Roundtable 21: Good Works

Lutherans forbid good works. That was what folks were saying then, and some have gone on saying it, including those who should know better.

No, Lutherans do NOT forbid good works, but they command all those works which God has enjoined on us. As Luther pointed out - if we take care of those, we won't have any time for the ones we try to make up on our own. The made up ones - "particular holy days, particular fasts, brotherhoods, pilgrimages, services in honor of the saints, the use of rosaries, monasticism, and such" (AC XX:3) - they are what occupied the opponents' preaching.

Used to be they taught just works justify. Now, says AC, they've at least learned to mention faith along with the works - a step in the right direction that brings a tad more comfort.

But nothing compares to the comfort of knowing that your works - not even those works that God Himself commands us to do - do not justify us. Can't get away from AC IV. There it is again. Our teachers proclaim throughout our churches that "our works cannot reconcile God to us or merit forgiveness of sins, grace, and justification." Rather, all these come to us only by faith, "when we believe that we are received into favor for Christ's sake." Not our works, but He alone gets to be "the Mediator and Atoning Sacrifice." (AC XX:9) To think that our works - especially our made up works - merit grace is "seeking a way to God without Christ, by human strength." It's to reject Him who proclaims "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." (AC XX:10)

The Lutherans were utterly confident on this point that they had not made up a new interpretation of Paul. How does one know this? The old standard: "Check the Fathers!" Augustine and Ambrose are mentioned. Turns out to be pseudo-Ambrose in the work cited, but there was more than enough ammo in Ambrose and the other fathers too. You knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity to throw out a few juicy lines. How about these?

Augustine:

And before this redemption is wrought in a man, when he is not yet free to do what is right, how can he talk of the freedom of his will and his good works, except he be inflated by that foolish pride of boasting which the apostle restrains when he says, "By grace are you saved, through faith." Enchiridion 30

And lest men should arrogate to themselves the merit of their own faith at least, not understanding that this too is the gift of God, this same apostle, who says in another place that he had "obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful," here also adds: "and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." And lest it should be thought that good works will be wanting in those who believe, he adds further: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them." We shall be made truly free, then, when God fashions us, that is, forms and creates us anew, not as men—for He has done that already—but as good men, which His grace is now doing, that we may be a new creation in Christ Jesus, according as it is said: "Create in me a clean heart, O God." For God had already created his heart, so far as the physical structure of the human heart is concerned; but the psalmist prays for the renewal of the life which was still lingering in his heart. Enchiridion 31

Ambrose:

If, then, you wish to reclaim any one of the lapsed, do you exhort him to believe, or not to believe? Undoubtedly you exhort him to believe. But, according to the Lord's words, he who believes shall have everlasting life. Repentance, Book I, par 48

He then who has faith has life, and he who has life is certainly not shut out from pardon; "that every one," it is said, "that believes in Him should not perish." Since it is said, Every one, no one is shut out, no one is excepted, for He does not except him who has lapsed, if only afterwards he believes effectually. Repentance, Book I, par 48

Therefore it is said: "That every one that believes in Him should not perish." Let no one, that is, of whatever condition, after whatever fall, fear that he will perish. Repentance, Book I, par. 51

Let us consider another similar passage: "He that believes in the Son has eternal life, but he that believes not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." John 3:36 That which abides has certainly had a commencement, and that from some offence, viz., that first he not believe. When, then, any one believes, the wrath of God departs and life comes. To believe, then, in Christ is to gain life, for "he that believes in Him is not judged." John 3:18. Repentance, Book I, par. 53

St. John Chrysostom:

The favors of God so far exceed human hope and expectation, that often they are not believed. For God has bestowed upon us such things as the mind of man never looked for, never thought of. It is for this reason that the Apostles spend much discourse in securing a belief of the gifts that are granted us of God. For as men, upon receiving some great good, ask themselves if it is not a dream, as not believing it; so it is with respect to the gifts of God. What then was it that was thought incredible? That those who were enemies, and sinners, neither justified by the law, nor by works, should immediately through faith alone be advanced to the highest favor. Homily 4 on 1 Timothy

And he well said, "a righteousness of mine own," not that which I gained by labor and toil, but that which I found from grace. If then he who was so excellent is saved by grace, much more are you. For since it was likely they would say that the righteousness which comes from toil is the greater, he shows that it is dung in comparison with the other. For otherwise I, who was so excellent in it, would not have cast it away, and run to the other. But what is that other? That which is from the faith of God, i.e. it too is given by God. This is the righteousness of God; this is altogether a gift. And the gifts of God far exceed those worthless good deeds, which are due to our own diligence. Homily on Philippians 3

Okay, okay, I'll stop. But there are SO many more to choose from. The Fathers are simply stuffed full of testimonies to justification by faith and not by works. How could they be anything else? Well the Confession goes on that the whole value of this faith - not a fictitious faith consisting of historical knowledge, but a living faith that holds tight to the promise of forgiveness (AC XX:25), is in the battle of the conscience, which despairs before God because it has nothing of its own that it can set against the just demands of God in His law. But that is, of course, about justification, not good works.

But the article returns to good works with joy and says: "But see, we don't just teach what they are, we show how to do them!" (AC XX:35) It is FAITH that is the mother of the good works of love, faith that receives the Holy Spirit who renews our hearts. Back to Luther's old favorite of "grace" and the "gift in grace." Forgiveness and the Holy Spirit. The Spirit enables those "new affections" that can bring forth the good works. (AC XX:29)

Take away faith, say the Lutherans, and human nature will not be able to really do the good works that the Ten Commandments require. Without faith, no calling upon God, no expecting squat from Him, no bearing of the cross. But let faith come in, that holds to the forgiveness of sins given in Christ Jesus, and watch out! The Holy Spirit rules the heart instead of "all kinds of lusts and human intentions" (AC XX:38)

Which is all just taking seriously our Lord's solemn words: "Apart form me you can do nothing." And joy of all joys, the clencher in this article is the LITURGY. They say: "It's what we sing after all." Veni Sancte Spiritus is cited, verse 6.

Summary then: good works are the works God has commanded; we must do them; we can only do them as those who have been justified by faith and renewed by the Spirit. So, indeed, "Come, Holy Spirit!" Amen!

Roundtable 20: The Cause of Sin

Our churches teach that although God creates and preserves nature, the cause of sin is located in the will of the wicked, that is, the devil and ungodly people. Without God's help, this will turns itself away from God, as Christ says, "When he lies, he speaks out of his own character" (John 8:44).

We stand here again and gaze on a mystery: evil. What is known about it is that evil and the sin that follows from it are very real. It would seem more likely that people would believe that there is such a thing as evil, even if they are uncertain about God. The 20th century was the bloodiest in human history, but yet there are still fools about who deny that there is such a thing as "evil" and "sin." But whence comes sin and evil? The Augsburg Confession simply attributes sin to the will of those who are wicked. Not much of an answer really, sin comes from the sinful. Speculations into the "why" of evil and the "why" of sin are futile and pointless, ultimately. What is revealed in God's Word is that there is no hope for the wicked, apart from Christ. Years after the AC was written, well-intentioned Lutherans came along who tried to assert that sin is of the very essence of what it is to be human, but to say this is to contradict this article, and to attribute to God the source of evil, since, if sin is of the essence of what it means to be human then God is the creator of evil.

The Roman Catholic confutation concurs with this article and states: "The nineteenth article is likewise approved and accepted. For God, the supremely good, is not the author of evils, but the rational and defectible will is the cause of sin; wherefore let no one impute his midsdeeds and crimes to God, but to himself, according to Jer. 2:19: "Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy backslidings shall reprove thee;" and Hos. 13:9: "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thy help." And David in the spirit acknowledged that God is not one that hath pleasure in wickedness, Ps. 5:4."

What then do we say to those who are in the midst of a particularly severe struggle with evil? We are always struggling with evil, to be certain. But what of those times when is presses particularly hard on us? What of the times when the Devil is throwing in our face our sinfulness and failure to live as we should? What of the times when sin separates us from our loves ones? What of the dark moments in the night when we are all alone and at those times we see the sin that is ever before us? What of the struggles and testings that come when our bodies become sick and weak and when we finally recognize that we are in our last months, or days, or hours on earth? To whom do we turn? Where do we place our hope and confidence? The answer God gives is the comfort of the Savior and the Holy Spirit bring to mind once again His words: peace, be still. Do not let your heart be troubled. I have overcome the world. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, you also will be. I have called you friends. Today, you shall be with me in paradise. As the Apostle St. Paul declared: Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Roundtable 19: Free Will

Article XVIII:
Our churches teach that a person’s will has some freedom to choose civil righteousness and to do things subject to reason. It has no power, without the Holy Spirit, to work the righteousness of God, that is, spiritual righteousness....

Our churches condemn the Pelagians and others who teach that without the Holy Spirit, by natural power alone, we are able to love God above all things and do God’s commandments according to the letter....

Article XVIII flows out of Articles IV and V and really presents nothing substantially new. If justification is entirely by grace through faith for Christ’s sake, then the will of man contributes nothing in the way of spiritual righteousness that avails before God. To guard against determinism, Melanchthon introduces the distinction of civil/spiritual righteousness. Civil righteousness is before men (coram hominibus) and is concerned with temporal, earthly matters. In this sense, man possesses “some liberty” to do those things subject to reason. However (the disjunction sed/aber is absent in the Concordia edition), without the Holy Spirit, there is no power in man to work spiritual righteousness, that is, the righteousness that avails before God (coram Deo).

Melanchthon quotes from Book III of Hypognosticon, wrongly attributed to Augustine in support. Did Augustine actually teach this? In his anti-Pelagian writings, Augustine certainly emphasizes divine monergism over and against the will of man, even to the point of double predestination and God acting even when men are inclined to do evil. Clearly, Melanchthon does not wish to run this far with Augustine. Perhaps this explains his citing of the pseudop-Augustinian work.

A great deal hinges on the phrase “without the Holy Spirit.” This might be construed to imply cooperation in salvation between the person and God. In the Variata of 1540, the sentence was changed to read, “but spiritual righteousness is effected in us when we are helped by the Holy Spirit.” Clearly, after 1535, Melancththon maintains that the will cooperates in salvation and works together with the Word and the Spirit. Here Melanchthon parts with Luther.

The unnamed opponent is Gabriel Biel and the school of Ockhamism, the via moderna of medieval theology which states that man is able to merit saving grace by doing the good that is in him which is then rewarded by God with grace enabling man to do more of the same. According to Biel, free will, quite apart from God’s grace in Christ, can do that which is good and so fulfill, at least in part, the divine commandments. Further, one is able by one’s own power to dispose oneself to grace, since the intellect can acknowledge the good and the will can freely subscribe to it. (see Grane, 181-189)

Surprisingly, the Confutation approves of this article without reservation, stating that it befits Catholics to pursue the middle way between Pelagianism and Manichaeism. This is followed by a long series of Scriptures which supposedly support this view. Melanchthon is uneasy with the response and the citations, and argues that there is little difference between the Pelagians and his own opponents, since both believe that natural man is able to love God, do good works, and merit justification without the Holy Spirit.

At the heart of Article XVIII is what we confess in the small catechism when we say under the 3rd article of the Creed, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him.” The Holy Spirit must intervene, for by nature we are, in ourselves, spiritually dead. This has great implications for our preaching and the proclamation of Christ in the world. We do not speak of salvation in Christ in such a way that it implies a decision or choice on the part of the hearer (”Christ died for you if you believe in Him,”), but as an accomplished fact in Christ with an imperative to believe (”Christ died for you; believe it.”) There is no neutral place between sin and righteousness, hell and heaven, the devil and Christ. One is not born into freedom to decide one way or the other, nor is one fated one way or the other. Obviously the mystery of election lies close at hand, and many a theologian has been crucified on the crux theologorum. Article XVIII leaves to God what is God’s without abrogating responsibility for man’s actions.

As I indicated, this is a tricky article, juggling the dynamic paradox of divine monergism and man’s will. Attempts to reconcile the paradox will invariably lead to deterministic double predestination on the one hand or semi-Pelagian synergism on the other. Hardly a "middle way," Article XVIII pursues the paradoxical way of the proper distinction of the Law and the Gospel.

Roundtable 18: Christ's Return for Judgment

Just offer to unlock the secrets of Revelation and reveal all kinds of end-time mysteries and watch your church pack out. The Lutheran Church with joy misses out on these Hal Lindsey fests. Instead she confesses the certainties which Scripture gives:

* At the end of the world Christ will appear for judgment and will raise all the dead.

Appear is a big word. In the NT, more often than not, the Parousia is described as our blessed Lord's APPEARING rather than as His "coming." There is an unveiling that will take place on that day and ALL will SEE the realities in which we as His Church now live by faith. "Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age." They will see that Christ has indeed been with His people exactly as He promised - not with some piece of Him, but the whole. Not just His divinity, but as the indivisible God-Man. It's like the drawing back of a great veil: Voila! See the realities in which His people have lived, have believed, and have loved and died in hope. They were bigger and stronger than any realities that might be seen.

* He will give the godly and the elect eternal life and everlasting joys.

Basic Athanasian Creed stuff here. The godly and elect are those in whom He has worked the gift of faith. That is, whose faith was real and living - not fained and fake. The godliness that resulted was not so much the result of their doing as the result of living in union by faith with the One who had freely justified them.

* He will condemn ungodly people and the devils to be tormented without end.

"O Ruthless Love that wilt not look on mankind robed in contempt of Thee" (Franzmann). The ungodly, the unbelievers, including those who had fake faith (head knowledge of the facts of redemption, but no fruits of the Holy Spirit - those who thought forgiveness meant a license to sin instead of the breaking of sin's shackles) experience the unending torture of existence without Him who is Life. This is, what they chose on earth, to resist every prompting of the Spirit, is finally conceded. Thus they get to share with the devils the culmination of their heart's desire. "Just go away and leave us alone, Lord." Sadly, the Lord finally says: "If you insist." Lord, preserve us from presumption and give us repentance and faith!

* The anabaptists are wrong in thinking there is an end to the punishments of condemned men and devils.

Well, if they said it then, Origen had taught it earlier. It is a hope that certainly sounds so pious, but it goes against the very nature of the way God has both created and redeemed His creatures. A salvation that is forced is no salvation at all. He gives His gifts and as a very wise fellow once said: "For a gift to be a gift it must be rejectable." Such are the critters God has made: in their awesome use of freedom they can resist Him and His love to the bitter end. He lets them do this.

* Those are wrong who imagine a millennial kingdom in this world before the resurrection of the dead with the general suppression of ungodliness.

Not in and through this world is our hope founded, but upon the making new of this creation which Christ accomplishes by His glorious appearing on the Last Day. "My kingdom is not of this world" forever seals off the hope of more than bandaids for what ails here and now. We can labor in the love and healing of this world as best we can, but we do so knowing the the full healing of this world finally lies not in this age, but in that which Christ shall bring about at His appearing.

AC XVII thus leads us to cry out with the voice of our greatest Lutheran hymnist:

What joy to know when life is past,
The Lord we love is first and last,
The end and the beginning!
He will one, oh, glorious grace,
Transport us to that happy place
Beyond all tears and sinning!
Amen! Amen!
Come, Lord Jesus!
Crown of gladness!
We are yearning
For the day of Your returning.
LSB 395:6

Roundtable 17: Civil Government

From the exciting topic of church ceremonies, to the boring topic of government. Well, okay, I've shown my prejudice. The biggy in AC XVI is to teach that "lawful civil regulations are good works of God." In other words, there's nothing dirty about them in themselves, which is not to say that we cannot abuse them the same way we abuse every other good gift of God. Because they are "good works of God" the Christian has full right to them: "to hold political office, to serve as judges, to judge matters by Imperial laws or other existing laws, to impose just punishments, to engage in just wars, to serve as soldiers, to make legal contracts, to hold property, to take oaths required by the magistrates, for a man to marry a wife, or a women to be given in marriage." None of these things is in the least conflict with being a Christian; all of them can be engaged in with a good conscience.

Thus, the Lutherans were saying loudly and clearly at Augsburg (and since that day): "We ain't no Anabaptists!" For us, there is no flight from the civil realm - which seems to follow from thinking of the civil realm as "secular" - i.e., not God's! The Lutherans say "Balderdash! It is also God's, but under a different governance than the Church." That different governance is hinted at when we hear of the judging matters by "Imperial laws or other existing laws" and the notion of "just" punishments and wars. This all is grounded in the notion that God's way of dealing with the civil realm is through civil righteousness founded upon the law God has written on the hearts of all people. Pity that Melancthon didn't have Lewis' Abolition of Man at hand when he wrote, because I have no doubts he would have found it a concise exposition of the notion. Of course, back then both the Roman party and the Augsburg party took that foundation for granted.

The Lutherans also want to be clear that "evangelical perfection" is not found in running away from the civil realm - either to a monastery or in your new utopian community. Rather, "the Gospel teaches an eternal righteousness of the heart." This righteousness of the heart does not require and demand the overthrow of the civil state or of the civil state's foundation in the family. But it does effect a reordering of disordered priorities. Obedience to parents, to government has its place, but also its limits. The limit is when in their sinfulness those in civil state or family would command the Christian to sin. Then, a higher obedience comes into play: "they ought to obey God rather than men." But unless and until such conflict between the will of God and civil or familial obedience arises, one obeys God also through obedience to the authorities. That speed limit thing, for instance. Mea culpa. But it's true, even if it seems trite: for Christians (unlike the world) see the very hand of God ALSO in the governance of the "civil realm." Thus, for us, there is no such thing as "secular" if that is taken to mean "not God's." It all belongs to the Blessed Trinity.

Roundtable 16: Church Ceremonies

Our churches teach that ceremonies ought to be observed that may be observed without sin. Also, ceremonies and other practices that are profitable for tranquility and good order in the Church (in particular, holy days, festivals, and the like) ought to be observed.

Yet, the people are taught that consciences are not to be burdened as though observing such things was necessary for salvation. They are also taught that human traditions instituted to make atonement with God, to merit grace, and to make satisfaction for sins are opposed to the Gospel and the doctrine of faith. So vows and traditions concerning meats and days, and so forth, instituted to merit grace and to make satisfaction for sins, are useless and contrary to the Gospel. (AC XV, Concordia, 39)

This is the third of what I term the “apologetic articles” (Articles 13-21) which are written in response to certain slanderous allegations by Eck and other papal apologists against the Lutherans and also to distance the Lutheran side of the Reformation from the more radical elements. Clearly, the charge is that the Lutherans had abrogated and abandoned the traditional rites and ceremonies of the Church.

The conservative nature of the Lutheran reformation is apparent. Our churches keep the traditional ceremonies and practices, including the liturgical calendar, for the sake of tranquility and good order. This attitude is restated clearly in Apology XV where Melanchthon states: “We gladly keep the old traditions set up in the church because they are useful and promote tranquility, and we interpret them in an evangelical way, excluding the opinion which holds that they justify” (Ap XV.38). The same idea is echoed in the close of the Augustana where the reformers state, “we have introduced nothing, either in doctrine or in ceremonies, that is contrary to Holy Scripture or the universal Christian church.”

Melanchthon makes three points in Article XV. First, the existing rites of the received tradition are kept insofar as they do not conflict with the Gospel and contribute to peace and good order in the Church. Second, consciences are not to be burdened by making man-made rites necessary for salvation. This corresponds to Article VII in which the preached Gospel and administered sacraments are the necessary marks of the Church, while man-made ceremonies may vary and do not contribute to the unity of the Church. Third, certain traditions are rejected, ie monastic vows and fasting regulations, not for what they are but for what they purport to do, namely “to earn grace and make satisfaction for sins.” These are deemed “useless and contrary to the Gospel.”

The papal Confutation accepts the first part of this article but resoundingly rejects the second part, precipitating a lengthy response from Melanchthon in Apology XV. The gist of Melanchthon’s apologia lies in this sentence: “We can affirm nothing about the will of God without the Word of God” (Ap XV.17). Therefore, no rite or ceremony can serve as a revelatory sign of God’s grace without the Word of God. Interestingly, this article does not mention or deal with the liturgy or divine service. (That is taken up in article XXIV on the abuses of the Mass). This is not surprising since the reformers would not have considered the divine service a “manmade rite” but the Word of God, since the liturgy is composed almost entirely of Scripture passages and allusions. In his reform of the Mass, Luther simply excised those manmade parts that were in contradiction to the Gospel.

In our thinking about church rites and ceremonies, this article needs to be read and applied before we get to Formula Article X. Far too often in our circles today, the concept of adiaphora is invoked in a way that is contrary to the conservative spirit of the Lutheran reformers and much more consistent with the way of Münzer, Karlstadt and the radicals under the banner of “Gospel freedom.” AC XV reminds us that the Lutheran reformation was, and still is, a Gospel reformation of the western catholic tradition, not the beginning of a new church, or a romantic restoration of the first century church, or an exercise in unbounded Christian liberty.

Melanchthon’s maxim is well worth noting today: “Nothing should be changed in the accustomed rites without good reason, and to foster harmony those ancient customs should be kept which can be kept without sin or without great disadvantage” (Ap XV.52).

Roundtable 15: Order in the Church

Our churches teach that no one should publicly teach in the Church, or administer the Sacraments, without a rightly ordered call (nisi rite vocatus, ohn ordentlichen Beruf). AC XIV.

Short, sweet, and to the point. Article XIV is the third of what I call the “defensive articles,” defending the Lutheran Reformers against slanderous associations with the radicals. This article is in direct response to Eck (Thesis 267) who stated that the Lutherans had abrogated the ordered ministry and had made every Christian a minister. There is no corresponding article to AC XIV in the Schwabach or Torgau articles. The title refers to the order of the office (ordo) (see Ap XIII), not to everything being neat and tidy.

In the background, of course, is the canonical episcopal polity and ordination at the hand of the bishop. Luther had already dealt with this extensively in his letter to the Senate of Prague in 1523 wherein he advocated a “bootstrap” process for reestablishing the holy ministry when the bishops refused to ordain priests for the congregations. Since the papal bishops opposed the reformation, they refused to ordain candidates to fill vacancies in evangelical parishes. This became a serious issue after 1525. It is important to remember that Luther and others were ordained prior to the reformation and so continued in office without any disruption of the ministry. This was not the case as vacancies occurred and pulpits had to be filled. Melanchthon treats this topic extensively in the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, which should be read as a companion piece and commentary to AC XIV.

Key to understanding this article is the meaning of “publicly” (publice, offentlich) and “rightly ordered call.”

It was well established among the Lutherans that heads of household were responsible to teach their children and servants, and when necessary, also to baptize. In his 1523 letter to the Bohemians, Luther strongly advised against any private household celebrations of the Lord’s Supper, even to the extent of going a lifetime without it rather than having it in a dubious way. AC XIV is concerned with what goes on “in the Church,” that is officially, in the name of the Church.

What Melanchthon means by an “ordered call” is spelled out more clearly in the Treatise, where Melanchthon defends the thesis that the local congregation always retains the right to a pastor and the authority to make one. “For wherever the church exists, the right to administer the Gospel also exists. Wherefore it is necessary for the church to retain the right of calling, electing, and ordaining ministers” (Treatise, 67). To have a “rightly ordered call,” according to Melanchthon, is to be called, elected, and ordained. This authority, Melanchthon argues in the Treatise, resides with the local congregation and her pastor by divine right (de jure divino) and with the bishops only by human right (de jure humano) for the sake of peace and good order.

The Confutation understands a “rightly ordered call” as “called in accordance with the form of law and the ecclesiastical ordinances and decrees hitherto observed everywhere in the Christian world....” This prompts Melanchthon to both defend the canonical episcopal polity (Oh, that we would have heeded Ap XIV, but don’t get me started!), and at the same time condemn the papal bishops for their cruelty in withholding pastors from their congregations. It is the papal bishops, not the reformers, who are responsible for the breakdown.

The underlying theology of AC XIV is the objectivity of the external Word of the Gospel. “We know that the church is present among those who rightly teach the Word of God and rightly administer the sacraments” (Ap XIV). Melanchthon has already established the Office of the Holy Ministry as the instrumental means of delivering the Gospel and Sacraments (AC V) and has indicated that holy order and ordination have a place among the “sacraments” in that they provide for the proper sacraments of Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper (Ap XIII). This article underscores the important fact that no one takes it upon himself to become a minister, but he is granted this office by an external, objective act of God - a rightly ordered call. In his writing Against the Heavenly Prophets (1525), Luther held ordination papers to be of far greater value than any interior, subjective “calling” to preach. The objective, external Word makes preachers of the Word.

The objectivity of the ordered call is a source of great strength and comfort, both to preacher and to hearer. As Luther puts it in a Tischreden: “Die vocatio tut dem Teufel sehr wehe” (The call pains the devil greatly.)

An addition to this post:
I love the liturgy. I love the liturgy for many reasons, not the least of which being that it guards us from our own agendas and amnesias. What struck me today as I prepare to preside at the liturgy tomorrow in my congregation are these words: "called and ordained." They have been with me since my childhood in the Lutheran church. "Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word...." They've gone that way from TLH to LW to LSB. LSB adds a little reference to authority, which is the essence of office, the permission to speak and act granted by another. "As a called and ordained servant of Christ and by His authority...." You can't say Office of the Holy Ministry any clearer than that.

Called and ordained. Some would have the call be everything; others would have ordination be the clincher. What God has joined together, let man not rend asunder. "Called and ordained" is how the liturgy has us confess it. Here is the right use of that little slogan "lex orandi, lex credendi." As the church prays in the liturgy, so she believes. The liturgy bears witness over and against our attempts to bend things our way like some wax nose.

Called and ordained is the way of our tradition. In the 14th article of the Augsburg Confession, the Reformers defended themselves against Eck's slanders that they were like the radical protestants, making everyone ministers without distinction. "It is taught among us that nobody should publicly teach or preach or administer the sacraments in the church with a regular call (an "ordered call," ordentliche Beruf)" (AC XIV). Ordination by a pastor, or by a bishop, if such is the arrangement, testifies and confirms that the call is ordered, that is "in order." "Afterwards a bishop, either of that church or of a neighboring church, was brought in to confirm the election with the laying on of hands; nor was ordination anything more (else) than such confirmation" (Treatise 70).

Called and ordained. Both are essential in the making of a pastor. When the bishops attempted to choke out the Lutheran congregations of Germany and refused to ordain pastors to fill their vacancies, Melanchthon and the Reformers argued that the authority to ordain inherently resides with the congregation as an inalienable right. "Consequently, when the regular bishops become enemies of the Gospel and are unwilling to administer ordination, the churches retain the right to ordain for themselves. For wherever the church exists, the right to administer the Gospel also exists. Wherefore it is necessary for the church to retain the right of calling, electing, and ordaining ministers" (Treatise 66-67).

Ordination by a bishop was, and is, a human arrangement (de jure humano), granted by common consent for the sake of peace and unity among the churches. However, "since the distinction between bishop and pastor is not by divine right, it is manifest that ordination administered by a pastor in his own church is valid by divine right (de jure divino)" (Treatise 65). Every congregation manifests the fulness of the Church; therefore every congregation possesses the right to elect, call, and ordain pastors, for without the preached Word, the Church would perish.

Ordination is not a "sacrament" in the same sense as Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord's Supper. These are "rites which have the command of God and to which the promise of grace has been added" (Apology XIII.3). Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord's Supper benefit the recipient and bestow on faith the gifts of salvation. Ordination provides ministers of the Word and sacraments. The Office of the Holy Ministry is the instrumentality of the Word and the sacraments, the means by which these are administered (AC V). "If ordination (that is "order," ordo) is interpreted in relation to the ministry of the Word, we have no objection to calling ordination a sacrament" (Ap. XIII.11). Further, "if ordination (order, ordo) is interpreted this way, we shall not object either to calling the laying on of hands a sacrament. The church has the command to appoint ministers; to this we must subscribe wholeheartedly, for we know that God approves this ministry and is present in it." (Apology XIII.12).

We best understand "call and ordination" in terms of what is proper to each one. The call locates a man in a particular place; there is no such thing as absolute, unlocated, floating ordination. Ordination ratifies and confirms the call, placing the man into the holy order of the Office in such a way that the congregation may receive him as the gift from God that he is as their pastor. Externum verbum, extra nos. We have an approximate analogy from public offices of the state. We elect a person to be president on the first Tuesday of November. And in January we inaugurate him into office with a solemn vow. Only then are we given to address him as "Mr. President."

God calls and ordains through His instruments, the churches and her pastors. There is much that is confessed in that little persistent phrase, "I, a called and ordained servant of Christ...." And much for which to be thankful.

William Cwirla

Roundtable 14: The Use of the Sacraments

Our churches teach that the Sacraments were ordained, not only to be marks of profession among men, but even more, to be signs and testimonies of God's will toward us. They were instituted to awaken and confirm faith in those who use them. Therefore, we must use the Sacraments in such a way that faith, which believes the promises offered and set forth through the Sacraments, is increased.

Therefore, they condemn those who teach that the Sacraments justify simply by the act of doing them. They condemn those who do not teach that faith, which believe that sins are forgiven, is required in the use of the Sacraments. -- AC XIII

Note the "not only." That means that they ARE also "marks of profession among men." In other words, you can use the Sacraments to locate the Church. That's one of their uses and it is an important use. A Lutheran distinctive is that we locate the Church via the Gospel preached and the Sacraments given; Rome and the East tend to locate the Gospels and the Sacraments via the Church. It's a matter of where your final certainty rests.

But the Confessors, recognizing that's a big thing, know it's not THE biggy about the Sacraments. First and foremost ("even more") they are "signs and testimonies of God's will toward us." I would gloss "will" with "good will." For that is what they surely reveal: God's good and gracious will toward us!

Said most simply: Baptism doesn't change how God regards you in Christ! Your Baptism MANIFESTS how God regards you in Christ. Similarly with the Supper. Or with Absolution.

I think of a man I know who, when he suffered a stroke, said sadly: "I guess God doesn't love me anymore." This man had been a faithful Christian for years and years! But when something came along that shook his world to the core, his faith was shaken too. At such a moment along comes the Sacrament to make firm that shaking faith and say: "NO! You've got it all wrong. God loves you and HERE IS THE PROOF. His body and blood given into death for the sins of the world. His blood mingled in the water of Baptism washing away your sin and telling you how precious indeed you are to God. His servant commanded to speak into your penitent ear over and over again: Your sins are history, man! Forgiven and gone. Your God is FOR you." This is what the Sacraments testify to, and you see how utterly useless they would be to anyone who didn't believe the promises they speak.

Satan is such a rascal. He always tries to get us to doubt the promises of God! And there is no worse way to doubt them than to turn them into a work we do. So that Baptism saves you because YOU choose to do it and receive it. Or the same with Absolution. Or the Supper.

What utter nonsense. The Sacraments - being by their very nature PROMISE - do not save through a mere external use. They save through an external use that is joined to a faith that trusts what God says is there given. No faith, no benefit of the Sacrament! Why, it would be like a person insisting that he could be satisfied by food set in front of him without actually EATING it. Faith is what EATS the promise of God. Devours it. Clings to it and lives from it.

That such faith is not our own doing is the story for another day, but the burden of AC XIII is that BECAUSE the Sacraments testify unfailing to us of God's good will, their very use is faith trusting the promise as it receives the "sign."

And last note on sign. It recalls the "oth" of the Hebrew. The rainbow was such an "oth" and it was indeed something that pointed to God's good will. Similarly the Passover Lamb's blood upon the door. An "oth" a sign, a promise under which one could shelter and find life and not death. So the "sign" is delivered of its platonic straight-jacket and freed to be what God declares it to be: sort of an X marks the spot of my grace. Run and shelter there, trust my promise, and live!

Roundtable 13: Repentance

"Strictly speaking, repentance consists of two parts. One part is contrition, that is, terrors striking the conscience through the knowledge of sin. The other part is faith, which is born of the Gospel or the Absolution and believes that for Christ's sake, sins are forgiven. It comforts the conscience and delivers it from terror. Then good works are bound to follow, which are the fruit of repentance." --Augsburg Confession Article XII: Repentance. par. 1-6; Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, p. 38.

The Reformation of the Church was sparked in the confessional, as others have noted on this blog. Father Martin Luther, hearing confessions, became enraged when Christians appealed to the indulgence they had purchased as their "get out of jail free card" when it came to a serious repenting from and turning away from evil and putting their trust in the mercies of God in Christ. The Christian life is marked by returning, again and again, to the fount and source of all loving kindness, our Lord Jesus Christ. This article rejects any teaching that implies that our works of satisfaction are part of true repentance. And it also carefully notes that repentance is marked by the fruits of good works, which are "bound to follow" it. The article rejects the Anabaptist assertion that once a person is justified he can never lose the Holy Spirit, or that a person can ever reach such a point of perfection that he can actually not sin. I'm a bit puzzled why the Novatians are mentioned in the article. Others may enlighten on this point. And the article most pointedly rejects Rome's view that faith alone is not sufficient to receive forgiveness, but must be merited by our own works of satisfaction.

Roundtable 12: Confession

"Our churches teach that private absolution should be retained in the churches, although listing all sins is not necessary for Confession. For, according to the Psalm, it is impossible. "Who can discern his error?" (Psalm 19:12)." (-- AC Latin; Concordia edition, 36-37).

By the time of the Reformation in the sixteenth century, the practice of private absolution had been in place for well over 1,000 years. The Augsburg Confession is very brief and is intent simply on affirming that Lutherans continue the practice, but rejected any suggestion that all of one's sins must be enumerated. The article's purpose is twofold: to reject the false accusation that the Lutherans had rejected private absolution, to put distance between themselves and who had rejected it, and to reject the abuse of Rome that demanded that the penitent enumerate every sin he possibly could, or else he would not be certain of forgiveness. Sadly, over the course of time in Lutheranism, the practice of private confession and absolution fell out of practice.