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Aspects Of Church Doctrine.” The purpose of this short paper written in the form of five
questions with answers is simple. The Roman Catholic Church wishes to restate its
position on the issues surrounding the act of being “Church.”
Press agencies normally ignore this type of document because these articles are rather dry
and uninteresting. However, this paper was different because it included the phrase,
“These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the absence of the
sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the
Eucharistic Mystery cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called ‘Churches’ in the
proper sense.” This sentence along with a preceding one that said, “It follows that these
separated churches and Communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are
deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation.” caused
responses from both our denomination and the Missouri Synod.
In order to understand the Roman Catholic’s position and our disagreements with them,
we need to look at their definition of “Church.” From the viewpoint of the Roman
Catholics, the Church’s location is intrinsically tied to the bishops of the Roman Catholic
Church. This doctrine was first stated by St. Ignatius of Antioch (born near 50 AD and
died between 98 and 117) in his letter to the Smyrneans. St. Ignatius writes: “Wherever
the bishop appear, there let the multitude be; even as wherever Christ Jesus is, there is the
Catholic Church. It is not lawful either to baptize, or to hold a lovefeast (Holy
Communion) without the consent of the bishop…”
It is clear from Ignatius’ definition written almost nineteen hundred years ago that the
Roman Catholic Church requires the office of the bishop and without this one person the
Church does not exist and in the absence of his blessings, the sacraments are invalid.
While we Lutherans generally hold the early writings of the Church in high regard, we
think that Ignatius is wrong because we believe that God determines both the location of
the Church and the validity of the sacraments. For us, this conclusion is one of utmost
importance because it clearly is a question of trust. Do we believe that God guarantees
God’s promises or does it take a man?
The preface of the Gospel according to St. John states that Christ is the Word of God who
comes into the world that it might be saved. We believe that we can proclaim God’s Word
of life only because God gives us this power. We cannot force God to do this. Rather
God comes to us and gives us the Word to speak because God wants to bring light to the
darkness. The same idea is found in the Lutheran understanding of the sacraments. We
cannot require the Holy Spirit to come when the pastor speaks the words, “You are
baptized in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Instead, God
participates in the sacrament of Baptism because God fulfills the promise that we will be
baptized in the Holy Spirit. When Holy Communion is served to the congregation, the
pastor cannot make Jesus come to us in and through the bread and the wine. Jesus is
there with us because He honors His Word.
This understanding of the Word and the sacraments forced Martin Luther and Philipp
Melanchthon to disagree with the Roman Catholics and to define the Church as the
location where the Gospel is correctly taught and the sacraments are given in accordance
to God’s command. We teach and believe that we can truly be called a Church because
we trust in the promises of God to gather us into Christ’s Body instead of relying on the
presence of a person.