To: THE EDITOR CHRISTIAN NEWS
Pr. Cascione's rambling response is beside the point for the most part, and wrong on
the basic theology. Discerning readers will see this, but unwary ones may not.
Sadly, no matter how often I say it, it never seems to sink in. I defend our Synod's
traditional polity-I simply refuse, as did Walther, to make it a matter of dogma. Remember
Churchill's quip to the effect that all forms of government are bad, and that democracy is
simply the best of a bad lot! That realistically reflects our human situation after the
Fall.
Now the basic theology: if Synod is simply 'a human invention" how is it that it
"conducts mission work"? Pr. Cascione mixes apples and chestnuts when he says:
"the synod is not church, it is a group of churches that agree to follow the same
doctrine, practice, polity, regulations, resolutions, constitution, worship, discipline
and clergy roster." Unity in the apostolic doctrine and church fellowship based on
that are not human inventions but God's institution. Even if there were no Synodical
constitution and bylaws, the fellowship of local churches in God-given doctrine and
sacraments confessing and evangelizing together would be "church"-as in Acts
9:31, where the best reading is singular. "the church throughout Judea, Galilee and
Samaria" (NIV).
Constitutions and outward regulations are necessary for order, but that's organization,
not churchly essence, either for congregations or for synods. By divine institution a
congregation is the Eucharistic gathering at one place, even if it be only two or three.
By divine institution such a congregation has one or more ministers of the Gospel serving
it. There is by divine institution no church or ministry "above" or
"below" any other local church and ministry. Therefore bishops or
Superintendents or presidents differ from other pastors only by human, not by divine
right. Organizationally, districts, dioceses, synods, and the like, are human
institutions. But the bonds of faith and love, of apostolic doctrine and sacraments, which
unite such local churches into a trans-local fellowship, are God-given, not man-made. And
that is the churchly essence-as distinct from the bureaucratic incidentals-of an orthodox
synod-Synods are churches being church together.
That is why our Confessions say that "decisions of synods for councils are
decisions of the church" (Treatise, 56). As for Walther, what did he mean in the
subtitle of his classic on church and ministry: "The Voice of Our Church in the
Question of Church and Ministry"? Was "our church" his parish in St. Louis?
And why does he speak not of "true visible churches," but of 'The Evangelical
Lutheran Church, the True Visible Church of God on Earth"? Only local churches? Think
again! In his famous Iowa District essay of 1879 Walther said: "Here in America we
govern the church also in the form of the Synod." But "Essays for the Church
II" gives the ridiculous mistranslation: "Here in America we also use the
arrangement of a synod [or council] to carry on the business of the church"(p.46)!
Yes, there's room for ten Walther Conferences to rescue the real Walther from his
spin-doctors!
Cordially yours in Christ
K. Marquart
C.T.S.
18 OCT. 2000
We again thank Professor Marquart for his response. Marquart claims
to defend the Synod's traditional polity but clearly disagrees with Walther by saying that
the Synod is Church.
We notice he had no reply to the books and citations showing the Synod's congregational
polity is Voter Supremacy.
Walther indeed calls the four points in support of Voter Supremacy, offered in my
previous response "doctrine" in his "Form of the Christian
Congregation," "Church and Ministry," "The Congregation's Right to
Choose Its Pastor," "and his "Pastoral Theology." All of these points
and the Biblical citations were taken from Walther's writing in these books. When did the
Bible and the Confessions stop being doctrine?
Marquart insists that the Synod is church. We respond that the Synod does not do
mission work; rather, it is the congregations that do mission work together as a Synod.
Yes, the Synod carries on churchly functions in behalf of the congregations but the Synod
can't possibly be a church. Its elected officials cannot excommunicate a member from a
congregation, they cannot administer the sacraments at the Conventions, and they have no
regular calls to perform the duties of a pastor to the Synod. Only the local congregation
bears the marks of the church.
Page 146 and 147 of the LCMS Handbook state that the LCMS is a corporation. "a.
The name of the corporation shall be "The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod." It
then states the objectives, membership, meetings, officers, property, bylaws, and
amendments of the corporation.
We agree that the Confessions say, "the decisions of the Synod are the decisions
of the Church and, not of the Popes" (Treatise 56) only to the extent that the local
congregation's have given the "Synod" the authority to speak for them. In the
context cited from the Confessions the State owned the local congregations. Marquart is
the one who mixes apples and chestnuts.
Marquart offers a series of quotations from Walther supposedly teaching that the Synod
is church. On the contrary, Walther would often use the word "church" in a
variety of contexts to refer to the local congregation, and the Synod as a group of
congregations, but never suggests the "Synod is Church" with the marks of the
church. Thank God, the LCMS official's have no authority over the local congregations.
We offer the following citation from Walther where he speaks about the Synod as church
and the congregations as churches and church without ever intending to say the "Synod
is Church."
"Nevertheless it remains true that the Lutheran liturgy distinguishes Lutheran
worship from the worship of other churches to such an extent that the houses of worship of
the latter look like mere lecture halls in which the hearers are only addressed and
instructed, while our churches are in truth houses of prayer in which the Christians serve
the great God publicly before the world.
"Uniformity of ceremonies (perhaps according to the Saxon church order published
by the Synod, which is the simplest among the many Lutheran church orders) would be highly
desirable because of its usefulness. A poor slave of the pope finds one and the same form
of service, no matter where he goes, by which he at once recognizes his church. With us it
is different! Whoever comes from Germany without a true understanding of doctrine often
has to look for his church for a long time, and many have already been lost to our church
because of this search. How different it would be if the entire Lutheran church had a
uniform form of worship!" ("Essays for the Church," C. F. W. Walther Volume
I, page 194 "Thesis XVIII D, Adiaphora, 16th Central District Convention 1871)"
The discussion above would not be under the title of adiaphora if the "Synod is
Church" as Marquart, suggests. If the Synod is church it could just tell the
congregations what their worship should be without a vote from the Convention.
"The Second National Free Conference on C. F. W. Walther" is only being held
at Hope Lutheran Church in St. Louis on November 3 and 4 because no LCMS Seminary,
University, or District sponsors such a conference. The real "spin-doctors" on
Walther are teaching at the seminaries. We have only captured the Walther flag because his
positions are being discredited by both Seminary faculties who no longer support Voter
Supremacy and Congregational Autonomy as Walther did. The President of the St. Louis
Seminary and its Vice President for Academic Affairs are on the PLI payroll.
The paper that pastor Bischoff is going to present will show that the Synod is not
church but only a human organization and my paper will show the need to preserve
congregational autonomy as Walther taught it should be.
We have already published the schedule for the Walther Conference. However, we invite
Professor Marquart to present and debate his position on Saturday at 2:00 PM at the
Conference. We will give Professor Marquart plane fare, 30 minutes to state his position,
and as many rebuttals of 5 minutes each as he chooses.
I close with a quotation from noted life long layman and financial secretary of our
congregation, Mr. Elmer Villeme, when he read Marquart's equation of Voters' Assemblies
with Bolsheviks. "Well then, who is in charge? Let's see the Word and Sacraments sign
his pay check."