System of Sacred Theology · §4.15.1 · Ludwig Crocius

Chapter 15: On the ministry of the word: definition

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN. On the ministry of the word.

The MINISTRY OF THE WORD is a sacred office enjoined by God through lawful calling on fit persons, that by teaching His word, administering the sacraments, and absolving and binding, they may call and direct people to God's kingdom and salvation.

In Greek it is called diakonia, leitourgia, episkope, oikonomia; in the Old Testament the Levites' ministry is custody and warfare. The Fathers call it hierurgia; Paul names ministers presbyteroi. It is a sacred office distinct from profane and civil offices.

Latin

CAPUT DECIMUM QUINTUM, De ministerio verbi. MINISTERIUM VERBI quod est officium sacrum a Deo per legitimam vocationem idoneis personis iniunctum, ut verbum ipsius docendo, sacramenta administrando, absolvendo et ligando, homines ad regnum Dei ac salutem vocent atque dirigant. Graecis diakonia dicitur (Acts 1:17; 6:4); item leitourgia (Phil. 2:17; Rom. 15:16); episkope (Acts 1:20; 1 Tim. 3:1); oikonomia (1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 3:2). In V.T. ministerium Levitarum dicitur custodia et militia. Patres vocant hierurgiam; quo sensu Paulo ministri sunt presbyteroi (1 Tim. 5:17). Est officium sacrum (1 Tim. 3:1) distinctum a profanis et civilibus (Matt. 26:21; Luke 22:25).

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About this text

Ludwig Crocius's System of Sacred Theology (Bremen, 1636), all four books: theology and its rule in Scripture; man's last end, death and the resurrection; God, the Trinity, creation, providence and sin; and the grace of Christ, the Word and sacraments, faith, the Christian life and prayer.

Ludwig Crocius (1586–1655) taught theology and philosophy at Bremen and sat as a delegate at the Synod of Dort (1618–1619). A Calvinist of the irenic school, he spent his career seeking common ground between the Reformed and Lutheran churches.

His System of Sacred Theology (Bremen, 1636) is a full Reformed dogmatics in the high-orthodox style: precise definitions, ordered questions, objections raised and answered.

Date1636 AD (Bremen; Reformed professor)

EditionSyntagma sacrae theologiae (Bremen: Berthold Villerian, 1636)

English follows the 1636 Bremen Latin (Berthold Villerian), read chapter by chapter from the SLUB Dresden page images, with a machine reading of the same pages as a check. No modern English was copied. The author index at the end of the volume is not translated.

Reference

VD17 14:684303C. SLUB id335860389.

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Latin on any section, or the Latin source link, to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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