Introductory Comments by Rev. Jack Cascione
Dear Website Reader:
Whether you are a lay person or a pastor anyone who loves the Missouri Synod cannot
help but be moved by Walther’s first speech. He lays out his goals and structure for
the newly formed Missouri Synod and claims that Christ will lead us. If Luther is the
earthly father of our church, then Walther is clearly the earthly American father of the
Missouri Synod. Here Walther heralds the Synod’s foundation is pure doctrine and
congregational polity. He envisions a church where the congregations and pastors are to be
ruled by no authority except the Word of God.
It is comforting to learn we weren’t found under a cabbage leaf. There were clear
passages from Scripture and theology that gave us birth. In 1999 the vocabulary of Church
Growth, Leadership Training, board of directors, paradigm shifts, vision statements, and
all the other mindless tinkering that is now taking place in congregational constitutions
and restructuring. Walther’s speech gives us the clear direction on how the Synod was
to be originally structured and why. A generation of pastors and layman are not aware that
this speech even exists. It is no longer taught or shown to seminary students as if they
should find a new and better way for themselves. They are now falling prey to human
experiments, gimmicks, and philosophy being used to re-engineer the LCMS that are not
working. May God give us the wisdom to go back to our roots, our foundation from the Bible
that so richly blessed and built the Missouri Synod. Dear Reader, I recommend that you
keep this speech in clear view the next time you want to make "improvements" to
your church constitution, that is if you want to keep the Missouri Synod.
Introductory comment by translator:
The best presentation of the Scriptural truths regarding the relationship of a
church organization and its members, as they are exemplified in our Synodical
Constitution, was given by Dr. Walther in his first presidential address at the second
meeting of Synod in 1848. This address, found in the Report of 1848, pp. 5-10, is truly a
classic and deserves to be studied and restudied by every Lutheran. We have reproduced the
inspiring words of Walther to the best of our ability, trying at all times to reproduce
his thoughts, even though at times at the expense of fluency.
In these last days of sore distress there have again come days of great joy, days of
refreshment and strengthening for us, members and servants of the evangelical Lutheran
Church of this country. God has granted us grace that we, who knew and know that we are
united in one faith, but in part were not acquainted and in most cases lived a great
distance from one another and had to work and battle alone, have been able to meet here to
manifest our unity in the spirit publicly by deeds and jointly to strengthen this unity,
to confess our most holy faith jointly and to be edified thereby, jointly to take upon
ourselves the burden of the individual and to present it to God in joint prayer. Whereas
at present our fellow believers in most other countries, especially in our former
fatherland, because of the disturbance and confusion of a violent dissolution of all
existing relationships in church and state, are restricted almost entirely to solitary
sighing in the closet, we have been able to assemble peacefully to refresh our spirits in
the shadow of an undisturbed peace. Thanks, humble thanks be to Him who is good and whose
mercy endureth forever.
However, we are here not only as individuals; most of us have come here as servants and
members of the church in the name and on behalf of our congregations in order to
deliberate in the fear of God on matters necessary for them and the church as a whole. We
are bearing a grave responsibility in being present here, in the confessions which we make
and in the resolutions we pass. The eyes of many are on us; they are looking upon our
deliberations partly with concern, partly with expectation. Generally, however, the demand
is made upon our meeting and, we must admit, with perfect justification that it is not
only to be beneficial for us personally, but that it also brings a blessing upon our
congregations and the whole church.
I do not doubt for a moment that all of you, my dear brethren in Christ, have come here
with the fervent prayer to God for such a blessing upon our activity and with the holy
purpose, as members of this body, to consider such a blessing the goal of your activity.
Perhaps all of us, the one more, the other less, are filled with concern by the thought
that our deliberations might easily be unproductive; I mean the thought that, according to
the constitution under which our Synodical union exists, we have merely the power to advise
one another, that we have only the power of the Word, and of convincing.
According to our constitution we have no right to formulate decrees, to pass laws and
regulations, and to make a judicial decision, to which our congregations would have to
submit unconditionally in any matter involving the imposing of something upon them. Our
constitution by no means makes us a consistory, by no means a supreme court of our
congregations. It rather grants them the most perfect liberty in everything, excepting
nothing but the Word of God, faith, and charity. According to our constitution we are not
above our congregations, but in them and at their side. Have we not thereby been deprived
almost entirely of the possibility of exercising an energetic, salutary influence upon our
congregations? Have we not perhaps by adopting a constitution as ours is, made ourselves a
mere shadow of a synod? The relationship into which we have entered being what it is,
shall we not exhaust ourselves with labors which may easily be lost entirely, since nobody
is forced to submit to our resolutions?
You surely all join me in answering this question with a decided No! You need no proof
for this, least of all my reasoning. I hope, however, that you will gladly lend me your
ears, if I now at the opening of this year's sessions attempt to focus your attention for
several moments on the topic I have suggested. Surely there is nobody among us who
realizes more vividly than I do how completely unfit I am to arise in this venerable
assembly and teach among teachers; but it is incumbent upon me to take the floor because
of the office which you have seen fit to impose upon me, the least of you; moreover, by
means of several hints which I can present according to the measure of my knowledge and
the meager preparation allowed me, I hope at least to stimulate you to meditate on this
important matter to greater benefit.
The question to which I now intend to give a brief answer is the following:
Why Should and Can We Carry On
Our Work Joyfully Although We Have No Power But the Power of the Word?
The principal and most important motive is the following: Because Christ has given
His servants only this and no other power, and because even the holy apostles have
appropriated to themselves no other power and therefore have seriously warned the
servants of the church against claiming every other power.
In the first place, Christ declares plainly and distinctly that His church is not of
the same nature as a temporal state. In reply to the question of Pilate whether He was the
King of the Jews, etc., He uttered the great important words: "My kingdom is not of
this world; if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight that I should
not be delivered to the Jews; but now is My kingdom not from hence." He indicates the
real, the true character of His kingdom, or His church, by adding: "To this end
was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the
truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice." It is also pertinent that
Christ in other passages calls His kingdom a kingdom of heaven and that the holy
apostles call it the house and city of God, the Jerusalem which is above, the free
woman, the church of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and the like. Christ's
kingdom and church, accordingly, is a kingdom of truth, a spiritual, heavenly kingdom, a
kingdom of God, in which only free citizens of the kingdom of heaven, members of the house
of God, prophets, priests, and kings dwell.
Who, then, has the power in this kingdom? It is Jesus Christ alone. He declares this of
Himself. He says: "I am a King." "I am the Good Shepherd." "One
is your Master, even Christ." The apostle calls Him "the Head over all things to
the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." By which
means Christ exercises the power in His church, though He has withdrawn His visible
presence from it and sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the
heavens, is clearly shown by the last declaration, with which He parted from His
disciples: "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am
with you always, even unto the end of the world." Hence His Word, accompanied and
sealed by the holy Sacraments, is the means whereby Christ exercises power in His kingdom.
This is the "right scepter" with which He rules His people, this is the
"rod and staff" with which He feeds His flock.
But Christ not only declares that He alone has the power in His church and exercises it
by His Word, but He also expressly denies to all others any other power, any other
authority to command in His church. Not only does He say, as already stated, "One is
your Master, even Christ," but He alone adds: "And all ye are brethren,"
that is, in My church you are all equal, all subject to Me and no one the lord and
commander of the other. In another passage He says to the disciples: "Ye know that
the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise
authority upon them. But it shalt not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among
you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your
servant."
What Christ hereby denied to the apostles, they never claimed for themselves. They
demanded no submission except to Jesus Christ, namely, to His Word. They said: "Not
walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of
the truth commending ourselves....For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord;
and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." 2 Cor. 4. When, therefore, St. Paul
toward the end of the first chapter of his second letter to the Corinthians had used the
expression, that he had not come to Corinth in person because he wished to
"spare" his Corinthians, it might have seemed to some as though the apostle were
thereby making himself a lord who had the power to demand and grant dispensation according
to his pleasure, to punish and to spare; in order that this wrong impression might not
become fixed, he immediately adds: "Not for that we have dominion over your faith,
but are helpers of your joy." Again, when this same apostle had urged and admonished
the congregation in Corinth to participate in a collection for the poor, he adds: "I
speak not by commandment but by occasion of the forwardness of others and to prove the
sincerity of your love." Before this, when the Corinthians paid more attention to the
persons than to the Word preached by these persons, he had testified to them: "Who,
then, is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed?...Therefore let no
man glory in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the
world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are
Christ's; and Christ is God's." Even at the election and appointment of officers to
care for the physical needs of the congregations the apostles therefore did not claim the
right to choose these men alone. When the deacons were to be elected at Jerusalem, the
apostles addressed the congregation in this manner: "Wherefore, brethren, look ye out
among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom ye may
appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the
ministry of the Word." Then we read: "And the saying pleased the whole
multitude; and they chose Stephen (etc.), whom they set before the apostles." Again,
when according to the report in Acts 21, the belief spread in the congregation at
Jerusalem that Paul was an enemy of the Mosaic Law, and when he on his journey finally
arrived at Jerusalem, James and the elders did not wish to take the responsibility of
deciding the matter upon themselves, nor to force the congregation to be satisfied with
their decision, but all the elders unanimously declared: "What is it therefore? the
multitude must needs come together; for they will hear that thou art come." Again,
when, according to Acts 15, a dispute arose among the Christians in Antioch about the
question whether Christians who had formerly been Gentiles would have to be circumcised
and Paul and Barnabas were unable to soothe the divided multitude, the congregation
elected them and several others and sent them to Jerusalem as their delegates to secure
counsel at that place where not only Peter and James but also the greatest number of
converted and noted Jews lived. What happened? The apostles and elders meet to consider
the matter; but they do not dare to exclude the congregation in this matter; all members
met; there is argument and counter argument; finally, Peter and James arise and place the
matter in the right light. A joint resolution is then passed and included in a Synodical
letter, in which we read: "the apostles, and elders, and brethren it seemed good unto
us, being assembled with one accord." Thus we see that the apostles did not at all
claim any dominion over the congregation. Even in the most important church councils they
granted the so-called laymen just as much right, just as much seat and deciding vote as
themselves.
Therefore they also diligently and seriously warn all who have an office in the church
against all desire to rule. For instance, Peter writes: "The elders which are among
you I exhort, who am also an elder - feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the
oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready
mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the
flock." Likewise Paul admonishes Timothy: "Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him
as a father; and the younger men as brethren; the elder women as mothers; the younger as
sisters, with all purity." The holy apostles grant only one power to those who serve
the church as rulers, namely, the power of the Word. For thus the same apostles write;
first St. Peter: "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God that God in
all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ." Then St. Paul writes to Timothy:
"Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season."
Accordingly there can be no doubt, venerable brethren in office and respected
delegates, that we are not renouncing any right belonging to us if we as servants of the
church and as members of an ecclesiastical synod claim no other power than the power of
the Word; for in the church where Christ alone rules there dare and can be no other power
to which all must submit. To be sure, there are matters which the Word of God does not
regulate, but which must be arranged in the church; but all such matters are not to be
arranged by any power above the congregation, but the congregation, that is, pastors and
hearers, arranges them, free of every compulsion, as it is necessary and appears salutary.
What, then, are men doing who claim a power in the church beside the power of the Word?
They are robbing the church of Christ of the liberty which He has purchased with a price,
with His divine blood, and are degrading this free Jerusalem, in which there are only
kings, priests, and prophets, this kingdom of God, this heavenly kingdom of truth to an
organization under strict police rule in which everybody is compelled to be obedient to
every human ordinance. They are seeking the royal crown of Christ, the only true King, and
are making themselves kings over His kingdom; they are deposing Christ, the only true
Master, from His chair and are setting themselves up as masters in His church; they are
striving to separate Christ, the only true Head, from His church and are presumptuously
trying to be heads of His spiritual body. They exalt themselves above the holy apostles
and claim a power which God's Word plainly denies them and which has been granted by God
to no man, no creature, not even to an angel or archangel.
Can we, therefore, my brethren, be depressed because we in our American pastorates are
endowed with no other power than the power of the Word and especially because no other
power has been granted to this assembly? Most assuredly not. This very fact must arouse us
to perform the duties of our office and to carry on our present labors with great joy; for
in this manner the church also among us preserves its true character, its character of a
kingdom of heaven; in this manner Christ remains among us as what He is, the only Lord,
the only Head, the only Master; and our office and labor preserves the true apostolic
form. How could we lust for a power which Christ has denied us, which no apostle has
claimed, and which would deprive our congregations of the character of a true church and
of the true apostolic form?
Undoubtedly our congregations were free to follow this example and to invest the synod
meeting in their name with a power beside the power of the Word; but it is a different
question whether it would have been wise if they had done so. I say no, because under the
prevailing circumstances we can confidently hope for auspicious success of our work, or
rather of God's work which we are promoting, if we use only the power of God. This is the
second reason why we should and can carry on our work with joy, although we have no power
but the power of the Word.
Perhaps there are times and conditions when it is profitable for the church to place
the supreme deciding and regulating power into the hands of representatives. Who, for
instance, would deny that at one time the consistories in our German fatherland were an
inestimable blessing, especially when the prophecy of Isaiah was being fulfilled in the
German Lutheran Church: "And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy
nursing mothers" (ch. 49, v.23)? Which person acquainted a bit with history would
deny that the Swedish church grew splendidly under its episcopal constitution, especially
so long as men like Laurentius Petri, the famous Swedish translator of the Bible and
student of Luther, bore the episcopal dignity, and so long as men like the two Gustavuses
wore the royal crown of Sweden? If, however, we glance at the conditions in which the
church finds itself here, we can hardly consider any other constitution as the most
salutary except one under which the congregations are free to govern themselves but enter
into a Synodical organization such as the one existing among us with the help of God, for
enjoying fraternal consultation, supervision, and aid to spread the kingdom of God jointly
and to make possible and accomplish the aims of the church in general.
It is true, if our congregations had granted us full power to decide and decree in
their name, it apparently would have been easy for us to give all of the congregations of
our territory the form of truly Lutheran congregations, whereas with our present
constitution our hands appear to be tied. But this only seems to be the case. Even though
some congregations may use the liberty they possess of rejecting our recommendations even
if they are salutary; thereby they indeed deprive themselves of a blessing. But what would
be the result if such congregations by their entrance into our organization had obligated
themselves to submit to all of our orders? The exercise of our power would have laid the
foundation for constant dissatisfaction, for constantly reviving fear of hierarchical
efforts, and thus for endless friction. In a republic, as the United States of America is,
where the feeling of being free and independent of man is nourished so strongly from
childhood, the inevitable result would be that any restriction beyond the limits drawn by
God Himself would be empty shells, and our apparent growth would often be nothing but a
process of becoming stiff and dying in a great mass of lifeless forms. Our chief battle
would soon center about the execution of manufactured, external human ordinances and
institutions and would swallow up the true blessed battle for the real treasure of the
church, for the purity and unity of doctrine. In a word, we would lose sight of our
beautiful aim of building the true church, which is not an external scaffold, but the
kingdom of God in the heart of men and at best ourselves bring about our early
dissolution. To be sure, there are religious organizations in this republic which in spite
of their strictly representative form of government are being built without antagonism and
are prospering in their manner, but why? Because the congregations are not permitted to
come to a knowledge of their liberty and their consciences are bound in favor of their
form of government by false doctrine. In our Evangelical Lutheran Church, however, we must
preach to our congregations that the choice of the form of government for a church is an
inalienable part of their Christian liberty and that Christians as members of the church
are subject to no power in the world except the clear Word of the living God. There the
above mentioned disastrous results are certainly to be feared from any restriction of the
liberty of the congregations, especially in a republic such as ours is.
We can, however, certainly hope for altogether different results if we ask nothing
unconditionally of our congregations except submission to the Word, if we therefore leave
it to them to govern themselves and assist them only with our advice. We need not fear
that the secular element of a political democracy will invade the church, that therefrom
will arise a popular government, a papacy of the people, and that we, who are to be
servants of Christ, wilt thereby become servants of men. How can this be an ungodly
popular government, where the people use the rights given to them by God? How can this be
a papacy of the people, if the priestly nation of Christians does not permit any man to
enact laws for them in matters which God has not prescribed and is willing to obey the
preacher of the Word unconditionally only when Christ Himself speaks through him, that is,
when he preaches His Word? No, a disgraceful popular government occurs only where the
people presume to prescribe to the preacher what he may and may not preach of God's Word;
where the people make bold to contradict the Word of God and to interfere in any respect
with the conduct of the office according to the Word; or where the people claim for
themselves alone the power to enact ordinances in the church, exclude the pastor from this
power, and demand that he submit to these ordinances. Accordingly, only such a preacher is
a servant of men as does not serve Christ faithfully because of fear of men or because of
desire to please men, departs from God's Word in doctrine or practice, and preaches for
the itching ears of his audience. But where the pastor is given only the power of
the Word, but its full power, where the congregation, as often as it hears Christ's Word
from the mouth of the preacher, receives it as the Word of God, there the proper
relationship between pastor and congregation exists; he stands in their midst not as a
hired mercenary but as an ambassador of the Most High God; not as a servant of men but as
a servant of Christ, who in Christ's stead teaches, admonishes, and reproves. There the
apostolic admonition is properly observed: "Obey them that have the rule over you,
and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that
they may do it with joy, and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you." The
more a congregation sees that he who has the rule over them in the Lord desires nothing
but that the congregation be subject to Christ and His Word; the more it sees that he does
not desire to dominate them, yes, indeed, that he himself with a jealous eye guards the
liberty of the congregation, the more willing the congregation will become to hear his
salutary recommendations also in matters which God has not prescribed; it will follow him
in these matters not as a taskmaster because it must, but as their father in Christ,
because they wish to do it for their own advantage.
Also our Synodical body has the same prospects of salutary influence if it does not
attempt to operate through any other means than through the power of the Word of God. Even
then we must expect battles, but they will not be the mean, depressing battles for
obedience to human laws, but the holy battles for God's Word, for God's honor and kingdom.
And the more our congregations will realize that we do not desire to employ any other
power over them than the divine power of the Word, the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth, the more will also our counsel find an open door among them. To
be sure, those who do not love the Word will separate from us, but for those who love it,
our fellowship will be a comforting refuge; and if they adopt our resolutions, they will
not consider them a foreign burden imposed upon them from without but as a benefit and a
gift of brotherly love, and will champion, defend, and preserve them as their own.
Even though we possess no power, but that of the Word, we nevertheless can and should
carry on our work joyfully. Let us, therefore, esteemed sirs and brethren, use this power
properly. Let us above all and in all matters be concerned about this, that the pure
doctrine of our dear Evangelical Lutheran Church may become known more and more completely
among us, that it may be in vogue in all of our congregations, and that it may be
preserved from all adulteration and held fast as the most precious treasure. Let us not
surrender one iota of the demands of the Word. Let us bring about its complete rule in our
congregations and set aside nothing of it, even though for this reason things may happen
to us, as God wills. Here let us be inflexible, here let us be adamant. If we do this, we
need not worry about the success of our labor. Even though it should seem to be in vain,
it cannot then be in vain, for the Word does not return void but prospers in the thing
whereto the Lord sent it. By the Word alone, without any other power, the church was
founded; by the Word alone all the great deeds recorded in church history were
accomplished; by the Word alone the church will most assuredly stand also in these last
days of sore distress, to the end of days. Even the gates of hell will not prevail against
it. "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The
grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the Word of the Lord endureth
forever." Amen