# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1850 04 02_S123
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

123

we should not remain too secure in sins, presumptuous, rough and reprobate; the loosing key, that we should not also have to despair in sins, and so maintain ourselves upon the middle way between presumption and despondency in right humility and confidence, that we might be richly provided for on all sides. For he that sins not (but who sins not?), or wherein he sins not, has the common Gospel; but he that sins somewhat has, over and above the Gospel, the keys also. (Schrift von den Schlüsseln. XIX., 1184. 85.)

The Necessity of the Ban.

19. Christ has given to the Church two keys, one wherewith she should bind, the other wherewith she should loose, which the Pope, as the right Antichrist, has made into picklocks and shamefully abused, as is known. But now, since God of His grace has given us His Word again pure, we are to use them rightly and not so throw them into a corner and let them rust, as has hitherto been done, but make them serviceable again, that they may lock and unlock, bind and loose, bind the ungodly, the impenitent, who lie in open sins, both against the first and the second table of the ten commandments of God, giving others offence either with false doctrine or evil life; and when they have been admonished once and twice and will not amend, despising all admonition, then let heaven be shut to them, let them be held as heathen, as Christ earnestly commands: give them to the devil, whose own they already are, only that it be openly declared, so that one may guard against them, until they acknowledge and confess that they have grievously angered God and offended the Church, and desire forgiveness of sin; then they shall be absolved again and received. As St. Paul teaches by his example at Corinth. These are the two keys which Christ has commanded and entrusted to His dear bride, the Church, when He said to His disciples (in whose stead all upright, pious, faithful pastors and preachers and ministers of the Church now are): Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Matth. 18, 18., John 20, 23.; He affirms such earnest command with a solemn oath, that it shall surely be in heaven what is so bound and loosed here on earth; but He puts first the binding key and thereafter the loosing key, for, if one is to be loosed, he must first be bound; whoever, then, feels not that he is bound by the devil in his sins, neither acknowledges nor confesses them, yea, will not have done wrong, thinks he is free and unbound: to such a one the loosing key cannot be imparted, but he must be left so to remain bound and be committed to God's judgment, held as a heathen and unchristian, and allowed to go on in his arrogance and pride; this the Church cannot hinder, though she shall punish it and warn the others against it. (XXII., 970. 71.)

People Who Put Themselves Under the Ban.

20. Our usurers, drunkards, gluttons, whoremongers, blasphemers and scoffers we need not put under the ban, they put themselves under the ban, yea, are already in it over their ears; they despise the Word of God, come to no church, hear no sermons, go not to the Sacrament. Well then, if they will be no Christians, let them be heathen; be it so, who cares much about it? If they take from the pastors their goods and income and snatch everything to themselves, the pastor shall also pronounce no absolution to them, give them no sacraments; they shall come to no baptism, nor stand sponsor, to no honorable wedding, nor to any burial; they shall so conduct themselves as the heathen among us; which they also gladly do. And when they are about to die, no pastor, no chaplain shall come to them, and when they are dead, the hangman shall drag them out to the knacker's pit beyond the town, whither no scholar, no chaplain shall come; since they will be heathen, we will also hold them as heathen. (XXII., 974. 75.)

The Lifting of the Ban.

21. So the Christian Church must also do, when she puts one under the ban and gives him to the devil, as St. Paul did the man at Corinth, 1 Cor. 5, 5., and denies him the sacraments and all fellowship, that she may not be partaker of his sin. This is indeed a terrible judgment and dreadful wrath, and yet not the wrath of a man, but of God; for she would much rather that the man were converted and helped; as she also does, when he is converted; then she receives him as her dear son and rejoices over him together with all the angels, as Christ says of the lost sheep and the prodigal son, Luke 15. (Kirchenpostille, on the Gospel of the 6th Sunday after Trinity.)

Why Has the Ban Fallen into Disuse?

22. At the present time there are many who accuse the ministers of the Church, pastors and preachers, as though the ban (the exclusion of open sinners from the fellowship of the Church) had fallen through their negligence. . . . But the saying and command of Christ (Matth. 18.) shows plainly that one is to admonish and warn the sinner privately and secretly beforehand, ere those who are in the public ministry pronounce the sentence (the judgment); and even then such sentence is not to be pronounced publicly, unless a public minister of the Church has first given an earnest and Christian admonition. If the sinner despises the same, and continues in sins, will not cease nor desist from sins, then one shall put him publicly under the ban.

What hinders the ban now in our times? Nothing, except that no one in this matter does what becomes and behooves a Christian. You have a neighbor, whose life and conduct are well known and familiar to you, but to your pastor it is either wholly unknown, or at least not so well known; for how can he know the life of each one in particular, how it stands? Therefore, when you see that your neighbor grows rich by unjust dealing or trade; see that he practices lewdness or adultery, or trains and governs his household carelessly and negligently, you shall first admonish him and warn him in Christian fashion, that he would take heed to his salvation and avoid offence. And O what a good, holy work have you done, when you thus win him! But, dear friend, who does it? For in the first place truth is a hateful thing; whoever speaks the truth, men become angry with him. Therefore you would rather keep your neighbor's friendship and favor, especially when he is rich and powerful, than that you should anger him and make him your enemy. Likewise, when the second, third, fourth neighbor also so does, then with the first admonition the second and third also fall into the well, whereby the neighbor might have been brought again into the right way, if you had only done with admonishing what you are bound and owe.

In the second place, it happens also for this reason, that we are almost all subject to like vices and are besmirched with them; so we fear, if we should take the mote out of our neighbor's eyes, that men might reproach us and speak of the beam which sticks out of our own eyes. This is the right and chief cause that the ban has almost everywhere fallen into disuse, namely, that of true Christians there are everywhere few, and only a little flock of small number. For if we all together, as it were right and fitting, yea should be, had true godliness and God's Word at heart, we would esteem the command of the LORD Christ greater and dearer than all the goods of this temporal life. For this commandment, to admonish and warn the brother who sins, is just as needful as that: Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, etc. Seeing that herein, if you neglect this admonishing either out of fear or for any other cause, there is in danger not the neighbor's body and goods, but the salvation of his soul." (Luthers Werke. Halle. IV. Seite 2404 bis 6.)

Unjust Ban.

23. When they say: Our ban is to be feared, be it right or wrong; we say in reply: Yes, it is true; but this also is true, your unjust ban harms no one but yourself alone in body and soul. (XIX., 1109.)

The Innocently Banned.

24. The unjust ban is much more precious than the right ban or the outward fellowship (to lose). It is a noble, great merit before God, and blessed, yea, blessed is he who dies under an unjust ban. For for the truth's sake, if he is banned, God will him