Quoting Pastor Luke T. Zimmerman from his blog post "A Brief Introduction to Church & Ministry" on the Lutheran Theology blog:Because salvation is dependent upon having faith which must be created through the Gospel of Christ and that Gospel must be presented to humans, Jesus instituted the office of the ministry. The holders of the Office of the Holy Ministry deliver the forgiveness of sins by preaching the aural Gospel [preaching and teaching] and distributing the visible Gospel [Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper]. For Lutherans, that is the raison d’etre of the Church and her ministers. Lutherans teach that anyone who substitutes a different purpose for the office of the holy ministry either holds a different understanding than Christ who instituted it or a different understanding of how the Holy Spirit is given to humans in order to create faith.
photo credit: valvados
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