Pf09: Servant behaves like master; Pfaffen fall on doctrine

      This continues from Part Pf08 (Table of Contents in Part Pf01) in a series presenting C. F. W. Walther's 1874 Der Lutheraner essay on "Who are the Pfaffen?", the good and the bad. — Walther finishes a description of his fourth class, then declares that Pfaffen, with their subtle attempts to appear orthodox, usually fall regarding Christian doctrine in the long run. Luther thinks so too. — From Der Lutheraner, vol. 30 (1874), p. 52-1 to 52-2:

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Who are the Pfaffen?

[by C. F. W. Walther; Part 9]

But that all this, as I said, is something pfaffish, we see from the fact that this is also listed in God's Word as one of the characteristics of a wicked priest or Pfaffen. For so we read of the false shepherds: 

“The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.” Ezek. 34:4. “A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule in their office; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Jeremiah 5:30–31. 

It is true that it is an abomination for preachers to flatter the people and to act in a lascivious manner in order to curry their favor, but it is no less abominable when he who is supposed to be the servant and steward of the church behaves like the master of the house. [Gottesdienst]

By the way, it is rare that a preacher, in whose life and practice all kinds of pfaffish things tend to occur, should then remain completely faithful in doctrine. Not only will he not easily preach that by which he would reveal himself, he will thus “deviate” somewhat from God's Word in this respect, but, if the pfaffish sense prevails with him, God's grace and Spirit will finally depart from him completely, and he will then be intent on embellishing and justifying his Pfaffery, whether it exists in his way of life or in his official practice, by distorting God's Word, that is, by false doctrine. Luther therefore writes concerning the life of preachers: 

“If a preacher seeks honor and riches, it is impossible for him to preach or believe rightly, as the Lord Christ in John 5 also says, when he says: How can you believe, who seek honor among men? [John 5:44 ff.] He that seeketh honor in preaching, and desireth to be great and honourable and wise in the sight of the world, believeth not. If he himself is unbelieving, how can he preach rightly? He must keep silent about everything that may harm his honor and reputation with the people; and he will always mix his leprosy and poison into the wine and adulterate it; if this is the case, then the preaching ministry is not pure.” (On Matt. 21, 1538, Erlanger Ausgabe, Vol. 44, p. 266. f. [StL 7, 1080; Am. Ed. v. 68:101-102]) 

It is the same with the pfaffish ministerial practice [Amtspraxis]; an unfaithful preacher will finally try to cover it up with false doctrine, even to justify it, and finally, together with the Pharisees, make his human ordinances and commandments equal to God's commandments, even to abolish God's commandments with his human essays. Matth. 15:1–14. In this way, preachers with a pfaffish nature finally become — perfect Pfaffen.

Nor must it be thought that only those preachers are on the way to becoming Pfaffen who, from shameful [pg 52-2] motives of honor and lust for power, make their orders and commandments equal to the divine ones; no, those also belong to this category who, in their delusion, think that preachers must have this authority for the sake of the salvation of the church. [Harrison / LC–MS / Gottesdienst] Luther therefore writes on Ecclesiastes 1:14–15: 

“With these words Solomon wants to have increased the thought of the wise people when they do something without the fear of God in governing or in church matters, as first happened with some statutes under the papacy, and then say that it is truly good and well meant. For it is not always good that it is well and truly meant to help the country and its people. For what is not done by God's command and Word and in faith, even if it seems to be a good and noble idea, often turns out to be the worst and does great murderous harm” (V, 2060; not the same text in StL V, 1398)

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The "Gottesdienst" organization wants people to think that proper Liturgy will save the church, instead of doctrine. Walther calls that "delusion". — In the next Part Pf10…

Pf02: We are all born as priests & Pfaffe; Pope: “supreme Pfaffen”; Luther's strong statement

      This continues from Part Pf01 (Table of Contents in Part Pf01) in a series presenting C. F. W. Walther's 1874 Der Lutheraner essay on "Who are the Pfaffen?", the good and the bad. — In this segment, we can begin to see the change in the meaning of the word "Pfaffe", even in Luther's own usage of that term. "Pfaffe" originally meant "spiritual fathers" in a good way. From Der Lutheraner, vol. 30 (1874), p. 49: 

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Who are the Pfaffen?

[by C. F. W. Walther; Part 2]

In the course of time, however, the word, without thinking of its original meaning, came to be taken simply as synonymous with priest [Priester]. Without wanting to insult the Pope and the bishops in the least, in the fourteenth century Jeroschin, in the Chronicle of Prussia translated by him, called the Pope [Pabst] the “supreme Pfaffen,” and the author of the Swabian Mirror from the thirteenth century called the prince-bishops the “Pfaffen prince.” Indeed, still in 1521 the well-known zealous papist Jerome Emser declared: “Luther did not start his Reformation because of the Tetzel's indulgences, but to exterminate the Pfaffen”. (* See: Löscher's Unschuldige Nachrichten of 1720. p. 206) Emser of course understood by the “Pfaffen” nothing else than the priests [Priester], whom he regarded as especially holy. 

Even Luther took the word “Pfaffen” for a long time in the good meaning of spiritual priests. For example, in the year 1533 he writes:

“The Holy Spirit in the New Testament diligently prevented the name Sacerdos, priest or Pfaffe, [Priester oder Pfaffe] from being given to any apostle or to various other [ministerial] offices, but it is solely the name of the baptized or of Christians as a hereditary name with which one is born through Baptism. For none of us is born as Apostle, preacher, teacher, pastor [Pfarrherr] through baptism, but we are all born simply as priests and Pfaffe. Afterward, some are taken from the ranks of such born priests and called or elected to these offices which they are to discharge on behalf of all of us.” **)

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**) See Luther's Works XIX, 1536. [StL 19:1260; AE 38:188 - “The Private Mass and the Consecration of the Priests.” [This quote used also by Pieper, C.D. 3:456-457; Dogmatik: 3:521]

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Luther practically used “priest” and “Pfaffen” as synonyms in 1533. — Walther's quote from Luther is a foundational passage of Luther's teaching from Scripture on this all important topic. I doubt that the members of the LC-MS para-church organization "Gottesdienst", who consider themselves as "especially holy", will repeat Luther's strong statement that diminishes much of their rhetoric. Let it be said that Luther, Walther, and Pieper all stressed that the ministers are not to lord it over the laypeople, the original priests, but be their helpers. — In the next Part Pf03…

“Who are the Pfaffen?” Walther: The good, the bad; Der Lutheraner 1874 - Part Pf01 of 11

      While processing the text of the Der Lutheraner volumes for publication, an article by C. F. W. Walther caught my eye that I had to dig into to learn more about its subject matter. It addressed not only a mysterious German word, but also the provocative nature of the para-church LC–MS organization of Lutheran "priests" called Gottesdienst, the ones who call each other "Father".

      The title in German was "Wer sind die Pfaffen?". When trying to translate Walther's essay title, I consulted several dictionaries on the term "Pfaffe" which yielded confusing results. My old (1993) Langenscheidt's German-English translated it as "cleric, Holy Joe". "Holy Joe"? My Dictionary of Modern Theological German by Helmut Ziefle (Baker, 1993) translated it "priest, cleric, parson". So I went to the Internet and found the perfect solution to my dilemma. This came from Wiktionary when I asked Google the question "What is the difference between Pfaffe and Priest in the German language?" and it returned the answer in a definition of the German word "Priester":

“An earlier West Germanic word for “priest” is Pfaffe, which remained in use alongside Priester during the Middle Ages, but has had a pejorative tone since the Reformation.”

So, "Pfaffe" is a derogatory term for priests because of Luther's Reformation. But that means I still have a dilemma, especially since Walther also used the word "Priester". How do I translate the many times that Walther used the word "Pfaffe" and its derivative terms? Do I translate it as "priest"? That does not quite express the Reformation's meaning and it does not distinguish it from our English "priest". Do I translate it as "cleric"? That too does not necessarily convey the "pejorative tone" of the German. After considerable thought, I have decided to keep the German term "Pfaffe" or "pfaffe", also "Pfaffen" which means both the singular and plural.

      So dear reader, familiarize yourself with the term "Pfaffe". I like to think that it sounds a little like "puffed":

Pfaffe → puffed up

Yes, that sounds about right. Or how about "Pfooi"! Hmmm, that sounds "pejorative" enough. I will think of "puffed" and "Pfooi" when I translate the old Germanic term "Pfaffen".

      So now that I have made the decision on what term to use, I can present the best English translation of Walther's essay title:

Who are the Pfaffen?

In this essay, Walther uses the German terms "Pfaffen", "Priester", "Pfarrer", and "Pastor". All of these could be confused with each other by English speaking people. But we are interested mainly in what Walther wants to teach us on the usage of the German term "Pfaffen", and its derivatives such as Pfafferei, Pfaffish, Pfaffenthum, etc.— Now that we have a little background on what Walther is going to talk about, we can allow him to take the next step and introduce the topic. From Der Lutheraner, vol. 30 (1874), p. 49 (underlining follows Walther's emphasis):

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Who are the Pfaffen?

[by C. F. W. Walther; Part 1]

Among the various evil titles with which the enemies of religion in our days use to honor or rather insult the preachers of the Gospel, a very common one, as is well known, is the title “Pfaffen,” hence those who use the service of such preachers are now usually scolded by them as “Pfaffen’s servants” [“Pfaffenknechte”]. So it is not unnecessary to examine who is actually rightly to be called a Pfaffe and a Pfaffen’s servant. Well, let us deal with the question: Who are the Pfaffen? [page 49-3]

The word “Pfaffe” originated from the Greek word papas, from which also the Latin word papa has its origin, and thus actually means a father. Originally, therefore, the word “Pfaffe” was not a dirty word at all, but rather a title of honor, [confirming the Wiktionary account] which was initially given to the priests [Priestern] in the Roman church to indicate that they were respected as spiritual fathers. 

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      The reader is about to be treated to a very informative essay on not just the term "Pfaffen", but also on Church History, Reformation History. We learn that this term was considered by one zealous papist (Emser) to be at the heart of Luther's Reformation. And there is perhaps no better historian than C. F. W. Walther to instruct us. — So now that we have the proper introduction, Walther begins his "deep dive" in the next Part Pf02.

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Pf01: This introduction; "Pfaffen" translation; originally not a dirty word

Pf02: We are all born simply as priests & Pfaffe; Pope: “supreme Pfaffen”; Luther's strong statement

Pf03: “Pfaff” loses good meaning, gets bad reputation

Pf04: Pfaffen: all false teachers, man pleasers; Walther the pietist? (Drs. Eggold, and Pelikan)

Pf05: Pfaffery: Lotteries, booze, food parties, dance festivals [& church bazaars]

Pf06: Pfaffen: Rationalistic, don’t believe Bible is God’s Word: the third class of Pfaffen

Pf07: Pfaffen: preach rightly, but in practice…; the fourth class

Pf08: Pfaffen: Special holiness, mysterious power, dignity; Luther's counsel against Pfaffen

Pf09: Pfaffen: Servant behaves like master; Pfaffen fall on doctrine

Pf10: Good pastors aren’t “Pfaffen”, honor them!

Pf11: Don’t be “persecutors of faithful servants”