Episcopal Press and News
Lutheran-Episcopal Dialogue Issues Justification Statement
Episcopal News Service. September 28, 1978 [78279]
NASHOTAH, Wis. -- Participants in the U.S. Lutheran-Episcopal theological dialogue have released a five-paragraph "agreed statement on justification."
The statement says that "at the time of the Reformation, Anglicans and Lutherans shared a common confession and understanding of God's justifying grace" and that "in preaching and teaching, in liturgy and sacraments, both communions confess the radical gift of God's grace and righteousness...."
The participants note that "the understanding of the term 'salvation' has had different emphases" in the two traditions.
"Among Lutherans," it continues, "salvation has commonly been synonymous with the forgiveness of sins; among Episcopalians, salvation has commonly included not only the forgiveness of sins but also the call to and promise of sanctification. As we continue to listen to each other, may God grant that justification by grace and new life in the Spirit abound."
The agreed statement says that "together, we affirm that the gospel is the good news that for us and for our salvation God's Son was made man, fulfilled all righteousness, died and rose again from the dead according to the Scriptures.
"Through the proclamation of this gospel in word and sacraments, the Holy Spirit calls, works faith, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. The Spirit thereby leads us into a life of service and praise of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit," it continues.
The participants conclude that "we rejoice in these common convictions, and recommend them to our churches for reflection and use."
The dialogue met at Nashotah House, the Episcopal seminary here.
Lutheran and Episcopal papers were presented on "Apostle in the new Testament" and "Apostolicity from the Reformation to the Present." Also considered were papers on "Lutheran and Anglican Liturgies: Reciprocal Influences" and "Apostolicity in the Early Church." Participants are to continue their work on a possible common statement on apostolicity at two 1979 meetings, set for January and August.
Episcopalians emphasize the great desirability, even necessity, of apostolic succession, understood in part to include a succession of bishops ordained by other bishops.
In his presentation, the Rev. William Petersen, assistant professor of church history at Nashotah House, stressed a broader view of apostolicity as including liturgy and doctrine as well as polity (church order). He suggested that Anglicans may distort this arrangement with their emphasis on apostolic polity (a succession of bishops) and that Lutherans may do similarly in their special attention to apostolic doctrine.
The Rev. Ralph Quere, assistant professor of history and theology at Wartburg Theological Seminary, an American Lutheran Church school in Dubuque, Iowa, concluded his review of Lutheran attitudes toward apostolic succession with the observation that "Lutherans have often feared, like Paul, 'another gospel,' in the demand for apostolic succession understood as a necessity de juro divino (by divine law) for the esse (being or essence) of the church."
He also noted that many Lutherans of the present and past would accept, even welcome, an apostolic succession of bishops as an order "not divinely instituted, but divinely used and blessed," which if not part of the church's esse, is certainly related to its bene esse (well being).
Other Episcopal participants and endorsers of the agreed statement are Bishop William Weinhauer of the Western North Carolina Diocese; the Rev. Louis Weil, professor of liturgics, Nashotah House; the Rev. Howard Rhys, professor of New Testament, School of Theology, University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.; and the Rev. John Rodgers, dean, Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, Ambridge, Pa.
Lutheran participants are official representatives of the four bodies which make up the Lutheran Council in the USA -- American Lutheran Church, Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches.
Besides Quere, they are the Rev. Robert Goeser, professor of historical theology, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif. (LCA); the Rev. J. Stephen Bremer, pastor, Luther Memorial church, Madison, Wis. (LCA); the Rev. Frank Senn, assistant professor of liturgies, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LCA); and the Rev. Carl Bornmann, pastor, St. John's Lutheran church, Luxenburg, Wis. (LCMS).
Also, the Rev. Norman Nagel (LCMS), dean of chapel, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Ind.; the Rev. Cyril Wismar Sr., pastor, Clifton Lutheran church and head of the New England Region of the East Coast Synod, Marblehead, Mass. (AELC); and the Rev. Richard Trost, pastor, Zion Lutheran church, Iowa City, Iowa (ALC).
Also endorsing the statement were the Episcopal and Lutheran staff representatives for the dialogue -- Ecumenical Officer Peter Day of the Episcopal Church and Executive Director Paul Opsahl of the LC/USA Division of Theological Studies.
Two Lutheran and two Episcopal members of the dialogue were absent and thus did not endorse the statement at the meeting. During the four-day gathering, dialogue members participated in the seminary's worship life, Nagel preaching the sermon for the festival eucharist to mark the day of St. Matthew (Sept. 21).
A. We the participants in the Lutheran-Episcopal Dialogue understand that our respective churches confess the gospel of Jesus Christ as God's saving word of grace to a fallen world. Together, we affirm that the gospel is the good news that for us and for our salvation God's Son was made man, fulfilled all righteousness, died and rose again from the dead according to the scriptures. Through the proclamation of this gospel in word and sacraments, the Holy Spirit calls, works faith, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. The Spirit thereby leads us into a life of service and praise of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
B. At the time of the Reformation, Anglicans and Lutherans shared a common confession and understanding of God's justifying grace, i.e. that we are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. This good news of salvation continues to comfort the people of God and to establish them in the hope and promise of eternal life. In preaching and teaching, in liturgy and sacraments, both communions confess the radical gift of God's grace and righteousness in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ to the human race, which has no righteousness of its own.
C. In the western cultural setting in which our communions, Episcopal and Lutheran, find themselves, the gospel of justification continues to address the needs of human beings alienated from a holy and gracious God. Therefore, it is the task of the church to minister this gospel with vivid and fresh proclamation and to utilize all available resources for the theological enrichment of this ministry.
D. In both communions the understanding of the term "salvation" has had different emphases. Among Lutherans, salvation has commonly been synonymous with the forgiveness of sins; among Episcopalians, salvation has commonly included not only the forgiveness of sins but also the call to and promise of sanctification. As we continue to listen to each other, may God grant that justification by grace and the new life in the Spirit abound.
E. We rejoice in these common convictions, and recommend them to our churches for reflection and use.