ST. CATHARINES CONCORDIA - Brock University

Thnmas M. Wlngcr: ArGSBLRG CONFESSION IV & V
gregation, whose authority comes from God rather than human
beingj, who represenl . . . not Ihemselves, but "the person of
Christ" (Christi personam). . . . The inseparability of office and
function explains, in turn, the declaration that "God ~nslituted the
preaching office (Prrdigtnmt)." The office is needed for prcaching
ad sacramcnts, and these actions in turn, are needed for justifying
faith . . . . so
The Office of the Ministry is necessary for thc extm nos of salvation.
Finally, of what sort is the "necessity" of the Office of the Ministry? Is it
"absolutely essential" to obtain juslil'ying laith? The Office of the Ministry is essential
because God gave it, as AC V asscrts. It is neccssary because of and for the sake of
the Means of Grace it admini~ters.~' "It is therefore because of its indispensable
inslrurnen~al or serving role that the ministry is dr iure divino and ncccssary to thc
church."52 Thc samc sort of necessity is dcrivcd from the definition of the church.
To be "signs" or "marks" of the church the word ol God niust
obviously be proclaimed and applied and the sacrarncnts administcrcd
at concrete times and in concrete places. Since this proclamation
and application of the gospel and this administration of the
sacraments is precisely the task of the sacrcd ministry, thc sacred
ministry itself becomes a "mark" or characteristic of the church. 53
The church is known by the presence ol the Office of the Ministry because of the
Gospel and Sacraments which thc Officc administcrs. This point is pushed too far,
however, through assertions which go beyond the purpose of these articles, such as
Truemper's dangerous thesis: "The olke of the ministry is not optional, nor merely
beneficial to thc church's bcing, but absolutely necessary, in the only sense in which
anything is necessary in the church, viz., necessary for ~alvatiou."~~ This stalernent
neglects to point out that it is for the sake of the Means of Gracc that the Ministry is
css~ntial.~~ Whether the Means of Gracc can work salvation apart from the Office-
Avcry Dullcs and Gcorgc A. Lindheck, "Riuhops and thc Ministry ot the Gospel", in Confessing Otte Faith: A
.loi~~t Conmenfory on tile A~~gshur-g (.'nnf~worr 17)~ I~rthe~nrr nrrd Culholic T/rrolo,oiuws. ed. George Wolfgang
Forell and James 1'. McCue (R.li~meapolis: Augsburg, 1982) 156.
One might argue thal III tlir case of life-and-death elnergeiicy, Lhe Means of Grace ;ire ultimately necessary for
salvation, even apalt from the Office. In the same way the Word producing faith gains priority over Baptism,
md Baptism over the Lwd's Supper--in an emergency. However. AC V is not discussing cxccptions and
emergencies. One would hesitate to say that the Office of the Ministry is "unncccssary" as much as to say that
the Lord's Supper is "unnecessary".
Dulles and Lindheck 156.
Ikpkorn 107. Luthcr himsclf madc this point in Von den C'onciliis uwil Kirchrrt ["Or [lie Councils and the
Chmch" (15?Y), WA 50:632~~-633'', AU 41. 154 f.
Truemper 72. His earlier for~nulation is much nlole congenial: "IC Gud gwts forgiveness only through the
gospel, then people's salvation depends upon thal gospel being proclaimed and sacramentally enacted" (69).
Maurer 350: the Office starts the chain which points to the following link, Word and Sacrament, which then
lead to the next link, faith. Edmund Schlink, Theology of r/zc Lutheran Cor~fewolw, trans. Paul F. Kochncckc