Catechism
THREE ORDERS I
remember when I was in high school. I couldn’t wait until I was in college. I thought life would be all fun and I could do whatever I wanted. But college classes were harder and more demanding, the workload was heavier, and the responsibilities were greater.
When I lived at home under the rule of my parents, I couldn’t wait until I was out of the house, on my own, and FREE. I thought I could do anything I pleased. But there were rent, food, clothes and books to buy. Then a job, a family, a congregation. More responsibilities and duties. Two things I learned: You’re never without responsibilities. And you’re never out from under authority. We’re going to spend some time now on The Table of Duties. It’s the eighth and last part of the Small Catechism and deals with responsibilities and authorities. This part probably wasn’t prepared by Luther, but was later taken up into the Small Catechism and became a part of it. The Table of Duties is a collection of Scripture passages dealing with various aspects of our temporal life in this world under the categories of Home, Church, and State. These are the three realms or “orders” in which all of us, as baptized believers, live. We are born or adopted into a family and home. We are members of a congregation. We are citizens of a state. A simple Venn diagram of these three orders would look something like this:
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It’s really all about the 4th commandment and the gift of “parents and other authorities.” God is a God of order (1 Corinthians 14:33) who sets everything in His creation in order and under His authority. Without order and authority, there would be only chaos and anarchy, which may sound like fun until you have to live in it. Just ask anyone who has lived in a country whose government has collapsed. Our old Adam needs to be kept in line. In each order—home, church, state—there is office and authority which are God’s representatives under the 4th commandment. In the home, husbands are the heads of their wives and their households, and fathers and mothers are over their children. This is not to boss them around and make their lives miserable but for their blessing and protection. Also included here are bosses and workers, since the original workplace was the home. In the state or civil society, God has ordered things so that there are those who govern and those who are governed. In our country, we participate in the selection of those who govern, and by means of elections God places them in authority above us. This, too, is for our blessing and benefit, both to restrain the evils of sin and our sinful natures and for the promotion of the general good. In the church, God has established that there are those who preach and those who
