GOD'S MANDATE
FOR MINISTRY
AND THE
MINISTRY OF WOMEN
Pastors Retreat, Mannum
16 January, 2001
1.
Need
for agreement on foundations
·
Doctrine
of ordination
·
Doctrine
of ministry
·
Scriptural
basis for doctrine of ministry
·
Authority
and use of Scriptures
2.
The
office of ministry
a.
Meaning
of ministry: diakonia
·
Present
use for any kind of work or service in the church
·
Ancient
use
¨
Authorised
assistant or manager
¨
Personal
envoy or agent
¨
Steward
of another's property
¨
Authorised
administrator
·
Church
use: pastors as Christ's assistants in administering his word and sacraments
·
Need
for precision in our use of this fuzzy term
·
Question:
who administers what, where, and by what authority?
b.
Meaning
of office: Luther's use of Amt to translate diakonia
·
Use
the term office rather than ordo
(order) from 1 Cor 14:40 with its notion of rank and status
·
Position
of delegated authority in community and church
·
Position
of public leadership with defined tasks and clear accountability
·
Belief
of reformers in divinely instituted offices in the church and the world
·
Office
of ministry as position of leadership in the church under Christ
·
Authorisation
by Triune God through the church
·
Dependence
on Christ and accountability to him
c.
Reasons
for the choice of these terms
·
Delegated
authority and limited powers
·
Possible
abuse of position and power by pastors
·
Prevention
of disempowerment and intimidation
d.
Clarification
of misconception
·
Misconception:
pastor as a functionary who operates impersonally and represents an absent Christ apart from the church
·
Pastor
as a personal spokesman and agent for Christ who is present and active together
with him in the church
·
Involvement
of whole life of pastor in ministry
·
Pastor
as part of the church and priesthood of the faithful
3.
Biblical
foundations for office of ministry
a.
Concept
of divine mandate in Scripture and the church
·
Mandate
as commission: gift and task
·
Contrast
between human and divine mandate
·
Divine
mandate given in God's word with its commands and promises
·
Support
of divine mandate by dominical and apostolic precedents
·
Foundational
role of Christ's commands and promises in the church
·
Adiaphoron as what has not been either
divinely instituted or forbidden
·
See
Luther's use of Scripture for the foundation of the sacraments in the Small Catechism
b.
Confessional
claim: divine mandate for the public ministry (Augsburg Confession 5)
·
Institution
of word and sacrament by Christ
·
Institution
of their ministry by Christ
c.
Function
of divine mandate in Lutheran theology
·
Divine
warrant for ministry: secure basis and charter rather than giftedness,
education, or personality
·
Divine
gift of the office to church and to pastors
·
Empowerment
by God's Spirit-filled word in the mandate for the office: operation by power
of Holy Spirit
·
Ongoing
consecration of the pastor through the sanctifying word: ordination as second
consecration for Luther
·
Provision
of good conscience for pastor: "God is pleased only with services
instituted by his word and done in faith"(Apology XXVIII, 70)
·
Protection
of pastor in spiritual warfare
·
Foundation
for faith that receives what God provides: certainty of blessing in the
faithful exercise of the ministry
·
Performance
of unauthorised worship by unauthorised people as idolatry (see concept of self-devised worship [Greek: 'ethelothreeskia]
in Col 3:23)
·
Pope
John Paul 2: "We have no authority to ordain women."
d.
The
use of foundational texts in Lutheran theology
·
Traditional
term: sedes doctrinae, ie.
'sites/bases/foundations for doctrine'
·
Primary
use of Scripture in teaching rather than its secondary use with proof texts to
justify a theological system
·
Prior
agreement on foundational texts as basis for debate and consensus
·
Difference
between passages of institution and passages of interpretation (eg. the
institution of baptism in Matt 28:18-20 and explanation of what God does in it
in Rom 6:3-4)
·
Goal
of discussion and debate as spiritual consensus: binding of conscience by God's
word rather than mere intellectual consent to religious ideas
·
No
binding doctrine or practice apart from a scriptural foundation
·
Lack
of foundational texts for ordination of women: note the misuse of Luke
10:38-42.
e.
Foundational
passages for Lutheran doctrine of ministry
·
Texts
used in the Lutheran Confessions and rites of ordination
¨ John 20:21-23: commission to
forgive and retain sins
¨ Matthew 28:19-20: commission
to baptise and teach Christ's word
¨ Matthew 16:18-19: promise of
keys to Peter
¨ Luke 10:16:
preachers/evangelists as speakers of Christ's word
¨ John 20:17: commission of
Peter to feed Christ's flock
·
Institution
of ministry in John 20:21-23 and Matthew 28:19-20
·
Addition
of I Cor 11:23-26 in our rite for ordination: performance of the Lord's Supper
(see also Luke 22:28-30)
·
Multiple
function of these foundational texts
¨ Institution of word and
sacraments
¨ Institution of apostolic
ministry for them
¨ Ordination/commission of
apostles as the first ministers of word and sacrament
¨ Establishment of the church
as sacramental community
· Use of same apostolic
mandate for the office of presbyters/ teachers/ pastors in the Early Church.
¨ Same promise for preachers as Christ's agents in Luke 10:16 as for apostles in Matthew 10:40 and John 13:20
¨ Coupling of elders with
apostles in Acts15: 2,4,6,22,23; 16:4)
¨ Co-authorship of Paul's
letters (eg.1 Cor1:1)
¨ Use of ministerial 'we' by
Paul (eg.1 Cor 4:1)
¨ Transmission of apostolic
tradition to faithful men (2 Tim 2:2).
·
Ordination
of Timothy by Paul (2 Tim1:6) together with his fellow pastors (1 Tim 4:14)
·
Appointment
of pastors by Paul and his pastoral colleagues in Acts 14:23 and Titus 1:5)
·
Exclusion
of women from public preaching and teaching by Jesus and Paul in 1 Cor
14:33b-38 and 1 Tim 2:11-15
4.
Conclusion.
·
Lack
of secure scriptural mandate for the ordination of women: practice without
agreed theological rationale
·
Lack
of foundation for lasting consensus in the church
·
Rejection
of two passages despite their support by the OT, Christ's choice of men as
apostles, the practice of the early church, and the general ecumenical
tradition
·
Association
with feminist ideology, the post-modern rejection of authority, and the use of
the gospel as a principle derived from the Scriptures
·
Its
imposition and status without a sure mandate as an infallible, unquestionable
dogma in the church
·
Need
for cultural and political enforcement
Question: will we place ourselves outside the catholic and
apostolic church and become a sect if we ordain women?