Comments on the Expulsion of a Lutheran 'Deacon'
                               by C.F.W Walther
                  Translation and introduction by Mark Nispel
     Translated from Der Lutheraner, Jan. 1, 1867, v. 23, n. 9, p. 65-68.
                                 December 1993

 Introduction

 This is a translation of an article written by C.F.W. Walther appearing in the
 pages of Der Lutheraner in the year 1867.  It is a rather short article
 occupying less than three pages in the original text yet it is very rich in
 content when understood in  its complete context and background.  In order for
 this translation to have its greatest possible usefulness I would like to
 offer this brief introduction to the article.  

 Reason for the Article

 In this article Walther, who at this time was the editor of Der Lutheraner and
 President of the Missouri Synod, rebukes Pastor Grabau of the Buffalo Synod. 
 The Buffalo Synod and the Missouri Synod had been at odds for over 15 years
 over doctrines of church and ministry.  Shortly before this time there had
 been a split in the Buffalo Synod and after a colloquy with Walther and the
 Missouri Synod in 1866 many of those pastors and congregations who had
 followed Pastor Grabau joined the Missouri Synod.  But Pastor Grabau
 continued to lead a small number of congregations.  In his own congregation
 Pastor Grabau had recently dismissed an assistant, Deacon Hochstetter, who had
 been laboring in word and sacrament in the congregation.  In order to justify
 this action Pastor Grabau made the theological claim that since Hochstetter
 was a mere deacon this was no serious action and should not alarm the people
 in the Buffalo Synod.  President Walther understood the matter very
 differently and rebukes Pastor Grabau  publicly for his action and his false
 doctrine.

     Historical Reflections on Lutheran Pfarrherrn, Prediger, and Diaconen

 In order to understand Pastor Grabau's argument and Walther's counter argument
 it is necessary to understand the distinctions which existed among German
 Lutheran clergy.  In English we often translate the German "Pfarrherr" as
 "pastor" and "Prediger" as  "preacher."  In our circles these seem to be terms
 referring to the same person.  But in Luther's Germany this was not the case. 
 The ancient distinctions between "bishop" "presbyter" and "deacon" were still
 represented by differences between offices such as "Pfarrherr," "Prediger,"
 and "Diaconos."  The Pfarrherr most closely approaches the ancient "bishop"
 who was over an entire city even if there were a number of church
 buildings/congregations there.  If there were only one church then the
 Pfarrherr would approach our "head pastor."  "Prediger" or preacher is a more
 general term which includes all ministers of the word but when used in
 distinction from the Pfarrherr it generally corresponds to the ancient
 "presbyter."  The preacher labored in word and doctrine in a particular
 church and was "under" the Pfarrherr in regards to authority or ruling.
 Further in some congregations there were "deacons."  In 1525 Luther ordained
 Georg Roerer as a deacon of the church in Wittenberg.  Such deacons engaged in
 preaching and administration of the sacraments but were seen as the assistants
 to the preachers and the Pfarrherr.  Even so, because of their work the
 Lutheran Church always recognized that such deacons were in the preaching
 office established by Christ even though according to human order they were to
 be subject to the other ministers. 

 (1)  In America over 300 years later things were not quite the same. 
 Generally a Pfarrherr was the pastor of a single church or congregation. 

 (2)  He corresponds to our "head pastor."  The office of "deacon" as known in
 Luther's day was not nearly so well known or used.  With this background then,
 Pastor Grabau dismissed Deacon Hochstetter without proper reason and then
 excused himself by saying Hochstetter was a mere deacon equivalent to a lay
 elder and not a pastor.  Walther understands the matter very differently.
 
 Importance of this Article

 This article is important for several reasons.  First, it is of course useful
 from a historical perspective.  It gives us a further look into the intense
 battle between Missouri and Buffalo.  Secondly, the article is even more
 important because Walther's argument against Pastor Grabau is so relevant to
 our own controversies.  Walther here has to address and answer the important
 questions: What is a pastor?  What is the ministry of the Word?  How ought a
 minister of the Word be treated by the church?  And it is precisely Walther's
 insight into this matter that is so important for us.  Walther's grand
 evangelical definition of a minister of the word does hinge on matters of
 oversight and ruling but rather on the Gospel and the labor of its public
 proclamation.  The evangelical pastor or minister is first and foremost a
 herald of the grace of God, a public proclaimer of Christ crucified.  Those
 who engage in this public work whether apostle, evangelist or pastor, are one
 and all the ministers of Christ occupying the one evangelical preaching
 office established with the first calling of the apostles.  Those who are not
 engaged in this work of the full proclamation of the Gospel and administration
 of the sacraments occupy what Walther calls helping offices because they
 exist to carry out functions which support and help the most important office
 - the preaching of the grace of God in Christ.

              __________________________________________________



 As our readers know, Pastor Grabau shamefully dismissed and expelled his
 former so-called 'Deacon' (Diakonus), Pastor Hochstetter, from his office when
 he no longer wanted to allow himself merely to be Grabau's compliant slave. 
 Grabau himself dismissed Hochstetter with no "appearance of right," without
 any due process, simply by the brutal authority of his trustees whom he urged
 on and mislead into such action.  This was all the more shameful because
 earlier Pastor Grabau himself had battled against this sort of thing as if
 against a barbarism when the Trustees here in America had ventured to
 establish and dismiss pastors, to open and close churches, to promise church
 property according to their own wishes to this or that party that pleased
 them, and in addition to misuse the authority given to them thorough the civil
 laws in several of our states.   Pastor Grabau, who earlier apparently battled
 for the holiness of the preaching office, committed a horrendous crime 
 against a sacred thing, a robbery of the church,  when against all right he
 carried out this violent expulsion of a Christian preacher, a minister of
 Christ and His church.  It appears to him also, now that the deed is done, not
 to have been an especially praiseworthy thing to do.  It seems his conscience
 accused him and bit at him and the thought came to him that he had revealed
 and branded himself before the entire church, indeed, before the entire world
 to be an enemy of all divine and Christian order (wherever these stand in the
 way of his plans and especially of his desire to rule).  Therefore he sought
 to bring those members of his congregation who still remain with him into this
 evil deed.  He worked at them for a long time until they subsequently
 confirmed the expulsion of Pastor Hochstetter which he had already
 accomplished through his blindly devoted Trustees.  But it appears that when
 some among his people were disturbed that it is no trivial matter to expel a
 minister of Christ, Pastor Grabau, in order to calm them, invented a false
 doctrine which has been unheard of until now in our Church concerning the De
icon's Office (Diakonenamt) in the Lutheran Church.  Namely, he writes in his
 so called "Explanation Concerning the Buffalo Synod": "From this one sees that
 the Deacon is in the same relationship (in gleichem Verhaeltnisse) as a
 Christian Church Father in that the Deacon's office comes from the first
 Church Fathers' office (Acts 6)"  (p. 37.) (3)  The intention of this
 doctrinal claim is clear, to persuade simple people that there is nothing to
 the dismissal of a Lutheran Deacon.  To expel an ordinary Pastor, for
 example, is indeed a great sin.  In dismissing him one obviously dismisses the
 Lord Jesus Christ Himself, according to Luke 10:16.  But, for example, to
 dismiss a Church Father, which of course is not an office established by
 Christ but is merely instituted by the church, that is not such an important
 conscience burdening matter.  Can't a Church Father indeed be installed for
 only a short period of time or if one no longer needs his service can't his
 service be ended.  Now, indeed, a "Deacon  stands in the same relationship as
 a Christian Church Father."  One doesn't need to worry that with the dismissal
 of a mere "Deacon" one has laid hands on the divine Majesty, on his office and
 minister, even if perhaps it wasn't done quite so decently as it should have
 been.  So far the thoughts of Pastor Grabau.

 The facts of the matter however are entirely different.  Namely, it is an
 obvious introduction of false doctrine (Lehrverfaelschung) when Pastor Grabau
 says that a Lutheran Deacon, who is  called to the office of the Word (Amt des
 Wortes) and the holy sacraments, "stands in the same relationship as a
 Christian Church Father" or (as they are more carefully called) a Church Ruler
 (Gemeindevorsteher) or Lay Elder. (4)

 The facts of the matter are rather much more the following:  When Christ
 separated the holy apostles unto their office (Matt. 10:1 ff.; Mk. 6:7 ff.;
 Luke 9:1 ff.) He established the church office (Kirchenamt) or ministry of the
 Word or office of soul care (Seelsorgeramt) above all.  Therefore in the
 Smalcald articles it says: "We have a certain teaching, that the ministry of
 the Word comes from the general call of the apostles."  (See Tractate 1.)  The
 office he thereby established has many different functions (Verrichtungen):
 to preach God's Word, to administer the holy Sacraments, to loose and bind, to
 watch over discipline and order, for care for the poor, sick, widows, orphans,
 to care for souls in the congregation etc.  Yet, all these many functions are
 the responsibilities of the one office which Christ established.  Therefore
 when the Papists speak of seven and the Episcopalians of three, and the
 Presbyterians of two special offices established in the church, they have no
 ground for it in the  holy Scriptures but rather it is purely human
 imagination.

 Although God established only one office in the church, still he did not
 command that all the functions which belong to this office must be carried out
 by one person alone.  Therefore it stands in the freedom of the church to take
 from the preacher certain functions of the preaching office, which do not
 belong to the essence of the office but rather are necessary only on account
 of the essential parts,  and assign them to other people.  These people are
 then helpers of the preacher and thereby branch and helping offices are
 established.  The church used this freedom already in the time of the holy
 apostles.  At first, for example, the apostles carried out even the bodily
 care of the poor in the Christian congregation in Jerusalem on account of
 their office.  When however the growth of the congregation made it impossible
 for them to do this any longer without skipping over this or that person, they
 suggested that the congregation should elect certain men for performing this
 function.  And thus the apostolic office of deacon (Diakonen) or servant
 (Diener) in the narrow sense originated, namely, the office of caring for
 alms, as a branch and helping office of the one church office (Kirchenamtes.) 
 In the same or similar fashion the office of such elders who do not labor in
 word and doctrine but rather give attention to the care of discipline and
 order in the congregation may have originated in apostolic times (1 Tim 5:17).
 (5)  Later these were called Lay Elders or Seniors of the people.  Their
 office too was as little the ministry of the Word as the deacon's office.  It
 is rather a branch or helping office of the holy ministry of the Word. 
 Therefore Martin Chemnitz, the well-known co-author of the Formula of Concord
 writes: 

 Because many functions belong to the office of the church (Kirchenamt) which
 when the number of believers is large cannot all be performed well by one or a
 few, so it was begun, so that all would be orderly, proper, and for
 upbuilding, when the church grew large, to arrange every function of the
 preaching office into certain grades (Stufen) of ministers of the church
 (Kirchendienern).  These were later called (in Greek) Taxeis or Tagmata.  This
 was done so that every one might have his certain decided  position, in which
 he might serve the congregation through certain functions of the preaching
 office.  So in the beginning the apostles cared for the office of the Word and
 Sacraments and likewise the distribution and administration of the alms. 
 Afterwards however, when the number of disciples grew, they conferred
 (uebertrugen) this part of the ministry of the Word, which concerned the alms,
 to others whom they called Deacons, that is, servants.  They themselves state
 why this was done, namely, that they might look after the ministry of the
 Word and prayer without ceasing. Acts 6:4.  (Examen Concil. Trid. II, 13.,
 fol. 574).)

 The so-called Deacons and Lay Elders of the apostles' time were, as was
 already suggested, in no way preachers and overseers of souls.  They were
 rather only their helpers for functions of the preaching office which do not
 make up the essence of the off ice.  Indeed, their functions too were
 commanded by God.   But that these should be carried out only by particular
 people in an office is not based on God's express command.  Their office as a
 special and separate office from the preaching office was also not a divine
 order and institution but rather an office ordered by the church (kirchlicher
 Ordnung).  These helping offices were not established in all congregations and
 yet no divine command was being transgressed.  Therefore also the Deacons and
 Lay  Elders are sometimes installed for a certain period of time or for a
 certain term, or when one does not need them any longer he releases them from
 their office.  

 It was an entirely different circumstance however when in a congregation more
 than one were installed who in every way (allerseits) had the office of the
 Word.  In this instance they all had the same divine office established by
 Christ, the same spiritual and ecclesiastical authority.  It was only a
 matter of human order (Ordnung), when they either divided certain functions of
 the office or the care for certain parts of the people among themselves. 
 Likewise when they chose one from among themselves to whom the others submit
 themselves  freely and according to human right or also when a whole group of
 ministers of the church (Kirchendiener) labor in the word in one congregation
 and continuously submit themselves one to another.  The so-called system of
 bishops originally rested on this view of things in the times when the pure
 teaching still reined in the church.  It was recognized that a Bishop set over
 the other ministers of the church was really nothing other than a presbyter
 (Elder), a pastor, who only for the sake of church order was set over the
 other ministers of the church and who had the additional authority given to
 him merely by human right.  Therefore it says in the in the Smalcald Articles: 

 Jerome says with clear words that bishops and elders are not different but all
 pastors (Pfarrherrn) are likewise bishops and priests and he brings forth the
 text of Paul to Titus 1 when he writes to Titus: "I left you in Crete for this
 reason, that you  should establish the cities everywhere with priests", and
 then he names them afterwards bishops: "A bishop should be the husband of one
 wife."  And Peter and John call themselves elders or priests.  Afterward
 Jerome says further: that one alone is chosen to have the others under him is
 done so that schism may be avoided so that one takes a church here and another
 there and the church is split.  For in Alexandria, he says, from Mark the
 Evangelist until Herakles and Dionysius the elders have chosen one from among
 themselves and considered him higher and called him bishop.  Likewise soldiers
 choose one from among themselves to be the leader just as the deacons also
 choose one from among themselves and is called the archdeacon.  For tell me,
 what does a bishop do more than every elder except that he ordains others to
 the office of the church.  Here Jerome teaches that such a distinction of
 bishops and pastors (Pfarrherrn) is only from a human ordering. (Treatise 2)

 This also applies then to the distinction between a pastor and a Senior of
 Ministers (6), a president, a Superintendent, a Dean, a head pastor
 (Oberpfarrer), or whatever they may be called who are set over one or more
 preachers.  Therefore it says in the Smalcald Articles: "Therefore the church
 can never be better governed and preserved than if we all live under one head,
 Christ, and all the bishops, equal in office (although they be unequal in
 gifts), be diligently joined in unity of doctrine, faith,  Sacraments, prayer,
 and works of love etc. as St. Jerome writes that the priests at Alexandria
 together and in common governed the churches, as did also the apostles, and
 afterwards all the bishops throughout all Christendom, until the Pope raised
 his he ad above all."  (III,4)

 But since there is no distinction between such offices according to divine
 right, so likewise between them and a Lutheran Deacon, to whom the office of
 the Word is commended.  For the call to preach God's Word publicly is truly
 the essence of the preaching office.  To preach is the highest office
 (function) in the church, alone on account of which all other functions are
 necessary.  It is also the judge of all other offices.  Therefore the office
 of Lutheran Deacon is no helping office as is, for example, the office of
 caring for alms, the office of Church Father or Lay Elder.  Rather it is the
 one true office which is specially instituted and established by Christ
 Himself.  Therefore it says then in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession:
 "The greatest, most holy, most needful, highest service to God, which God has
 demanded in the first and second commandments as the highest, is to preach
 God's Word, for the office of PREACHING is the highest office in the church." 
 (Art. 15. fol. 94. a.)  Luther writes: 

 Whenever the office of the Word is conferred to someone, so also all other
 offices which are carried out through the word in the church are conferred to
 him.  That is, the authority to baptize, to bless, to bind and to loose, to
 pray and to judge or give decisions.  For that office of preaching the Gospel
 is the highest of them all, for it is the true apostolic office, which lays
 the ground for all other offices.  These offices belong to all, first of all,
 to edify for which there are the offices of teachers, prophets, and rulers." 
 (SL X:1592). 
 
 In another place Luther says:

 to whomever the preaching office is given, to him is given the highest office
 in Christendom.  He may then afterwards baptize, administer the sacraments,
 and carry out all care for souls; or if he doesn't want to he may remain only
 with preaching and leave the other lower offices to others, as Christ did and
 Paul (John 4:2; 1 Cor. 1:17) and all the Apostles, Acts 6.)"  

 Further Luther writes: 

 The officer of God, who who is to administer the divine and spiritual gifts,
 preach the gospel, and care for the people with the Word of God is called
 "bishop".  He must have servants; the deacons; who should also serve the
 congregations so that they have a registry of the poor people and care for
 their bodily needs with congregational money, visit the sick, and watch out
 overall for the church property."  (XI, 2756).  

 A Deacon in the biblical sense is a man  who only has a helping office to the
 ministry of the Word according to human arrangement.  But a Deacon who is
 called to the preaching of the Word of God, as happens in the Lutheran Church,
 does not attend a helping office, but rather the highest office in
 Christendom.  He is nothing else and nothing less than what the Scripture
 calls a pastor, Presbyter (elder), or Bishop.  He has the same authority and
 rank of office and the same jurisdiction and the deacons in the biblical
 sense are also their servants.   Just as Pastor Grabau does at other times he
 here makes up all kinds of sophistries.  Namely, he fools himself into his
 conclusion through a fallacia homonymiae, that is, he deceivingly uses a word
 which has two meanings.  The word Deacon means not only a man who is called to
 the ministry of the Word but also such a man who only labors with church
 property and alms money.  So he says: "Look there, Hochstetter has been as you
 know only an Deacon;  Therefore it is obvious that he "stands in the same rela
 tionship as a Christian Church Father,' for a Deacon is indeed, as you know,
 according to the Scriptures nothing else than a caretaker of alms." To show
 that in the Lutheran Church the deacons who are called for the preaching of
 the Word of God and for the Administration of the Sacraments are seen as
 entirely equal to the pastors and not only as a type of Church Father, we will
 produce a few witnesses from the writings of our old orthodox theologians.
 Quenstedt writes: 

 It is obvious, that the deacons originally were not established to care for
 the salvation of men but rather to serve the bodily needs of the poor.  And in
 this respect they were not really servants of the Gospel, rather of tables, as
 Acts 6:2 says of them ... From this it is clear that the ecclesiastical
 deacons of the following centuries and of our time properly are not deacons 
 and are completely differentiated from them.  (Antiquitat. bibl. et eccles. I,
 91. sq.)

 So writes Ludwig Hartmann in his evangelical Pastoral: 

 All ministers of the church (Kirchendiener) whether they have the name deacon
 (servant) or Superintendent have, according to the type, one and the same
 office;  The essential part of their office is the same, the preaching of the
 word and the administration of the sacraments.  The divine efficacy of both
 is the same, they have the same spiritual or ecclesiastical authority and the
 same goal for one and all. ... What the deacons were in apostolic practice is
 a lower grade than the presbyters or pastors  because they were not for the
 propagation of doctrine but rather for serving tables.  Therefore those we
 call church officers (Kirchkassenverwalter) actually in truth have the office
 of the old deacons. ... Because now the practice has come into use that a
 group of pastors, who likewise instruct the people in doctrine and administer
 the sacraments, are called deacons, who are named from the ancient presbyters,
 it is necessary to note that the bishop as well as the presbyter and deacons,
 as the group of  pastors, as far as concerns the office, are entrusted with
 the same authority. (Pastoral. ev. lib. I, c. 15., p. 186. 204. sq.)


 Adam Scherzer writes: 

 The Scripture knows nothing of deacons who indeed preach and still are
 distinguished from the preachers in regard to jurisdiction.  Their origin is
 found in Acts 6:2 where they are to serve tables.  Therefore 1 Cor. 12:28
 names them 'helpers', who are to serve the poor with the alms.  Later indeed
 they were bound in office to preach with the presbyters and to administer the
 sacraments, but not with the distinction of the papists as a class
 distinguished in regard to jurisdiction.  (System. th. loc. 25. p. 690.)

 Finally Guericke writes in his description of former ages of the church: 

 In the evangelical (Lutheran) church the whole office of deacon was found more
 in name than in reality.  The evangelical deacons (where they above all are
 clerics and do not have non-clerical offices of some type and merely have the
 name of deacon) are  really pastors (presbyters), only submitted with partial
 restrictions of their episcopal authority and with reference especially to
 certain external duties (Kirchendienst)  such as to baptize etc. in addition
 to the inner one.  (Lehrbuch der christlich-kirchlichen archaeology, S. 72).

 Pastor Grabau seeks to help himself in that he says that the Lutheran
 diakonate is "from the first Church Fathers' office."  This is a useless
 loophole.  First, he can in no way prove it.  Secondly, even if he could prove
 this, still less would he have  proved his assertion that a Lutheran Deacon
 called to the preaching office "stands in the same relationship as a Christian
 Church Father."  For if this office has sprung from the "office of Church
 Father" of the apostolic times, so much the less then does it stand "in the
 same relationship as a Christian Church Father."  Perhaps Grabau will want to
 show that according to Acts some of the apostolic deacons preached.  However,
 even this, instead of releasing him from this great sin against the preaching
 office, judges him all the more.  For since the apostolic deacons, as he
 might think, afterwards became preachers, so then indeed no deacon stands "in
 the same relationship as a Christian Church Father."  Above all, everyone who
 knows a little about church history knows that when some of the apostolic
 deacons sometimes preached that this happened extraordinarily and
 exceptionally and not according to their office as deacons.  Therefore Calov
 writes: "The distinction between a presbyter and a Deacon" (Diakonus) (when
 both are indeed preachers but of different types) "is indeed not grounded in
 the New Testament, so that in the beginning only lay deacons were seen.  This
 is true even when some of them outside of the order of the office came to
 teach, as the example of the first martyr Stephan and the deacon Phillip
 shows (Acts 6, 7, and 8)."  (System. loc. th. Tom. VIII. 295)  No matter how
 much Pastor Grabau twists and turns he will never prove from God's Word that
 there is more than one office instituted by God and that there is a type of
 preacher which according to divine right is something other or something more
 or something less than another.  This is indeed a doctrine which a lording
 preacher would love to smuggle into the Lutheran church from the Roman or
 Episcopal church.

 So it is and remains a shameful deed that Pastor Grabau dismissed, expelled,
 and ran off a Lutheran Deacon.  Here Pastor Grabau has proved himself to be a
 tyrant and persecutor of the holy preaching office and an enemy of all human
 and divine order.  He did this by means of the brutal authority of his
 trustees whom he misled and later by the endorsement of the congregation which
 he misled to give approval to and take part in his sin.  This was a deed which
 was needed to make obvious to all the world what kind of spirit lives in the
 man whose first and last word until now has always been "holy office, church
 order and church judgment."  

W. [=C.F.W. Walther]




 ----------    Footnotes    ----------    

 1.	Notice that when AC XIII, 12 says: "The Church has God's command to
 establish preachers and deacons" it is referring to the deacons of Luther's
 day, i.e. ministers of the word, and not the non-teaching deacons of Acts 6.  

 2.	An important exception to this was Walther himself.  There were several
 Missouri Synod congregations in St. Louis each with one or more preachers
 serving them.  But Walther was the Oberpfarrherr, bishop, or head pastor over
 the entire city and her congregations who together were seen to make up one
 Gesamtgemeinde or congregation.  

 3.	"Kirchvater" or Church Father is a term used by the Buffalo Synod to
 designate an office similar to Lay Elder in our congregations.  So Grabau here
 equates the Deacon who labors in word and sacrament with a lay elder.

 4.	Gemeindevorsteher or Church Leader comes from the Greek verb used in
 verses such as 1 Tim 5:17 and Rom. 12:8 etc.  This term was used synonymously
 with Laienaeltester or Lay Elder and in English we have only Lay Elder or
 simply Elder.


 5.	See Walther's defense of the institution of Lay Elders as an ancient
 institution of the church in "Ueber Laienaelteste oder Gemeindevorsteher",
 Lehre und Wehre, Feb. - Apr. 1858, v. 4.

 6.	The Buffalo Synod used the term "Senior Ministerii" to refer to the
 head of their ministerium.  This was of course Pastor Grabau in 1867.  It
 would be similar to a Synodical President.

_________________________________________________________________

This text was translated by Mark Nispel and is in the public domain.  You may
freely distribute, copy or print this text.        ________________________________________________________________