service ordained for the
"perfecting of the saints and the edifying of the body of Christ," viz.,
His Church (Eph. 4, 11. 12; 1, 23). _Minister_ is derived from _minus,_
"less," not from _magis_--from which we have _Magister_--meaning "more."
The ministry of the Church of the New Testament is not a hierarchy,
endowed with special privileges and powers by the Lord, but a body of
humble workmen who serve their fellow-men and fellow-Christians in the
spirit of Christ, who said: "The Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20,
28). Ministers merely exercise in public the common rights of all
believers and are the believers' representatives in all their official
acts. So Paul viewed the absolution which he pronounced upon the
penitent member of the Corinthian congregation (2 Cor. 2, 10). When the
Corinthians had begun to exalt their preachers unduly, he told them that
they were "carnal." "Who is Paul," he exclaims, "and who is Apollos, but
ministers by whom ye believed? . . . Let no man glory in men. For all
things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or
life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours" (1
Cor. 3, 4. 5. 20. 21). And Peter, the original Pope in the Catholics'
belief, says: "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an
elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of
the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among
you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not
for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's
heritage, but being ensamples to the flock" (1 Pet. 5, 1-3).

Lastly, Luther's teaching regarding the Church affords a wealth of
comfort and sound direction in view of the divided condition of the
visible Church. Through the ignorance and malice of men and through the
wily activity of Satan, who creates divisions and offenses contrary to
the doctrine of Christ, and is busy sowing tares among the wheat, there
have arisen many church organizations, known by party names, differing
from one another in their creedal statements, and warring upon each
other. This is a sad spectacle to contemplate, and grieves Christian
hearts sorely. But these divisions in the external and visible
organizations do not touch the body of Christ, the communion of saints,
the one holy Christian Church. In all ages and pl