ONE MINISTRY – THREE COMMISSIONS

During the first centuries, in connection with the needs of the Church and the congregations, three areas of responsibility were developed within the ministry of the Church. It is therefore customary to speak about the tripartite ministry. The term threefold ministry is used here as it expresses more clearly than tripartite that we are dealing with only one ministry. The three commissions within the ministry of the Church have different profiles which must be maintained, even if the tasks often overlap each other.

According to views held during the Reformation, the ministry is not a sacerdotium, a sacrificial ministry, but a ministerium, a serving ministry, which is to serve the congregation with the word of God and the sacraments. In the Augsburg Confession, Article 5, the ministry is therefore called ministerium docendi evangelium et porrigendi sacramenta, the ministry of proclaiming the gospel and administering the sacraments, which was instituted by God in order that people may receive justifying faith. In Article 7 of the same Confession it is stated that where the gospel is taught purely and the sacraments are administered rightly, the Church, which is the communion of saints, is to be found. The ministry is thus a necessary part of the Church.

In the Lutheran Reformation the preaching ministry included the total ministry of the Church, with the task of proclaiming and elucidating the gospel in word and deed. The reformers, against the background of the medieval development and the social order of their time found it expedient to integrate the diaconal task within the responsibility of the ministry of the priest, but the situation today is quite different. Through its integration in the ministry of the priest, diaconal responsibility received a natural and selfevident anchorage in acts of worship. When we in our own time, in the past century and a half, have recovered the diaconate as a special commission in the Church, it is important that this anchorage in worship service be retained. The ministry of the diaconate, with its commission to proclaim the gospel in deeds, has its given startingpoint in the fellowship of the means of grace in worship and is together with the ministry of the bishop and the ministry of the priest a natural part of the constitutive ministry of the Church, as it is described in Article 5 of the Augsburg Confession.

The responsibility of the bishop

The early Christian apostolate ceased to exist with the death of the apostles. Gradually, the episcops , whose tasks during the time of the New Testament could hardly be distinguished from those of the presbyters, were given a more and more clearly marked episcopal responsibility according to the original meaning of the word. Thereby they also received a special status. At the beginning of the second century this is found in the socalled monarchical episcopate with special responsibility for the doctrine and the unity of the Church. The first representative of this definition of the position and responsibility of the bishop was Ignatios of Antioch. In his letter to the congregation in Philadelphia, Ignatios emphasizes, in particular, the responsibility of the bishop for the unity of the Church: Be zealous to practice one eucharist (eucharistia), for there is one body of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is one cup for the unity in His blood, there is one altar, just as the bishop is one together with the presbyterate and my fellow servants the deacons.

The ecumenical document Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry describes the modern office of the bishop in a similar way, emphasizing its responsibility for supervision and unity and its fellowship with coservants in the ministry. Bishops have pastoral oversight of the area to which they are called. They serve the apostolicity and unity of the Church’s teaching, worship and sacramental life. They have responsibility for leadership in the Church’s mission. They relate the Christian community in their area to the wider Church, and the universal Church to their community. They, in communion with the presbyters and deacons and the whole community, are responsible for the orderly transfer of ministerial authority in the Church.

The ministry of the bishop in its modern form and with its present tasks cannot, any more than the other commissions within the ministry of the Church, be derived directly from the New Testament, even if the original functions still remain. The responsibility for leadership, which was set out in greater detail when the service of the episcop developed into the office of the bishop, gradually came to be combined with functions in the society, often involving the exercise of political and financial power. When the Roman Empire collapsed, the bishops in the west also assumed civil functions. At times the bishops became provincial lords, who received fiefs and who not infrequently gathered to themselves several financially profitable offices. The Swedish bishops also had several such fiefs during the Middle Ages, with accompanying obligations towards the temporal powers. They were members of the king’s council and in certain situations they were even given the task of ruling the country.

The reformers reacted strongly against this development. However, their critisism was not directed against the ministry of the bishop as such but against the intermixing of the spiritual and the temporal in the exercise of the ministry. The ministry of the bishop is well documented in the doctrinal writings, even if, in certain Lutheran Churches, the responsibility of oversight came to be given to persons with the title Superintendent instead of Bishop . In Article 28 of the Augsburg Confession it is stated that according to divine right the bishops must ensure that the gospel is purely proclaimed and rightly received in the congregations. They must take action against that which is contrary to the gospel. Their commission includes taking responsibility to ensure that the order and activity of the Church are in accord with the word of God, that they are good instruments for the gospel and serve the unity of the Church by counteracting disagreement and division. The reformed Church of Sweden considered the commission of the bishop as an indispensable gift to the Church. This can be seen, for example, in the Church Ordinance of 1571 where Laurentius Petri describes the ministry of the bishop as a gift, without doubt emanating from God the Holy Spirit (as the giver of all good gifts) , which must be preserved as long as the world remains .

The ministry of the bishop is a sign of the relation of our Church to the Church throughout the ages, the Church of the apostles, the Church of the Middle Ages and the Church of the time of the Reformation. The apostolic succession as a succession of faith and ordination is an expression of the aspiration to maintain faithfulness to the basis of the Church in fulfilling the Church’s mission today. It is continuity of the apostolic faith and the universal Church that is decisive, not an unbroken chain of ordinations. This continuity belongs to the Church as a whole. The succession of ordinations is not a guarantee but a sign of such a continuity. Succession of faith and ordination may exist in spite of different forms of the ministry. Our Church therefore recognizes the ministry in churches that lack episcopal succession of ordinations. At the same time our Church considers the preservation of the historic episcopate as a gift from God to her through the Holy Spirit to be maintained in her own life as well as ecumenically.

In the exercise of ministry the bishop has an inescapable relationship with the time and society in which the ministry is set. A not unimportant part of the bishop’s responsibility of oversight concerns general social questions related to Christian faith and ethics. An important precondition to enabling the bishop to fulfil the duties with boldness and integrity is that he/she be completely free from political obligations in the social power structure. The bishop is the spokesman of the Church with the word of God as the only determining authority.

The task of leadership in the Church is not exclusively linked to the ministry of the Church, and the commission of the shepherd is not reserved for the bishop alone. All God’s people bear their responsibility within the priesthood of the baptizedandbelieving. But this responsibility is particularly emphasized for the bishop. The responsibility of the diocesan bishop has gained increased recognition and greater significance. In cooperation with other bishops and with the priests, deacons and other fellow workers of the diocese, the bishop, with the responsibility for oversight, leadership and doctrine, is a sign of a wider Church fellowship and of solidarity with all of God’s people across the national boundaries.

To be a bishop

To be a bishop is

to be through election by the congregation and ordination placed among those who throughout the history of Church until the present

day exercise episkopé , leadership and oversight of the Church;

to lead the Church of Christ in obedience to the Spirit and in the diocese be responsible for ensuring that the gospel is proclaimed purely and clearly and that the sacraments are distributed according to the order and confession of the Church, for the salvation of

human beings;

to ordain new priests, deacons and bishops;

to be pastor pastorum for the priests of the diocese;

to administer the ministry of grace, together with priests and deacons, in a Church characterized by boldness, sensitive care and growth of

the inner life;

to be a bridgebuilder, with the calling to work for the visible unity of

the Church;

to participate in public debate and give voice to the faith and values of

the Church;

to administer the spiritual heritage of the Church in such a way that it

is not dissipated but increases;

to pray for humility of the heart in accord with the example of Christ and, in faith, to seek forgiveness at the cross and new fortitude from the Risen One and, in spite of human weakness, to be the servant of divine unity.

The responsibility of the priest

As has been mentioned earlier, the Swedish word präst , priest, is derived from the Greek presbyteros. Usually this concept is used in the plural to denote a group of persons, the elders . In the local congregation the presbyterate functioned as a collective leadership. Gradually its members came to be seen as the special assistants of the episcop in the congregation. The concept presbyteros (Lat. presbyter) in this way became reserved for this special group of congregational servants and later appeared in other languages under the forms priest, Priester and präst.

It is essential for a correct understanding of the ministry of the priest that presbyteros and not hieréus came to be used as the term, since hieréus means priest for sacrificial service . In the new covenant there was no need of a special priestly sacrificial service. Consequently the concept hieréus was not usable other than for the sacrificial service which is a task for the priesthood of the baptizedandbelieving. In the continued development during the Middle Ages the idea of sacrifice came into use for the ministry of the priest. The term sacerdos, which is the Latin translation of the Greek hieréus, sacrificial priest, was then introduced as designation for the ministry of the priest. The priests as a collective were no longer called presbyterium, but sacerdotium. They were considered to be equipped with a special power (potestas) to carry out a mediatory service and to "offer sacrifices before God and celebrate the mass for the living and the dead", as it was stated in the medieval order for the ordination of priests.

This medieval interpretation of the significance and task of the ministry of the priest was sharply critisized by the reformers. The atoning sacrifice has once and for all been offered by Christ himself and cannot be repeated. In his Church Ordinance Laurentius Petri stated that the sacrifice of Christ is made actual in the mass, but not in such a manner that it is offered afresh by the priest, but so that the Christian receives it in the form of the bread and wine of the eucharist. The reformers therefore defended themselves against the term sacerdos and even to some extent against presbyter as a designation for the holder of the ministry of the priest. They would rather speak about preacher or teacher or pastor , which means shepherd . Nevertheless the Swedish word präst (priest) became the prevalent designation.

The priest fulfils his pastoral commission by serving the congregation with the word of God and the sacraments. The priest is therefore traditionally denoted as Verbi Divini Minister, the servant of the divine Word. In this capacity, the priest is in service with Christ and acts on his behalf. In Article 7 of the Apology to the Augsburg Confession this is expressed by the statement that the priest "represents Christ" (repraesentat Christi personam). The representation of Christ, which applies also to the other commissions in the ministry of the Church, is described in the following manner in the socalled Malta Document from the dialogue between Lutherans and Roman Catholics in 1972: They agree that the ministerial office represents Christ and his overagainstness to the community only insofar as it gives expression to the gospel." The representation is objective in the sense that it is not dependent on faith, moral qualities, sex or race of the incumbent of the ministry. This is an idea fundamental to the classical Christian understanding of the ministry which in article 8 of the Augsburg Confession is expressed in this way, that both the sacraments and the Word are effective by reason of the institution and commandment of Christ even if they are administered by ungodly men .

Consequently, the person exercising the ministry does not bring about or guarantee the validity of the means of grace, but is employed in its administration. It is therefore important that teaching and life correspond so that the person of the minister does not conceal Christ.

The priest’s basic pastoral responsibility is to proclaim the word of Christ. Faith builds on proclamation and the priest is sent to proclaim (Rom 10:1417). Therefore Christ has called some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:1113). This is the pastoral service to which the priest is sent by Christ. Therefore the priest is to be regarded and received as a servant of Christ and steward of the mysteries of God (1 Cor 4:1), not to be lord over the faith of others but to help them for their joy (2 Cor 1:24), bold confession and perseverance in doing the will of God. If the gospel is not proclaimed in word and deed through preaching, teaching, pastoral care, absolution, baptism and communion, there can be no faith and there would be no Church.

The commission to be priest can take various forms. It is often performed in various appointments in the Church. But a priest can also function in the ministry without having an appointment in the church organization. Holding an appointment as priest presupposes possession of the ministry of the priest, but possession of the ministry of priest does not presuppose holding a regulated appointment as priest. In both cases the basic pastoral responsibility remains, namely to administer the gospel in word and deed, by which the Holy Spirit creates and upholds faith in Christ.

Priest and congregation are together subordinated to the gospel. As minister of the Word of God, the priest has been employed by Christ to serve the congregation. The priest is the ambassador, not of any human group, but of the risen and living Christ. This is the basis for the confidence of the priest. It is in Christ’s stead and place that priests administer (Christi vice et loco porrigunt) his word and sacrament, so that Christ himself becomes heard and received. The commission to bring the gifts of God in word and sacrament to people is exercised in the congregation and its fellowship. When it is said that the priest through ordination is set apart for his/her commission, this does not mean that the priest is separated from the congregation, but that he/she is sent to service in it.

To be a priest

To be a priest is

to be by virtue of the call and ordination placed among the ministers of

the divine word of all times;

to proclaim the lifegiving and saving presence of God in the whole

creation and among all people;

to proclaim the gospel purely and clearly under the guidance of the

Spirit;

to convey forgiveness, comfort and meaning to people who are marked

by guilt, sorrow and emptiness;

to be the instrument when people through baptism are made limbs in the body of Christ and incorporated into the fellowship of the

Church of Christ;

to lead, with the assurance that Christ is present in bread and wine, the celebration of the Holy Supper the fellowship of the congregation

with the faithful of all times and the entirety of the heavenly host;

to hold fast in everything to the victory of Jesus Christ over death and thereby find nourishment for faith, strength for hope and courage despite all shortcomings to be the servant of divine grace.

The responsibility of the deacon

One constantly encounters in the life and deeds of Jesus his concern for the individual person. What Jesus said and did was united in this concern: He went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people (Matt 4:23). With both his deeds and his words he showed who he was (Lk 6:1719). In his deeds the message took concrete and visible form and he himself pointed to the good deeds as a testimony about the heavenly Father (Matt 5:1416).

With Christ as example it became a selfevident call for the first Christian congregations to let their life be devoted to service of God and the people. A special group of coworkers in the congregations emerged with the main task of services of charity. Even if our knowledge about this commission in the ministry of the congregation is rather meagre, it is fully clear that from the beginning the diaconal service was a natural task of primary importance in the congregation and an essential part of the life of the Church. Some Bible texts indicate this too. In Phil 1:1 Paul greets the deacons of the congregation as a special group of coworkers and in 1 Tim 3:813 mention is made of the special demands placed on them. Our sister Phoebe who serves the congregation in Cenchreae is called a deacon (Rom 16:1). When the apostle speaks of the gift of service, in our serving in Rom 12:7, there is reason to assume that reference is being made to those responsible for diaconal work in the congregation. But the task of serving did not concern only deacons and deaconesses. It concerned the whole congregation. Their special commission to bear responsibility for charity did not mean that the congregation as a whole was exempt from duties in the service of love. Rather, it was thereby indicated that the importance of the commission required that some persons with special responsibility led and inspired this work.

The deacons usually functioned together with the episcops , as their assistants and envoys. They stood in connection with both congregations and individual Christians in need. With regard to the institution of the diaconate, reference has often been made to the account in Acts 6 about the seven men who were appointed to be responsible for the distribution of food to the Greek speaking widows. Current research indicates that the origin of the diaconate is not to be found in this text. There is no unambiguous information about the different diaconal tasks in the New Testament, but a wide spectrum of the charitative responsibility is indicated. It had to do not only with care for those in need but also teaching, financial management, administration and liturgical tasks.

In the continued development it can be seen how liturgical functions during the Middle Ages came to predominate within the diaconate. Consequently it became a male function, whereas the ministry of the deaconesses gradually was taken over by the female orders. The charittive task of the diaconal ministry continued to exist in this context, while it soon was overshadowed within the male diaconate by the liturgical function. The male diaconate thereby became only a stage on the way to ordination as priest.

The reformers protested against this development. Luther held that once the task of the deacon had become that of reading the Epistle and the Gospel in the mass, the correct function of the diaconate had been misunderstood. The ministry of the deacon had as its foremost task the distribution of the assets of the Church to the poor. Luther had preferred to see the congregations divided into districts, where a preacher was responsible for the proclamation and a few deacons had concern for charity. However, this idea was never fulfilled in the Lutheran reformation and consequently the diaconate disappeared. The responsibility for charity was transferred to the ministry of the priest, who according to the ordination vows had to care for the poor, sick and defenceless. In Sweden a liturgical diaconate persisted until the 17th Century, but in the old unitary society, ecclesiastical and civic responsibility for those in need came to coincide. However, in our country the main responsibility for the charitative activity rested with the Church and the clergy right until the middle of the 19th Century.

At about the same time as the old parish was divided into congregation and civic district and the latter took up the responsibility for social services, the charitative diaconate was revived in a voluntary form. Under influence mainly from Germany, a Christian responsibility for charity emerged within the low church revival, which resulted in the founding of Ersta in 1851 as the first deaconesshouse in Sweden. In line with ideas within the revival movement regarding the special spiritual responsibility of the Christian association, diaconal institutions were founded by individual societies. This is still a distinguishing feature of the structure of the diaconal work in the Church of Sweden. During the 20th Century the diaconate has achieved an acknowledged position in the Church of Sweden.

Responsibility for diaconal work had earlier been integrated in the ministry of the priest. One of the vows for the ordination of priests had a clear charitative character until 1987, when it was inserted into the order for the ordination mass for deacons. Nowadays the diaconate has more and more clearly emerged as an independent commission within the ecclesiastical ministry. In 1921 the Church of Sweden received the first official orders for the ordination of deacons and deaconesses under the heading: How a deacon/deaconess may be installed in his/her call . Thereby ecclesiastical recognition of the commission of the deacon and deaconess was given, as well as an order for their being sent. In the Service Book of 1942 the term ordination was introduced into each of the separate orders for ordination of deacons and deaconesses. In the joint order for ordination of 1987 it was further clarified that the diaconate is the organ of the Church for the charitative responsibility of the congregation.

In comparison with the ministry of the bishop and the priest, the ministry of the deacon has greater difficulty in gaining recognition for its identity. The former have been entrusted with certain special tasks which strengthen their identity. The bishops alone perform the ordination of priests and priests have the exclusive right to administer the sacraments. The diaconate has no corresponding exclusive right. Even in other churches it can be noted that similar attempts have been made to break through the narrow confines which ever since the early Middle Ages have restricted the task and responsiblity of the diaconate and to let it recover more freedom and flexibility, more in line with the practice in the Early Church. It is clear, however, that much still remains to be done to achieve generally accepted clarity regarding the place and role of the diaconate in the context of the Church’s ministry in modern society.

In recent years some important steps have been taken in this direction. The ecumenical document cited earlier, Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, in its characterization of the ministry of the diaconate, touches not only upon its main charitative task but also on its liturgical, pedagogical and administrative functions. Deacons represent to the Church its calling as servant in the world. By struggling in Christ’s name with the myriad needs of societies and persons, deacons exemplify the interdependence of worship and service in the Church’s life. They exercise responsibility in the worship of the congregation: for example by reading the scriptures, preaching and leading the people in prayer. They help in the teaching of the congregation. They exercise a ministry of love within the community. They fulfil certain administrative tasks and may be elected to responsibilities for governance.

The special task of the diaconate is also underlined in the Order for Ordination of 1987: with Christ as example, to be a sign of mercy in the congregation and society both for those who are in need of mercy and for those who are to show fellow human concern. When the ministry of the deacon is renewed in our own time its commission is the ancient one: not to free fellowChristians from but to inspire and strengthen them to be sensitive as fellow human beings and untiring in serving othes.

To be a deacon

To be a deacon is

to be by virtue of call and ordination sent to convey the love of God

among people through service in the power of the Spirit;

to feed the hungry, help the sick, support the old and in this way be the

hands of Jesus Christ on earth;

to protect the underprivileged, give voice to the silenced, defend the exposed, support the weak, safeguard the integrity of the creation

and thus make the gospel visible;

to comfort the mourning and instruct those seeking the way of love;

to point to the reality of the kingdom of God in the midst of society and to struggle for justice, dignity and a recognized place in society

for all;

to bring the distress of the people before God, within the fellowship of the suffering and praising Church and with sensitive and deep com

mitment in prayer;

to look to Jesus, the servant of servants, at all times, and so gain inspiration and strength to be, despite every weakness, the servant of divine love.

Fellowship in the ministry

Within the threefold ministry of the Church there is room for a wide variety of commissions and tasks. A few perform their service in the ministry of bishop and many in the ministries of priest or deacon. This serving can be performed in special tasks, with special talents and in different ways so that the special gifts that individual people have will benefit the fellowship. All who have commissions within the ministry of the Church nevertheless have it in common that God have made use of them for the benefit of his people. With their different commissions, they are united in a fellowship of ministry where no one is master or slave of the other. There is a constant and inevitable togetherness among them even when human opposition and dissension make themselves felt. The decisive factor is that they are placed together in a ministry which – according to the Church Ordinance of 1571 – is not some human work but an order made by God and our Lord Jesus Christ, who also upholds it and acts through it with strength . Being included in this fellowship in ministry, the bishop, priest and deacon are individually called to fulfil their commissions with mutual love and respect, in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and with all their fellow servants in the Church of Christ on earth.