Vol. 3 Issue 4
April 2016
Since Christ and His apostles don’t command any external ceremonies dictating how the church is to worship, the church is free to institute external ceremonies and rites “which are profitable unto tranquility and good order in the Church” (AC XV.1) Human traditions should also “teach men Scripture, and that those admonished by the Word may conceive faith and fear [of God, and obtain comfort], and thus also may pray.” (Ap XXIV:3). As we noted in Part II, every practice in the church, every man-made tradition should accomplish these things. Of course, we also noted that if a tradition or ceremony in the church is found to conflict with the Gospel, or if a tradition is made into a necessity, then it must not be followed but removed.
With
this in mind, we move into the final phase of discussing human traditions in
the church, which is how to judge whether human traditions succeed in their
goal or not. This is as simple as asking two diagnostic questions when
considering any ceremony in the church. First, “What does the tradition confess
about the Gospel?” and “Is it a good confession or an inadequate confession?”
Let’s
use a visible example: the pastor’s attire. I am often asked why I wear a
clerical collar. The answer is not, “Because it makes getting dressed much
easier.” The pastor wears the clerical collar to set him apart from others in
the church. What sets the pastor apart from the laity is his office, the office
of the Holy Ministry, by which he ministers to the
congregation
“in the stead and by the command” of Christ. Not all Christians are pastors or
ministers. This is evident from Acts 20:28; Ephesians 4:11, and Paul’s
qualifications for ministers spelled out in 1 Timothy and Titus. The Office of
the Holy Ministry does not make the pastor any better a Christian than the
layman. It simply means he has a different office.
The
clerical shirt is an external marker than the pastor has been called by Christ
and ordained into His Holy Ministry. Nowhere does Christ command this gear to
be worn, so it is not a necessary part of a proper call into the Holy Ministry.
If it were taught that is necessary for the validity of the pastor’s ministry,
or that wearing such attire added to one’s salvation, then it would be “opposed to the Gospel and the doctrine of faith” (AC XV.3).
Now,
let us apply the second question: Is the clerical shirt a good confession or an
inadequate one? Does it succeed in confessing what it means to confess, i.e.
that the wearer has been placed into Christ’s Holy Office? Honestly, it depends
on whom you ask. Many from American Evangelicalism view the clerical collar as
a sign of latent Romanism at best, or at worst, a raging case of the
“Holier-than-Thou’s.” But remember, there is no Office of the Holy ministry in
American Evangelicalism. In the minds of many American Christians, everyone is
a minister of Christ, some just do it publically on Sunday morning. It is Luther’s
“Priesthood of All Believers” turned on its head, by which they assume that by
virtue of
baptism,
every Christian is a minister. I say that this is Luther’s theology turned on
its head because Luther did teach that all Christians were priests. Priests
offer sacrifices to God (Hebrews 13:15) and approach the Lord directly in
prayer. Luther never taught that all Christians are pastors. That would run
contrary to the “some” of Ephesians 4:11.
The
misuse of something, or the misunderstanding of something, does not mean that
it should be abandoned. Just because many do not have the same theology of the
Holy Ministry as the Scriptures does not mean that pastors should mothball
their clericals. In fact, it is the misunderstanding about the Office of the
Ministry that makes the pastor’s attire that much more important. By it, the
pastor confesses that He is called and ordained by Christ to serve in the Holy
Ministry. This brings up another point. Most American Christians have an
entirely different definition of “ministry” than Lutherans (and Scripture). For
Lutherans this is the ministry:
That we may
obtain this faith, the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the
Sacraments was instituted. (AC V.1)
To
most American Christians, “ministry” is general service to the church that
defies precision in definition. For the Lutheran, the ministry is a very
concrete office. (See 1 Corinthians 4:1).
Since
most American Christians are confused regarding the Office of the Ministry, it
is no wonder that the clerical collar seems foreign to them. The doctrine it
confesses, they generally don’t have. This is why, in my opinion, the clerical
shirt ought to be maintained among the clergy, to confess the Office of the
Holy Ministry into which Christ calls men to serve as “stewards of the
mysteries of God.”
It
is often said that the color black signifies the preacher’s sinfulness (in
which case, I need a darker shade of black). It is also said that the clerical
tab, being white and covering the voice box, signifies that the preacher’s
words are not his own words, but the pure Word of God. This also is worth
maintaining, because it teaches exactly what we’ve been discussing. It’s not a
galloping cause of the “Holier-than-Thou’s.” The attire teaches the doctrine of
the divine call, that God uses sinful men as His instruments to preach the
gospel and administer the sacraments.
This
is just one example of a human tradition that succeeds in confessing the
gospel, when properly understood. The principle detailed here should be applied
to any and every external ceremony and tradition within the church. So the next
time you wonder “why do we do that?” about something, remember that there
should always a reason and that reason is to teach some aspect of the Holy Gospel
so that we are continually learning the faith. Ad Finem Illum, Amen.
