The Call
Via Pieper’s Dogmatics Vol. 3
Fra Angelico, "The Calling of Peter and Andrew" (1430)
The usual distinction between an immediate and a mediate call (vocatio immediata et mediata) is Scriptural. Also Luther has it and substantiates it copiously (St L. XI:1910ff.). The Prophets and Apostles also Paul (Acts 22:21), were called immediately. Paul lays great stress on his immediate call in the headings of his Epistles (Gal. 1:1; Eph. 1:1; Col. 1:1, etc.). The teaching elders or pastors called by the congregation have a mediate call. It is of the greatest importance to bear in mind that the mediate call is no less divine that the immediate. Acts 20:28 says of the mediately called elders, or bishops, of the congregation at Ephesus: “The Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God.” This realization is very important for both the public servants and those whom they serve with the Word. See Walther, Pastorale, p. 29f., for details. Who are the agents through whom God appoints the preachers? This question has aroused great commotion and controversy in and outside the Church The Pope vociferously claims that only he can make “priests” through the bishops made by him. The Anglicans contend that clerics are made by bishops who have the stamp of the Apostolic Succession upon them. Romanizing Lutherans hold that legitimate servants of the Church can be appointed only by a self-perpetuating “holy order of the ministry.” Also political rulers have deemed it their prerogative to appoint preachers without consent of the parishes. Scripture teaches that neither Pope, nor the bishops, nor the clergy as an order, nor individual persons within or outside a congregation have the right and authority to confer the public office of the Word, but solely the people to whom is given all spiritual power on earth and to whom Word and Sacrament in particular have been entrusted originally; and these are the believers, or the Christians, and nobody else in the world. The believers possess all things (1 Cor. 3:21); the unbelievers nothing but death and eternal doom. In Matt. 28:18-20 not only the Apostles as such, but the Christians to the Last Day are charged with the administration of Word and Baptism. This is apparent from the closing words: “And, lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the world.” And so in the command pertaining to the Lord’s Supper, “This do in remembrance of me,” not only the Apostles as such are addressed, but the Christians to the end of time. This is the interpretation given these words by Paul, who says (1 Cor. 11:26): “As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come.” This is the Scripture doctrine so clearly stated in the words of the Smalcald Articles: “For wherever the Church is, there is the authority [command] to administer the Gospel. Therefore, it is necessary for the Church ["die Kirchen"] to retain the authority to call, elect, and ordain ministers. And this authority is a gift which properly is given to the Church [proprie - only to the Church and to no one else], which no human power can wrest from the Church… Here belong the statements of Christ which testify that the keys have been given to the Church [German: "der ganzen Kirche" - to every Christian] and not merely to certain persons, Matt. 18:20: ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name,” etc.”