Attention may he directed to the fact that also Luther, in accommodation to the usus loquendi, at times speaks of ministers, that is, of those "who serve in ecclesiastical offices" St. L., X, 423 ff., as "priests," "spirituals" (Geistliche), a "spiritual estate" (geistlicher Stand), etc. He declares, however, that the use of these terms is not only without foundation in Scripture, but also misleading, since according to Holy Scripture all believers are "anointed," 1 John 2, 27, "spiritual," Gal. 6, 1, a "spiritual house" and a "spiritual priesthood," 1 Pet. 2, 5. 9. "Alle Christen sind wahrhaft geistlichen Stands, und ist unter ihnen kein Unterschied denn des Amts halber allein." (Cf. Hutterus Redivivus, p. 270.)
Luther furthermore declares that the Holy Spirit in the New Testament carefully avoids the application of the name priest (sacerdos) to the apostles or their cola borers, while He distinctly applies that term to all baptized Christians. He says St. L., XIX, 1260: ''We are not born again in Baptism as apostles, teachers, preachers, pastors, but as priests. Then the Church takes one of these regenerate priests and calls and elects him to such functions as all believers should execute because of their priestly office." Luther thus rejects the erroneous opinion that ministers, or pastors, constitute a "spiritual estate."
Luther's position is in strict conformity with the teaching of Holy Scripture; for Scripture describes the elders and bishops not as "spiritual" in preference to others, but as ministers (servants) of the believers (ministrantes inter Ohristianos), 2 Cor. 4, 5. It is true, all pastors are also servants of Christ and of God, 1 Cor. 4, 1; Titus 1, 7; 2 Tim. 2, 24; Luke 12, 42; but they are such only as ministers of the Church or because the Church has called them to be "ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God."
Of this Luther writes St. L., X, 1590: "Paul calls himself servum, that is, a servant, and more than once he says: Servio in BVangelio, I serve in the Gospel. This he does not in order that he may establish an estate or order, a right or a certain dignity, as people to-day would do, but that he might alone praise the office and work and preserve the right and dignity of the priesthood in the congregation."
Similarly Dr. Walther says (Kirche und Amt, p. 221): "The public ministry is not a special estate, which exists in contradistinction to the common state of Christians or is holier than it, but it is a ministry of service."
For this reason the churches have also the right and the duty to watch over the ministry of their pastors and teachers, Col. 4, 17, and to dismiss them in case they refuse to preach the Word of God in its truth and purity and to adorn it with a holy life, Col. 4, 17; John 10, 5; Matt. 7, 15; Rom. 16, 17. 18. (Cp. Luther, St. L., X, 1591.)
Ministers, of course, hold their office only so long as they administer the functions of the public ministry which they have received through the call.
When describing the manner in which called ministers receive their divine office from the congregation, our dogmaticians have used the verb confer (uebertragen, demandare, deferre, comittere). They said: "Through the call the Christian congregation confers the public ministry upon qualified persons."
This term should not be condemned as objectionable; for it expresses the Scriptural truth that the congregation is the "fountain of all church power" (Rase: "der Quell aller Kirchengewalt") by virtue of the Office of the Keys which Christ has given to His Church, and that pastors exercise the public ministry only in the name and by the authority of the congregation. Those who object to the term have reason to examine themselves whether they fully agree with the Scriptural doctrine of the Office of the Keys. Cp. Christl. Dogmatik, III, 522 ff.
With respect to the power which Christian pastors possess by virtue of their call our dogmaticians rightly say that all power which they have as ministers is conferred upon, or delegated to, them by the congregation, so that their jurisdiction is limited by the call.
The power of the ministry (potestas ministerialis) embraces a) the power of preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments (potestas ordinis) and b) that of remitting and retaining sins (potestas claviuml potestas iurisdictionis).
The power of excommunication, commonly called the ban, the pastor must never administer without the congregation, Matt. 18, 17. 18; 1 Cor. 5, 13. It is properly the function of the pastor rightly to guide the congregation in judging each case and, if the sinner under discipline is found to be impenitent, to publish and declare publicly as a servant of the church what the congregation has decided to do, 1 Cor. 5, 1-7. 13.
Again, if the sinner repents, it is the duty of the pastor to urge the congregation to forgive him, 2 Cor. 2, 6-11, and then to publish, or declare publicly, the absolution of the congregation. A ban which a minister executes contrary to God's Word and without the congregation Luther calls a "lying ban" (Luegenbann). Cp. St. L., XIX, 950 ff.