The Holy Ministry

“It is necessary to impress on people at large that all who would be called Christians owe it to God to consider those worthy of double honor who minister to their souls, to do good to them, and to provide for them.  Moreover, God will give you sufficient means for this purpose and will not let you come to want.  But in this matter everyone refuses and resists.  All fear starvation.  Now they cannot support one respectable preacher, whereas formerly they filled ten fat paunches.  By such conduct we truly deserve to have God deprive us of His Word and blessing and again to let preachers of falsehood arise—preachers who lead us to the devil and drain our sweat and blood to boot.  What Luther Says, 2952

GERHARD ON THE MINISTRY

The ministry of the Church is a sacred and public office divinely appointed, and intrusted, through a legitimate call, to certain men, in order that being instructed they may teach the Word of God with peculiar power, may administer the Sacraments, and preserve church discipline, for the purpose of effecting the conversion and salvation of men, and truly advancing the glory of God.”

Johann Gerhard, quoted in Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, a collection of Lutheran writings.  (pp. 606-07)

“If you could save the whole world by one sermon and yet have no call to preach, desist; for you would be breaking the true Sabbath, and it would not please God.”  SL III, 1090.  Luther

Martin Luther on Gender and the Ministry

As St. Paul says in Gal. 3:28, you must pay no attention to distinctions when you want to look at Christians. You must not say: “This is a man or a woman; this is a servant or a master; this person is old or young.” They are all alike and only a spiritual people. Therefore they are all priests. All may proclaim God’s Word, except that, as St. Paul teaches in 1 Cor. 14:34, women should not speak in the congregation. They should let the men preach, because God commands them to be obedient to their husbands. God does not interfere with the arrangement. (Sermons on the First Epistle of St. Peter, Luther’s Works 30:55)

The keys are the pope’s as little as Baptism, the Sacrament, and the Word of God are, for they belong to the people of Christ and are called “the church’s keys” not “the pope’s keys.” Fifth, the church is recognized externally by the fact that it consecrates or calls ministers, or has offices that it is to administer. There must be bishops, pastors, or preachers, who publicly and privately give, administer, and use the aforementioned four things or holy possessions in behalf of and in the name of the church, or rather by reason of their institution by Christ, as St. Paul states in Ephesians 4[:8], “He received gifts among men...” -- his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some teachers and governors, etc. The people as a whole cannot do these things, but must entrust or have them entrusted to one person. Otherwise, what would happen if everyone wanted to speak or administer, and no one wanted to give way to the other? It must be entrusted to one person, and he alone should be allowed to preach, to baptize, to absolve, and to administer the sacraments. The others should be content with this arrangement and agree to it. Wherever you see this done, be assured that God’s people, the holy Christian people, are present. It is, however, true that the Holy Spirit has excepted women, children, and incompetent people from this function, but chooses (except in emergencies) only competent males to fill this office, as one reads here and there in the epistles of St. Paul [1 Tim. 3:2, Tit. 1:6] that a bishop must be pious, able to teach, and the husband of one wife -- and in I Corinthians 14[:34] he says, “The women should keep silence in the churches.” In summary, it must be a competent and chosen man. Children, women, and other persons are not qualified for this office, even though they are able to hear God’s Word, to receive Baptism, the Sacrament, absolution, and are also true, holy Christians, as St. Peter says [I Pet. 3:7]. Even nature and God’s creation makes this distinction, implying that women (much less children or fools) cannot and shall not occupy positions of sovereignty, as experience also suggests and as Moses says in Genesis 3[:16], “You shall be subject to man.” The Gospel, however, does not abrogate this natural law, but confirms it as the ordinance and creation of God. (On the Councils and the Church, Luther’s Works 41:154-55)

But in the New Testament the Holy Spirit, speaking through St. Paul, ordained that women should be silent in the churches and assemblies [I Cor.14:34], and said that this is the Lord’s commandment. Yet he knew that previously Joel [2:28 f.] had proclaimed that God would pour out his Spirit also on handmaidens. Furthermore, the four daughters of Philip prophesied (Acts 21[:9]). But in the congregations or churches where there is a ministry women are to be silent and not preach [I Tim. 2:12]. Otherwise they may pray, sing, praise, and say “Amen,” and read at home, teach one another, exhort, comfort, and interpret the Scriptures as best they can. (Infiltrating and Clandestine Preachers, Luther’s Works 40:390-91)

[1 Tim.2:]11. Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness. I believe that Paul is still speaking about public matters. I also want it to refer to the public ministry, which occurs in the public assembly of the church. There a woman must be completely quiet, because she should remain a hearer and not become a teacher. She is not to be the spokesman among the people. She should refrain from teaching, from praying [i.e., leading in prayer] in public. She has the command to speak at home. This passage makes a woman subject. It takes from her all public office and authority. ... Where men and women have been joined together, there the men, not the women, ought to have authority. ... He [Paul] wants to save the order preserved by the world -- that a man be the head of the woman, as 1 Cor. 11:3 tells us. Where there are men, she should neither teach nor rule. (Lectures on 1 Timothy, Luther’s Works 28:276-77)