American Lutheranism, Volume 2: The United Lutheran Church (General Synod, General Council, United Synod in the South)Bente, F. (Friedrich)
History
American Lutheranism, Volume 2: The United Lutheran Church (General Synod, General Council, United Synod in the South)
Bente, F. (Friedrich)
Lutheran Church -- United States -- History; United Lutheran Church in America -- History
statements of the Bible are true.) The _Lutheran World_, commenting on
Dr. Jacobs's statements, remarked: "But do not Dr. Jacobs's declarations
sound very much like a _quatenus_ rather than a _quia_ mode of
confessional subscription? For a long time we have not seen a
theological statement that reminds us so much of the 'substantially
correct' mode of subscription formerly in vogue in the General Synod. It
certainly does not sound as stalwart as the General Synod's resolution
in 1895, when she declared 'the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as
throughout in perfect consistence with that Word'--namely, the Word of
God." (_L. u. W._ 1908, 233.) In his _Book of Concord_, 1893, Dr. Jacobs
declared that only the primary, not the secondary, arguments of the
Confessions are involved in the subscription. "'The primary,' says
Jacobs, 'are the dogmas set forth with the purpose of showing they are
believed and taught by the Lutheran Church, the confutations of errors
whereby it wished to declare that it contradicted them, and formulas of
speech either expressly prescribed or proscribed.' The secondary are
'all those particulars introduced to confirm or illustrate the former,'"
etc. (2, 13.)
ROMANISM.
133. Jacobs and Haas on Ordination, etc.--With respect to the doctrine
that the public office of the ministry originates in, and is transferred
by, the local congregation, Dr. Jacobs declared: "Nothing can be clearer
than the antagonism of our great Lutheran divines to this position, nor
anything be more convincing than their arguments against it."
(Gerberding, _The Lutheran Pastor_, 73.) Luther's language on this
question, Jacobs maintains, is "not guarded with the same care as that
of the later dogmaticians." (74.) According to Jacobs the right to call
a minister "belongs neither to the minister alone nor to the laity
alone, but to both in due order." (_Summary of Christian Faith_, 427.
424.) Dr. J.A.W. Haas: "The transference theory has been developed in
antithesis to Rome, and in it Lutherans have agreed with the Reformed."
It "makes the ministry an organ growing out of the congregation, which
ill befits the divine origin of the ministry." "In it the main accent is
placed on the vocation, of which ordination is the attestation."
(Gerberding, _l.c._, 77.) Ordination, Dr. Haas declares, is "the
prerogative of the whole Church." It includes "the separation for the
ministry with invocation of blessing and consecration under divine
approval." For this reason "ordination is not repeated." (112.) "This
realism of a divine gift [in ordination] was apparently not held by
Luther.... He declares the right of all believers to the office, because
of the spiritual priesthood, and sees the consecration (_Weihe_) in the
call. 'Ordo est ministerium et vocatio ministrorum ecclesiae.'" (116.)
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