Version History
Current published version
Today's Business, Issue 1. pp. 111-112. Original floor committee resolution.
No later published versions have been added.
Official Resolution Source Text
Resolution: 6-03
Canonical number: 6-03
Committee: Pastoral Ministry and Seminaries
Source: Today's Business, Issue 1
Printed pages: pp. 111-112
PDF pages: 111-112
Version: original, current-published-proposal
Source reference: Issue 1, pp. 111-112
Line numbers follow Today's Business, Issue 1, with numbering reset on each printed page, so delegates can compare this page with the official PDF.
Page 111
- To Give Thanks for the Office of the Holy Ministry and our Synod’s Pastors
- RESOLUTION 6-03
- Reports R13.1–2 (CW, 64–67)
- Preamble
- The foundational confession of the Lutheran Church was made before Emperor Charles V in 1530 at the Diet of Augsburg.
- The seven Lutheran princes made the Gospel the center of their Confession in Article IV: “Our churches teach that people
- cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works. People are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through
- faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. By His death,
- Christ made satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for righteousness in His sight” (AC IV [Reader’s Edition, 2nd]).
- This Gospel must be brought to real men and women in the Church, and this is the purpose of the Office of the Ministry:
- “So that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted.
- Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given [John 20:22]. He works faith, when
- and where it pleases God [John 3:8], in those who hear the good news that God justifies those who believe that they are
- received into grace for Christ’s sake. This happens not through our own merits, but for Christ’s sake” (AC V). This Office
- of the Ministry is not optional for the Church and men must be called to and placed in this Office of the Holy Ministry:
- “Our churches teach that no one should publicly teach in the Church, or administer the Sacraments, without a rightly
- ordered call.” (AC XIV)
- WHEREAS, Since its founding, the Synod has been bold in its confession of the Book of Concord’s biblical theology;
- and
- WHEREAS, The Office of the Ministry is a divine gift for the life of the Church; and
Page 112
- WHEREAS, All men who are trained, examined, called, and ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry are brothers
- in the same holy office, even while their assignments and roles may differ according to human arrangement; and
- WHEREAS, The Lord has provided pastors who have been brought into the office via a “rightly ordered call” (AC XIV)
- for our Synod through various pathways (Master of Divinity, Residential Alternate Route, Cross-cultural Ministry Center,
- Specific Ministry Pastor [SMP], SMP–Español/English Program, Center for Hispanic Studies, Ethnic Immigrant Institute
- of Theology); therefore be it
- Resolved, That the Synod in convention give thanks to God for the pure confession of the faith made at Augsburg in
- 1530 and handed down to us today; and be it further
- Resolved, That the Synod in convention give thanks to God for all faithful pastors serving our Synod; and be it finally
- Resolved, That the Synod rise and sing “To God the Holy Spirit Let Us Pray” (LSB 768).
