Today's our men's study group looked at AC VIII. The great thing about this article is that it teaches us two perspectives for looking at the Church. From the perspective of the Blessed Trinity, the Church is the (note the definite article) assembly of all believers, all in whom the Spirit-wrought faith joins them to Jesus Christ. From the human perspective, the Church is surely found wherever the Word and Sacraments of Jesus are going on - giving out their life-giving gifts. "My Word shall not return to me void" is a promise we can bank on. But from the human perspective there are those gathered with God's believers who don't share their faith. We can't see that, or sort that, or do much about that. Whether in the royal priesthood of the baptized or serving in the office of the Holy Ministry, these non-believers have no power to destroy the work of God's Word and Sacraments. Where the Word and Sacraments are, there God is having Himself a Church in that assembly. Mixed to human eyes. But not to God's. It all depends on which way you're looking at the great reality.
So from God's side: the sine qua non is saving faith in the Redeemer. From the human side: the presence of Gospel and Sacraments. The resultant mix and mess is what we call "Church."
2 comments:
So, does this mean that if you do not have the Sacrament, you are not "Church"? According to this can there be unity w/o Sacrament?
Karl
Hey, Karl.
That's a topic we discussed at great length at the study both last week and this. There is no easy answer. There's a bit of a "sliding scale" of recognizing the Church, isn't there? I mean: find Baptism, find the Eucharist, find the preaching of the Gospel, find the ordaining of pastors, find the praying of the Our Father and the Creed, and so on; and voila! You've found the Church. BUT when these begin to diminish and some or part of them are found, the answer begins to wobble some. We know, though, that the Lord's will is for salvation of all people and that He seeks through His Spirit to work through the Word wherever it is reaching people, no matter how little of it is allowed to get through - either in preached or sacramental form.
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