AG4b: 1876: Means of Grace: Validity and Power; "better not to have a pastor…?"

      This continues from Part AG4a (Table of Contents in Part AG1a) in a series presenting Walther's essays to the Western District that supported his theme "That Only Through the Doctrine of the Lutheran Church is All Glory Given to God Alone". — This essay delivered to the 1876 Western District dealt mostly with the Doctrine of the Means of Grace, where Walther covers four points, of which this blog covers points 2. and 3.:

1. Foundation (pp. 25-29)
2. Validity (pp. 29-41)
3. Power (pp. 42-56)
4. Immutability (pp. 56-63)

Walther's teaching may seam blunt to some, but he was defending against a combative Reformed element in America:

Notable Quotes:

Validity: [pp. 29-41]

29: "Does something now also depend on man that we really have these means of grace?… Never!"

30: The Lutheran Church teaches "If the one who administers a means of grace only does what God has instituted with it, then no matter what he may be, it is quite irrelevant as to the validity of his action"

30: "The piety of man does not make the action good, and the godlessness of man does not make the action bad."

30: "Even if the preacher is up to his ears in sin, even if he is a wretch, God will not allow this to destroy what he has instituted."

31: "Can we see into his [the pastor's] heart?"

31-32: "…modern Lutherans also abolish the validity of the means of grace with their doctrine of ordination.…they say that he must be properly called.…he must be properly ordained"

32: "these papistic Lutherans teach that ordination is an act which only a preacher can perform"

32: "a shameful, abominable doctrine, this doctrine of ordination, for by it the means of grace are made quite uncertain…That is why the Episcopal Church is such a dangerous sect"

33: "The validity of the means of grace is not based on the holiness of men or angels, but on God's Word."

34: "What the Methodists and sects now teach on this point is…the renewed doctrine of the Schwenkfeldians"

34: "the papists rob their own of all consolation by drawing them away from God's Word and towards human sanctity."

34: "For if the preacher is not a true Christian…he will certainly not rightly divide Law and Gospel"

35: "Even if one commits the most shameful abuse of Holy Communion, for example, if one sells it for high prices, as the Roman clergy do, this does not invalidate Holy Communion"

38: "Jesus alone is therefore the Baptizer"

38: "Pastor Grabau teaches about ordination in exactly the same way as the modern Lutherans".

38: "the means of grace only exist where God's Word is real…the sound does not make the word a word, but the meaning that I give the word."

39: The Reformed " have the sound, but they attach to it an entirely different meaning than is usually connected with it; thus they do not have the thing, namely the body and blood of Christ, for they do not have the word which makes the element a sacrament."

40: "So what a church fellowship teaches and publicly confesses, that is what it gives"

40: "But praise God that we have three means of grace, namely, in addition to Baptism, the Word and the Lord's Supper! These two means of grace [The Word & Lord's Supper] give us forgiveness of sins, life and salvation just as much as Baptism; thus the lack of baptism does not prevent the true believer from his salvation" 

40: "If I cannot go to Holy Communion because there is no orthodox preacher, and I believe, it is just as good as if I had received it, as Augustine also says: crede, et manducasti. [Believe, and you have eaten.]…I have this good of grace in the Word just as well as in the Lord's Supper" [This is my situation, as a Lutheran – "BackToLuther".]

41: "the Zwinglians have, if not the Lord's Supper, at least Baptism…[he] baptizes in the name of the triune God and therefore also has Baptism."

Power: [pp. 42-56]

42: "For the Reformed, the Gospel is nothing more than an instruction, a lesson."

42:  For Lutherans "every preaching of the Gospel is an absolution that God Himself gives to everyone".

43: "for even in the Lutheran Church there are very many preachers who are basically Reformed."

43: "Grace is already in the Word, in Absolution, in Baptism, in the Lord's Supper; faith does not bring it in, but faith takes it out."

44: "To every man, whoever he may be, even to the most wicked mocker of religion, I can say: all the gates of heaven have long been opened to you" [See Pieper's essay "The Open Heaven". (WIC6)]

45: "Only the Holy Spirit can work this [faith in the Gospel], without Him we think it is nothing but a fable. It would be far too comforting, our blind reason thinks, if the way to salvation were made so easy for us"

46: "God…gives forgiveness of sin without any conditions. …when you are in confession, you should rather feel as if the good Lord himself were standing there and telling you that your sins are forgiven"

46: "God has blessed us Lutherans above all other churches on earth, for where else can this doctrine be found?"

47: "If we had all other doctrines pure, and not this one, we would soon lose all doctrines again, for it shows most clearly that we are justified and saved by faith alone"

47: "yet people do not come to believe because we do not preach the power of the means of grace correctly."

48: "Let these hostile thoughts go, do not look at the dear God as if He were not yet reconciled with you"

48: "let no one think: yes, if, if, if — no! Christ has not added an if, He speaks absolutely, not conditionally."

49: "The pope with his false key and all those who do not accept absolution make God a liar"

49: Papists "say: alas, a strange doctrine, a dangerous doctrine, which makes people safe"

49: "The Bible is a document of pardon given by God from heaven for all men"

50: "Preachers do not do enough teaching. They should say again and again: Come as you will, you will be truly absolved."

51: "Whoever therefore does not believe the word of absolution does not believe the Word of God."

51-52: "True inward forgiveness is only there when you have found it outside yourself, in words." [First objective faith, then subjective faith.]

52: Luther: "A king gives you a castle; if you do not accept it, the king has not lied about it, nor has he erred, but you have deceived yourself and it is your fault"

52-53: "Many a man will one day in eternity wonder how countless his sins have been forgiven him, and he has not believed it, how often the castle of heaven has been given to him, and he would not accept it."

53: "[By[the ministry of the gospel, we do not mean a pastor or minister or clergyman… but nothing more than the divine order"

54: "The ministry is not absolutely necessary for a person to go to heaven; but the preaching ministry is absolutely necessary."

54: "It is often much better not to have a pastor, if one has a shameful clergyman;" [What teacher in the LC-MS would teach this?] "but without the preaching office, i.e. without the Gospel, one cannot be saved; this is the ladder to heaven"

Let me repeat that last statement from Walther:

"It is often much better not to have a pastor, 

if one has a shameful clergyman"

That is a Luther-like statement, from the "American Luther"! — In the next Part AG4c, the Immutability of the Means of Grace, then the doctrine of Conversion.