The Office of the Keys
What Does This (or That) Mean? A series on how we worship.
“Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
John 20:22-23 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
How can a pastor, a mere man, pronounce God’s forgiveness and say, “I forgive you all your sins?”
The power or authority to forgive or withhold forgiveness of sins is known as The Office of the Keys. This authority comes directly from Christ himself. And this authority is given to the whole church. This means any Christian can forgive the sins of anybody else. This is why Peter calls us a “royal priesthood,” (1 Peter 2:9). Because it is the priests who used to make intercessions for the people to God. And it was the priests who pronounced God’s forgiveness to the people at their worship. This means the forgiveness you give to somebody is not only your own, but also God’s.
If anybody can do this why is it just the pastor up front on Sunday mornings doing it? Only God can forgive sins (Is 43:25; Mk 2:7). Christ gave the Office of the Keys to the church on earth; the church delegates and transfers the public exercise of the Office of the Keys to called servants of the Word (Acts 20:28; 1 Co 4:1; 2 Co 2:10; Eph 4:10–12). (Christian Cyclopedia) While all Christians are priests, only some hold the Office of the Ministry.
Pastors are installed into the Office of the Holy Ministry through the calling of the congregation. In other words, God has called pastors to be a pastor through the local church. In our case this is Christ Lutheran Church.
How is this done? One, the church ordains pastors, that means the men who are pastors have had hands laid on them recognizing that they met the requirements to be a pastor. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has, as a church, decided on how it wants its pastors to be trained. Pastoral candidates go through rigorous formation and training (seminary). This includes high academic demands. At the conclusion of this formation, the candidates go through the Rite of Ordination, a public witness that they have been formed, examined, and found to meet the qualifications to serve God’s people as a pastor. In practice this means that the church had other pastors lay their hands on the candidate and pray over him to set him aside for ministry. Second, “[t]he Christian congregation by the command of Christ calls pastors to carry out the Office of the Keys publicly in His name and on behalf of the congregation.” (Explanation of the Small Catechism pg. 227). In other words, God calls pastors to congregations through the local congregation.
Ephesians 4:11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers.
Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
1 Corinthians 4:1 This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.
2 Corinthians 2:10 And what I have forgiven…I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake.
“Pastor” is Latin for shepherd. A pastor is to shepherd the flock of God leading it to the wellspring of living water, Christ himself. Pastors do this by pronouncing God’s law to prick the conscience and drive the people to Christ. At which point the pastor proclaims God’s forgiveness and gospel to soothe the troubled soul and remind them that in Christ they are redeemed, holy, and loved.
