What doctrines must one accept and believe as true in order to be a Christian? How much of our dogma must be accepted as true in order to be a member of this congregation?
I believe that some pastors and congregations have wrongly held the laity to the same doctrinal standard which is properly reserved for clergy and congregational affiliation. To be a pastor of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, I must and do subscribe to all the writings of the Book of Concord of 1580 to be a true and faithful exposition of the Word of God. I must pledge to not preach or teach contrary to the accepted doctrinal statements of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Congregations must pledge to use doctrinally pure educational materials and hymnals which are in agreement with the confessional standards of our denomination.
That makes sense, don’t you think? If a congregation affiliates with a denomination or if a pastor wants to be included in the clergy rosters of a church body then there must be some standard of doctrine and a pledge to hold to it. Pastors are to have been thoroughly taught and examined in these matters and congregations should carefully consider their public confession of faith. But what about the average member?
We all should remember that the standard for membership in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is the acceptance and confession of all that is taught in Luther’s Small Catechism – not because Luther was divine or inerrant in his exposition of the faith, but because we believe that these are the foundational teachings of the Christian faith. And we should even go further, I say, to distinguish between what is in the actual Small Catechism and what is in the Exposition of the Small Catechism. It is the Small Catechism, not the Exposition, which is the doctrinal standard for our members. The exposition is necessary and helpful, especially as a reference and as a tool for further understanding and study, but not even Pastors are required to subscribe to the Exposition because it is not contained in the Unaltered Book of Concord of 1580. The doctrines of the Exposition may be found in other parts of the Book of Concord, but the Exposition itself is not.
So can a member of an LCMS congregation hold that God’s Word allows for sexual activity outside of marriage? No. We learned that the marital bed should remain pure before and during marriage. While many (most?) people struggle with living up to the sixth commandment and are (perhaps regularly!) in need of forgiveness, we should at least confess that what God has said on the issue is correct and hold that it is true. We are sinners in need of a Savior, after all! But can a member of an LCMS congregation hold that women should be allowed to be Pastors? I say yes. A pastor of the LCMS may not advocate for that position and a congregation of the LCMS may not promote that idea, but individual Christians, in my view, are allowed inconsistencies in their theology – such as we believe the ordination of women to be one such inconsistency. God’s Word cannot be unerring and unchanging and therefore, whether we understand it or not, it does not allow for women pastors. [Please note, that all Christians, including women, are priests according to New Testament theology. That is, every Christian may approach God on their own behalf and on behalf of others. However, only some Christians are to be admitted to the office of the Public Ministry, according to our confession of the Scriptural teaching.]
I believe that Pastors should not expect that members of their congregations are in full doctrinal agreement with everything that our denomination teaches. That would be expecting at least as much as we expect from those who are qualified for ordination and more than most every-day Christians can be taught by the age of Confirmation (typically 14) or perhaps for some in a lifetime of learning. We should, however, expect that members of our congregation will not teach or advocate publicly for things that are contrary any of our doctrinal positions by virtue of their voluntary association with our congregation. They must confess what’s in the Small Catechism, but they must merely agree to be constrained by our full doctrine in their teaching or advocacy. There is more than enough to teach in that and the rest they can continue to study with their pastor.