Synod

I attended the communion service at the synod convention in June, but refrained from communing. I also may attend the communion service at the General Pastoral Conference, but I will refrain from communing. Lest anyone jump to conclusions or speculations, it is important that I give the reason for this.

Communing together with other Christians is an expression of unity in the faith as the body of Christ. Though I may think that some of my brothers in Christ are mistaken about various things, I do not believe any of them are truly opposed to the doctrine that has united our synod for 88 years, including Pastors Rolf Preus, Joseph Abrahamson, Steven Brockdorf, Rob Lawson, and Les Lanier. These pastors have not persisted in any false doctrine that I know of, and neither has the rest of the synod. (If you disagree, please bring a charge and prove it appropriately.) So my decision not to commune is not based upon a lack of Christian fellowship between me and any part of the ELS (including Pastor Preus and his parish).

So why not commune?

Because some of my brothers have been misled by our true enemy into a sectarian point of view, believing that a man who questions the scriptural authority of a synod doctrinal statement should be excluded from our fellowship, rather than that he should receive the answers he seeks, or that his point be well-taken. This is sad for those whom they are excluding, who are bearing the cross of unjust rejection even as their Savior and the first Christian martyr, Stephen, did. It is even sadder for those who have given their assent to this new sectarianism that has arisen in our midst under the guise of Christian fellowship. Yet even Saul, who held the robes of those who stoned Stephen, found complete forgiveness and received a godly vocation when our Lord finally corrected him.

Yet I do not regard my misguided brothers as false teachers. They are misled, and I pray that they will come to see things better through our mutual study of God's Word. In the meantime, I do not wish to offend an erring or ill-informed conscience by exercising my right as a fellow member of the body of Christ. I can only speak for myself. Again, my decision is not to separate from anyone, but to protect those who have been misled into unjust sectarianism, and hopefully to help them see the influence of our true enemy, who seeks to divide the ELS.

Someone may wonder if I subscribe to our synod's doctrinal statements, based upon the foregoing explanation. In a sense, yes. We can call it the wider sense of the word "subscribe." You see, our synodical doctrinal statements are not the same as the symbols of our church. They are not, strictly speaking, confessions of the evangelical catholic faith. Rather, they are expressions and applications of doctrine addressing particular, contemporary, parochial issues. They are meant to apply in the context where our synod finds itself. The Norwegian Synod statements on slavery are one good example, and the doctrinal statement just adopted last year is another. Such statements are not written for all Christians, nor even for all Lutherans to adopt, though they aim to agree with the Bible and symbols (creeds and confessions), and as such, express universal principles of Christian doctrine. Moreover, they are completely subject to testing and examination, even after they have been adopted, with the understanding that if they are found to contradict the norm of our faith, they must be rejected. The Confessions, on the other hand, while likewise subject to testing, have already been proven to a degree that they may be assumed a priori to be in agreement with holy scripture. Just see which doctrinal statements are mentioned by name in our church constitutions! Accordingly, I reserve my full, unqualified, a priori, quia subscription for the Book of Concord of 1580, since it has long ago been proven true beyond a doubt. I'll call that the narrow sense of the word "subscribe." In the wider sense, I also subscribe to our synod's doctrinal statements, with an a posteriori subscription. Like this post, some of them may later need to be changed to remain accurate confessions of faith. See my explanation of the PMW statement as a possible example.

Our synod office announced today that it received a letter from several pastors and two congregations. I'll include a both the announcement and the letter itself below. Careful readers will notice that they do not agree about one important thing. The letter says that this state of confession makes it impossible for the signers to commune with those individuals who persistently act contrary to God's Word. The letter does not apply to anyone else. The announcement has a different point of view: that the state of confession makes it impossible for the signers to enjoy altar and pulpit fellowship with the entire synod. Which is correct? Also, what does the synod administration hope to accomplish with its different point of view?

Perhaps the second question can be answered from the announcement, which informs the synod of a certain implication of the state of confession. The implication is that "they are in a protest doctrinally against the ELS since doctrine and practice go hand in hand." Note the logic.

Major Premise

Certain pastors and churches have entered a state of confession against certain things persistently done contrary to God's Word.

Minor Premise

Doctrine and practice go hand in hand.

(Intermediate) Conclusion

These pastors and churches are protesting the doctrine of the ELS.

First: is the argument valid? That is, if you grant that the premises are true, must the conclusion always be true as well? Second: Are the premises true? I believe the premises are both true and well established. However, the conclusion is not valid. Why not? Because it is eminently possible that the actions under protest have been done contrary to the doctrine of the ELS. It is also possible that the people of the ELS do not always put its doctrine into practice in a consistent manner.

The final conclusion in this announcement is what I mentioned at the beginning of this article: that these pastors and congregations are not at this time in altar/pulpit fellowship with pastors and congregations of the ELS. This is based upon the (invalid) intermediate conclusion above.

(Note the final conclusion does not say other pastors and congregations of the ELS, which leads one to suppose that the author may have a further, unstated conclusion in mind.)

Toward the end of the announcement, a consequence is described of any pastor's suspension from the ELS. Namely, that the suspended pastor and the parish he serves are not in a "fellowshipping relationship" with the synod. This assumes that the congregation does not terminate his call on the basis of the suspension alone -- one of the acts presently under protest. Presumably, if the parish should terminate its pastor's call, even contrary to its own constitution, then it would retain the "fellowshipping relationship."

But an important question or two must be asked here. Does the suspension of a pastor from the clergy roster of the ELS have the same effect as an excommunication; does it effectively place the suspended person outside of the synod's fellowship? If so, what was the sin committed by Pastor Preus in the first place? What is the "cause" for removing him, or of what sin is he supposed to repent? I have not heard that anyone has accused him of teaching false doctrine. Was it that he insisted that there must be scriptural support for an assertion in our doctrinal statement on the ministry? Is it that without such support, the assertion in question does not have the authority of God's Word? Was he not supposed to say things like that?

Hard questions, I know. Maybe we don't have any theologians in the ELS capable of answering such questions, so we must resort to more creative solutions. It's easy enough to claim something in writing (I should know), but it's sometimes not so easy to back it up with clear scripture and good logic.

Pastor Preus (the ELS one) has publicized an appendix to his appeal and also the presentation he made to the appeals commission. They are archived at christfor.us, where you can also find the appeal itself and other documents leading up to the present tragic circumstances in the ELS. I will include both the appendix and presentation below, for your information.

While I was on vacation, on 9/11 to be exact, the announcement came out that the appeals commission decided to uphold the suspension. Since the ELS has no codified process after this, it may be the final official word on the suspension issue. This is unspeakably tragic, because the decision means more than an official confirmation of a particular judgment call on the part of the president. (To understand this, you should certainly inform yourself by reading the documents archived at christfor.us.) It also means:

1. That it is acceptable in the ELS for the president to "minister" (I prefer "interfere") in the congregations of the ELS without the knowledge of their pastors.

2. That pastors may be suspended from the ELS for reasons not included in the ELS Guidelines on synodical discipline. This leads immediately to the question: what can a pastor be suspended for? It currently has no definitive answer, so speculation is well justified. From the 2006 Convention, it would seem that if the president should deem a pastor or congregation "unteachable," the result could be immediate and unilateral suspension.

3. That a suspension from the ELS (for whatever reason) places the suspended party outside of ELS fellowship.

4. That it is acceptable for a congregation to fire its pastor (rescind his call) for the reason that he has been suspended from the ELS clergy roster. This is not the same as showing that he has persistently taught false doctrine, lived an ungodly life, or been wilfully negligent in his duties, or even that he has become incompetent as a pastor. (Check your church's constitution to see what reasons are allowed there.)

It is sinful to practice fellowship with someone who persistently teaches false doctrine. False doctrine is defined as that which contradicts the scripture (the norma normans of Christian doctrine) and the Lutheran Confessions (our norma normata of doctrine). It is equally sinful to deny fellowship to someone who does not teach false doctrine. Fellowship is a matter of doctrine. It is a purely theological question, to be decided on the basis of doctrine, not on the basis of politics or human favor. Romans 16:17 says that we are to mark and avoid false teachers. Part of "marking" or identifying a false teacher is to identify the false teaching in which he persists. That has not been done in any part of this whole suspension controversy. Instead, it has been skipped over. Pastor Preus has been impugned and maligned as a false teacher without any doctrinal reason for it. (The reason for his suspension was that he has accused the ELS of persisting in false doctrine, an accusation which he has not made and has specifically denied making. Even if it were true, such an accusation is not the same thing as teaching false doctrine himself, a fact which should be obvious to everyone but has now been contradicted by both the president and the commission on appeals.)

So now, ELS pastors and churches are told by the synod that we are to regard Pastor Preus as a false teacher outside our fellowship. Yet no doctrinal reason has been given to do so, neither an accusation nor proof of persistent false teaching. So it seems that we are being told that we must break fellowship with someone who still teaches and confesses the doctrine of the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions, and that if we do not, we are sinning. Yet it is certain that to break fellowship with such a brother in Christ is also sinful. Should we obey God, or men?

Or, should someone at some point show a little bit of Christian love, patience, and humility? Have we forgotten 1 Corinthians 13?