Will Marquart Debate?
By Rev. Jack Cascione

 

Another Rebuttal from Marquart

To: THE EDITOR CHRISTIAN NEWS

Pr. Cascione's rambling response is beside the point for the most part, and wrong on the basic theology. Discerning readers will see this, but unwary ones may not.

Sadly, no matter how often I say it, it never seems to sink in. I defend our Synod's traditional polity-I simply refuse, as did Walther, to make it a matter of dogma. Remember Churchill's quip to the effect that all forms of government are bad, and that democracy is simply the best of a bad lot! That realistically reflects our human situation after the Fall.

Now the basic theology: if Synod is simply 'a human invention" how is it that it "conducts mission work"? Pr. Cascione mixes apples and chestnuts when he says: "the synod is not church, it is a group of churches that agree to follow the same doctrine, practice, polity, regulations, resolutions, constitution, worship, discipline and clergy roster." Unity in the apostolic doctrine and church fellowship based on that are not human inventions but God's institution. Even if there were no Synodical constitution and bylaws, the fellowship of local churches in God-given doctrine and sacraments confessing and evangelizing together would be "church"-as in Acts 9:31, where the best reading is singular. "the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria" (NIV).

Constitutions and outward regulations are necessary for order, but that's organization, not churchly essence, either for congregations or for synods. By divine institution a congregation is the Eucharistic gathering at one place, even if it be only two or three. By divine institution such a congregation has one or more ministers of the Gospel serving it. There is by divine institution no church or ministry "above" or "below" any other local church and ministry. Therefore bishops or Superintendents or presidents differ from other pastors only by human, not by divine right. Organizationally, districts, dioceses, synods, and the like, are human institutions. But the bonds of faith and love, of apostolic doctrine and sacraments, which unite such local churches into a trans-local fellowship, are God-given, not man-made. And that is the churchly essence-as distinct from the bureaucratic incidentals-of an orthodox synod-Synods are churches being church together.

That is why our Confessions say that "decisions of synods for councils are decisions of the church" (Treatise, 56). As for Walther, what did he mean in the subtitle of his classic on church and ministry: "The Voice of Our Church in the Question of Church and Ministry"? Was "our church" his parish in St. Louis? And why does he speak not of "true visible churches," but of 'The Evangelical Lutheran Church, the True Visible Church of God on Earth"? Only local churches? Think again! In his famous Iowa District essay of 1879 Walther said: "Here in America we govern the church also in the form of the Synod." But "Essays for the Church II" gives the ridiculous mistranslation: "Here in America we also use the arrangement of a synod [or council] to carry on the business of the church"(p.46)! Yes, there's room for ten Walther Conferences to rescue the real Walther from his spin-doctors!

Cordially yours in Christ

K. Marquart
C.T.S.
18 OCT. 2000


Will Marquart Debate?

We again thank Professor Marquart for his response. Marquart claims to defend the Synod's traditional polity but clearly disagrees with Walther by saying that the Synod is Church.

We notice he had no reply to the books and citations showing the Synod's congregational polity is Voter Supremacy.

Walther indeed calls the four points in support of Voter Supremacy, offered in my previous response "doctrine" in his "Form of the Christian Congregation," "Church and Ministry," "The Congregation's Right to Choose Its Pastor," "and his "Pastoral Theology." All of these points and the Biblical citations were taken from Walther's writing in these books. When did the Bible and the Confessions stop being doctrine?

Marquart insists that the Synod is church. We respond that the Synod does not do mission work; rather, it is the congregations that do mission work together as a Synod. Yes, the Synod carries on churchly functions in behalf of the congregations but the Synod can't possibly be a church. Its elected officials cannot excommunicate a member from a congregation, they cannot administer the sacraments at the Conventions, and they have no regular calls to perform the duties of a pastor to the Synod. Only the local congregation bears the marks of the church.

Page 146 and 147 of the LCMS Handbook state that the LCMS is a corporation. "a. The name of the corporation shall be "The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod." It then states the objectives, membership, meetings, officers, property, bylaws, and amendments of the corporation.

We agree that the Confessions say, "the decisions of the Synod are the decisions of the Church and, not of the Popes" (Treatise 56) only to the extent that the local congregation's have given the "Synod" the authority to speak for them. In the context cited from the Confessions the State owned the local congregations. Marquart is the one who mixes apples and chestnuts.

Marquart offers a series of quotations from Walther supposedly teaching that the Synod is church. On the contrary, Walther would often use the word "church" in a variety of contexts to refer to the local congregation, and the Synod as a group of congregations, but never suggests the "Synod is Church" with the marks of the church. Thank God, the LCMS official's have no authority over the local congregations.

We offer the following citation from Walther where he speaks about the Synod as church and the congregations as churches and church without ever intending to say the "Synod is Church."

"Nevertheless it remains true that the Lutheran liturgy distinguishes Lutheran worship from the worship of other churches to such an extent that the houses of worship of the latter look like mere lecture halls in which the hearers are only addressed and instructed, while our churches are in truth houses of prayer in which the Christians serve the great God publicly before the world.

"Uniformity of ceremonies (perhaps according to the Saxon church order published by the Synod, which is the simplest among the many Lutheran church orders) would be highly desirable because of its usefulness. A poor slave of the pope finds one and the same form of service, no matter where he goes, by which he at once recognizes his church. With us it is different! Whoever comes from Germany without a true understanding of doctrine often has to look for his church for a long time, and many have already been lost to our church because of this search. How different it would be if the entire Lutheran church had a uniform form of worship!" ("Essays for the Church," C. F. W. Walther Volume I, page 194 "Thesis XVIII D, Adiaphora, 16th Central District Convention 1871)"

The discussion above would not be under the title of adiaphora if the "Synod is Church" as Marquart, suggests. If the Synod is church it could just tell the congregations what their worship should be without a vote from the Convention.

"The Second National Free Conference on C. F. W. Walther" is only being held at Hope Lutheran Church in St. Louis on November 3 and 4 because no LCMS Seminary, University, or District sponsors such a conference. The real "spin-doctors" on Walther are teaching at the seminaries. We have only captured the Walther flag because his positions are being discredited by both Seminary faculties who no longer support Voter Supremacy and Congregational Autonomy as Walther did. The President of the St. Louis Seminary and its Vice President for Academic Affairs are on the PLI payroll.

The paper that pastor Bischoff is going to present will show that the Synod is not church but only a human organization and my paper will show the need to preserve congregational autonomy as Walther taught it should be.

We have already published the schedule for the Walther Conference. However, we invite Professor Marquart to present and debate his position on Saturday at 2:00 PM at the Conference. We will give Professor Marquart plane fare, 30 minutes to state his position, and as many rebuttals of 5 minutes each as he chooses.

I close with a quotation from noted life long layman and financial secretary of our congregation, Mr. Elmer Villeme, when he read Marquart's equation of Voters' Assemblies with Bolsheviks. "Well then, who is in charge? Let's see the Word and Sacraments sign his pay check."


Rev. Jack Cascione is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (LCMS - MI) in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. He has written numerous articles for Christian News and is the author of Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS: How to Keep Your Congregation Lutheran. He has also written a study on the Book of Revelation called In Search of the Biblical Order.
He can be reached by email at pastorcascione@juno.com.

October 19, 2000