 |
| https://www.lutheranlibrary.org/ |
“Let us hold fast the gift as Christ has bestowed it upon us — as the gift of the entire church down to the very least of its members. It is the old error of Rome to think that a certain order of men alone possess this authority from Christ to bind and to loose. No; not to the pope and the priests as his representatives, not to the pastors in our churches as a separate class, is this divine power given, but to the people of God one and all, to you and to me alike. There is only one difference — the pastors are the called ministers of the church, through whom the church acts ordinarily when it binds and looses. Christ bids us “tell it unto the church” when the final stage of discipline is reached, and only the church may exclude a fallen member from its fold. In this work of discipline, as in the entire work of preaching Gospel absolution and pronouncing this absolution, the church uses the pastor’s voice to speak for it, but it is the church which does it; it is not the pastor alone who acts apart from the church. So also when one brother, or several brethren deal with another — without any pastor they are entitled to use the power of Christ. And when they find the sinner penitent theirs is the blessed privilege to give him the Gospel pardon in Christ’s name. Oh, then recognize what Christ has done for his church! Hold fast and administer faithfully his great authority, and let no man rob you of your high and holy privilege!”
