ANGELS UNAWARE 41Contrast this view with that of Ignatius. In his letter to thePhiladelphians he says, “Where the shepherd is, there follow yeas sheep.” 57 To the Smyrneans he writes, “Wheresoever thebishop shall appear, there let the people be; even as where Jesusmay be, there is the universal church.” 58 The Ignatian model isthe pastor at the center as the steward of the means of grace withthe sheep arrayed around him. The current LCMS model has avoters’ assembly (or possibly an executive board) at the centerwith the congregation arrayed around it. How close the pastor isto the center of the circle is determined by how long he has beenthere, how well he gets along with the congregation, and how wellhe gets along with the voters’ assembly. But any model that doesnot have at its center the pastoral office, which is in the stead ofand by the command of the Lord Jesus Christ, has somethingother than the Lord Jesus there.Fifth, the voters’ assembly has a grave problem when theshepherd becomes a wolf. Sheep have the right and duty tojudge their shepherd’s teachings, but when they find they havea wolf they are helpless. They instinctively turn to other shepherdsfor help. But congregational polity leads us to say, “Ican’t do anything. You must remove him yourself.” It is notenough that sheep have recognized the wolf; they must kill himtoo. Shepherds are to protect sheep; sheep cannot protectthemselves.Sixth, individual confession and absolution will never berestored as long as voters’ assemblies exist. The Apology clearlystates that the Reformers did not want to abandon private absolution:“Therefore it would be wicked to remove private absolutionfrom the Church. Neither do they understand what theremission of sins or the power of the keys is, if there are any whodespise private absolution” (Ap. VI 3, 4). As long as it is believedand/or perceived that the voters’ assembly has the keys ratherthan the pastor, the benefit of individual confession before himand personal absolution by him will be obscured. At best, he willremain a prosecuting attorney.Last, voters’ assemblies are not immune from the prophecyof St. Paul: “For the time will come when they will not enduresound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselvesteachers, having itching ears” (2 Tim 4:3). Is it wise to vestrule in the very group (“they,” the group to which the pastor ispreaching) that has the potential for only wanting pastors whowill scratch where they itch?Pastors and congregations are unaware of the high and holyoffice they have in their midst. This is serious for two reasons.First, divine offices have authority above offices of humanorigin. 59 Where this is not recognized Christ is not honored. Second,according to Ephesians 4:14, the reason the Lord Christ gavethe pastoral office to the church is so “that we henceforth be nomore children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with everywind of doctrine.” 60 The church is being tossed “to and fro” somuch today because of this low view of this divine office. Mayour Lord deliver us from this error. LOGIA1. C.F.W. Walther, Church and Ministry, tr. J.T. Mueller(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1987) p. 308.2. Martin Luther, Sämmtliche Schriften, vol. 18, ed. J.G.Walch (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1888), pp. 1820,1821, quoted in Walther, The True Visible Church (St. Louis:Concordia Publishing House, 1987) p. 81; see also AE (St. Louis:Concordia Publishing House, 1956) 33:163.3. H. Armin Moellering, “Some New Testament Aspectsof the Ministry Identified and Applied,” Concordia Journal 14(1988) p. 236.4. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.26.2 (in Alexander Robertsand James Donaldson, eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1,reprinted. [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987] p. 497).5. Ignatius, Epistle to the Ephesians 5 (in J.B. Lightfoot,trans. The Apostolic Fathers, part 2, Vol. 2, 2nd ed. [GrandRapids: Baker Book House, 1981] p. 545).6. Ignatius, Epistle to the Ephesians 6 (In The ApostolicFathers, p. 545).7. Ignatius, Epistle to the Trallians 2 (in The ApostolicFathers, p. 555).8. St. L. 20:1666, quoted in Walther, The Form of a ChristianCongregation (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,1987) p. 93. See also AE 40:384.9. St L 5:1<strong>03</strong>7; see also AE 13:332.10. St L 20:1666 quoted in Church and Ministry, p. 167; seealso AE 40:385.11. St L 11:757, quoted in Church and Ministry, p. 180. SeeNOTESalso The Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol. 2, ed. John NicholasLenker (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983) p. 389.12. St L 13:1989 quoted in Church and Ministry, p. 309.13. Martin Chemnitz, The Two Natures in Christ, tr. J.A.O.Preus (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971) p. 318.14. Martin Chemnitz, The Examination of the Council ofTrent, Vol. 2, tr. Fred Kramer (St. Louis: Concordia PublishingHouse, 1978) pp. 678–679.15. John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood 1.16, quoted inQuentin F. Wesselschmidt, “The Concept and Practice of Ministryin the Early Church,” Concordia Journal 14 (1988) p. 261.16. Kurt E. Marquart, Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics, vol.9, The Church, ed. Robert D. Preus (Fort Wayne: The InternationalFoundation for Lutheran Confessional Research, 1990) p. 109.17. St L 8:1124 quoted in Church and Ministry, p. 307. AE 28:89.18. Carl S. Mundinger, Government in the Missouri Synod(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1947) p. 197.19. I am indebted to Father Rudolph E. Kurz of the EvangelicalCatholic Church for these insights, and especially to hisunpublished manuscript The <strong>Pastoral</strong> Office and Church Polity(1986).20. George H. Perlich, “The Lutheran Congregation,” TheAbiding Word, Vol. 2, ed. Theodore Laetsch (St. Louis: ConcordiaPublishing House, 1947) p. 460.21. Church and Ministry, p. 248.22. Marquart, p. 144.23. Marquart, p. 206.
42 LOGIA24. Wesselschmidt, p. 264.25. Rudolph E. Kurtz, “Summaries of the Keys” )unpublishedmanuscript, 1988) p. 4.26. “Summaries of the Keys” p. 5.27. Quoted in Mundinger, p. 199.28. John H.C. Fritz, <strong>Pastoral</strong> Theology (St. Louis: ConcordiaPublishing House, 1932, p. 317.29. Marquart, p. 207.30. John Gerhard, Loci Theologici, Vol. 1, ed. EduardPreuss (Berlin: Schlawitz, 1863), p. 238, quoted in The True VisibleChurch, p. 88.31. Martin Chemnitz, The Examination, p. 43, quoted inChurch and Ministry, p. 154.32. Mundinger, p. 125.33. Mundinger, p. 125.34. Mundinger, p. 125.35. Mundinger, p. 133.36. Mundinger, p. 74, n. 77.37. Mundinger, p. 89.38. Mundinger, p. 148.39. Mundinger, p. 179.40. Mundinger, p. 204.41. Mundinger, p. 107.42. Mundinger, p. 213.43. Mundinger, p. 107.44. Mundinger, p. 177.45. Mundinger, p. 15.46. J.H. Merle d’Aubigné, History of the Reformation of theSixteenth Century, rep. of 1846 ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker BookHouse, n.d.), p. 457.47. Quoted in d’Aubigné,, p. 658.48. St. I. 21:1646, quoted in Walther, The Form of a ChristianCongregation (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,1987), p. 129.49. St. I. 22:626, 627, quoted in The Form of a ChristianCongregation , pp. 129, 130.50. David Chytraeus, On Sacrifice, tr. and ed. John W.Montgomery (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1962),pp. 101, 102.51. Norman E. Nagel,“The Office of the holy Ministry inthe Confessions,” Concordia Journal 14 (1988), p. 291.52. A Short Explanation of Dr. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1943) p. 183.53. Marquart, p. 135.54. “Summaries,” , p. 1.55. James H. Pragman, Traditions of Ministry: A History ofthe Doctrine of the Ministry in Lutheran Theology (St. Louis:Concordia Publishing House, 1983), p. 71.56. Marquart, p. 123.57. Ignatius, Letter to the Philadelphians 2 (in The ApostolicFathers, pp. 310, 311).58. Marquart, p. 135.59. The <strong>Pastoral</strong> Office and Church Polity, p. 105.60. The <strong>Pastoral</strong> Office and Church Polity, p. 106.
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