ST. CATHARINES CONCORDIA - Brock University

LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
reading of Holstcn Fagcrbcrg. Yet Fagerberg merely stresses that the Confessions
view the Office according to its functions. Against Rome's view that ordination places
the priest into a higher class, ignoring the Means of Grace, the Confessions emphasize
that the Office has been instituted for the sake of thc Mcans of Grace. Therefore, for
apologetic reasons, they never talk about the Office apart from its functions. 46
Against this background we can now understand AC V. This
article says more about the Word and sacraments than it docs about
the office of the ministry, because the Holy Spisit comes to man
though thcsc and not through the office. When Melwchthon
formulated AC V, he did not exclude the special office of the
ministry, but he was anxious to give expression to its new meaning
as an instrument for thc Word and the sacraments. As a result, he
shilled the emphasis from the ministry to the means of grace. 47
The Office cannot be discussed apart from Lhe Means of Grace, nor can the Means
be discussed apart from the Office, for "To be effective, the gospel must actually be
preached and the sacraments ~nust be administered. But these are precisely the
functions the symbolical books attribute to the incumbents OS the sacred
Divorced from the Office of the Ministry, thc Mcans of Gracc arc just an
ab~traction.~~ As we have noticed, the purpose of the sequence AC IV-V1 was to point
man ootsidc of himself for his salvation. Just as Christ is the external object of' faith,
and the Means of Grace are the external delivery points, so also thc Officc of the
Ministry is the instrument for keeping the Means external. One cannot preach to
oneself, baptize oncsclf, commune oncsclf (alone), or absolve oneself.
Cannot one have those [objective, external] means of grace without
ordained clergy'! The unexpressed premise, however, is that
the ministerial office is necessary to prcaching and sacraments.
The word of God communicated orally and sacramentally does
not retain its true life-giving character a\ God's word, not ours,
unless it is offered by ministcrs who stand over against the con-
46 Holsten I'agcl.hct.g, A New Look at the Lutheran Corfcssions (1529-1537), trans. Gene Lund (St. Louis:
Concordia, 1972) 226-50: especially 233.
47 Faperbelg 246.
48 Arlliu~ Car1 Piepkorn, "The Sacred Ministry and IIoly Ordination in the Symbolical Books ot thc 1,uthcran
Church", in Lutherctn.~ und Cu/holic~ in Diulu~ue IV: E[lririi~-ist utld Mitristry (U5.4. National Committee of
the Lutheran World Federation and the Bishop's Cornniilkz Ivr Ecurrienicdl and Inle~~eligious Arfairs, 1970)
104.
49 Cf. Dawd Trucmpcr, "Church and Ministly in the Lutheran Symbols: Serving the Gospel to the Priestly People",
in Chiirri~ end A4uzistr.y: Chosoz Race, Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation, God's Own People, ed. Daniel C.
Urockopp, Brim I.. f lelge, and Llavrd G. Tiucmper (Valparaiso, IN: Institute of Liturgical Studies, 1982) 67:
"The Augsburg Confession know3 nothing ot an ahstract function of ministry apart from its concrete occurrence
iri iricuniben~s of the office of the miu~stry. This parallels the notion that the gospel may not he ahstractcd from
its concrete saying and doing in preaching and aacrauients."