The seventh point summarizing my longer explanation of the PMW is the
first one in which I would expect some disagreement. There are several
ways in which the PMW's expression is a bit lacking on this topic.
For example:
A doctrinal statement should express the Bible's doctrine. If it must
describe our merely human arrangements too, this should be explicitly
distinguished from the Bible's doctrine. The word "limited" denotes a
human arrangement, because the limitation is not characterized or
imposed by God, but rather by human beings. Yet the PMW could give the
impression that the "limited public use of the Keys" was handed down by
God from heaven. This is neither true nor biblically supported.
The use of the Keys is specified by God. The Keys are used to bind
and loose the sins of sinners. (Matthew 18:18 -- See point 5 of this
summary explanation.) If the term "limited public use of the keys" is taken to mean that the use is
limited, then the PMW's doctrine becomes hopelessly muddled. It would
mean that by human limitation, a person may bind but not loose, or a
person may loose but not bind. Or it could mean that a person could
loose and bind certain sins but not others. Or, that a person could
loose or bind the sins of certain people but not others.
Someone could say that this phrase really means "limited public
administration of the means of grace." If that's how it should be
taken, then why doesn't it say that? We have to work with the document
the way it's stated, or we have to fix it.
This phrase "limited public use of the keys," was one of the most
problematic ones for me to work through. However, there is a way to
understand it which is acceptable within the framework of the PMW.
Here's my seventh point:
When the statement speaks of a "limited public use of the Keys," the
part that is limited is the term "public," which is meant to show the
official, representative nature of the public ministry. When "public"
is not limited, a public minister acts fully in the name and stead of
Christ and on behalf of the Church by virtue of the specific divine
institution of the office of ministry (in the narrow sense). When
"public" is limited, a public minister acts directly on behalf of the
Church, and indirectly on behalf of Christ, since the minister
occupies an office that the Church established with the authority
given by our Lord.
Grammatically, I realize that this takes "limited" as an adverb, and it
appears to be an adjective. Yet consider what it would look like as an
adverb. "Limitedly public use of the Keys" is awkward, and the sort of
awkward that English avoids. It sounds and looks much better to let the
form "limited" serve as the adverb, describing the adjective "public." Furthermore,
English style would recommend a comma between "limited" and "public," if
both are adjectives describing "use." No comma has been written in the
carefully-worded PMW.
So this phrase describes something relating to the wider sense of
"public ministry." Within that wider sense, there is one office
established by God, by His command and promise: the office described by
the narrow sense of "public ministry." Beyond that office, the wider
sense of the term also includes this "limited public use of the keys."
In other words, it includes offices created by the Church in her
God-given (i.e. "divinely instituted" in a sense) freedom, and
furthermore, the public nature of these other offices is limited by
their origin in the will of the Church rather than in the express will
of God.
To illustrate, Jesus did not send out Sunday School teachers, but He did
send out pastors, namely, His apostles. So we can call a pastor's
essential work "fully" public, since it originates in the explicit
sending of God. However, a Sunday School teacher's work originates in
the sending/calling of the Church. It was not assigned directly by
Jesus, so it's "limitedly" public.
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