A "Receptionist" is a person who believes that the Lord’s Supper is only
the Body and Blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine when the elements
touch the lips of the recipient. Hence, the "sanctity" of human flesh completes
the consecration of the Lord’s Supper in addition to Christ’s words of
institution from the Bible.
The Receptionist’s view is also taken in regard to Scripture when one believes the
Word of God only becomes the Word of God "for me" when "I believe it."
Here human faith and wisdom in addition to the Holy Spirit make the Word of God valid.
The Receptionist’s view of Baptism means that "my Baptism" is only valid
because I agreed to it and accepted Jesus into my heart. Every form of Receptionism
assumes that the recipient of God’s grace cooperates with or helps God give him the
gift, a very un-Lutheran idea.
There is a growing caste of LCMS clergy who believe that the divinity of a
"call" into the pastoral office can only be assured when the pastor accepts the
"call." These Hyper-Euro-Lutheran clergy, who want to return to 18th-century
European hierarchy, are opposed to Voters’ Assemblies. By making his acceptance of
the "call" proof of its divinity a pastor can maintain that God does not issue
"divine calls" through Voters’ Assemblies. In other words, "What is
divine is not that the congregation sent it but that I took it."
One of the pastors who holds the above position and will not give me permission to
identify him will, therefore, be identified in the balance of this article as Pastor X the
Confessor. On Thursday, 15 July 1999, he wrote as follows:
The war against the divine institution and supremacy of LCMS
Voters’ Assemblies rages on in the Systematics departments of both LCMS Seminaries
and in articles published by contributors to "Logia" and on TableTalk@Cat41.org
and etc.
Christ says in Matthew 5:37 "But let your communication be Yea, yea; Nay,
nay." But Pastor X the Confessor also prefers to communicate anonymously. I published
two articles. The first was "The Voters’ Assembly
Invested With Authority From God." After it was attacked as heresy by LCMS Pastor
Eric Stefanski, I wrote "Defense of Voters’ Assembly
Called Heresy" which was attacked above by Pastor X the Confessor.
The poor lay person who reads Pastor X the Confessor’s Hyper-Euro-Lutheran
mythology are misled to believe that, FIRST, "Voters’ Assemblies" have no
divine authority from God; SECOND, "divine calls" can’t be refused; THIRD,
Walther taught that certainty about the divinity of the "Call" was only possible
after the pastor accepted it.
FIRST, Pastors who believe they receive a special gift from God at
their ordination are opposed to the teaching that Voters’ Assemblies are divinely
instituted by God and are thus able to issue a "divine call". Their solution: A
call becomes valid when the pastor accepts it.
There is no question about the possibility of tyranny of the clergy or the tyranny from
the laity, both are capable of sin. However, that does not negate the divine institution
of Voters’ Assemblies or the Pastoral Office.
These pastors make a disconnect between Christ saying, "tell it to the
church" (Matt. 18:17) and the possibility of there being anyone in the church to
"tell it" to except the pastor. Walther taught that the Voters’ Assembly
was divinely instituted because it was comprised of all the people in the congregation who
were eligible to vote excluding women and children (1Cor. 14:34-35). Walther also stated
in his "Pastoral Theology" that according to THE WORD OF GOD that the
congregation is the highest court within its Circle (Matt.18:17 Col. 4:17).
the question of "divinity" in the call was really a question of
whether the call was valid, legitimate, and regular.
In his "Pastoral Theology", Walther spends 34 pages dealing with the
doctrinal stance of the congregation and necessary procedures used in issuing a divine
call in order to determine if the call is regular, valid, and legitimate. Only a divinely
instituted congregation can issue a divine call. Walther considers all properly issued
"calls" as "divine calls." Prayer, calls, and congregations, though
divinely instituted, are not sacraments.
Issuing a "call" by the Voters’ Assembly is in the order of a prayer and
a direct invitation to the candidate to fill their vacant pastoral office. Christ tells us
we should pray that the Lord of the harvest send forth workers into the harvest (Mat.
9:38, Luke 10:2). The Voters pray and then issue a written call because God doesn’t
talk directly to the pastor. The divinity of a prayer and a call are based on whether they
are valid, legitimate, regular, and exercised in faith. Prayers and calls are good works,
not sacraments. God may answer a prayer with "no" because "no" is an
answer. A pastor may say "no" to a call. This does not make the prayer or the
call less than "divinely instituted." The call is issued by God’s authority
to the pastor through the congregation.
Nagel’s understanding that the divinity of the call also includes the
pastors’ acceptance of the call must lead Nagel to the conclusion that if a
Voters’ Assembly were actually able to issue a "divine call" by itself such
a call could not be refused. "Such a ‘divine call’ is not something which
can be declined without rebelling against God." (CTQ, July 1995, page 181).
Voters’ Assemblies with such power could be a real danger to the clergy. However,
Walther had no such opinion about declining a call. "The pastor is not always bound
to his first regular call, but he should also not accept any and every call away from his
present congregation." ("Pastoral Theology", page 274)
THIRD, Pastor X the Confessor claims that the divinity of the call, is
certain after it is received. He thus negates the divine institution of the Voters’
Assembly. Pastor X the Confessor takes us into the convoluted world of both Seminary
Systematics Departments where one professor searches for divinity in acceptance of the
call and the other Systematics department is eager to publish Nagel’s views. Pastor X
the Confessor uses the following quotations from Dr. Nagel’s article in the CTQ to
prove his point. Dr. Nagel is an excellent scholar but this particular article will be
remembered as his finest work.
"What they did was not by itself clearly divine. They did not ordain. That was
done only by the clergy acting in the name of God and according to His mandate. "
(Concordia Theological Journal, July, 1995, page 173)
"A call is without doubt divine, but it is not divine all by itself. Nor is
ordination divine all by itself. There can be no ordination without the preceding call; no
call is operative until put into effect by ordination." (Page 178)
"When it is completed according to the Lord’s words and mandate, it is beyond
doubt divine....When all the things were done which make a pastor, no uncertainty
remained.... Hence the divine call is the call that emerges as the final result of the
election and is recognized at the ordination." (Page 180)
"From the point of all of them having been done, the application of
‘divine’ washes back over the things which were the basis of what followed,
until they begin to blur together. The process does not work the other way around. The
call recognized at a man’s ordination-and because of which the ordination
proceeds-may without doubt then be called divine." (Page 181)
What happened to the Voters’ Assembly issuing a "divine call"? Why do
they need the divine back wash? As far as Nagel is concerned, some calls
"become" divine and others are "blanks." This is his way to put those
Voters in their place, which is anywhere but divinely instituted.
What does Walther say on this issue? Evidently not what Nagel and Pastor X the
Confessor say. For Walther, the divinity of a call depended on whether the call was valid,
legitimate, and regular.
"No one should teach or preach publicly in the church or administrate the
Sacraments without a regular call." (Pastoral Theology, C.F.W. Walther, CN, fifth
edition, 1906, page 16)
"The validity of a call depends on those who extend it having the right and the
authority from God to do so." (Page 21)
"Reason and cause from Scripture that the Christian Assembly or Congregation Has
the Right and the Authority to Judge All Doctrine and to Call, Install, and Depose
Teachers" (Luther’s Works, Volume 39, American Edition, pages 305-314)
"Neither the examination which one who has been called to the preaching office
passes before an appointed commission outside of the calling congregation, nor the
ordination which he receives from appointed persons outside the congregation, are what
make the call valid." (Pastoral Theology, Walther, Page 44) However, Walther
also goes on to say that examination and ordination are important for the whole church so
they can publicly recognize that the call is "legitimate and divine."
"Ordination with the laying on of hands is not a divine institution but only an
apostolic, ecclesiastical institution. That needs no proof since Scripture mentions the
custom but is silent about any divine institution of it." (Pastoral Theology, Walther
Page 47)
"Ordination is an adiaphoron and does not make the call of an office but only
confirms them. That has always been the doctrine of all orthodox teachers of our
church." (Pastoral Theology, Walther Page 47)
Here are two opposing views. Nagel says above, "...the application of
‘divine’ washed back over the things which were the basis of what
followed...."
On the other hand Walther says, "The validity of a call depends on those who
extend it having the right and the authority from God to do so."
As Wohlrabe points out, "The power and authority [of the pastoral office] is
transferred to the office by way of the call." ("Ministry in Missouri Until
1962" by Dr. John C. Wohlrabe, Jr., 1992, page 15). "In other words, it is alone
the divine call extended to them mediately through the local congregation that makes them
[pastors] ‘fellow-elders’ of the apostles." (Christian Dogmatics, J.T.
Mueller, CPH 1934, page 574)
Walther, who views the Voters’ Assembly as divinely instituted, comes to the
startling though correct conclusion that the pastor should ask his Voters’ Assembly
if he should take a new call that has been issued to him or remain in the congregation.
"...he should not leave his congregation without its explicit agreement unless it
would be obvious to everyone that it was absolutely denying its consent out of pure
stubbornness, without considering the well being of the church." (Pastoral
Theology" page 274)
Here Walther commits Hyper-Euro-Lutheran heresy. He tells pastors to consult their
Voters’ Assemblies about their calls. Loehe would be appalled and Grabau in shock.
After all, the Assembly is divinely instituted, and since God gave them the authority to
issue him his current call, God can use them again to give the pastor good advice on what
to do with the next call. And brothers, let’s give the congregations a break. You all
know they can’t fire us without good cause. If they are honorable in regard to our
calls they should also be able to advise us to take a call when it comes our way. They may
need a change more than we do.
I’m well aware that the above information will not convince Pastor X the Confessor
nor Rev. Stefanski, and many others on CAT41’s TableTalk. Just because Walther views
the Voters’ Assembly as God’s chosen tribunal and spokesman on earth
(Matt.18:17, ...hear the church...) they will continue to believe their calls are divine
because they accepted them and they have the "sacrament of ordination."
But let the laity discover here and beware of the growing mythology coming out of both
Seminaries in the LCMS that places the pastoral office above the congregation. No church
body has ever thrown off the yoke of a caste clergy who received a special indelible
character at their sacrament of ordination.