Americans, it has been said,
worship their work; work at their play; and play at their worship. Evidence for
the truth of this observation seems to be apparent. Robert Kolb1
defines idolatry as seeking ones’ identity, security, and meaning in something
other than the Triune God. Using Kolb’s definition it is clear that so many of
our contemporaries make a god of their work-seeking identity, securing, and
meaning in their job. A false god, of course, requires sacrifice of its
devotees. And one who worships his work will sacrifice everything to sustain the
idol. The time, energy, and money spent in pursue of recreation demonstrates
that many Americans work at their play, sparing no labor to achieve the best
score on the golf course or perfect serve on the tennis court. Then, when it
comes to worship, we are told that churches are to reach out by means of
entertainment evangelism. We are warned that the language of repentance and
cross-bearing will not be a welcomed message by the seeker. Church ought to be
uplifting and celebratory. Worship ought to be fun. Is there any doubt that many
Americans play at their worship?
Against such a backdrop, we
consider one of the lost treasures of the
We have become accustomed to think
of vocation only in terms of an occupation or a job.2
A vocational counselor is one who helps you determine what line of work you
should pursue. A vocational school provides you with training to perform a
particular job. If you are asked, “What is your vocation?” you are likely to
answer “I am an accountant, a farmer, or a pastor.” Now such an answer would be
partially correct. The work you do
with your head and hands to provide others with needed services and earn a wage
for yourself is indeed part of your vocation. But it is only part. Vocation
means “calling” (klesis) and this
calling embraces the whole of your life.
It is God Himself who does the
calling. The Apostle Peter says that God has “called you out of darkness into
his own marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9) thus giving you the high and holy status
as a member of a chosen generation, a priest in His royal priesthood, a citizen
in that holy nation of the elect. This calling is the calling to faith itself.
Therefore Paul writes to the Thessalonians “But we are bound to give thanks to
God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning
chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the
truth, to which He called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Thessalonians 2:13-14). On the basis of God’s
redeeming work in Christ, the Apostle implores the Ephesians “to walk worthy of
the calling to which you were called” (Ephesians.4:1). Luther reflects the
language and thought of Paul when he has us confess in the explanation to the
third article of the Creed that “the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel.”
This is the calling to faith in Christ and this calling gives us a new identity
and status before God.
Luther’s doctrine of vocation is about “being” before it is about “doing.” In one of his essential treatises, “The Freedom of a Christian” (1520), Luther writes “Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works; evil works do not make a wicked man, but a wicked man does evil works. Consequently it is always necessary that the substance or person himself must be good before there can be any good works, and that good works follow and proceed from the good person, as Christ says ‘A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit’ (Matt. 7:18). It is clear that the fruits do not bear the tree and that the tree does not grow on the fruits, also on the contrary, the trees bear the fruits and the fruits are grown on the trees.”3
The Scriptures also speaking of
“calling” in connection with our place in creation. For example, in his first
letter to the congregation at
The “calling” is a twofold calling.
It is a calling both to faith (Third Article) and to a life of love that flows
from faith (Decalog/Table of Duties). In this calling, the heavenly and the
earthly are joined together. In his classic treatment of Luther’s doctrine of
vocation, the Swedish theologian Gustaf Wingren notes that Luther uses two words
to describe the duality of the calling, beruf and stand.4
Both believers and unbelievers have a
stand or station in life. That is both
Christians and non-Christians are parents, children, governors, citizens,
employers and employees. But only believers can be said to have a
beruf or calling. In other words, the
Christian who occupies a particular stand
or station in life fulfills his beruf
or spiritual calling in that sphere.
On the other hand, the unbeliever
may perform works which are outwardly good in his particular station as a
parent, worker, or citizen but as this work is done apart from faith, it may not
be said to be a calling. Such work indeed falls under the realm of “civil
righteousness.” It has great value before man and is used by God for the good of
His creation. The pagan farmer who provides us with food is a
larvae dei, a mask or covering of God,
through which God gives us daily bread. But
in the presence of God (coram deo)
such work is without holiness, indeed this work is altogether sinful. William
Lazareth aptly summarizes Luther’s thought: “In comparison with Christian
righteousness, of course, this civil righteousness (iustitia civilis) comes off a very poor second. Whereas Christian
righteousness springs forth from faith and is therefore joyful and willing,
civil righteousness is forced out of unbelief and is consequently ‘murmuring’
and ‘involuntary.’ Since ‘all that does not proceed from faith is sin’ (Rom.
14:23), civil righteousness has absolutely no justifying value-no matter how
enlightened its self-interest might be. It is ‘reprobate before God’ and
‘inherently vicious’ at its core, however attractive its surface appearance.
Luther remains unequivocal in his religious condemnation of all social ethical
behavior that is not fired by the loving heart of one who has confessed Christ
as his or her Lord and Savior. ‘Now where temporal government or law alone
prevails, there sheer hypocrisy is inevitable, even though the commandments be
God’s very own. Without the Holy Spirit in the heart no one becomes truly
righteous, no matter how fine the works he does.”5
The dual calling of the Christian
is well expressed by Luther in his treatise, “The Freedom of the Christian”
(1520): “We conclude, therefore, that a Christian lives not in himself, but in
Christ and the neighbor. Otherwise he is not a Christian. He lives in Christ
through faith, and in his neighbor through love.”6
The existence of the old Adam is focused on self. The old Adam is curved in on
himself to use the imagery of Luther. This existence stands in bold contrast to
the life of the new man in Christ. The new man lives outside of himself for his
calling is to faith in Christ and love for the neighbor. Again listen to Luther
“By faith he is caught up beyond himself into God. By love he descends beneath
himself into his neighbor.”7
That which Luther expressed
theologically in “The Freedom of the Christian” is expressed liturgically in the
post-communion collect that Luther included in his 1526
Deutsche Messe: “We give thanks to
you, almighty God, that you have refreshed us through this salutary gift, and we
implore you that of your mercy you would strengthen us through the same
in faith toward you and in fervent love
toward one another; (emphasis mine) through Jesus Christ, your Son, our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
forever.”8
Luther’s understanding of vocation
is consistent with his liturgical theology. God serves us sacramentally in the
Divine Service as we receive His gifts by faith and we serve God sacrificially
as we give ourselves to the neighbor in love. In his 1526 essay, “The Sacrament
of the Body and Blood of Christ-Against the Fanatics”, Luther writes “For it is
necessary for each one to know that Christ has given his body, flesh, and blood
on the cross to be our treasure and to help us receive forgiveness of sins, that
is, that we may be saved, redeemed from death and hell. That is the first
principle of Christian doctrine. It is presented to us in the words, and his
body and blood are given to us to be received corporeally as a token and
confirmation of this fact. To be sure, he did it only once, carrying it out and
achieving it on the cross; but he causes it each day anew to be set before us,
distributed and poured out through preaching, and he orders us to remember him
always and never forget him. The second principle is love. It demonstrates in
the first place that he has left us an example.
As he gives himself to us with his body and blood in order to redeem us
from our misery, so ought we too give ourselves with might and mane for our
neighbor.”(emphasis mine)9
For Luther, the distinction between
faith and love was necessary in both liturgy and vocation. The distinction
between faith and love in the doctrine of vocation, parallels the distinction
between beneficium and
sacrificium in the liturgy.
Beneficium is God’s gift or benefit
given for the sake of Christ in sermon and sacrament.
Sacrificium is the response of praise and thanksgiving. This
distinction may be diagramed in the following manner:
BENEFICIUM
SACRIFICIUM
Grace…………………………………...........
Works
Passive Righteousnes………………….......
Active Righteousness
Faith………………………………………….
Love
Office of the Holy Ministry……………..........
Royal Priesthood
Divine Service…………………………........
Worship
To confuse
beneficium and sacrificium
is to muddle law and Gospel; it is to mix our works with God’s gifts. Luther
recognized that this confusion was at the heart of
The atoning sacrifice was done once
and for all by Christ on the cross. It cannot be repeated or supplemented. In
the Lord’s Supper we receive the fruits of that sacrifice. The other type of
sacrifice is identified as “eucharistic sacrifice” for this sacrifice is one of
thanksgiving. According to AP XXIV, eucharistic sacrifices include “the
preaching of the gospel, faith, prayer, thanksgiving, confession, the affliction
of the saints, indeed all the good works of the saints. These sacrifices are not
satisfactions for those who offer them, nor can they be applied to others so as
to merit the forgiveness of sins or reconciliation for others
ex opere operato. They are performed
by those who are already reconciled.”11
Luther and the early Lutherans did
not do away with the category of sacrifice. To paraphrase Carter Lindberg,
Luther took sacrifice out of the chancel and relocated it in the world. This is
“the liturgy after the liturgy.”12
God’s gifts given us sacramentally in the Divine Service now bear fruit
sacrificially as we go back into the world to thank, praise, serve, and obey the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Dr. Norman Nagel’s memorable
introduction to Lutheran Worship puts
it nicely: “Finally his blessing moves us out into our calling, where his gifts
have their way with us”13
(LW, 6). This is well-reflected in the hymnody of the church:
From “Salvation unto Us Has Come”
From “I Trust, O Christ, In You
Alone”
Confirm
in us your Gospel, Lord,
Your promise of
salvation.
And make us keen to trust
your Word
And follow our vocation:
To spend our lives in love for you,
To bear each other’s burden too.
And then, at last when death shall loom,
O Savior, come and bear your loved
ones safely home.15
From “Sent Forth By God’s Blessing”
Sent forth by God’s blessing,
Our true faith confessing,
The people of God from his dwelling take leave.
The supper is ended.
Oh, now be extended the fruits of this service in all who believe.”16
This understanding of sacrifice
flows from Romans 12 where Paul writes “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). In the
ancient world, everyone knew that a sacrifice was dead. The sacrificial victim
was slaughtered. To the ears of those who first heard the Epistle to the Romans,
the term “living sacrifice” would have struck them as strange, as an oxymoron.
Yet the Spirit purposefully inspires Paul to write of “living sacrifice” in
Romans 12. The body of the Christian is to be rendered unto God as a living
sacrifice for Christ has purchased that body with His own sacrifice for sin
(Romans 3:25) and all those who are baptized have been joined to that saving
death (Romans 6:1-11). Plunged into His death in Baptism, we now also share in
His resurrection from the grave. Baptism is the fountain for the Christian life
of sacrifice.
Thus Vilmos Vatja writes “The Christian brings his sacrifice
as he renders the obedience, offers the service, and proves the love which his
work and calling require of him. The old man dies as he spends himself for his
fellow-men. But in this surrender of self, he is joined to Christ and obtains a
new life. The work of the Christian in his calling becomes a function of his
priesthood, his bodily sacrifice. His work in the calling is a work of faith,
the worship of the kingdom of the world.”17
The sacrifices offered by the royal priesthood are the “spiritual
sacrifices” noted by Peter in I Peter 2:5, “you also, as living stones, are
being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” These spiritual sacrifices
are what the Apology calls “eucharistic sacrifices” and they embrace all that
the believer does in faith toward Christ and love toward the neighbor.
In other words, spiritual sacrifices are rendered in the bodily life of the believer as his life is a channel of God’s love and care for the neighbor in need. These sacrifices do not merit salvation or make a man good, but rather express love for the neighbor. God does not need our good works, but the neighbor does. Freed from the notion that he must make himself good and so earn eternal life, the Christian is directed toward the neighbor’s well-being. Luther captures this thought in “The Freedom of a Christian” as he states “Although the Christian is thus free from all works, he ought in this liberty to empty himself, take upon himself the form a servant, be made in the likeness of men, be found in human form, and to serve, help and in every way deal with his neighbor as he sees that God through Christ has dealt and still deals with him.”18
Here the Christian is the
larvae dei (the mask of God) by which
God gives daily bread to the inhabitants of His world. In this sense, Luther
could speak of the Christian as being a “little Christ” to his neighbor. Christ
sacrificed Himself for us on the cross. As we live under the sign of His cross,
we give ourselves sacrificially to the neighbor in love.
Luther’s teaching on the dual
existence of the Christian in faith and love leads us to observe a connection
with the teaching of the two governments or two kingdoms. Leif Grane notes that
for Luther “the place where the two kingdoms are held together is the calling.”19
As we have already observed, the Christian’s calling is twofold; it is the call
to faith and the call to a particular station in life. This calling is lived
within the structures of creation. Luther identified these structures as the
three “hierarchies” of “the ministry, marriage, and government.” It is within
these structures of congregation, political order, and family life (which for
Luther included the economic realm) that one exercises love toward the neighbor.
The Christian does not seek to escape the world as in monasticism but rather
lives out his calling in the particular place where God has located him.
Article XVI of the
Augsburg Confession reflects Luther’s
thought. After affirming the fact that “lawful civil ordinances are good works
of God” and that Christians are permitted to engage in civil affairs, the
confession goes on to condemn the Anabaptist who hold to a contrary teaching.
Then it is confessed that “because the gospel transmits an eternal righteousness
of the heart,” evangelical perfection is to be found in the fear of God and
faith, not in the abandonment of earthly responsibilities. The Gospel does not
undercut secular government, marriage, or occupations within the world “but
instead intends that a person keep all this as a true order of God and
demonstrate in these walks of life Christian love and true good works according
to each person’s calling.”20
The two governments have different
aims. In his 1534 commentary on Psalm 101, Luther asserts “The spiritual
government, or office should direct the people vertically toward God that they
may do right and be saved; just so the worldly government should direct the
people horizontally toward one another, seeing to it that body, property, honor,
wife, child, house, home, and all manner of goods remain in peace and security
and are blessed on earth.”21
Luther’s teaching on these “two governments” may be charted in the following
manner:
GOD
GOD’S LEFT HAND RULE
GOD’S RIGHT HAND RULE
The Christian has a life under both
the government of God’s left hand and His right hand. The Christian lives with a
foot in both kingdoms. By faith in the Gospel we have life under God’s “right
hand rule” but our callings in this earthly life also locate us under His “left
hand rule.” We are not evacuated from life in the world but to paraphrase the
words of our Lord we are “in the world, but not of the world.”
We have attempted to sketch out the
fundamental contours of the Lutheran doctrine of vocation. Now we come to the
point of asking what this doctrine means for evangelism and missions. This issue
has, in fact, already been perceptively addressed by the report of the Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod’s Church Growth Study Committee,
For the Sake of Christ’s Commission.
The report notes that it is spiritually harmful:
·
When Christians ignore their responsibilities to serve
their neighbors and apply God’s moral law in the cultures in which God has
placed them.
·
When Christians believe that only ‘church work’ is a
valid way of serving God, so that they neglect their earthly vocations.
·
When the church is operated as a purely secular
corporation, with the pastor functioning as the “C.E.O.,” the elders being
reduced to a Board of Directors, and the congregation treated as workers, all
organized according to a business plan to market a product.
· When the “Priesthood of All Believers” is taken to mean “every member a minister.” This view denigrates the secular vocations (in implying that everyone ought to be engaged in ministerial functions to serve God, as if their existing callings were not equally spiritual in God’s sight). It also can be used to denigrate the pastoral vocation (in implying that everyone can do what the pastor has personally been called to do).22
How might the Lutheran doctrine of
vocation help us avoid these four spiritually harmful errors?
Critics of Lutheranism have often
leveled the charge that the “two kingdoms” concept has led to a withdrawal from
the world, a pronounced political quietism on the part of Lutherans. Such a
charge is unfounded. Luther recognized that God has established two governments
among mankind, one is spiritual and the other is temporal. The Christian lives
in both. In his tract of 1526 entitled “Whether Soldiers, Too, Can be Saved,”
Luther writes: “For God has established two kinds of government among men. The
one is spiritual; it has no sword, but the word, by means of which we are to
become good and righteous, so that with this righteousness, they may attain
eternal life. He administers this righteousness through the word, which he
committed to preachers. The other kind is world government, which works through
the sword. And although God will not reward this kind of righteousness with
eternal life, he still wishes peace to be maintained among men and rewards them
with temporal blessings.”23
Luther’s distinction between the two governments is rooted in his distinction between the two kinds of righteousness. Only the righteousness of faith saves. However, civic righteousness may be attained by believer and unbeliever alike and it is to be valued as a creaturely gift of the God who causes His rain and sunshine to fall on the fields of the unfaithful as well as the faithful. Article XXVIII of the Augsburg Confession echoes Luther: “Consequently, the powers of the church and the civil government must not be mixed. The power of the church possesses its own commandment to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments. It should not usurp the other’s duty, transfer earthly kingdoms, abrogate the laws of magistrates, abolish civil ordinances or contracts, prescribe to magistrates laws concerning forms of government that should be established….In this way our people distinguish the duties of the two powers, and they command that both be held in honor and acknowledged as a gift and blessing of God.”24
The Christian does not retreat from
life in the secular sphere. He has responsibilities here as Paul testifies in
Romans 13 as he bids the Christian to recognize Caesar as God’s servant, show
him honor, and pay taxes. Rather the Christian understands that he lives within
the home as a parent or child, within the government as a magistrate or citizen,
and within the work place as an employer or employee, he is a life of love that
is born of faith in Christ. It was for this reason that Luther included the
“Table of Duties” at the conclusion of the Small Catechism. The Christian
recognizes that good parenting, loyal citizenship, and honest labor practices
are not the cause of his salvation. Freed from the burden of the law, faith is
now active in love. The shape of this life of love is to be found in God’s will
for the well-being of the neighbor as revealed in the Scriptures
Luther abhorred self-chosen works
both in worship and daily life. In his exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, he
writes “Reason is the devil’s bride, which plans some particular course because
it does not know what may please God….The best and highest station in life is to
love God and one’s neighbor. Indeed that station is filled by the ordinary
manservant or maidservant who cleans the meanest pot.”25
So the Christian will not ignore the responsibilities that are his in ordinary
life. He will understand these responsibilities to be given by God. They form
the context in which the Christian lives in faith and love. It is within this
arena that the Christian bears witness to the truth of the First Commandment
over against the idolatries of this evil age, confesses his faith in Christ as
the only Savior, and displays His love in a life of compassionate service.
Medieval Roman Catholicism presupposed a dichotomy between the life in religious orders and life in ordinary callings. It was assumed that the monastic life guided by the evangelical counsels (i.e. the Sermon on the Mount) provided a more certain path to salvation than secular life regulated by the Ten Commandments. It was precisely this issue that Luther attacked in the Smalcald Articles: “For those who vow to live a monastic life believe that they lead a better life than the ordinary Christian, and though their works they intend to help not only themselves but others get to heaven.”26
American Evangelicalism has spawned
what may be referred to as a “neo-monasticism.” Neo-monasticism like its
medieval counterpart gives the impression that church work is more God-pleasing
than the tasks and duties associated with life in the secular realm. According
to this mindset, the believer who makes evangelism calls, serves on a
stewardship committee, or reads a lesson in the church service is performing a
higher work than the believer who stays at home to tend to her children or the
believer who puts in a honest day’s labor on the job. Well-meaning pastors
offend against sound doctrine when they urge involvement in the work of the
congregation in such a way that makes it appear that such use of the Christian’s
time is superior to anything else that he might do in day to day life. For the
believer in Jesus Christ, all work is holy because he is holy and righteous in
the blood of his Savior.
For the Sake of Christ’s Commission
points to a confusion of the
two governments when it speaks of how some churches are operated a secular
corporations with the pastor as the C.E.O, the elders as the board of directors,
and members as workers. Such a view of the church misses the biblical truth that
the church is not a human organization but the body of Christ. Businesses
function in the kingdom of the left hand according to the principles of
economics. The church, however, is not an institution of the kingdom of the left
hand but the creation of Christ’s Gospel located in the kingdom of the right
hand. Here it is not the power of human governance that applies but the Gospel
which is the power of God unto salvation. The church is the bride of the
heavenly bridegroom, the creature of His own flesh and blood. Attempts to
define, organize, and administer the church according to the ways of management
or human wisdom miss the fact that the church’s vocation is different from that
of the marketplace.
We do well to note a fourth item
that For the Sake of Christ’s Commission
identifies as spiritually harmful. This item is the widespread confusion
that has resulted from the equation of “the priesthood of all believers” with
the false teaching that “everyone is a minister.” The ideology of “Everyone a
Minister” is a most blatant form of clericalism for it implies that work is
worthwhile only insofar as it resembles the work done by pastors. Others have
given sufficient attention to the exegetical fallacies set forth by Feucht.27
For our purposes in this paper we may simply note that this teaching does not
exalt the doctrine of the royal priesthood of believers but rather detracts from
it.
Both the Office of the Holy
Ministry and the royal priesthood of believers are gifts from God. We may not
play off one gift against the other. Neither may attempt to fuse the two
together, refusing to distinguish between them. Jobst Schoene, bishop emeritus
of our sister church in
The pastor serves the royal
priesthood by preaching Christ’s Word and administered His sacraments. The royal
priesthood, in turns, serves the neighbor just as Christ has served us. This
service is not only in the Christian congregation where the royal priesthood
prays for and supports the pastor but most especially in the world where God has
placed His people in a variety of vocations. Here the royal priesthood passes on
the Gospel that it has received in the divine service as Christ is confessed and
His people give reason for the hope that is within them (I Peter 3:15). It is
within the various stations of life where God’s priests live that they do what
priests are called to do as they speak the word of God to others, speak to God
on behalf of others in prayer, and offer themselves as living sacrifices on
behalf of the neighbor.
The doctrine of vocation locates
the dignity and honor of the royal priesthood in baptism. The Lutheran
Confessions never pit the royal priesthood against the pastoral office as though
the one is derived from the other. The Triune God has anointed all believers as
priests in baptism. God puts a man into the office by call and ordination (AC
XIV). He is there to distribute Christ’s gifts in sermon and sacrament so that
the royal priesthood might be enlivened with the forgiveness of sins, life, and
salvation. This distinction is especially well-stated in the 1997 statement,
“The Office of the Church: An Orientation” by our German brethren: “The epistles
of the New Testament and the Confessions of the Lutheran Church explicate how
the office of the church and the congregation belong inseparably together and at
the same time are to be clearly distinguished.
They belong together because the
congregation cannot lack the office through which the Gospel is preached and the
sacraments are administered to her; and because the office is connected to the
congregation, for whose service it was instituted.
Yet they are to be distinguished because word and sacrament are not
offered to the congregation in its own name, but in the name of God; and because
the office of the church in its ministry is directed toward the congregation."
The SELK statement goes on to
define the place of the royal priesthood: “All people whom the Holy Spirit has
called through the gospel, enlightened with his gifts, and maintained in the
true faith are priests and kings before God by the power of their baptism (see I
Peter 2:9ff; Rev.1:6). Thus they shall proclaim the great deeds of God and be
witnesses of the gospel. They are priests
because in faith they have unhindered access to God through prayer and
because they exercise the service in which they must also suffer as witnesses of
the gospel (see Rom. 5:1ff; 15,16; Phil. 1:27ff; Jn. 16:2-4).
They are kings because they also bring
to people the blessings of God which Christ, their king and lord, makes them
partakers. Thus they are identified with titles of honor that first applied to
Christ: ‘elect of God, holy, beloved’ (Col.3:12; Christ in Mk.1:11; 9:7 and
parallels). The people of God, made up of priests and kings, has its spiritual
origin in the people of God of the Old Testament (see Ex. 19:5ff).”30
The royal priesthood proclaims the riches
of Christ’s atoning work not in the public preaching of the church but according
to each member’s station in life. It is within the context of one’s vocation
that every man, woman, and child confesses Jesus Christ and proclaims His saving
work.
Here we may note that the
Small Catechism is the handbook for
the royal priesthood as it was prepared so that the head of the household might
teach his family the chief articles of the Christian faith. Luther envisioned
the Small Catechism as not only a
handbook for Christian doctrine but as a prayer book and a guide to the life of
repentance, faith, and holy living. The
Small Catechism is the road map for the Christian’s vocation as a member of
the royal priesthood. It provides a “pattern of sound words” so that the
believer is enabled to speak truthfully of Christ to his neighbor and serve the
neighbor according to the will of God.
Rather than fostering the
unbiblical and inadequate notion that everyone is a minister, our church would
do well to recover Luther’s vibrant understanding of vocation as the context for
the life of the royal priesthood.
-Prof. John T. Pless
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort
Wayne,
XI.8.2001
www.soundwitness.org /
Republished with permission
1.
Robert Kolb, Speaking the Gospel Today: A Theology for Evangelism
(St.Louis: Concordia Publishing
House, 1984), 11.
2. Marc Kolden identifies this has “occupationalism.”
See Marc Kolden, “Luther on Vocation”
Word & World (Fall 1983), 385.
3.
American Edition: Luther’s Works , Vol. 31 (Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1957), 361. Hereafter abbreviated AE.
4. Gustaf Wingren,
Luther on Vocation, trans.
Carl Rasmussen (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1957), 1-2.
5. William Lazareth,
Christians in Society: Luther, the
Bible, and Social Ethics (
6. AE 31: 371.
7. Ibid. 371.
8. AE 53:137.
9. AE 36:352.
10. Apology of the Augsburg Confession
XXIV:19, The Book of Concord,
edited by Robert Kolb and Timothy Wengert (
11. AP XXIV:24, Kolb/Wengert, 262.
12. Carter Lindberg,
Beyond Charity: Reformation
Initiatives for the Poor (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993),
163-164.
13. Commission on Worship of the
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Lutheran Worship (St.Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1982), 6.
14.
Lutheran Worship, 355:5.
15. LW
357:3.
16. LW 247:1.
17.Vilmos Vatja,
Luther on Worship, trans.
U.S.Leupold (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1958), 169.
18. AE 31:366.
19. Leif Grane,
The
20. AC XVI:5, Kolb/Wengert, 50.
21. AE 13:197.
22. Church Growth Study Committee,
For the Sake of Christ’s
Commission (St.Louis: Office of the President LCMS, 2000), 19.
23. AE 46:99-100.
24. AC XXVIII:12-13,18, Kolb/Wengert,
93.
25. Quoted in Wingren, 88.
26. SA III:XIV:2, Kolb/Wengert,325.
27. See Oscar Feucht,
Everyone a Minister (St.Louis:
Concordia Publishing House, 1974). For an insightful analysis of the
path that this erroneous notion took as it made its way from Pietism
through the World Council of Churches into the LCMS, see Brent Kuhlman,
“Oscar Feucht’s Everyone a
Minister: Pietismus Redivivus”
Logia (Reformation 1999), 31-36.
28. Jobst Schoene,
The Christological Character of
the Office of the Ministry and the Royal Priesthood (Northville, SD:
Logia Books, 1996), 17.
29. Theological Commission of the
30. Ibid., 21.