Dr. Nagel and the Doctrine of the Office of the Holy Ministry
I've had my notes from the Holy Ministry class given from Dr. Nagel sitting idle for weeks. It was a great opportunity, and the effect of its content has been pervasive in my consequent thought. There are so many gifts to share from the thirty hours of class. Thankfully I do not have to complete the required reading or coursework. Unfortunately, I accepted a challenge given in the course. I'm still working on developing the content, but the future paper's conclusion is perhaps earthshaking for Lutherans. Nah, not really but I had you going for a bit! So I desire to dump some of the things rattling around in my head. They may be fully formed, or they may be loose. Take them or leave them. One of the focuses of Dr. Nagel is the concept of gift. Indeed, gifts are no concept or abstraction. Rather they are concrete and not arbitrary. God in his wisdom chose men to give his grace. God chose humanity in Christ to deliver humanity. We expect the exercise of divinity. In the same way he uses fragile, fleshy men to give divine grace. In the modern context, person-to-person contact is needed. God chose to work not in ephemeral cybercommunication. He chose to use hands, bread and wine, and water. These are the gifts of the divine mandate. "What is dominically done, is mandatedly done." The implication for the life of the Christian is profound. We have been given men to actually speak the words of God's forgiveness into our ears. This speaks of God's gift of private confession which is largely absent in Lutheran practice. God hasn't given us forgiveness in an in-your-head kind-of-way but rather in an earthy, physical way. Where there is doubt, there faith flees. With a man given to speak these words to you, you can rely on the promise of forgiveness and trust in the gift. The office of the Holy Ministry is free from anthropocentric emphasis. It is fleshy, it is heard, it uses hands; it is anointing. In effect, it is incarnational. It is God made flesh in the means he has given. Today, with the prominence of virtual social groups like Second Life, we are in danger of losing this real, physical contact which God has given to us for the sake of trust. The divine mandate of the Holy Ministry by its very build gets the man out of the way. Yet, it works in the way of man. Man communicates and speaks in a particular way. His ministers speak in this way, e.g. using rhetoric. We witness that the divine rhetoric of Scripture is in the way of the way we speak. It works with our expectations. When it does the unexpected, it gets our attention. Interestingly, the popular method of preaching is the deductive style. We don't witness Scripture working in a deductive style. We have expectations established which are surpassed as we read and hear more of Scripture. Despite using human voices, clearly the pastor's work is the Lord doing it. Our confession is transparent to the scripture if it is to be quia. This is quite evident in the Luther's Small Catechism. There is nothing evident in this common confession of faith. We appreciate the genius of Luther or Nagel. Why? Because the teaching of Luther is formed by the chief articles of faith found in the catechism. This confession is faithful if it is the articulated Word of God. It is no surprise then to learn that the genius of Luther (or other orthodox theologians) comes by way of their teaching, preaching which is the articulated word of God in the mouth of the man called and given the office. The class itself will benefit my vicarage. It served as a springboard for the Kleinig class I am producing for Doxology, Inc. Understanding the Biblical mandate, that is, the office of Pastor given by our Lord is essential to pastoral formation. It is a shame that the content isn't covered until late in our four year curriculum (Dogmatics III of the 4th year). What we are to be about is not discussed until we have already practiced it both in fieldwork and vicarage. Is it better to learn what God has given us by His Word to confess or to learn by doing? I am grateful to have received the wisdom of God from His servant Dr. Nagel.
