Home and State Are Above The Church Says Luther (Second in a series of six)

Home and State Are Above The Church Says Luther

(Second in a series of six)

By: Rev. Jack Cascione

All too often LCMS lay people think something wonderful has happened if they start doing some part of the pastor's job in the worship service. They are not aware that the pastor is there to do the job according to his office and serve them. Rather than be in competition with the pastor, they should be aware that the home and state are above the church and the pastor. Lay people not only have a place in the Kingdom of God, they have a higher calling in this life than the pastor . When lay people hire a mechanic, plumber, or electrician they should let him do his job or keep their money and do it themselves. Instead of trying to do the called pastor's job, lay people should start governing their congregations through the Voters' Assembly as God has told them to do and take some responsibility for their church.

(Second in a series of six)

2. Luther taught that the home and state were above the church.

First, all must submit to God's Word.

Second, in his commentary on Genesis we continue to read that Luther loathedand detested Episcopal hierarchy and apostolic succession to the grave (LW4:30). Luther says about these lovers of hierarchy instead of God's Word in the church, they are nothing except Ishmael in the house of Abraham (LW4:30). "They must be thrown out," says Sarah, and God says, "Listen to her."

Luther listed the three estates in their proper order of authority, and reversed the order taught by the Catholic Church.

"This life is profitably divided into three orders: (1) life in the home; (2) life in the state; (3) life in the church. To whatever order you belong-whether you are a husband, an officer of the state, or a teacher of the church-look about you, and see whether you have done full justice to your calling and there is no need of asking to be pardoned for negligence, dissatisfaction, or impatience. But if you have conducted your affairs in such a manner that there is no need of saying: 'Forgive us our trespasses,'" then by all means go out into the desert, and occupy yourself with those showy and difficult works." LW3:217

"God has appointed three social classes to which he has given the command not to let sins go unpunished. The first is that of the parents, who should maintain strict discipline in their house when ruling the domestics and the children. The second is the government, for the officers of the state bear the sword for the purpose of coercing the obstinate and remiss by means of their power of discipline. The third is that of the church, which governs by the Word. By this threefold authority God has protected the human race against the devil, the flesh, and the world, to the end that offenses may not increase but may be cut off. Parents are the children's tutors, as it were. Those who are grown up and are remiss the government curbs through the executioner. In the church those who are obstinate are excommunicated." LW3:279

Before the fall into sin, Luther says the correct order on earth was church, state, and home.

In Genesis 1:16 and 17 Luther comments as follows:

"16. And He commanded him, saying: Eat from every tree of Paradise, 17. but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil do not eat."

"Here we have the establishment of the church before there was any government of the home and of the state; for Eve was not yet created. Moreover, the church is established without walls and without any pomp, in a very spacious and very delightful place. After the church has been established, the household government is also set up, when Eve is added to Adam as his companion" (LW1:102).

Luther taught that the first location of worship before the Fall was the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen 1:16-17), which was nothing less than the proper division of Law and Gospel (LW1:102). First, the Word of God established the church; then Adam was placed over the state; then marriage and the home were created with Eve. (LW1:102, 104). Man was created to worship God (LW1:102).

After the Fall, the order of authority is reversed to home, state, and church. Like Christ, the church must be the suffering servant of the other two, or, as Luther warns, we return to the inevitable apostasy of the clergy giving themselves pontifical honor (LW4:76). Luther taught that the church should submit to the state like Abraham submitted to Abimelech and Phicol in Gen. 21:22-23. (LW4: 73-76).

"Meanwhile, to be sure, we diligently teach that those two offices, the civil and the ecclesiastical, should be kept separate; but we do so to no avail. Therefore the fact that priests are exalted and thrive is the fault not only of the ambitious bishops but also of the lazy magistrates, who indeed want to have glory and honor, as is proper, but do not want to work. Accordingly, when the very men who have been called for this purpose are unwilling to do their duty, and failures or diseases are perpetual in
governments and require a physician, if the pastors of the churches then undertake the care of governmental affairs, they will eventually arrive at pontifical honor by this road." LW4:76

"Abraham does not refuse to take the oath, and by his action he teaches that these moral and civil matters should neither be looked down upon nor neglected by the saints under the pretense of their religion." LW4:77

"Therefore one should not refuse or shun civic duties under the pretext of religion, as the monks do." LW4:88

"There must be rulers in this life, and the church has not been appointed to destroy the household and the government." LW4:88

All too often those who quote Luther against Walther don't really understand what Luther wrote about home, state, and church, or they intentionally take him out of context in order to support their own opinions.

After the Fall, the office of the housefather, house mother, and nearly any officer in the State has a higher office than the pastor. The pastor is to speak and teach as God's servant in the church, home, and state and is accountable to God to preach and teach God's word correctly. For Luther, home, state, and church all spoke for God, not just the pastor. He also believed that the state should promote and support the church, a very un-American idea.

"One must note, however, that the Lord also speaks to us through human beings. When parents give order to their children, the tasks may seem insignificant and unimportant in their outward appearance; yet when the children obey, they are obeying not so much men as God." LW2:271

"Thus when the government, by virtue of its office, calls citizens into military service in order to maintain peace and to ward off harm, obedience is shown to God. For the Lord tells us (Rom. 13:1): 'Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.' But someone will say: 'Obedience is dangerous, for I may be killed!' My answer is: 'Whether you kill or are killed is immaterial, for you are going as the Lord has told you. It is, therefore, a holy and godly deed even to kill an adversary, provided the
government commands it.' You must have the same conviction about the general call, when you are called to the ministry of teaching: you should consider the voice of the
community as the voice of God, and obey." LW 2:272

"In one's entire life and in all activities, therefore, one must consider the Word, not only in the church but also in the household and in the government. If you have the Word and follow it, you have obedience also. For they are correlatives; but when one of the correlatives is removed, namely, the Word, obedience is also removed, and there is none." LW 2:274

All too often I've heard my Hyper-Euro-Lutheran brethren quote Luther on the pastoral office without telling their listeners the context is that the home and state are above the church. It doesn't take much to make Luther sound like a lover of Episcopal hierarchy as we read Luther in the following quotation without the proper understanding of his views on the home and state.

"Thus God could rule the church through the Holy Spirit without the ministry, but He does not want to do this directly. Therefore He says to Peter: 'Feed My sheep (John 21:16). Go, preach, baptize, absolve.' In the state He says to the magistrate: 'Watch, defend, use the sword, etc.' Therefore Paul calls the apostles "fellow workmen with God" (1 Cor. 3:9). To be sure He alone works. But He does so through us." LW8:94

The following is a sampling of the order Luther used when explaining the terms home, state, and church, in various contexts and applications as recorded by his students from 1535 to 1545. After stating the original order of their creation (LW1:102), Luther speaks about the home and state being over the church in 16 of 19 examples listed below. Of the three exceptions, it can also be argued that at times he simply spoke from the bottom-up instead of the top-down.

1. church, home, state, LW1:102
2. parents, state, church LW2:83
3. home, state church LW3:217
4. government, home, church LW2:228
5. church, home, state LW2:274
6. parents, government, church LW3:279
7. household, state, church LW4:76
8. parents, government, Word LW4:362
9. parents, government, ministers of the, word LW5:71
10. household, government, priesthood , LW5:139
11. home, state, church LW5:139
12. household, state, church LW5:143
13. marriage, church, state LW5:189
14. church, state, home LW6:320
15. state, marriage, church LW7: 143
16. church, state, household LW7 146-147
17. fathers, state, church LW7:175
18. household, state, church LW7:312
19. state, household, church LW7:348-349
20. household management, helms of state, sacred assemblies LW8:269

In the following 5 examples, Luther actually numbers the correct order of home, state, and church, lest there be any questions about his teaching:

(A) "In the first place, He has entrusted His Word to parents, as Moses often declares: 'Tell your children these things.' In the second place, He has given it to the teachers in the church, as Abraham says in Luke 16:29: 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' Where there is a ministry, we should not wait for either an inward or an outward revelation. Otherwise all the orders of society would be confused. Let the clergyman teach in the church, let the civil officer govern the state, and let parents rule the home or the household. God established these human ministries. Therefore we must make use of them and not look for other revelations." LW2:83

(B) "This life is profitably divided into three orders: (1) life in the home; (2) life in the state; (3) life in the church. To whatever order you belong-whether you are a husband, an officer of the state, or a teacher of the church-look about you, and see whether you have done full justice to your calling and there is no need of asking to be pardoned for negligence, dissatisfaction, or impatience." LW3:217

(C) "God has appointed three social classes to which he has given the command not to let sins go unpunished. The first is that of the parents, who should maintain strict discipline in their house when ruling the domestics and the children. The second is the government, for the officers of the state bear the sword for the purpose of coercing the obstinate and remiss by means of their power of discipline. The third is that of the church, which governs by the Word. By this threefold authority God has protected the human race against the devil, the flesh, and the world, to the end that offenses may not increase but may be cut off. Parents are the children's tutors, as it were. Those who are grown up and are remiss the government curbs through the executioner. In the church those who are obstinate are excommunicated." LW3:279

(D) "These, then, are the three hierarchies we often inculcate, namely, the household, the government, and the priesthood, or the home, the state, and the church." LW5:139

(E) "We know that there are three estates in this life: the household, the state, and the church. If all men want to neglect these and pursue their own interests and self-chosen ways, who will be a shepherd of souls? Who will baptize, absolve, and console those who are burdened with sins? Who will administer the government or protect the common fabric of human society? Who will educate the young or till the ground? Yet these duties, which have been commanded and approved by God, have been scorned and cast aside in the papacy, and the devil has foisted those monstrous acts of the monks upon men with horrible fury." LW7:312

After Luther, the rise of Consistories was a natural outgrowth of his three-tiered society. Consistories were groups of respected citizens, lawyers, bankers, merchants, state officials, and clergy who interviewed and screened pastors and issued calls to local congregations. As long as the Consistories followed God's Word, this was an acceptable practice. By the 1800's most Consistories did not follow God's Word.

December 13, 2002