Foundation and Plain Instruction: Sending Preachers

According to the Scriptures, true preachers were called and sent in two ways. Some were called by God alone, without any human means, as was the case with the prophets and apostles. Others were called through the pious, as may be seen from Acts 1, verses 23 to 26, and First Timothy 3, verse 7. We hope no one who is otherwise of an honest and reasonable mind will be so ignorant as not to know that the whole Scriptures, of both the Old and the New Testament, were written for our instruction, admonition and correction, and that they are the true scepter and rule by which the Lord’s kingdom, house, church and congregation must be governed and set in order, Second Corinthians 3, verse 16. Everything contrary to Scripture, whether in doctrine, faith, sacraments, worship or conduct, should be measured by this infallible rule and torn down by this just and divine scepter, without any respect of persons, and brought to nothing. Therefore we, your willing servants and companions, of the same mortal nature as you, each in the office and station to which he is called, would humbly admonish you in all love to consider the salvation of your immortal souls, and to examine rightly the sending or calling, the doctrine and the conduct of the bishops, pastors and preachers of your churches. Examine them with the help of the Spirit of the Lord, and by the doctrines and customs of the apostles; for you have persecuted and destroyed so many pious, godly Christians through the idol houses of the ungodly, which are upheld by the bloody war cries of the learned. Indeed, we have no doubt that if you follow our advice with a sincere heart, you will soon see that we miserable men do nothing more in this matter than the word of God teaches and commands; and that your preachers are not servants of Christ but hirelings, hypocrites, deceivers and mockers, against whom the Scriptures warn us on every side, and whom they describe by many evil names, John 10, verse 12; Matthew 3, verse 4. [Note 1]

Honest reader, let this be a true and unwavering rule for you: all who rightly preach Christ and his word, and by it bring forth obedient children for the Lord, must have been called in one of the ways just mentioned. They must have been brought into the vineyard of the Lord through the true and unfeigned love of God and man, through the power of the Holy Spirit. They must put to use the talent of grace they have received from God; they must rebuke sin and teach faith and righteousness without any respect of persons; they must set forth the word and praise of the Lord; they must faithfully do the work and service of the Lord, and bring the gathered sheaves into his barn and the wealth they have gained into his treasury. Such a shepherd was the faithful Moses. For when the Lord told him that Israel had made a molten calf, he hurried down from the mountain; and when he heard the uproar and saw the crowd playing and dancing, an indignant zeal burned in his heart, so that he threw down and broke the stone tablets the Lord had written with his own finger. He cared for neither life nor death, but rushed out among the idolatrous people and rebuked them by his word and by the sword, because they gave to a molten creature the honor of Almighty God, who with such love had gloriously brought about their deliverance from Egypt, Exodus 32, verse 7.

When Zacharias the son of Barachias, a man full of the Holy Spirit, saw the false worship of the people, he risked his life and stood up for the honor of the Lord. He rebuked his brothers, erring Israel, and said, “Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper?” Second Chronicles 24, verse 20.

The worthy prophet Jeremiah also was weighed down with much suffering and care. He was greatly troubled on account of his faithful service, and had decided in his heart to prophesy no more in the name of the Lord. But when he saw that the people were ungodly and neither acted nor spoke rightly, he said, “God’s word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with holding back, and I could not stop,” Jeremiah 20, verse 9.

Again, holy Paul also says, “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed to me,” First Corinthians 9, verse 16.

See, my good reader: there are those who are touched in their hearts by such a power, who are moved by the Holy Spirit, who are pressed by love for God and man, and urged by the Lord himself or by his spotless Christian church; or who are called to the service of the Lord by a blameless, truly believing Christian church, to teach rightly in the house of God, that is, the church of Jesus Christ, with sound doctrine, and by a pious and blameless life to admonish, rebuke, reprove and comfort its members in fatherly love; to set forth and administer the Lord’s holy baptism and Supper in the right way; to drive off diligently, with God’s word, all deluding and false teachers; and to exclude all evil members from the communion of the godly, and so on. To such the word of Christ is: As my Father has sent me, so I send you. Without such a sending no one can ever rightly preach the gospel, as Paul says, “How shall they preach unless they are sent?”

Yes, it was with this sending and calling that all the prophets, apostles and servants of God came forth. They did not take the honor on themselves, as the preachers of this world do; but like Aaron they were called by God, or, as has been said, by the spotless church. They were brought into his service by the Spirit of God, with pious hearts; and they had always considered themselves unfit to serve the people of God or to stand forth in so high and responsible a station.

When Moses was called by the Lord to lead the people out, he refused from his heart; he excused himself and declined because he was slow of tongue. He did not want the office to which the Lord had chosen him; indeed, he resisted so long that the Lord was angry, Exodus 4, verses 10 to 15.

Isaiah was dismayed because he was to preach the word of the Lord. He lamented that he was of unclean lips, until the angel purged them with a coal from the holy altar, Isaiah 6, verse 6.

Jeremiah was called and prepared by God from his birth to be a prophet; and he said, Ah, Lord God! I am not fit to preach, for I am only a child, Jeremiah 1, verse 6.

Peter was asked by the Lord three times whether he loved him before he gave him charge of his sheep, John 21, verse 15.

Paul was called from heaven and appointed by the Lord himself to the service of the Gospel; for the Lord chose him as fit for the ministry, Acts 9, verse 3.

Matthias was chosen through the earnest prayers of the church and the lots of the apostles to be an apostle in the place of Judas, Acts 1, verse 26.

All who are not sent by God, or by a blameless Christian church in keeping with the rules of Christ and the apostles, are not called, as was said above. Such men are not called by the Holy Spirit, by the pure, unfeigned love of God and of their brothers, and with a right knowledge of and zeal for the divine word; they take up the office with a worldly, sensual life, seeking men’s favor, praise, money and profit. They will never gather fruit in the vineyard of the Lord, though they may be learned in languages, eloquent, and esteemed as great and excellent men. All that they attempt is lost labor. They will rise too early or go out too late; their calling is powerless, their service vain, their labor without fruit; indeed, it is nothing but sowing by the wayside and beating against the wind. For no one can serve in this high and holy office according to God’s will except those whom the Lord of the vineyard has made worthy and fit by the Spirit of his grace.

Since, then, this sending is the true sending and calling taught in the Scriptures, as has been noted, we faithfully advise the reader to mark, in the pure fear of God, what kind of people their teachers are: by whom, in what way, and to what they are called. For it is plain that some of them are useless, haughty, lustful men; some are greedy, usurers, liars, deceivers; others again are drunkards, gamblers, licentious, open seducers, idolaters and so on, of whom it is written that if they do not repent they shall not inherit the kingdom of God, First Corinthians 6, verses 9 and 10. Some also are idle profligates, young and haughty, wholly unlearned in the Scriptures, who were anointed and shaven by antichrist as soon as they had picked up a little Latin, as if the qualifications for the ministry and for the care of our souls were to be founded not on godliness and the gifts of grace but on language. Oh no, my reader, no; their foundation must be sought much deeper.

Besides this, those who are chosen in this way desire nothing but a sensual, corrupt, carnal life, dishonest, filthy gain, and benefices, which antichrist and his servants have in the past gathered together and multiplied by means of sorcery, theft and robbery.* [* p. 55]

They are called only by carnal love, favor and faction: one has a son, another a brother, a third a favorite friend; a fourth is won over by money and gifts.

They are also installed and established in their office in the same spirit, namely, with eating, drinking, gluttony and luxury; with pompous greetings, choir letters, forms of address, presentations, investitures and such antichristian titles. But by whom are they called this way? By the church? No. Christ’s church knows no such callings, customs, practices and teachers. They are called by the assemblies of the impenitent, the haughty, the greedy, fornicators, gamblers, drunkards and idolaters, who know neither God nor his word, but who abuse, persecute and hate all Christian truth and walk after the lusts of the flesh.* [* p. 56]

Again, to what are they called? To preach the pure word of God? To go before the poor people with doctrine and conduct in keeping with the commands of Scripture? O no; but to teach the doctrines and commandments of men; to resist the holy truth, and to betray into the hands of the bloodthirsty the pious and godly who keep off the broad way; and in this way diligently to serve and uphold the dominion of hell.

My beloved reader, why should I complain so much? It is still much worse than I can write. One blind man calls another; one idolater another; one ungodly man another. It is as the prophet said: deceivers, liars, drunkards and gluttons are good prophets for this people, Micah 2, verse 11.

O sensual preachers! You who, with Korah, Dathan and Abiram, have run without being called, especially you who know that your calling and conduct are not of the word and Spirit of God: judge your hearts by the word of the Lord, fear his stern punishment and severe sentence, and consider how the persons just named were fearfully destroyed by the Lord before all Israel for this same reason, Numbers 16, verse 32.

It suits perverted fleshly ease to live in luxury here on earth with fattened bodies, with gloves on the hands, with ostentatious show, and to be greeted by men as doctor, lord and master. But when the messenger of death knocks at the door of your souls and says, “Give an account,” you will no longer remain stewards and hirelings. Then you must appear before the throne of the eternal Majesty, with the poor miserable souls whom you have led out of the true way of Christ with your lying mouths, your unbelieving, blind hearts, your sensual, corrupt bodies, your false and deceiving doctrine, idolatries, sorceries and ungodly, wanton lives. O where will you hide yourselves from the wrath of God? Then you will cry, O mountains, fall on us, and hills, cover us, Revelation 6, verse 16. O then you will know what kind of calling you had and what kind of life you led: that you served no other God than your belly, the devil and your selfish, evil flesh; that you came uncalled; that you sought nothing but the milk, wool and flesh of the sheep; and that one blind man has led another until both have fallen into the abyss of the eternal wrath of Almighty God and the torments of hell.

O precious souls, wake up and fear God, for the hour draws near when your momentary laughter will be changed into everlasting weeping, these short-lived joys into eternal pain, and this easy, carnal life into death and endless woe. Jude says, “Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.” Again, for them “is reserved the blackness of darkness forever,” Jude 1, verses 11 and 13.

See, beloved sirs, friends and brothers, we openly declare that the sending and calling of your preachers are neither of God nor of his word, but are from antichrist, the dragon and the beast. They are not called to preach the word of the Lord by the Spirit of God and the church; they are called and driven by their lusts, with the priests of Jeroboam, to worship the golden calf, Second Chronicles 13, verses 8 and 9. They do not enter by the right door; therefore the Scriptures testify that they are thieves and robbers, John 10, verse 8.

We have been saved out of the mouths of the lions and bears of the pit, and out of the snares of hidden thieves and robbers, through the great Shepherd of the sheep, the High Priest of our souls, Christ Jesus; we are now on the chosen and fruitful mountain of Israel and in the green, lush pastures of the holy word (the Lord be thanked forever); and our hungry consciences have been fed with the food of eternal life. Since this is so, it must always be a condemnable folly to forsake such a true shepherd and such precious pastures, and to go back into the barren and waste deserts under the false shepherd, who does nothing but rob God and deprive him of his glory, and ruin and murder our poor miserable souls, John 10, verse 10.

This I have said particularly in regard to the popish priests. What the calling and sending of the Lutherans and Zuinglians is, by what spirit they are moved, what they seek, and what fruits of repentance they show by their doctrines and sacraments, we gladly leave all the godly to judge.

Having presented to the reader the first part, concerning the sending and calling of a true preacher according to the word of God, I will now, through the grace of God, present in the same way the second part, concerning the doctrine. For there is little difference between their calling and their doctrine: as the calling is, so, most commonly, is the doctrine.

Where the Spirit of God urges or moves someone to preach, there the word will be taught uncorrupted in the power of God, and upright children of the Spirit will be born by it. But where flesh and blood calls, there a carnal doctrine will be taught and carnal disciples will be made; for that like produces like cannot be disputed. I think it unnecessary to prove this here with much Scripture, for their actions bear witness to it.

The Scriptures plainly show that a preacher rightly called by the word of God is to teach that word rightly, without perverting glosses and without any mixing in of leaven; as Peter says, “If any man speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God,” First Peter 4, verse 11. They are children of the Holy Spirit who speak the word of the Spirit, as Christ said, “It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you,” Matthew 10, verse 20. “For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God,” John 3, verse 34. To preach the word in a saving and blameless way is one of the highest and greatest commands Christ gave. He said, “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” Mark 16, verse 15.

The Gospel, the word of God, preached unmixed in the power of the Spirit, is the only right and true seed from which the truly believing and obedient children of God are born. If the church of Christ bears children from the doctrine of man and not from God’s word, she is not faithful to Christ, and her children are not of his seed.

Therefore nothing else may be preached in Christ’s kingdom and house, the church, except the commands and words of her own King and husband, to which she and all her servants must conform.

This command and word, I say, Christ commanded all true messengers and preachers to observe, when he said, Preach the gospel. He does not say, Preach the doctrines and commands of men; preach councils and customs; preach the glossy ordinances and opinions of the learned. He says, “Preach the gospel,” and “teach them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you,” Matthew 28, verse 20.

My faithful reader, observe that all the true servants of God, of both the Old and the New Testament, taught nothing but God’s word, as may be seen and read in many places in the Scriptures.

Moses was found faithful by God in all his house. He ordered and taught nothing that God had not first commanded him, Numbers 12, verse 7; Hebrews 3, verse 2.

Isaiah and all the other prophets testified in many places what kind of doctrine they taught and from whom they had received it, and said, Thus says the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; thus spoke the Lord of Hosts; and again, the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Paul dared not speak of anything that Christ had not done through him, Romans 15, verse 18. Indeed, Christ himself did not teach his own word but the word of his Father. He said, My doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me; “All things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you,” John 7, verse 16; John 15, verse 15. Since, then, the true messengers of God taught nothing but the word of the Lord, which is the only doctrine from which our souls can obtain eternal life, as the Lord said, Deuteronomy 8, verse 3, it is easy here to mark and judge what kind of teachers they are who direct the poor, untaught people to legends, histories, fables, holy days, images, holy water, candles, palms, confessions, pilgrimages, masses, matins and vespers; who teach of purgatory, vigils, seasons, bulls, offerings, and satisfaction for souls and sins; who also make a piece of bread and a drink of wine into the essential body and blood of Christ; who teach and say that when they have only spoken these words, Hoc est corpus meum (this is my body), the Lord, willing or unwilling, must come down into their idolatrous hands, even if the heavens should be torn apart and the earth crumble. O blasphemy!

O dear Lord! My heart trembles within me that I must tell and mention such terrible abominations. But because the simple, plain people do not guard themselves against such seducers, but in all conscience are bound hand and foot and are blindly rushed into eternal death and the abyss of hell by these useless men, I cannot keep silent, but must expose this out of sincere love for God and for your souls. Who knows whether God may give grace that you may be persuaded to hear, and that your eyes may be opened to see and your hearts to understand, so that you may be freed from the snares of the devil in which you are caught?

Yes, my dear reader, they have made lords, princes and the world drunk with their cup, Revelation 17, verse 2, and have so completely bewitched them that all who turn away from their shame and will not pervert the honor of their Savior with a piece of bread, all who shun false teachers and desire the saving administration of the Lord’s Supper, as was said above, are reviled by everyone as profaners of the holy Sacrament, and must suffer and be banished as degraded and accursed heretics.

O blind leader! You who in all your life have not rightly understood one sentence of the word of the Lord, nor received one ray of his Spirit, but have trampled the kingdom of God with your feet and thrust it from you with your horns, Ezekiel 34, verse 21: how truly you are companions of those of whom it is written that they say, “We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we are in agreement; when the overflowing scourge passes through, it shall not come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves,” Isaiah 28, verse 15. And again, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness,” Isaiah 5, verse 20. “Woe to you, for you shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men,” said Christ, Matthew 23, verse 13, and you make the poor souls stray from the way. Yet again, woe to you!

However, I am not much astonished that such persons teach such shameful doctrine, since they have known neither Christ nor his word, but hold and teach everything as they were taught it from their youth, out of the old usages and the papist laws. But what grieves me most is that those also who are now partly aware of the hidden whoredom of the Babylonian woman, and have put away some of her abominations, still cling to human sophistry, so that they can be neither moved nor taught by the powerful word of God, by the blameless lives, the open confessions, or the innocent blood of so many godly saints. Nevertheless, some of you have at times had to yield to the truth with stopped mouths and subdued hearts; and still you do not stop reviling, defaming and lying about the bright, clear truth of Christ and the pious children of God, with envious tongues and slanderous lips, before your carnal, blind churches, which are of the same calling as yourselves. Your writers do this too, as may be seen and heard everywhere. Besides, I fear that they are no less guilty than the papists of moving the lords, princes and ruling powers, by commissions, complaints, revilings, outcries and writings, to persecute the Lamb of God and his chosen, Revelation 17, verse 6, and of stirring up an uproar when their deceiving leaven, especially the calf worship of their infant baptism and their unfounded supper, is rejected. Let each one look for himself and learn to know them rightly. I know for a truth that they are without the Spirit, the sending or the word of Christ; for I am aware how malicious they generally are toward those who are rightly led, who fear the Lord with all their heart and would gladly become Christians. In their doctrines and deeds they seek, no less than the papists, the friendship of men, honor, pomp, bounties, fine houses and an easy, licentious life.

O my beloved reader, these are not the teachers who lead many to righteousness and who shall shine as the light of heaven and as the stars, now and in eternity, Daniel 12, verse 13. For I do not know where a single congregation is to be found that they have led by their doctrine and conduct to repentant lives and to the worship of God. Their great clamor is against the pope and his cardinals, bishops, priests and monks. Moreover, all who gladly seek what is best for their poor souls, and who reprove their deceiving doctrines, idolatrous sacraments and idle lives through the word of God, must be reviled by them as profaners of the sacraments, Anabaptists, fanatics and heretics. [Note 3]

Indeed, when they can find just one (though cut off) who was once united with the people of God but has now fallen into some vice, they judge and condemn all the godly by this one. Look, they say, what kind of people they are! They seek nothing so much as to find cause for censure; so they look at Judas, but not at Peter, Andrew and John. They do not consider what kind of people they are themselves, nor what kind of disciples they have.

Besides, it is nothing but the grace, favor, mercy and love of God that they teach and preach to their covetous, proud, showy, impure, drunken and impenitent church, not noticing that such people cannot inherit the kingdom of God, as the whole Scriptures testify. They also strengthen the hands of the wicked, so that no one repents of his wickedness, as the prophet lamented.

O you useless, unprofitable teachers, who are thought to bear the vessels of the Lord, these words of mine are for you! Why do you declaim so much about faith and love, whose fruit you so greatly hate and dislike? If you have the fear and unfeigned love of God, let them appear and be made plain through your words. Tell me, beloved preachers, where is your Christian humility, your godly Christian zeal, pleasure, peace and joy in Christ Jesus?

Where is the mercy you show? Where are the naked you have clothed, the hungry you have fed, and the needy you have taken in, Matthew 25, verses 41 to 43? Where are the lost you have sought again, the wounded you have bound up, and the sick you have healed, Ezekiel 34, verse 4? Where is your blameless, pious life, which is from God? What you preach, perform and do is for the most part idle hypocrisy.

Some of you approve to some degree of a pious Christian life, and also preach much about Christ, his merits, Spirit and grace; and yet you are plainly the very ones who lead a gross, carnal life, who crucify Christ anew, grieve his Spirit and despise his grace, as may be seen.

O preachers, preachers! How fittingly the Holy Spirit has likened you to dry wells and empty clouds from which no water can be had, and to unfruitful trees from which no fruit can be picked, Second Peter 2, verse 17; Jude 1, verse 12. I do not know what you could be more fittingly compared to than a woman who lives in every kind of shame and wantonness and yet talks much about modesty, decency and virtue. Should not her words be regarded as mockery? Might one not say, Why do you talk of modesty and chastity, since you are full of every kind of immodesty and shame?

We are well aware that you have torn down some of the little idols of Babylon, such as the Roman washing, the invocation of departed saints, vile purification, abstaining from meats, and similar self-righteousness, idolatry and other superstitions. But, alas, the horrible blasphemy and abominations are still kept: accursed unbelief, obstinacy, earthly-mindedness, unscriptural infant baptism, the idolatrous supper, and the impenitent old life, which is of the flesh.

Therefore we testify with the truth and declare that you are not ambassadors of God nor teachers of Christ. For it is plain that you reject the word and ordinances of the Lord and run on your own, Jeremiah 8, verse 6, and have fed yourselves under the name and appearance of evangelical shepherds of the Lord, and have led so many hundreds of thousands of souls to destruction through your wanton doctrine, idolatrous sacraments and carnal lives.

But the teachers who are sent by God and rightly called teach the word of God in purity, abide by its holy ordinances, and live blamelessly (according to their weakness); for they are born of God and are taught and moved by his Holy Spirit. They seek neither gold nor possessions, neither an easy life nor earthly applause. They attend to the duties laid on them with all earnestness; they fear God from the heart, and seek their neighbor faithfully. They are armed with the weapons of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, Romans 6, verse 7. They deal without respect of persons. The powerful, sharp sword of the divine word cuts out of their mouth; it is a shining lantern in their hands. They are taught in righteousness and are full of all spiritual wisdom; they divide the good from the evil, the holy from the unholy, and the clean from the unclean. In short, they shine in doctrine and conduct, just as has been written and noted of all true prophets, apostles and servants of God from the beginning until the present time. [Note 4]

O dear Lord, how lovely are those pastors and teachers who seek nothing but the extension of the kingdom of God; who rightly preach the word of repentance and grace in order to win many souls; and who for this purpose risk their reputation, houses, property, persons and lives.

These are the ones who gather and feed his lambs together with Christ, the chief shepherd; but the others are those who scatter and destroy them. They are prophets, but not of God; they preach, but not out of the Lord’s mouth. They strengthen the hands of the ungodly. They destroy the souls who should have eternal life, and encourage those who must die forever; and this they do for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread. They preach peace to the people when there is no peace. Therefore those who follow such abominations shall stand in shame, although they are still not ashamed and still do not blush, Ezekiel 13, verse 16.

See, dear reader, they so shamefully rob Christ of his honor and gain and scatter his sheep, and with the sword of their deceiving doctrines destroy the poor souls whom the Lord so greatly loves, whom he so earnestly seeks, and whom he bought so dearly. Since they make war so enviously against the word and ordinances of the Lord, we say and teach with Christ, “Let them alone; they are blind leaders of the blind.” Guard yourselves against such false prophets; for though they come in the appearance of sheep, inwardly they are ravening wolves. They are the strangers whose voice Christ’s sheep do not know. They are the ones of whom Paul warns us, saying, “Now I beseech you, brothers, mark those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them; for those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple,” Romans 16, verses 17 and 18.

Again, John says, “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house, nor bid him God speed; for he who bids him God speed is a partaker of his evil deeds,” Second John 1, verses 9, 10 and 11.

The word of God abundantly exhorts us to leave such people and beware of them, to shun their voice and withdraw from them, and not to take them into our houses, as has been said. If we are Christ’s sheep and children of the Holy Spirit, then we must hear Christ’s voice and follow and obey the warnings of the Holy Spirit. Consider how earnestly holy Paul admonished the Philippians to guard against strife, evildoers and the concision. He taught the true servants of God to shun those who went no further astray (as it appears) than this: that out of zeal without knowledge they held fast to the circumcision they had received from their fathers, and would not admit that it should be abolished through Christ; and for this he sharply rebukes them. How much more earnestly, then, it becomes us to beware of those who deceive the whole world, who revile and persecute the godly and crucify all truth: against all false teachers and blasphemers of God, who urge, institute and practice every kind of idolatrous and abominable doctrine. [Note 5]