Part 9

Church Government

Concerning The Church and Church Government Walther teaches: Every individual congregation possesses, together with the keys of the kingdom of heaven, also the entire ecclesiastical power it needs, that is, the power and authority to carry out everything that is required for its governance.¹ Precisely the so-called constitutive power, that is, the ordering of all things not ordained by God’s Word (adiaphora), belongs to the congregation itself, not to the pastor, nor to persons outside the local congregation. Within its sphere the local congregation possesses the highest court.² The work of visitation that persons outside the local congregation exercise over it and its pastors is only of human right.³ All congregations and pastors possess, in and of themselves, equal church power, and no congregation in and of itself is subject to another, and no pastor to another.⁴ An association of multiple congregations into a larger ecclesiastical body for the purpose of ecclesiastical governance, e.g., by means of a synod with visitation authority, a so-called supreme church council, a consistory, a bishop, etc., is not of divine right but of human right, and therefore not absolutely necessary.⁵ Every congregation can exist by itself alone.

That every Christian congregation is in and of itself independent is an entirely Lutheran, not a Separatist doctrine, as it is often reproached nowadays. Separatist doctrine is that every congregation ought to be and remain independent.⁶ The notion that in order to have and exercise all ecclesiastical rights, a local congregation must be externally connected with other congregations and stand with them under one ecclesiastical government, and thus be dependent on other congregations, is an error on which the Papacy is founded.⁷ Moreover, with this supposition we could never be certain how large a church body must be in order to possess all ecclesiastical power. No, every local congregation has with the keys also all church power. Just as no one may impose anything upon an individual Christian against his will, neither may they do so upon an individual congregation. Synods, consistories, supreme church councils can, in relation to individual congregations, ever only have advisory authority. Every congregation must also retain the right to withdraw at any time from its connection with a larger fellowship and to demand back the rights transferred to others (e.g., to consistories), just as it may otherwise make changes in adiaphora that seem beneficial to it.

Those who would establish a church government that stands jure divino over individual congregations, and on which the individual congregations would thus be dependent, deny the word, “One is your Master, even Christ; and you are all brethren,” and they wish to introduce another power into the Church than the power of the Word of God.

They rob the Church of Christ of the freedom which He purchased for her at such a dear price with His divine blood, and they degrade this free Jerusalem which is above, where there are nothing but kings, priests, and prophets — this kingdom of God, this heavenly right of truth — down into a police institution in which one must be subject to every human ordinance. They reach for the royal crown of Christ, the only true King, and make themselves kings over His kingdom; they thrust Christ, the only true Master, from His teaching chair and set themselves up as masters in His Church; they seek to separate Christ, the only true Head, from His Church, and empower themselves to be heads of His spiritual body. They exalt themselves above the holy apostles and assume to themselves an authority that is not granted them in God’s Word, indeed, one which God has granted to no man, no creature, not even to any angel or archangel.⁸

The ecclesiastical constitution is therefore an adiaphoron only so long as it does not rob Christians of the Christian rights bestowed on them by Christ.⁹

Nevertheless, Walther further urges, every congregation should be ready to unite with other orthodox congregations when it has the opportunity to do so and when such a union is useful and conducive to the honor of God and the upbuilding of His kingdom. For every congregation should do its part to see that the unity of the Spirit is maintained, that the gifts of the Spirit reveal themselves for the common benefit, and that in general the purposes of the kingdom of God at large are promoted.¹⁰ It will achieve these ends if it joins with other congregations to form a larger church body, for instance, when it enters into synodical fellowship with other congregations “for mutual brotherly consultation, supervision, and assistance, and for a united cooperation in extending of the kingdom of God.”¹¹ In his Pastorale (p. 69), however, Walther reminds preachers:

After receiving ordination, the one who has entered the office should at the first opportunity join an orthodox synod. If he did not do this when an opportunity presented itself, he would thereby betray a sinful Separatist, schismatic spirit, contrary to Eph. 4:3; 1 Cor. 1:10–13; 11:18–19; Prov. 18:1.” And in another place Walther reminds us, after first rejecting the notion that a connection of several congregations into a larger church body for the purpose of ecclesiastical governance is of divine right and absolutely necessary: “Nevertheless, a preacher who, insisting on his freedom, wished to remain independent with his congregation, although an opportunity had presented itself to join an orthodox synod, would thereby act against the purpose of his office, against the welfare of his congregation, and against his duty toward the Church as a whole, and would reveal himself as a Separatist.¹²

Therefore a pastor with a congregation that still stands outside a synodical union, also has the duty to work toward its joining a synod. To be sure, the pastor is to do this only by the way of patient instruction and by explaining the character of a synod. Walther writes regarding this point:

To be sure, the preacher must also work toward the end that his congregation join the synod. Yet he must exercise great caution here, to first instruct the congregation concerning the meaning of a synod and to give it time, so that it does not suppose this is done merely to lay burdens upon it, to curtail its freedom, to play its church property out of its hands, and to lay upon it the yoke of a so-called spiritual magistrate. Rather it is to be shown that the matter here concerns solely its own welfare and its duty to care for its children and descendants and for the kingdom of God in general; and finally, that a proper synod wishes to be only an advisory, helpful body, not one that rules over the individual congregations.¹³

That a church fellowship can very well exist, work ecclesiastically, and thrive splendidly under these principles of church and church government is exemplified by the Missouri Synod itself. Walther says in the synodical address of the year 1848:

Perhaps a thought moves us all, one more, another less, to the concern that our deliberations could easily remain fruitless; I mean the thought that, according to the constitution under which our synodical union exists, we have precisely only the power to deliberate, that we possess only the power of the Word and of persuasion. According to our constitution we have no right to compose decrees, to issue laws and ordinances, and in any matter that imposes something on the congregations to render a judgment to which they must unconditionally submit. Our constitution does not in the least make us into a kind of consistory, nor into the supreme court of our congregations. Rather, it leaves to them the fullest freedom in all things, with nothing excepted but the Word of God, faith, and love. According to our constitution we do not stand over our congregations, but we stand in them and at their side. What? Would not this fact almost entirely remove the possibility of exerting a thorough, salutary influence on our congregations? By adopting a constitution such as ours, would we ourselves not have made our synod into a mere shadow of a synod? Under conditions such as those we have entered into, would we not weary ourselves with labors that may easily be entirely in vain, since no one is compelled to submit to our resolutions?

Walther answers these questions with a decisive “No!”, and then addresses the question: “Why can and should we carry on our work with joy, though we possess no power other than the power of the Word?” He shows that Christ has given His servants no other power than the power of the Word, and that this power is entirely sufficient for the building up of the Church. “Precisely there…” says Walther,

… where the preacher has been given only the power of the Word, yet the full power of it, there, where the congregation, whenever it hears Christ’s Word from the mouth of its preacher, receives it as God’s Word, there the preacher stands in the right relation to his congregation; he stands in it not as a hired laborer, but as a messenger of God the Most High; not as a servant of men, but as a servant of Christ, who teaches, exhorts, and comforts in Christ’s stead. Precisely there the apostolic admonition is rightly followed: ‘Obey your leaders and follow them,’ etc. The more a congregation sees that he who stands over it in the Lord desires nothing other than that the congregation be subject to Christ and His Word; the more it sees that he does not seek to dominate it, indeed, that he himself jealously watches over the freedom of the congregation, the more willing it will be to listen also to his salutary counsels in the things that God has left free.… But our synodical body also has the same prospect of a salutary influence when it seeks to work through nothing but the power of the Word. To be sure, struggles await us there as well, but they will not be those petty, disheartening struggles about obedience to human ordinances, but those holy struggles for God’s Word, and thus for God’s honor and kingdom. And the more the congregations perceive that we desire to exercise no other authority over them than that divine power of the Word which saves all who believe in it, so much the more open a door will our counsel find with them. Indeed, those who do not like the Word will separate from us; but for those who love it, our fellowship will be a comforting refuge; and when they adopt our resolutions, they will not bear them as a foreign burden imposed on them from without, but will regard them as a benefit and as a gift of brotherly love, and will represent, defend, and preserve them as their own possession.¹⁴

A history of almost fifty-years has confirmed these words of Walther.

Footnotes

Die Rechte Gestalt, p. 24.
Pastorale, p. 365.
Die Rechte Gestalt, p. 30.
ibid., p. 212.
Pastorale, pp. 393f.
Die Rechte Gestalt, p. 22.
ibid., pp. 19f.; Pastorale, p. 393.
Brosamen, p. 523.
Brosamen, p. 496; K. u. A., p. 371.
Die Rechte Gestalt, pp. 212ff.
Brosamen, p. 524.
Pastorale, p. 397.
Pastorale, pp. 400f.
Brosamen, pp. 518–527.