Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

The apostolicity of the church was likewise an affirmation of the church's historical character. Actually it was a commitment to the Apostolic ministry, not in the sense of a theory of Apostolic succession through an unbroken chain of episcopal consecrations, but in the sense of a traceable linkage of ministerial tradition to a church founded by one of the Apostles. This served as at least a partial guarantee of the authenticity of the message proclaimed in the church, in contradistinction to the upstart schisms and heresies that adulterated the Christian message with human additions sanctified by judicious citations of Scripture texts. The purpose of this commitment was the conservation of the Apostlic message and the Sacraments, although the accent was upon the sacred ministry as a means to this purpose, an accent that we find recurring in Article V of the Augsburg Confession. It remained for a later generation to transform the sacred ministry from a means into an end and to cite the Fathers of this period in a sense which they did not intend. At the same time, "apostolicity" is an empirical characteristic of the church. -- Arthur Carl Piepkorn, *The Church* p. 26