The Lord's Supper in the Theology of Martin Chemnitz Bjarne - Logia

The Consecration | 0
Sacrament is Romanizing (see p. 86), it is important to observe the
distinction Chemnitz makes between the “Lutheran” and “Roman”
consecration.
227 For a better understanding of what here is in controversy, it is first
necessary to outline the Lutheran doctrine of the ministry as expounded
by Chemnitz. In his Ministry, Word, and Sacraments, he
gives a detailed exposition from the Scripture of what the New Testament
ministry is (MWS 26–38). In his brief summary of this doctrine
in the Examination, he insists that the functions of this office “must
not be established by a bad imitation of the ceremonies of the Old
Testament, but must be learned from the description of Christ and
the Apostles of the New Testament” (Ex. 2, 681).
228 The ministry of the church is not a political function dealing with
the matters of the world, but rather a spiritual or ecclesiastic office instituted
and ordained by God Himself for discharging the necessary
functions of the church: “Through a legitimate call God commits and
entrusts to ministers the work of feeding the Church of God with the
true, pure, and salutary doctrine of the divine Word, to administer
the sacraments according to Christ’s institution, and to administer
rightly the use of the Keys of the Church or the kingdom of heaven,
by either remitting or retaining sins, fulfilling all these things on the
basis of the prescribed command which the Chief Shepherd Himself
has given His ministers in His Word for instruction.” No one should
be admitted to the ministry of the church without “prior appropriate
and solemn examination” to determine whether he “rightly holds the
fundamentals of salutary doctrine and rejects fanatic opinion; whether
they are endowed with the gifts to teach others sound doctrine; and
whether they can prove their lives to be honorable” (MWS 26 f.).
229 Chemnitz, of course, is fully aware that all believers are spiritual
priests who offer spiritual sacrifices and have a general call to proclaim
the Gospel of God and to speak the Word of God among themselves,
admonishing, reproving, and comforting one another (MWS
28 f.). But on the other hand, Chemnitz is specific in declaring that
“the public ministry of the Word and Sacraments in the church is not
entrusted to all Christians in general . . . , for a special or particular
call is required for this” (MWS 29).
230 Further, one must not think that the legitimate call of the minister
is done by human arrangement or only for the sake of order,