5. The origin and preservation of the church.
Since faith, by which a man becomes a member of the Christian church, comes into being and exists solely through God's grace and power,1515) Scripture also emphasizes that the church is neither entirely nor partly the work of man, but solely the work and effect of God. Ps. 100:3: "He has made us, and not we ourselves, His people and sheep of His pasture"; 1 Peter 2:9-10: He "has called you from darkness to his marvelous light, who once would not be a people, but now are God's people, and once would not be in grace, but now are in grace" (oi ονκ ήλεημένοι, νυν δε ελεηϑέντες). By God's grace and power alone, the Church is preserved even against the gates of hell. By the synergistic doctrine that faith and the preservation of faith depend not on God's grace alone, but also on human good conduct, the church is moved away from its reason for existence. The means or instrument God uses for the gathering and preservation of the church is the gospel in all forms of witness (word and sacrament), because only from the gospel does faith arise and exist. 1516) Insofar as the Reformed doctrines that the effect and preservation of the saving faith does not take place through the means of grace, but directly, they deprive the Church of the conditions of existence. Men are means (causa instrumentalis) for the propagation and preservation of the church only insofar as they preach and teach the doctrine of the gospel.1517) In this sense Gal. 4:26 also calls the church on earth1518) the "mother" of all those who are children after Isaac. Luther (IX, 676 f.): "Sara or Jerusalem is our free mother, the church, Christ's bride, from whom we are all born. But she begets children without cessation to the end of the world by exercising the ministry of the word, that is, by teaching and propagating the doctrine, for that is to give birth.... The church should do nothing but teach the gospel rightly and purely, and thus bear children. Thus we are all fathers and children among ourselves, for we are born one of another. I, who have been born of others through the
1515) Eph. 1:19-20; 1 Pet. 1:5; Joh. 1:13.
1516) Rom. 10:17; 1 Pastor. 1:23-25. Cf. Luther's classic exposition on Ps. 110:3 (St. L. V, 990 ff.) and on Is. 2:2 ff. (VI, 21 ff.).
1517) Is. 40:9; Mark. 16:15.<w:t xml:space="preserve">1518) Cf. Luther IX, 573 f.
480 > The Christian Church. [English ed. ~ 416-417]
gospel, now bear others, who afterward bear others again, and so this bearing will continue until the end of the world. … Therefore it is the duty of the free woman to bear children to her husband, God, without ceasing, that is, such children as know that they are justified by faith, not by law."
The question of whether the state with its orders and means of coercion is to be used as a kind of auxiliary means of grace for the building of the church has already been dealt with in detail under the section "Means of Grace".1519) It was also stated there that the mixing of state and church was a characteristic of the Roman and Reformed churches, but was rejected in principle by the Lutheran church. It was also explained there how the use of state orders and means of power does not promote but hinders the building of the church, which is now the congregation of believers and comes into being and exists only through the gospel, when the wrong principle bears its natural fruits. These fruits are also before our eyes here in the United States.1520) On the other hand, it should be emphatically pointed out that even the free church constitution is not in itself a means of grace. So completely does everything in the church come down to the pure doctrines of the gospel. Every church fellowship, in spite of a free church constitution, remains a caricature of the Christian church if in it "the gospel is not preached purely and the holy sacraments are administered according to the gospel."1521) This, too, is illustrated by the state of the church in the United States.1522)
1519) p. 210 ff.
1520) Although the separation of church and state is pronounced in the Constitution of both the United States and most of the individual states, in practice church and state are often mixed. One species of this mixture is the appointment of chaplains on the part of the individual states and the United States. Since in our country, too, the great majority of the citizens are non-Christians, in most cases only those chaplains are appointed who do not consider the sermon of Christ but the doctrines of civil morality to be Christianity. Others, who have a better knowledge of the Christian religion, very often succumb — in view of the mixed audience — to the danger of denying Christ in his vicarious work of redemption.
1521) Augsb. Conf., art. 7 [Trigl. 47 🔗].
1522) In spite of the free church constitution, the Protestant church fellowships, including some calling themselves Lutheran, are by and large
481 > The Christian Church. [English ed. ~ 417-418]
Is it the task of the church also to advocate a certain form of secular governance? Zwingli wants to introduce democracy, if there is no other way, by revolution.1523) Calvin rejects revolution but prefers oligarchy.1524) Episcopalians and Lutherans advocated monarchy. The Lutheran Church does not advocate democracy, oligarchy, or monarchy, but recognizes the existing form of government as the divine order. Augsburg Confession, Art. 16 [from the German; Trigl. 51, XVI 🔗]: "The Gospel teaches not an outward, temporal, but inward, eternal nature and righteousness of heart, and does not dispute about worldly governance, police and marital status, but wants all these to be held as true order (tamquam ordinationes Dei), and in such statuses to demonstrate Christian love and right good works each according to his calling. Therefore, Christians are obliged to be subject to the authorities and to obey their commandments in everything that may be done without sin. For if the commandment of the authorities cannot be done without sin, one should be more obedient to God than to men. Act. 5:29." This position is Scriptural. Christ was falsely accused of standing according to the crown of the Roman emperor; for he taught, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."1525) Likewise Peter exhorts Christians, "Fear God, honor the king!" 1526) Paul tells Christians not to cause revolution, but to intercede "for kings and for all authorities," so that we may "lead a quiet and tranquil life" under their government; "for such is good, and also acceptable in the sight of God our Savior."1527)
Perhaps a few words should be said here about the limits within which persons in authority, who are at the same time Christians, must keep themselves with regard to the promotion of the church. Köstlin says of Luther: "As much as Luther insists that the secular authorities may not force anyone to believe or to follow doctrines, so vague are his statements about their intervention
an apostasy from Christianity. Not the satisfactio vicaria, but a morality inspired by Christ's example is preached in most Protestant churches. Not only church members, but also pastors are lodge members in large numbers.
1523) Cf. p. 212 ff. and the citations 777, 778.
1524) Inst. IV, 20, 8.<w:t>1525) Matt. 22:21; Luke 23:2.
1526) 1 Pet. 2:17, 13.
1527) 1 Tim. 2:1-3; Rom. 13:1-7; Jer. 29:7.
482 > The Christian Church. [English ed. ~ 418]
against public offences and iniquities in doctrine and sermon."1528) Is not the seeming vagueness of Luther's statements connected with the double position in which the Christian finds himself as a Christian and as a person in authority? On the one hand, it is important to note that the secular governance as such has neither the right nor the duty to command or order anything in church matters. On the other hand, it stands firm that even persons in authority, provided they are Christians, cannot nor should forget their Christianity. Just as a Christian should serve the church with everything that is given to him by God, so also the prestige and influence that are bound up with a high worldly position should benefit the church. In any case, it is not right for a Christian, having attained a high worldly position, to now carefully conceal his Christianity. On the one hand, the Scriptures point out that not many wise men according to the flesh, not many powerful men, not many noble men are called, 1 Cor. 1:26. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit did not forget to mention that even people who were respected in the world, like Dionysius, the councilor of Athens, and high officials like Erastus, the treasurer of the city of Corinth, belonged to the Christian congregation, Acts 17:34; Rom. 16:23. Walther expresses this (Pastorale, p. 368) thus: "As the rich man with his money, the artist with his art, serve out of love, without for that reason claiming a right before others in the church, so should" (according to Luther's view) "the princes with their power serve not on the basis of a right due them before others in the church, but of a duty of love resting on them." But where is the limit here, and indeed the limit also of the "duty of love"? Rome and Romanizing Protestants also refer to the duty of love when they make the double demand, first, that the state is to be governed with the Word of God or with "Christian principles," and second, that the state is to regard itself as an organ of the church and is also to place itself at its disposal with means of coercion. So where is the limit? It is given in the twofold realization, first, that the state cannot nor should be governed with God's Word, but is to be composed and governed by natural reason, second, that the church cannot and should not be built by power and coercion, but only by God's Word, and that all external coercion in matters of faith becomes an obstacle to the church, unless God afterwards makes good what men have done wrong.
1528) Luther's Theology II, 281.
483 > The Christian Church. [English ed. ~ 419]