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LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 307

2026 Convention Workbook
272 
THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS  —COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
 
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 1 
The left-hand, institutional dimension of the church will inevitably take different shapes in 2 
different societies. The institutional church will almost certainly have different rights and 3 
responsibilities under different governments and correspondingly act in different ways based 4 
upon those rights and responsibilities. But the church will always have a left-hand component, 5 
precisely because it lives in the world and is subject to governing authorities (cf. Romans 13; 1 6 
Peter 2-3). 7 
 8 
This does not mean Christian churches and/or institutions simply abdicate all left-hand matters to 9 
the civil government. They actively participate in that left-hand realm, whether that means 10 
advocating for specific legal or political issues, involving itself as far as possible in the legal and 11 
political process, seeking certification for its higher education institutions, parochial schools and 12 
teachers, among many other such activities. That may mean filing suit over matters such as 13 
religious freedom. It may involve supporting other Christian institutions or entities in their own 14 
legal battles against injustice. It may also involve entering into suit against those who may be 15 
fellow Christians. As a matter of fact, the Commission believes, it frankly may be irresponsible 16 
and unethical for the church not to do so in certain egregious cases. Imagine a scenario where a 17 
Missouri Synod congregation knew of sexual abuse allegations against a pastor or member, yet 18 
instead of reporting those to the authorities, sought to oversee the case itself. Likewise, imagine a 19 
case of mental illness or domestic abuse that a congregation sought to adjudicate itself rather 20 
than referring the parties to appropriate healthcare or psychiatric professionals. The damage 21 
cases like this might bring upon the church legally, politically, and monetarily would be 22 
extensive, let alone to the reputation and witness of that church in the community. That is to say 23 
nothing of the real victims in such cases—victims who may have been protected physically and 24 
emotionally by duly instituted laws and law enforcement to which the church may have appealed 25 
for aid.  26 
 27 
Sixth, and finally, the Lutheran Confessions commend authorities and institutions of the 28 
civil realm, such as courts of law, as divine institutions which may be used profitably by the 29 
church. Augsburg Confession 16 says: 30 
 31 
Concerning public order and secular government it is taught that all political authority, 32 
orderly government, laws, and good order in the world are created and instituted by God 33 
and that Christians may without sin exercise political authority; be princes and judges; 34 
pass sentences and administer justice according to imperial and other existing laws; 35 
punish evildoers with the sword; wage just wars; serve as soldiers; buy and sell; take 36 
required oaths; possess property; be married.”1  37 
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The confessions repeat the fundamental legitimacy of civil institutions again in the Apology of 39 
the Augsburg Confession: “It is permissible for Christians to use civil ordinances, just as they 40 
use the air, light, food, and drink. For as this universe and the fixed movements of the stars are 41 
truly orders of God and are preserved by God, so legitimate governments are truly orders of God 42 
and are preserved and defended by God against the devil” (Ap 8.49).2 Likewise, in its 43 
 
1 Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church 
(Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 48. 
2 Kolb-Wengert, 183. 
 
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condemnation of the errors of the Anabaptists, the Formula of Concord defends the Christian 1 
appeal to civil government for the enforcement of secular laws. It identifies as intolerable the 2 
opinion “that a Christian may not make use of the functions of government against the wicked in 3 
appropriate situations, nor may the subjects of the government call upon it to use the power it 4 
possesses and has been given by God for protection and defense” (FC Epitome 12.14).3  5 
 6 
Elsewhere the Apology forbids “private redress,” or taking matters into one’s own hand in order 7 
to exact revenge. Yet it accords a positive place to “public redress”: “Public redress, which is 8 
made through the office of the judge, is not forbidden but is commanded and is a work of God 9 
according to Paul in Romans 13. Now the different kinds of public redress include judicial 10 
decisions, punishment, wars, and military service.” (Ap 16.7) 4 The sixteenth-century reformers 11 
were presented with any number of legal, political, and military challenges to their view of the 12 
gospel and their reform of churches—Luther’s excommunication and the imperial edict against 13 
Luther’s writings and teachings in 1521, the emperor’s rejection of the Augsburg Confession in 14 
1530, the Schmalkaldic War of the 1540s—mostly in conflict with fellow baptized Christians. 15 
Likewise, St. Paul himself appealed to his status as a Roman citizen (Acts 16: 37-39; Acts 22:25-16 
29) as a means to protect himself against unlawful prosecution. The reformers, with Paul, 17 
believed Christians could make use of these legitimate civil institutions, including the judges and 18 
laws of the first-century Roman Empire or the sixteenth-century Holy Roman Empire, to protest 19 
unjust measures, to defend life and property, and to provide free course for the proclamation of 20 
the gospel.   21 
   22 
Summary 23 
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In light of what has been said regarding the focus and purpose of 1 Corinthians 6, as well as its 25 
relationship to the legal context in which we live, it is the opinion of the Commission that 1 26 
Corinthians 6 does not categorically prohibit the Christian use of the legal system or the 27 
Christian filing of lawsuits against fellow believers. 1 Corinthians 6 strongly opposes lawsuits 28 
between individual believers or groups of believers that could otherwise be resolved through 29 
mediation of the congregation or larger church. This counsel should be followed, not the least 30 
through the church’s own processes for resolving disputes. However, Christians may avail 31 
themselves of secular courts in cases against other Christians, ideally after all other 32 
congregational and ecclesiastical options have been exhausted. This is all the more pertinent and 33 
applicable for institutions and agencies of the church, which are left-hand expressions of the 34 
church and are subject to left-hand laws and regulations (fiscal, political, legal, etc). Ultimately, 35 
the Commission does not categorically endorse or encourage Christian participation in lawsuits 36 
against other Christians, nor does it wish to ignore the clear warnings of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 37 
6. However, we do acknowledge that, like many instruments of the civil, left-hand realm that are 38 
capitulations to sin—war, divorce, the criminal justice system, civil government itself—the use 39 
of the courts by Christians and against Christians is a sad reality, yet a reality nonetheless that 40 
must be used at times, with all due self-examination and restraint.  41 
 42 
Adopted by the Commission on Theology and Church Relations 43 
February 28, 2025 44 
 
3 Kolb-Wengert, 521. 
4 Kolb-Wengert, 232.