Concerning the necessity of the ministerial call the Augsburg Confession declares Art. XIV: "No one should publicly teach in the Church or administer the Sacraments unless he be regularly called." What is meant by the ministerial call, Hollaz explains thus: "By the divine call is here understood the appointment of a certain and suitable person to the ministry of the Church, with the right to teach in public, to administer the Sacraments, and to exercise ecclesiastical discipline, made by God either alone or by the intervening aid of men." Doctr. Theol., p. 607.
Our dogmaticians rightly distinguish between the immediate and the mediate call (vocatio immediata, vocatio mediata). This distinction, which also Luther makes St. L., XI, 1910 ff., is Scriptural; for Holy Scripture shows that even the prophets and the apostles (including St. Paul) never preached without a call from God (Ex. 3, 10; Is. 6, 8. 9; 40, 6-9; Jer. 1, 2-10; Mark 16, 15; Matt. 28, 19. 20; John 20, 21-23; Acts 22, 21; Gal. 1, 1; Eph. 1, 1; Col. 1, 1 ; etc. ).
The immediate call is that divine call which is made "without any intervening judicial (arbitraria) aid of other men" (Baier). As Hollaz correctly says, "an immediate call is not to be expected in the Church to-day."
The mediate call is no less divine than is the immediate. The difference between the two, as Gerhard explains, is merely this, that the mediate call is effected "through ordinary means" (per vocationem ecclesiae), divinely appointed for this purpose, while the immediate call comes from God directly.
The divinity of the mediate call Gerhard establishes from the following facts: a) It is referred to God as its Author, 1 Cor. 12,28; Eph. 4, 11. b) It is based upon apostolic authority, Acts 14, 23; 20, 28; 1 Tim. 4, 14; 3, 1. 2; 5, 21; 2 Tim. I, 6; 2, 2; Col. 4, 17. c) It is confirmed by God's gracious promises, 1 Tim. 4, 16; 2 Cor. 3, 6; Eph. 4, 11. 12.
The divinity of the mediate call is amply proved by the fact that Holy Scripture says of the elders, or bishops, who were called mediately: "The Holy Ghost hath made you overseers," Acts 20, 28.
That also the mediate call is truly divine is of the greatest importance both to the ministers themselves and to those whom they serve, 1 Cor. 4, 1; Luke 10, 16; 1 Pet. 5, 2. 3; Jer. 23, 21; Heb.5,4; Jas.3, 1.
Since the mediate call is extended through men (the Church), we must consider also the question who the men are by whom God duly calls His ministers. The Romanists claim that only the Pope has authority to create bishops and their assistants. The Episcopalians teach that ordination by the bishop confers the highest orders. Romanizing Lutherans hold that Christian ministers owe their pastoral authority to "the estate of the ministry" (der geistliche Stand), which is self-propagating. In other cases, princes or ruling bodies in the Church have claimed the right to call and ordain ministers.
However, Holy Scripture ascribes this power to call to all true believers, since to them Christ has entrusted the Office of the Keys, Matt. 18, 17; 1 Cor. 5, 4. 13; 3, 21. Christ's Great Commission, Matt. 28, 19. 20, was meant not only for the apostles, but for all Christians; for He states expressly: "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." By virtue of their spiritual priesthood all believers "unto the end of the world" possess the inherent right to preach the Gospel and to administer the Sacraments. Since, then, all Christian believers are entrusted with the means of grace, it is their privilege to call pastors, or ministers, who in their name publicly apply the means of grace. Cp. Luther: "That some are chosen from the multitude is done for the reason that they, as representatives of the congregation, should administer and execute the office ministerial office, which they all have." St. L., IX, 1174.
But while the communion of all believers constitutes the Church Universal, it is not to the ecclesia universalis as such that Christ has given the power to call and ordain ministers, but rather to the local churches (ecclesiae particulares), as is clear from Matt. 18, 17-20; 1 Cor. 5, 13; etc. The Smalcald Articles rightly say (Of the Power and Primacy of the Pope, § 67-69): "Wherever there is a true church, the right to elect and ordain ministers necessarily exists."1 (Cp. also Luther, St. L., XVII, 1074 ff.)2
Individual persons or representative bodies may duly call ministers for others, but only if they, either directly or by consent, tacito consensu, have received authority to do so from those who originally possess the right to call, principaliter et immediate, that is, from local churches.
Against the exclusive right of the local congregations to call their ministers various objections have been raised, of which we may note the following: -
a. Not the local churches, but the apostles (Paul, Barnabas, Titus) "ordained elders in every church;" Acts 14,23; Titus 1, 5. To this objection Luther replies St. L., XIX, 347: "Although Paul commanded Titus to 'ordain elders in every city,' Titus 1, 5, it does not follow that Titus did this in an arbitrary manner; but he, after the example of the apostles, appointed them after their election by the people; otherwise the command of Paul would be in conflict with the general custom of the apostles."
There are indeed weighty reasons why Luther's explanation should be believed and accepted. In the first place, the text (Acts 14, 23) itself suggests the calling of elders by a popular vote χειροτονήσαντες, not constituebant (Vulgate), but rather "stimmwaehlen" (Meyer), that is to say, having chosen them by the raising of bands. In the second place, it was the general custom of the apostles, Acts 6, 2-6, to have the "whole multitude" (πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος) elect by popular vote the ministers of the churches (Stephen, Philip, etc., Acts 6, 5). For this reason we rightly infer that the verb χειροτονέω (to stretch forth the hand, to elect by the raising of hands, "durch Aufheben der Hand abstimmen") has this special meaning both in Acts 14, 23 and 2 Cor. 8, 19 ("the brother chosen of the churches": χειροτονηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν). The apostles, then, ordained elders not arbitrarily, by their mere apostolic authority (Loehe), but with direct consent and by active cooperation of the local churches.
b. Not the local churches, but Peter received the Office of the Keys, Matt. 16, 18. 19. This objection does not hold, since Peter, on this occasion, did not come into consideration as an apostle or as a leader of the apostles (primus inter pares), but merely as a believing follower of Christ, who professed the divine truth (cp. Matt. 16, 17). The rock (πέτρα) upon which Christ built His Church is not Peter's person (Πέτρος). but the confession which Peter as a believer in Christ here made.
So Luther writes: "All Christians are Peters for the sake of the confession which Peter here makes, which confession is the rock on which Peter and all Peters are built." (Marginal note to Matt. 16, 18). The "keys of the kingdom of heaven" are the means of grace, in particular the Gospel, which Christ has entrusted to all believers, 1 Pet. 2, 9. And Chemnitz says (Examen, 1667, p. 223): "Luther taught from the Word of God that Christ gave and commended the keys, that is, the ministry of the Word and the Sacraments, to the whole Church." Inasmuch as all believers are entrusted with the means of grace, they possess the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
c. The Lutheran Confessions teach that the public ministry is directly derived from the apostolic office. To this we reply that, rightly understood, this statement is correct; for although Christian ministers are not apostles in the sense of the chosen Twelve (and St. Paul), who by divine inspiration were infallible teachers of the Word of God both as preachers and as writers of the New Testament canon, yet their office, so far as its content and efficacy are concerned, is precisely the same as was that of. the apostles. In other words, Christian ministers to-day preach the same Word of God and administer the same Sacraments as did the apostles; and these means of grace, used by them, are just as efficacious to-day as when they were employed by the Twelve.
This is not a "dogmatic construction," but the clear teaching of Scripture; for when Christ commanded His disciples to preach the Gospel and to administer the Sacraments, Matt. 28, 20; · Mark 16, 15. 16, He expressly specified that the ministry of the Word should continue "even unto the end of the world." Rightly understood, that is, excluding all Romanistic and Episcopalian errors on this point (apostolic succession) as well as the false notions of Romanizing Lutherans (Loehe, Vilmar, Muenchmeyer, etc.), we may therefore say that the public ministry to-day is a continuation of the ministry of the apostles.
To this we may add that the apostles themselves regarded their non-apostolic fellow-ministers, that is, the elders and bishops who with them served the various churches, as equal in rank and office, 1 Cor. 4, 1 ff.; 1 Pet. 5, 1 ff. (lit.): "The elders (πρεσβυτέρους) among you I exhort as the fellow-elder (συνπρεσβύτερος)."
Yet, while this is true, it is true also that our Confessions, in accord with Scripture, Matt. 18, 17-20; 1 Cor. 5, 13; Rom. 16, 17; 1 Pet. 2, 9, expressly teach that the Office of the Keys belongs to the whole Church and that Christian ministers therefore hold their office by virtue of their call from their churches. The Smalcald Articles say Of the Power and Primacy of the Pope, 67-69: "Wherever the Church is, there is the authority command to administer the Gospel. Therefore it is necessary for the Church to retain the authority to call, elect, and ordain ministers. And this authority is a gift that in reality is given to the Church, which no human power can wrest from the Church. . . . Hence, wherever there is a true church, the right to elect and ordain ministers necessarily exists. . . . Here belong the statements of Christ which testify that the keys have been given to the Church, and not merely to certain persons, Matt. 18, 20. Lastly, also the statement of Peter confirms this, 1 Pet. 2, 9. These words pertain to the Church, which certainly has the right to elect and ordain ministers since it alone has the priesthood." While, then, all Christian ministers who are duly called are "fellow-elders" (συνπρεσβύτεροι) of the blessed apostles, 2 John 1; 3 John 1; 1 Cor. 3, 5-9, they are elders and bishops (ministers, pastors) not through any "apostolic succession" nor through any "self-propagation of the clerical estate," but solely by virtue of the call which they have received from their churches. In other words, it is alone the divine call extended to them mediately through the local congregation that makes them "fellow-elders" of the apostles.