confessions make clear that the Office of the Ministry is not a New Testament continuation of the Levitical Priesthood, but rather, a sacramental office, that is, an office that is charged not to give to God, but to give to the people what God has won for them through the redemption of Christ Jesus. These things are given through the Word and Sacraments, which declare Christ’s salvation and which are received through faith. The priesthood responds to this sacramental service by offering sacrifices of thanksgiving both in the Divine Service and throughout their lives.
The New Testament likewise does not use the word priest to refer to those in the Office of the Ministry. It calls them bishops, which means overseer (Acts 20:28; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1ff; Titus 1:7; 1 Peter 2:25); presbyter, which means elder (Acts 14:23; 20:17; 1 Timothy 4:14; 5:17; Titus 1:5; 1 Peter 5:1); pastor, which means shepherd (Ephesians 4:1; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:1-4); teacher (Acts 13:1; Ephesians 4:11; James 3:1; 1 Corinthians 12:28-29); and evangelist, which means preacher of the Gospel (Ephesians 4:11; 2 Timothy 4:5). The New Testament calls them ministers, servants, slaves, and stewards (1 Corinthians 4:1; Ephesians 3:7; Colossians 1:25), but the New Testament does not call those in the Office of the Ministry priests, because their office is not one of offering sacrifices to atone for sins, but rather to proclaim the one Sacrifice of atonement.
St. Paul does call his ministry, “the priestly service of the Gospel” (ἱερουργοῦντα τὸ εὐαγγέλλιον) in Romans 15:16; however, he reasons, “so that the offering (προσφορὰ) of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” This means that Paul calls his ministry to the Gentiles priestly service of the Gospel of God, not because he offers an atoning sacrifice, but because through his preaching of the Gospel, the Gentiles offer sacrifices of service, that is, sacrifices of thanksgiving. This is exactly how Melanchthon describes it in the Apology.
Conclusion
President Johnson wrote, “The Ministry or Office of the Word is necessitated not merely by the concern for order in the church, albeit that is not an unimportant consideration. The Office of the preaching of the Word is required for the sake of the creation of saving faith.”[36] Melancthon wrote in the Power and Primacy of the Pope, “The Gospel assigns those who preside over the Churches the command to teach the Gospel [Matthew 28:19], to forgive sins [John 20:23], to administer the Sacraments, and also to exercise jurisdiction (i.e., the command to excommunicate those whose crimes are known and to absolve those who repent).” Scripture teaches us that the Gospel teaches us what the Office of the Ministry is and does.[37]
The Gospel teaches that we are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, because Christ Jesus has accomplished all that is necessary for our salvation. The Gospel teaches that the Holy Spirit works through the message of this Gospel to create faith and to deliver the benefits of this message. Because we are justified by faith alone, the function of the Office of the Ministry is to proclaim this faith and to administer the Sacraments, the benefits of which are received through faith alone. The Office of the Ministry is a ministry of the Word, which is believed.
As the Lutheran Church is influenced by other Church bodies, we must keep this in mind. We will not preserve or restore the proper function of the pastoral office by imitating less or more “liturgical churches,” Protestant or Catholic. We preserve the proper function of the Office of the Ministry by confessing first the chief article of the Lutheran Church, that we are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Then our pastors will do well to preach the Word faithfully, both Law and Gospel, in season and out of season, in the Divine Service and wherever he has hearers, so that sinners may repent of their sins and believe the Gospel which justifies. The sacramental function of the Office of the Ministry, that is, the activity of preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments, defends the doctrine of justification by faith alone, because the benefits of the Word and Sacraments can only be received through faith.[38]
Discussion
After the paper attendants are given a chance to ask questions. Here is a summary and paraphrase of the discussion which followed.
- This paper shows the difference in the Roman Catholic understanding of the office of the Ministry because of their different understanding of justification. Do we find differences in the other denominations.
- Yes. As noted, the Reformed have a legalistic view of the ministry which tries to reconstruct the supposedly four offices of ministry. Many protestants see faith as a work and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as ordinances. This leads to a less evangelical view of the ministry, which is more law based. We see this as ministers are seen as managers of congregations and “life coaches” rather than proclaimers of the Gospel who seek to reconcile sinners to God.
- Do you find sacerdotalism in the Lutheran Church.
- Yes, by imitation. Sacerdotalism does not mean the pastor exercises authority, but rather, that his office is a priestly function. I see this when we set limits of what the laity and women are permitted to do in church, not based on the institution of the Office of the Ministry or St. Paul’s prohibitions in 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14, but rather by imitating the Roman Catholic Church, which permits deacons to preach and administer the Sacraments, but not to sacrifice the Mass. The Catholics also permit women to serve as lectors and as eucharistic ministers, but not to sacrifice the mass. I do not think that Lutherans are necessarily adopting a theology of the sacrifice of the mass, but they are imitating the Roman Catholic Church and so, implying that that is our theology.
- Does the Office of the Keys really summarize the entire Office of the Ministry.
- Yes.
- Is preaching the sacrifice of thanksgiving of the hearers?
- Yes. By them believing and confessing what is preached, they offer the preaching as a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Melanchthon makes this clear that that is what he meant when he lists also the reception of the Lord’s Supper as a sacrifice of praise.
Note: These are paraphrases of some of the questions. Obviously, the answers are beyond paraphrases, because I was able to think about my answer between the conference and writing it down now.
[1] Christian Dogmatics, Vol.II, 450.
[2] MCCAIN, 33.
[3] MCCAIN, 33.
[4] MCCAIN, 58.
[5] Norman Nagle, “The Office of the Holy Ministry in the Confessions,” Concordia Journal (July 1988), 283.
[6] MCAIN, 58.
[7] Edmund Schlink, The Theology of the Lutheran Confessions, tr. Paul F. Koehneke and Herbert J. A. Bouman, Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 229-30.
[8] The Theology of the Lutheran Confessions, 229.
[9] Complete Sermons of Martin Luther Vol. VI, Ed. By Eugene F. A. Klug, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 71.
[10] MCCAIN, 185
[11] Dr. John F. Johnson, “The Office of the Pastoral Ministry: Scriptural and Confessional Considerations,” Church and Ministry, edited by Jerald C. Joerz and Paul T. McCain, The Office of the President, LCMS, 1998, 84. Robert Kolb quote came from “The Doctrine of the Ministry in Martin Luther and the Lutheran Confessions,” Concordia Journal (July 1988), 283.
[12] MCCAIN, 222.
[13] MCCAIN, 185.
[14] Church and Ministry, 103.
[15] Italic part quoted above as well.
[16] MCCAIN, 185.
[17] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Ed. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 385.
[18] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 384.
[19] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 391.
[20] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 235.
[21] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 391.
[22] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 334.
[23] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 344.
[24] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 344.
[25] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 345.
[26] MCCAIN, 264.
[27] “Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.” (CCC 1989)
“Man’s merit, moreover, itself is due to God, for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit.” CCC 2008
“Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for attainment of eternal life.” CCC 2010
“The bishop is ‘the steward of the grace of the supreme priesthood,’ especially in the Eucharist which he offers personally or whose offering he assures through the priests, his co-workers. The Eucharist is the center of the life of the particular Church. The bishop and preists sanctify the Church by their prayer and work, by their ministry of the word and of the sacraments. They sanctify her by their example, ‘not domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock.’ Thus, ‘together with the flock entrusted to them, they may attain to eternal life.’” CCC 893
[28] C. F. W. Walther, Church and Ministry, trans. By J. T. Mueller, CPH, St. Louis, 1987. 164. Translated and quoted from St. Louis edition, 19:1260.
[29] Or rational/reasonable/logical service
[30] MCCAIN, 222.
[31] MCAIN, 224.
[32] Hebrews 10:4:For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Hebrews 10:10:And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Isaiah 53:10: Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
[33] MCCAIN, 224.
[34] MCCAIN, 39.
[35] “The Pastor,” Church and Ministry, 148.
[36] Church and Ministry, 81.
[37] “Yet, as informative as points of similarity and continuity between the Old Testament priesthood and the church’s Office of the Ministry may be, the primary biblical background for the Office of the Ministry does not lie in Old Testament models of temple and priesthood. Rather, the point of departure is grounded and established in the person and work of Jesus Himself.” John Johnson, Church and Ministry. 79.
[38] “the primary biblical background for the Office of the Ministry does not lie in Old Testament models of temple and priesthood. Rather, the point of departure is grounded and established in the person and work of Jesus Himself.” J. Johnson, Church and Ministry. 79.
5 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 1 Peter 5:1-4
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” John 21:17
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:35