THE SECOND HELVETIC CONFESSION
CHAPTER I
Of The Holy Scripture Being The
True
Word of God
CANONICAL
SCRIPTURE. We believe and confess
the canonical Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles of both
Testaments to be the true Word of God, and to have sufficient authority
of themselves, not of men. For God himself spoke to the fathers,
prophets, apostles, and still speaks to us through the Holy Scriptures.
And in this Holy
Scripture, the universal
Church of Christ has the most complete exposition of all that pertains
to a saving faith, and also to the framing of a life acceptable to God;
and in this respect it is expressly commanded by God that nothing be
either added to or taken from the same.
SCRIPTURE TEACHES
FULLY ALL GODLINESS. We
judge, therefore, that from these Scriptures are to be derived true
wisdom and godliness, the reformation and government of churches; as
also instruction in all duties of piety; and, to be short, the
confirmation of doctrines, and the rejection of all errors, moreover,
all exhortations according to that word of the apostle, "All scripture
is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof," etc. (II
Timothy 3:16-17). Again, "I am writing these instructions to you," says
the apostle to Timothy, "So that you may know how one ought to behave
in the household of God," etc. (I Timothy 3:14-15). SCRIPTURE IS THE
WORD OF GOD. Again, the selfsame apostle to the Thessalonians: "When,"
says he, "You received the word of God which you heard from us, you
accepted it, not as the word of men but as what it really is, the Word
of God," etc. (I Thess. 2:13) For the Lord himself has said in the
gospel, "It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of my Father speaking
through you"; therefore "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects
me rejects him who sent me" (Matt. 10:20; Luke 10:16; John 13:20)
THE PREACHING OF
THE WORD OF GOD IS THE WORD
OF GOD. Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church
by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is
proclaimed, and received by the faithful; and that neither any other
Word of God is to be invented nor is to be expected from heaven: and
that now the Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the
minister that preaches; for even if he be evil and a sinner,
nevertheless the Word of God remains still true and good.
Neither do we
think that therefore the outward
preaching is to be thought as fruitless because the instruction in true
religion depends on the inward illumination of the Spirit, or because
it is written "And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor..., for
they shall all know me" (Jer. 31:34), And "Neither he who plants nor he
that waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth" (I Cor.
3:7). For although "No one can come to Christ unless he be drawn by the
Father" (John 6:44), And unless the Holy Spirit inwardly illumines him,
yet we know that it is surely the will of God that his Word should be
preached outwardly also. God could indeed, by his Holy Spirit, or by
the ministry of an angel, without the ministry of St. Peter, have
taught Cornelius in the Acts; but, nevertheless, he refers him to
Peter, of whom the angel speaking says, "He shall tell you what you
ought to do."
INWARD
ILLUMINATION DOES NOT ELIMINATE
EXTERNAL PREACHING. For he that illuminates inwardly by giving men the
Holy Spirit, the same one, by way of commandment, said unto his
disciples, "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole
creation" (Mark 16:15). And so in Phillippi, Paul preached the word
outwardly to Lydia, a seller of purple goods; but the Lord inwardly
opened the woman's heart (Acts 16:14). And the same Paul, after a
beautiful development of his thought, in Romans 10:17 at length comes
to the conclusion, "So faith comes from hearing and hearing from the
Word of God by the preaching of Christ."
At the same time
we recognize that God can
illuminate whom and when he will, Even without the external ministry,
for that is in his power; but we speak of the usual way of instructing
men, delivered unto us from God, both by commandment and examples.
HERESIES. We
therefore detest all the heresies
of Artemon, the Manichaeans, the Valentinians, of Cerdon, and the
Marcionites, who deny that the Scriptures proceeded from the Holy
Spirit; or did not accept some parts of them, or interpolated and
corrupted them.
APOCRYPHA. And yet
we do not conceal the fact
that certain books of the Old Testament were by the ancient authors
called apocryphal, and by the others ecclesiastical; in
as much as some would have them read in the churches, but not advanced
as an authority from which the faith is to be established. As Augustine
also, in his De Civitate Dei, book 18, ch. 38, remarks that
"In the books of the Kings, the names and books of certain prophets are
cited"; but he adds that "They are not in the canon"; and that "those
books which we have suffice unto godliness."
CHAPTER II
Of Interpreting The Holy
Scripture;
and of Fathers, Councils, and Traditions
THE TRUE
INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. The
apostle peter has said that the Holy Scriptures are not of private
interpretation (2 Pet. 1:20), and thus we do not allow all possible
interpretations. Nor consequently do we acknowledge as the true or
genuine interpretation of the Scriptures what is called the conception
of the Roman Church, that is, what the defenders of the Roman Church
plainly maintain should be thrust upon all for acceptance. But we hold
that the interpretation of the Scripture to be orthodox and genuine
which is gleaned from the Scriptures themselves (from the nature of the
language in which they were written, likewise according to the
circumstances in which they were set down, and expounded in the light
of and unlike passages and of many and clearer passages) and which
agree with the rule of faith and love, and contributes much to the
glory of God and man's salvation.
INTERPRETATIONS OF
THE HOLY FATHERS. Wherefore
we do not despise the interpretations of the holy Greek and Latin
fathers, nor reject their disputations and treatises concerning sacred
matters as far as they agree with the Scriptures; but we modestly
dissent from them when they are found to set down things differing
from, or altogether contrary to, the Scriptures. Neither do we think
that we do them any wrong in this matter; seeing that they all, with
one consent, will not have their writings equated with the canonical
Scriptures, but command us to prove how far they agree or disagree with
them, and to accept what is in agreement and to reject what is in
disagreement.
COUNCILS. And in
the same order also we place
the decrees and canons of councils.
Wherefore we do
not permit ourselves, in
controversies about religion or matters of faith, to urge our case with
only the opinions of the fathers or decrees of councils; much less by
received customs, or by the large number of those who share the same
opinion, or by the prescription of a long time. Who Is The Judge?
Therefore, we do not admit any other judge than God himself, who
proclaims by the Holy Scriptures what is true, what is false, what is
to be followed, or what to be avoided. So we do assent to the judgments
of spiritual men which are drawn from the Word of God. Certainly
Jeremiah and other prophets vehemently condemned the assemblies of
priests which were set up against the law of God; and diligently
admonished us that we should not listen to the fathers, or tread in
their path who, walking in their own inventions, swerved from the law
of God.
TRADITIONS OF MEN.
Likewise we reject human
traditions, even if they be adorned with high-sounding titles, as
though they were divine and apostolical, delivered to the Church by the
living voice of the apostles, and, as it were, through the hands of
apostolical men to succeeding bishops which, when compared with the
Scriptures, disagree with them; and by their disagreement show that
they are not Apostolic at all. For as the apostles did not contradict
themselves in doctrine, so the apostolic men did not set forth things
contrary to the apostles. On the contrary, it would be wicked to assert
that the apostles by a living voice delivered anything contrary to
their writings. Paul affirms expressly that he taught the same things
in all churches (I Cor. 4:17). And, again, "For we write you nothing
but what you can read and understand." (II Cor. 1:13). Also, in another
place, he testifies that he and his disciples - that is, apostolic men
- walked in the same way, and jointly by the same Spirit did all things
(II Cor. 12:18). Moreover, the Jews in former times had the traditions
of their elders; but these traditions were severely rejected by the
Lord, indicating that the keeping of them hinders God's law, and that
God is worshipped in vain by such traditions (Matt. 15:1 ff.; Mark 7:1
ff).
CHAPTER III
Of God, His Unity and Trinity
GOD IS ONE. We
believe and teach that God is
one in essence or nature, subsisting in himself, all sufficient in
himself, invisible, incorporeal, immense, eternal, Creator of all
things both visible and invisible, the greatest good, living,
quickening and preserving all things, omnipotent and supremely wise,
kind and merciful, just and true. Truly we detest many gods because it
is expressly written: "The Lord your God is one Lord" (Deut.6:4). "I am
the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me" (Ex.
20:2-3). "I am the Lord, and there is no other god besides me. Am I not
the Lord, and there is no other God beside me? A righteous God and a
Savior; there is none besides me" ((Isa. 45:5, 21). "The Lord, the
Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in
steadfast love and faithfulness" (Ex. 34:6).
GOD IS THREE.
Notwithstanding we believe and
teach that the same immense, one and indivisible God is in person
inseparably and without confusion distinguished as Father, Son and Holy
Spirit so, as the Father has begotten the Son from eternity, the Son is
begotten by an ineffable generation, and the holy Spirit truly proceeds
from them both, and the same from eternity and is to be worshipped with
both.
Thus there are not
three gods, but three
persons, cosubstantial, coeternal, and coequal; distinct with respect
to hypostases, and with respect to order, the one preceding the other
yet without any inequality. For according to the nature or essence they
are so joined together that they are one God, and the divine nature is
common to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
For Scripture has
delivered to us a manifest
distinction of persons, the angel saying, among other things, to the
Blessed Virgin, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of
the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will
be called holy, the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). And also in the baptism of
Christ a voice is heard from heaven concerning Christ, saying, "This is
my beloved Son" (Math. 3:17). The Holy Spirit also appeared in the form
of a dove (John 1:32). And when the Lord himself commanded the apostles
to baptize, he commanded them to baptize "in the name of the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19). Elsewhere in the
Gospel he said: "The Father will send the Holy Spirit in my name" (John
14:26), and again he said: "When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send
to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the
Father, he will bear witness to me," etc. (John 15:26). In short, we
receive the Apostles' Creed because it delivers to us the true faith.
HERESIES.
Therefore we condemn the Jews and
Mohammedans, and all those who blaspheme that sacred and adorable
Trinity. We also condemn all heresies and heretics who teach that the
Son and Holy Spirit are God in name only, and also that there is
something created and subservient, or subordinate to another in the
Trinity, and that their is something unequal in it, a greater or a
less, something corporeal or corporeally conceived, something different
with respect to character or will, something mixed or solitary, as if
the Son and Holy Spirit were the affections and properties of one God
the Father, as the Monarchians, Novatians, Praxeas, Patripassians,
Sabellius, Paul of Samosata, Aetius, Macedonius, Anthropomorphites,
Arius, and such like, have thought.
CHAPTER IV
Of Idols or Images of God,
Christ and The Saints
IMAGES OF GOD.
Since God as Spirit is in
essence invisible and immense, he cannot really be expressed by any art
or image. For this reason we have no fear pronouncing with Scripture
that images of God are mere lies. Therefore we reject not only the
idols of the Gentiles, but also the images of Christians.
IMAGES OF CHRIST.
Although Christ assumed
human nature, yet he did not on that account assume it in order to
provide a model for carvers and painters. He denied that he had come
"to abolish the law and the prophets" (Matt. 5:17). But images are
forbidden by the law and the prophets" (Deut. 4:15; Isa. 44:9). He
denied that his bodily presence would be profitable for the Church, and
promised that he would be near us by his Spirit forever (John 16:7).
Who, therefore, would believe that a shadow or likeness of his body
would contribute any benefit to the pious? (II Cor. 5:5). Since he
abides in us by his Spirit, we are therefore the temple of God (I Cor.
3:16). But "what agreement has the temple of God with idols?" (II Cor.
6:16).
IMAGES OF SAINTS.
And since the blessed
spirits and saints in heaven, while they lived here on earth, rejected
all worship of themselves (Acts 3:12 f.; 14:11 ff.; Rev. 14:7; 22:9)
and condemned images, shall anyone find it likely that the heavenly
saints and angels are pleased with their own images before which men
kneel. uncover their heads, and bestow other honors?
But in fact in
order to instruct men in
religion and to remind them of divine things and of their salvation,
the Lord commanded the preaching of the Gospel (Mark 16:15) - not to
paint and to teach the laity by means of pictures. Moreover, he
instituted sacraments, but nowhere did he set up images.
THE SCRIPTURES OF
THE LAITY. Furthermore,
wherever we turn our eyes, we see the living and true creatures of God
which, if they be observed, as is proper, make a much more vivid
impression on the beholders than all images or vain, motionless, feeble
and dead pictures made by men, of which the prophet truly said: "They
have eyes, but do not see" (Ps. 115:5).
LACTANTIUS.
Therefore we approved the judgment
of Lactantius, and ancient writer, who says: "Undoubtedly no religion
exists where there is an image."
EPIPHANIUS AND
JEROME. We also assert that the
blessed bishop Epiphanius did right when, finding on the doors of a
church a veil on which was painted a picture supposedly of Christ or
some saint, he ripped it down and took it away, because to see a
picture of a man hanging in the Church of Christ was contrary to the
authority of Scripture. Wherefore he charged that from henceforth no
such veils, which were contrary to our religion, should be hung in the
Church of Christ, and that rather such questionable things, unworthy of
the Church of Christ and the faithful people, should be removed.
Moreover, we approve of this opinion of St. Augustine concerning true
religion: "Let not the worship of the works of men be a religion for
us. For the artists themselves who make such things are better; yet we
ought not to worship them" (De Vera Religione, cap. 55).
CHAPTER V
Of The Adoration, Worship and
Invocation
of God Through The Only Mediator Jesus Christ
GOD ALONE IS TO BE
ADORED AND WORSHIPPED. We
teach that the true God alone is to be adored and worshipped. This
honor we impart to none other, according to the commandment of the
Lord, "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you
serve" (Math. 4:10). Indeed, all the prophets severely inveighed
against the people of Israel whenever they adored and worshipped
strange gods, and not the only true God. But we teach that God is to be
adored and worshipped as he himself has taught us to worship, namely,
"in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23 f.), not with any superstition, but
with sincerity, according to his Word; lest at anytime he should say to
us: "Who has required these things from your hands?" (Isa. 1:12; Jer.
6:20). For Paul also says: "God is not served by human hands, as though
he needed anything," etc. (Acts 17:25).
GOD ALONE IS TO BE
INVOKED THROUGH THE
MEDIATION OF CHRIST ALONE. In all crises and trials of our life we call
upon him alone, and that by the mediation of our only mediator and
intercessor, Jesus Christ. For we have been explicitly commanded: "Call
upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall
glorify me" (Ps. 1:15). Moreover, we have a most generous promise from
the Lord Who said: "If you ask anything of the Father, he will give it
to you" (John 16:23), and: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy
laden and I will give you rest: (Matt 11:28). And since it is written:
"How are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed?" (Rom.
10:14), and since we do believe in God alone, we assuredly call upon
him alone, and we do so through Christ. For as the apostle says, "There
is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus? (I Tim. 2:5), and, "If any one does sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous," etc. (I John
2:1).
THE SAINTS ARE NOT
TO BE ADORED, WORSHIPPED OR
INVOKED. For this reason we do not adore, worship, or pray to the
saints in heaven, or to other gods, and we do not acknowledge them as
our intercessors or mediators before the Father in heaven. For God and
Christ the Mediator are sufficient for us; neither do we give to others
the honor that is due to God alone and to his Son, because he has
expressly said: "My glory I give to no other: (Isa. 42:8), and because
Peter has said: "There is no other name under heaven given among men by
which we must be saved," except the name of Christ (Acts 4:12). In him,
those who give their assent by faith do not seek anything outside
Christ.
THE DUE HONOR TO
BE RENDERED TO THE SAINTS. At
the same time we do not despise the saints or think basely of them. For
we acknowledge them to be living members of Christ and friends of God
who have gloriously overcome the flesh and the world. Hence we love
them as brothers, and also honor them; yet not with any kind of worship
but by an honorable opinion of them and just praises of them. We also
imitate them. For with ardent longings and supplications we earnestly
desire to be imitators of their faith and virtues, to share eternal
salvation with them, to dwell eternally with them in the presence of
God, and to rejoice with them in Christ. And in this respect we approve
of the opinion of St. Augustine in De Vera Religione: "Let not
our religion be the cult of men who have died. For if they have lived
holy lives, they are not to be thought of as seeking such honors; on
the contrary, they want us to worship him by whose illumination they
rejoice that we are fellow-servants of his merits. They are therefore
to be honored by the way of imitation, but not to be adored in a
religious manner," etc.
RELICS OF THE
SAINTS. Much less do we believe
that the relics of the saints are to be adored and reverenced. Those
ancient saints seemed to have sufficiently honored their dead when they
decently committed their remains to the earth after the spirit had
ascended on high. And they thought that the most noble relics of their
ancestors were their virtues, their doctrine, and their faith.
Moreover, as they commend these "relics" when praising the dead, so
they strive to copy them during their life on earth.
SWEARING BY GOD'S
NAME ALONE. These ancient
men did not swear except by the name of the only God, Yahweh, as
prescribed by the divine law. Therefore, as it is forbidden to swear by
the names of strange gods (Ex. 23:;13; Deut. 10:20), so we do not
perform oaths to the saints that are demanded of us. We therefore
reject in all these matters a doctrine that ascribes much too much to
the saints in heaven.
CHAPTER VI
Of the Providence of God
ALL THINGS ARE
GOVERNED BY THE PROVIDENCE OF
GOD. We believe that all things in heaven and on earth, and in all
creatures, are preserved and governed by the providence of this wise,
eternal and almighty God. For David testifies and says: "The Lord is
high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! Who is like
the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down upon the
heavens and the earth?" (Ps. 113:4 ff.). Again: "Thou searchest
out...all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, lo, O Lord, Thou
knowest it altogether" (Ps. 139:3 f.). Paul also testifies and
declares: "In him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28),
and "from him and through him and to him are all things" (Rom. 11:36).
Therefore Augustine most truly and according to Scripture declared in
his book De Agone Christi, cap. 8, "The Lord said, 'Are not two
sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground
without your Father's will' " (Matt. 10:29). By speaking thus he wanted
to show that what men regard as of least value is governed by God's
omnipotence. For he who is the truth says that the birds of the air are
fed by him and lilies of the field are clothed by him; he also says
that the hairs of our head are numbered (Matt. 6:26 ff.).
THE EPICUREANS. We
therefore condemn the
Epicureans who deny the providence of God, and all those who
blasphemously say that God is busy with the heavens and neither sees
nor cares about us and our affairs. David, the royal prophet, also
condemned this when he said: "O Lord, how long shall the wicked exult?
They say, "The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive."
Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? He
who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he
not see?" (Ps. 94:3, 7-9).
MEANS NOT TO BE
DESPISED. Nevertheless, we do
not spurn as useless the means by which divine providence works, but we
teach that we are to adapt ourselves to them in so far as they are
recommended to us in the Word of God. Wherefore we disapprove of the
rash statements of those who say that if all things are managed by the
providence of God, then our efforts and endeavors are in vain. It will
be sufficient if we leave everything to the governance of divine
providence, and we will not have to worry about anything or do
anything. For although Paul understood that he sailed under the
providence of God who had said to him: "You must bear witness also at
Rome" (Acts 23:11), and in addition had given him the promise, "There
will be no loss of life among you...and not a hair is to perish from
the head of any of you" (Acts 27:22,34), yet when the sailors were
nevertheless thinking about abandoning ship the same Paul said to the
centurion and the soldiers: "Unless these men stay in the ship, you
cannot be saved" (Acts 27:31). For God, who has appointed to everything
its end, has ordained the beginning and the means by which it reaches
its goal. The heathen ascribe things to blind fortune and uncertain
chance. But St. James does not want us to say: "Today or tomorrow we
will go into such and such a town and trade," but adds: "Instead you
ought to say, `If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or
that' " (James 4:13, 15). And Augustine says: "Everything which to vain
men seems to happen in nature by accident, occurs only by his Word,
because it happens only at his command" (Enarrationes in Psalmos 148).
Thus it seemed to happen by mere chance when Saul, while seeking his
father's asses, unexpectedly fell in with the prophet Samuel. But
previously the Lord had said to the prophet: "Tomorrow I will send to
you a man from the land of Benjamin" (I Sam 9:15).
CHAPTER VII
Of The Creation of All Things:
Of Angels, the Devil, and Man
GOD CREATED ALL THINGS. This good
and almighty
God created all things, both visible and invisible, by his co-eternal
Word, and preserves them by his co-eternal Spirit, as David testified
when he said: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all
their host by the breath of his mouth" (Ps. 33:6). And, as Scripture
says, everything that God had made was very good, and was made for the
profit and use of man. Now we assert that all those things proceed from
one beginning. MANICHAEANS AND MARCIONITES. Therefore, we condemn the
Manichaeans and Marcionites who impiously imagined two substances and
natures, one good and the other evil; also two beginnings and two gods
contrary to each other, a good and an evil one.
OF ANGELS AND THE
DEVIL. Among all creatures,
angels and men are most excellent. Concerning angels, Holy Scripture
declares: "who makest the winds thy messengers, fire and flame thy
ministers" (Ps 104:4). Also it says: "Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain
salvation?" (Heb. 1:14). Concerning the Devil, the Lord Jesus Himself
testifies: "He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do
with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he
speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of
lies" (John 8:44). Consequently we teach that some angels persisted in
obedience and were appointed for faithful service to God and men, but
others fell of their own free will and were cast into destruction,
becoming enemies of all good and of the faithful, etc....
OF MAN. Now
concerning, Scripture says that in
the beginning he was made good according to the image and likeness of
God; that God placed him in paradise and made all thing subject to him
(Gen. chp 2). This is what David magnificently sets forth in Psalm 8.
Moreover, God gave him a wife and blessed them. We also affirm that man
consists of two different substances in one person: an immortal soul
which, when separate from the body, neither sleeps nor dies, and a
mortal body which will nevertheless be raised up from the dead at the
last judgement, in order that then the whole man, either in life or in
death, abide forever.
THE SECTS. We
condemn all who ridicule or by
subtle arguments cast doubt upon the immortality of the soul, or who
say that the soul sleeps or is a part of God. In short, we condemn all
opinions of all men, however many, that depart from what has been
delivered unto us by the Holy Scriptures in the Apostolic Church of
Christ concerning creation, angels, and demons, and man.
CHAPTER VIII
Of Man's Fall, Sin and the Cause
of Sin
THE FALL OF MAN.
In the beginning, man was
made according to the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness,
good and upright. But when at the instigation of the serpent and by his
own fault he abandoned goodness and righteousness, he became subject to
sin, death and various calamities. And what he became by the fall, that
is, subject to sin, death and various calamities, so are all those who
have descended from him.
SIN. By sin we
understand that innate
corruption of man which has been derived or propagated in us all from
our first parents, by which we, immersed in perverse desires and averse
to all good, are inclined to all evil. Full of all wickedness,
distrust, contempt and hatred of God, we are unable to do or even to
think anything good of ourselves. Moreover, even as we grow older, so
by wicked thoughts, words and deeds committed against God's law, we
bring forth corrupt fruit worthy of an evil tree (Matt. 12:33 ff.). For
this reason by our own deserts, being subject to the wrath of God, we
are liable to just punishment, so that all of us would have been cast
away by God if Christ, the Deliverer, had not brought us back.
DEATH. By death we
understand not only bodily
death, which all of us must once suffer on account of sins, but also
eternal punishment due to our sins and corruption. For the apostle
says: "We were dead through trespasses and sins...and were by nature
children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, who is rich in
mercy...even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive
together with Christ" (Eph. 2:1 ff.) Also: "As sin came into the world
through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men
because all men sinned" (Rom. 5:12).
ORIGINAL SIN. We
therefore acknowledge that
there is original sin in all men.
ACTUAL SINS. We
acknowledge that all other
sins which arise from it are called and truly are sins, no matter by
what name they may be called, whether mortal, venial or that which is
said to be the sin against the Holy Spirit which is never forgiven
(Mark 3:29; I John 5:16). We also confess that sins are not equal;
although they arise from the same fountain of corruption and unbelief,
some are more serious than others. As the Lord said, it will be more
tolerable for Sodom than for the city that rejects the word of the
Gospel (Matt. 10:14 f.; 11:20 ff.).
THE SECTS. We
therefore condemn all who have
taught contrary to this, especially Pelagius and all Pelagians,
together with the Jovinians who, with the Stoics, regard all sins as
equal. In this whole matter we agree with St. Augustine who derived and
defended his view from Holy Scriptures. Moreover, we condemn Florinus
and Blastus, against whom Irenaeus wrote, and all who make God the
author of sin.
GOD IS NOT THE
AUTHOR OF SIN, AND HOW FAR HE
IS SAID TO HARDEN. It is expressly written: "Thou art not a God who
delights in wickedness. Thou hatest all evildoers. Thou destroyest
those who speak lies" (Ps. 5:4 ff.). And again: "When the devil lies,
he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father
of lies" (John 8:44). Moreover, there is enough sinfulness and
corruption in us that it is not necessary for God to infuse into us a
new or still greater perversity. When, therefore, it is said in
Scripture that God hardens, blinds and delivers up to a reprobate mind,
it is to be understood that God does it by a just judgment as a just
Judge and Avenger. Finally, as often as God in Scripture is said or
seems to do something evil, it is not thereby said that man does not do
evil, but that God permits it and does not prevent it, according to his
just judgment, who could prevent it if he wished, or because he turns
man's evil into good, as he did in the case of the sin of Joseph's
brethren, or because he governs sins lest they break out and rage more
than is appropriate. St. Augustine writes in his Enchiridion:
"What happens contrary to his will occurs, in a wonderful and ineffable
way, not apart from his will. For it would not happen if he did not
allow it. And yet he does not allow it unwillingly but willingly. But
he who is good would not permit evil to be done, unless, being
omnipotent, he could bring good out of evil." Thus wrote Augustine.
CURIOUS QUESTIONS.
Other questions, such as
whether God willed Adam to fall, or incited him to fall, or why he did
not prevent the fall, and similar questions, we reckon among curious
questions (unless perchance the wickedness of heretics or of other
churlish men compels us also to explain them out of the Word of God, as
the godly teachers of the Church have frequently done), knowing that
the Lord forbade man to eat of the forbidden fruit and punished his
transgression. We also know that what things are done are not evil with
respect to the providence, will, and the power of God, but in respect
of Satan and our will opposing the will of God.
CHAPTER IX
Of Free Will, and Thus of Human
Powers
In this matter,
which has always produced many
conflicts in the Church, we teach that a threefold condition or state
of man is to be considered.
WHAT MAN WAS
BEFORE THE FALL. There is the
state in which man was in the beginning before the fall, namely,
upright and free, so that he could both continue in goodness and
decline to evil. However, he declined to evil, and has involved himself
and the whole human race in sin and death, as has been said already.
WHAT MAN WAS AFTER
THE FALL. Then we are to
consider what man was after the fall. To be sure, his reason was not
taken from him, nor was he deprived of will, and he was not entirely
changed into a stone or a tree. But they were so altered and weakened
that they no longer can do what they could before the fall. For the
understanding is darkened, and the will which was free has become an
enslaved will. Now it serves sin, not unwillingly but willingly. And
indeed, it is called a will, not an unwill (ing). [Etenim voluntas,
non noluntas dicitur.]
MAN DOES EVIL BY
HIS OWN FREE WILL. Therefore,
in regard to evil or sin, man is not forced by God or by the devil but
does evil by his own free will, and in this respect he has a most free
will. But when we frequently see that the worst crimes and designs of
men are prevented by God from reaching their purpose, this does not
take away man's freedom in doing evil, but God by his own power
prevents what man freely planned otherwise. Thus Joseph's brothers
freely determined to get rid of him, but they were unable to do it
because something else seemed good to the counsel of God.
MAN IS NOT CAPABLE
OF GOOD Per Se. In
regard to goodness and virtue man's reason does not judge rightly of
itself concerning divine things. For the evangelical and apostolic
Scripture requires regeneration of whoever among us wishes to be saved.
Hence our first birth from Adam contributes nothing to out salvation.
Paul says: "The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the
Spirit of God," etc. (I Cor. 2:14). And in another place he denies that
we of ourselves are capable of thinking anything good (II Cor. 3:5) Now
it is known that the mind or intellect is the guide of the will, and
when the guide is blind, it is obvious how far the will reaches.
Wherefore, man not yet regenerate has no free will for good, no
strength to perform what is good. The Lord says in the Gospel: "Truly,
truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin" (John
8:34). And the apostle Paul says: "The mind that is set on the flesh is
hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot"
(Rom. 8:7). Yet in regard to earthly things, fallen man is not entirely
lacking in understanding.
UNDERSTANDING OF
THE ARTS. For God in his
mercy has permitted the powers of the intellect to remain, though
differing greatly from what was in man before the fall. God commands us
to cultivate our natural talents, and meanwhile adds both gifts and
success. And it is obvious that we make no progress in all the arts
without God's blessing. In any case, Scripture refers all the arts to
God; and, indeed, the heathen trace the origin of the arts to the gods
who invented them.
OF WHAT KIND ARE
THE POWERS OF THE REGENERATE,
AND IN WHAT WAY THEIR WILLS ARE FREE. Finally, we must see whether the
regenerate have free wills, and to what extent. In regeneration the
understanding is illumined by the Holy Spirit in order that it many
understand both the mysteries and the will of God. And the will itself
is not only changed by the Spirit, but it is also equipped with
faculties so that it wills and is able to do the good of its own accord
(Rom. 8:1ff.). Unless we grant this, we will deny Christian liberty and
introduce a legal bondage. But the prophet has God saying: "I will put
my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts" (Jer. 31:33;
Ezek. 36:26f.). The Lord also says in the Gospel: "If the Son makes you
free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36). Paul also writes to the
Philippians: "It has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ
you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake" (Phil.
1:29). Again: "I am sure that he who began a good work in you will
bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (v. 6). Also: "God
is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (ch.
2:13).
THE REGENERATE
WORK NOT ONLY PASSIVELY BUT
ACTIVELY. However, in this connection we teach that there are two
things to be observed: First, that the regenerate, in choosing and
doing good, work not only passively but actively. For they are moved by
God that they may do themselves what they do. For Augustine rightly
adduces the saying that "God is said to be our helper. But no one can
be helped unless he does something." The Manichaeans robbed man of all
activity and made him like a stone or a block of wood.
THE FREE WILL IS
WEAK IN THE REGENERATE.
Secondly, in the regenerate a weakness remains. For since sin dwells in
us, and in the regenerate the flesh struggles against the Spirit till
the end of our lives, they do not easily accomplish in all things what
they had planned. These things are confirmed by the apostle in Rom.,
ch. 7, and Gal., ch. 5. Therefore that free will is weak in us on
account of the remnants of the old Adam and of innate human corruption
remaining in us until the end of our lives. Meanwhile, since the powers
of the flesh and the remnants of the old man are not so efficacious
that they wholly extinguish the work of the Spirit, for that reason the
faithful are said to be free, yet so that they acknowledge their
infirmity and do not glory at all in their free will. For believers
ought always to keep in mind what St. Augustine so many times
inculcated according to the apostle: "What have you that you did not
receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a
gift?" To this he adds that what we have planned does not immediately
come to pass. For the issue of things lies in the hand of God. This is
the reason Paul prayed to the Lord to prosper his journey (Rom. 1:10).
And this also is the reason the free will is weak.
IN EXTERNAL THINGS
THERE IS LIBERTY. Moreover,
no one denies that in external things both the regenerate and the
unregenerate enjoy free will. For man has in common with other living
creatures (to which he is not inferior) this nature to will some things
and not to will others. Thus he is able to speak or to keep silent, to
go out of his house or to remain at home, etc. However, even here God's
power is always to be observed, for it was the cause that Balaam could
not go as far as he wanted (Num., ch. 24), and Zacharias upon returning
from the temple could not speak as he wanted (Luke, ch.1).
HERESIES. In this
matter we condemn the
Manichaeans who deny that the beginning of evil was for man [created]
good, from his free will. We also condemn the Pelagians who assert that
an evil man has sufficient free will to do the good that is commanded.
Both are refuted by Holy Scripture which says to the former, "God made
man upright" and to the latter, "If the Son makes you free, you will be
free indeed" (John 8:36).
CHAPTER X
Of the Predestination of God
and the Election of the Saints
GOD HAS ELECTED US
OUT OF GRACE. From eternity
God has freely, and of his mere grace, without any respect to men,
predestinated or elected the saints whom he wills to save in Christ,
according to the saying of the apostle, "God chose us in him before the
foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:4). And again: "Who saved us and
called an with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue
of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages
ago, and now has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ
Jesus" (II Tim. 1:9 f.).
WE ARE ELECTED OR
PREDESTINATED IN CHRIST.
Therefore, although not on account of any merit of ours, God has
elected us, not directly, but in Christ, and on account of Christ, in
order that those who are now engrafted into Christ by faith might also
be elected. But those who were outside Christ were rejected, according
to the word of the apostle, "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are
holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus
Christ is in you? -- unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" (II Cor.
13:5).
WE ARE ELECTED FOR
A DEFINITE PURPOSE.
Finally, the saints are chosen in Christ by God for a definite purpose,
which the apostle himself explains when he says, "He chose us in him
for adoption that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.
He destined us for adoption to be his sons through Jesus Christ that
they should be to the praise of the glory of his grace" (Eph. 1:4 ff.).
WE ARE TO HAVE A
GOOD HOPE FOR ALL. And
although God knows who are his, and here and there mention is made of
the small number of elect, yet we must hope well of all, and not rashly
judge any man to be a reprobate. For Paul says to the Philippians, "I
thank my God for you all" (now he speaks of the whole Church in
Phillippi), "because of your fellowship in the Gospel, being persuaded
that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the
day of Jesus Christ. It is also right that I have this opinion of you
all" (Phil. 1:3 ff.).
WHETHER FEW ARE
ELECT. And when the Lord was
asked whether there were few that should be saved, he does not answer
and tell them that few or many should be saved or damned, but rather he
exhorts every man to "strive to enter by the narrow door" (Luke 13:24):
as if he should say, It is not for you curiously to inquire about these
matters, but rather to endeavor that you may enter into heaven by the
straight way.
WHAT IN THIS
MATTER IS TO BE CONDEMNED.
Therefore we do not approve of the impious speeches of some who say,
"Few are chosen, and since I do not know whether I am among the number
of the few, I will enjoy myself." Others say, "If I am predestinated
and elected by God, nothing can hinder me from salvation, which is
already certainly appointed for me, no matter what I do. But if I am in
the number of the reprobate, no faith or repentance will help me, since
the decree of God cannot be changed. Therefore all doctrines and
admonitions are useless." Now the saying of the apostle contradicts
these men: "The Lord's servant must be ready to teach, instructing
those who oppose him, so that if God should grant that they repent to
know the truth, they may recover from the snare of the devil, after
being held captive by him to do his will" (II Tim. 2:23 ff.).
ADMONITIONS ARE
NOT IN VAIN BECAUSE SALVATION
PROCEEDS FROM ELECTION. Augustine also shows that both the grace of
free election and the predestination, and also salutary admonitions and
doctrines, are to be preached (Lib. de Dono Perseverantiae, cap.
14 ff.).
WHETHER WE ARE
ELECTED. We therefore find
fault with those who outside of Christ ask whether they are elected.
[Ed. 1568 reads: "whether they are elected from eternity?"] And what
has God decreed concerning them before all eternity? For the preaching
of the Gospel is to be heard, and it is to be believed; and it is to be
held as beyond doubt that if you believe and are in Christ, you are
elected. For the Father has revealed unto us in Christ the eternal
purpose of his predestination, as I have just now shown from the
apostle in II Tim. 1:9-10. This is therefore above all to be taught and
considered, what great love of the Father toward us is revealed to us
in Christ. We must hear what the Lord himself daily preaches to us in
the Gospel, how he calls and says: "Come to me all who labor and are
heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). "God so loved the
world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should
not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Also, "It is not the
will of my Father that one of these little ones should perish" (Matt.
18:14).
Let Christ, therefore be the looking glass, in whom we may contemplate
our predestination. We shall have a sufficiently clear and sure
testimony that we are inscribed in the Book of Life if we have
fellowship with Christ, and he is ours and we are his in true faith.
TEMPTATION IN
REGARD TO PREDESTINATION. In the
temptation in regard to predestination, than which there is scarcely
any other more dangerous, we are confronted by the fact that God's
promises apply to all the faithful, for he says: "Ask, and everyone who
seeks, shall receive" (Luke 11:9 f.) This finally we pray, with the
whole Church of God, "Our Father who art in heaven" (Matt. 6:9), both
because by baptism we are ingrafted into the body of Christ, and we are
often fed in his Church with his flesh and blood unto life eternal.
Thereby, being strengthened, we are commanded to work out our salvation
with fear trembling, according to the precept of Paul.
CHAPTER XI
Of Jesus Christ, True God and
Man,
the Only Savior of the World
CHRIST IS TRUE
GOD. We further believe and
teach that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was predestinated or
foreordained from eternity by the Father to be the Savior of the world.
And we believe that he was born, not only when he assumed flesh of the
Virgin Mary, and not only before the foundation of the world was laid,
but by the Father before all eternity in an inexpressible manner. For
Isaiah said: "Who can tell his generation?" (Ch. 53:8). And Micah says:
"His origin is from of old, from ancient days" (Micah 5:2). And John
said in the Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God," etc. (Ch. 1:1). Therefore, with
respect to his divinity the Son is coequal and consubstantial with the
Father; true God (Phil. 2:11), not only in name or by adoption or by
any merit, but in substance and nature, as the apostle John has often
said: "This is the true God and eternal life" (I John 5:20). Paul also
says: "He appointed the Son the heir of all things, through whom also
he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very
stamp of his nature, upholding all things by his word of power" (Heb.
1:2 f.). For in the Gospel the Lord himself said: "Father, glorify Thou
me in Thy own presence with the glory which I had with Thee before the
world was made" (John 17:5). And in another place in the Gospel it is
written: "The Jews sought all the more to kill him because he...called
God his Father, making himself equal with God" (John 5:18).
THE SECTS. We
therefore abhor the impious
doctrine of Arius and the Arians against the Son of God, and especially
the blasphemies of the Spaniard, Michael Servetus, and all his
followers, which Satan through them has, as it were, dragged up out of
hell and has most audaciously and impiously spread abroad in the world.
CHRIST IS TRUE
MAN, HAVING REAL FLESH. We also
believe and teach that the eternal Son of the eternal God was made the
Son of man, from the seed of Abraham and David, not from the coitus of
a man, as the Ebionites said, but was most chastely conceived by the
Holy Spirit and born of the ever virgin Mary, as the evangelical
history carefully explains to us (Matt., ch. 1). And Paul says: "he
took not on him the nature of angels, but of the seed of Abraham." Also
the apostle John says that woever does not believe that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh, is not of God. Therefore, the flesh of Christ
was neither imaginary not brought from heaven, as Valentinus and
Marcion wrongly imagined.
A RATIONAL SOUL IN
CHRIST. Moreover, our Lord
Jesus Christ did not have a soul bereft of sense and reason, as
Apollinaris thought, nor flesh without a soul, as Eunomius taught, but
a soul with its reason, and flesh with its senses, by which in the time
of his passion he sustained real bodily pain, as himself testified when
he said: "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death" (Matt. 26:38). And,
"Now is my soul troubled" (John 12:27).
TWO NATURES IN
CHRIST. We therefore
acknowledge two natures or substances, the divine and the human, in one
and the same Jesus Christ our Lord (Heb., ch. 2). And we say that these
are bound and united with one another in such a way that they are not
absorbed, or confused, or mixed, but are united or joined together in
one person the properties of the natures being unimpaired and permanent.
NOT TWO BUT ONE
CHRIST. Thus we worship not
two but one Christ the Lord. We repeat: one true God and man. With
respect to his divine nature he is consubstantial with the Father, and
with respect to the human nature he is consubstantial with us men, and
like us in all things, sin excepted (Heb. 4:15).
THE SECTS. And
indeed we detest the dogma of
the Nestorians who make two of one Christ and dissolve the unity of the
Person. Likewise we thoroughly execrate the madness of Eutyches and of
the Monothelites or Monophysites who destroy the property of the human
nature.
THE DIVINE NATURE
OF CHRIST IS NOT PASSIBLE,
AND THE HUMAN NATURE IS NOT EVERYWHERE. Therefore, we do not in any way
teach that the divine nature in Christ has suffered or that Christ
according to his human nature is still in this world and thus is
everywhere. For neither do we think or teach that the body of Christ
ceased to be a true body after his glorification, or was deified, and
deified in such a way that it laid aside its properties as regards body
and soul, and changed entirely into a divine nature and began to be
merely one substance.
THE SECTS. Hence
we by no means approve of or
accept the strained, confused and obscure subtleties of Schwenkfeldt
and of similar sophists with their self-contradictory arguments;
neither are we Schwenkfeldians.
OUR LORD TRULY
SUFFERED. We believe, moreover,
that our Lord Jesus Christ truly suffered and died for us in the flesh,
as Peter says (I Peter 4:1). We abhor the most impious madness of the
Jacobites and all the Turks who execrate the suffering of the Lord. At
the same time we do not deny that the Lord of glory was crucified for
us, according to Paul's words (I Cor. 2:8).
IMPARTATION OF
PROPERTIES. We piously and
reverently accept and use the impartation of properties which is
derived from Scripture and which has been used by all antiquity in
explaining and reconciling apparently contradictory passages.
CHRIST IS TRULY
RISEN FROM THE DEAD. We
believe and teach that the same Jesus Christ our Lord, in his true
flesh in which he was crucified and died, rose again from the dead, and
that not another flesh was raised other than the one buried, or that a
spirit was taken up instead of the flesh, but that he retained his true
body. Therefore, while his disciples thought they saw the spirit of the
Lord, he showed them his hands and feet which were marked by the prints
of the nails and wounds, and added: "See my hands and my feet, that it
is I myself; handle me, and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones
as you see that I have" (Luke 24:39).
CHRIST IS TRULY
ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN. We
believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, in his same flesh, ascended above
all visible heavens into the highest heaven, that is, the
dwelling-place of God and the blessed ones, at the right hand of God
the Father. Although it signifies an equal participation in glory and
majesty, it is also taken to be a certain place about which the Lord,
speaking in the Gospel, says: "I go to prepare a place for you" (John
14:2). The apostle Peter also says: "Heaven must receive Christ until
the time of restoring all things" (Acts 3:21). And from heaven the same
Christ will return in judgment, when wickedness will then be at its
greatest in the world and when the Antichrist, having corrupted true
religion, will fill up all things with superstition and impiety and
will cruelly lay waste the Church with bloodshed and flames (Dan., ch.
11). But Christ will come again to claim his own, and by his coming to
destroy the Antichrist, and to judge the living and the dead (Acts
17:31). For the dead will rise again (I Thess. 4:14 ff.), and those who
on that day (which is unknown to all creatures [Mark 13:32]) will be
alive will be changed "in the twinkling of an eye," and all the
faithful will be caught up to meet Christ in the air, so that then they
may enter with him into the blessed dwelling-places to live forever (I
Cor. 15:51 f.). But the unbelievers and ungodly will descend with the
devils into hell to burn forever and never to be redeemed from torments
(Matt. 25:46).
THE SECTS. We
therefore condemn all who deny a
real resurrection of the flesh (II Tim. 2:18), or who with John of
Jerusalem, against whom Jerome wrote, do not have a correct view of the
glorification of bodies. We also condemn those who thought that the
devil and all the ungodly would at some time be saved, and that there
would be an end to punishments. For the Lord has plainly declared:
"Their fire is not quenched, and their worm does not die" (Mark 9:44).
We further condemn Jewish dreams that there will be a golden age on
earth before the Day of Judgment, and that the pious, having subdued
all their godless enemies, will possess all the kingdoms of the earth.
For evangelical truth in Matt., chs. 24 and 25, and Luke, ch. 18, and
apostolic teaching in II Thess., ch. 2, and II Tim., chs. 3 and 4,
present something quite different.
THE FRUIT OF
CHRIST'S DEATH AND RESURRECTION.
Further by his passion and death and everything which he did and
endured for our sake by his coming in the flesh, our Lord reconciled
all the faithful to the heavenly Father, made expiation for sins,
disarmed death, overcame damnation and hell, and by his resurrection
from the dead brought again and restored life and immortality. For he
is our righteousness, life and resurrection, in a word, the fulness and
perfection of all the faithful, salvation and all sufficiency. For the
apostle says: "In him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell,"
and, "You have come to fulness of life in him" (Col., chs. 1 and 2).
JESUS CHRIST IS
THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WORLD,
AND THE TRUE AWAITED MESSIAH. For we teach and believe that this Jesus
Christ our Lord is the unique and eternal Savior of the human race, and
thus of the whole world, in whom by faith are saved all who before the
law, under the law, and under the Gospel were saved, and however many
will be saved at the end of the world. For the Lord himself says in the
Gospel: "He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in
by another way, that man is a thief and a robber....I am the door of
the sheep" (John 10:1 and 7). And also in another place in the same
Gospel he says: "Abraham saw my day and was glad" (ch. 7:56). The
apostle Peter also says: "There is salvation in no one else, for there
is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be
saved." We therefore believe that we will be saved through the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, as our fathers were (Acts 4:12; 10:43; 15:11).
For Paul also says: "All our fathers ate the same spiritual food, and
all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual
Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ" (I Cor. 10:3 f.).
And thus we read that John says: "Christ was the Lamb which was slain
from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 14:8), and John the Baptist
testified that Christ is that "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world" (John 1:29). Wherefore, we quite openly profess and preach
that Jesus Christ is the sole Redeemer and Savior of the world, the
King and High Priest, the true and awaited Messiah, that holy and
blessed one whom all the types of the law and predictions of the
prophets prefigured and promised; and that God appointed him beforehand
and sent him to us, so that we are not now to look for any other. Now
there only remains for all of us to give all glory to Christ, believe
in him, rest in him alone, despising and rejecting all other aids in
life. For however many seek salvation in any other than in Christ
alone, have fallen from the grace of God and have rendered Christ null
and void for themselves (Gal. 5:4).
THE CREEDS OF FOUR
COUNCILS RECEIVED. And, to
say many things with a few words, with a sincere heart we believe, and
freely confess with open mouth, whatever things are defined from the
Holy Scriptures concerning the mystery of the incarnation of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and are summed up in the Creeds and decrees of the first
four most excellent synods convened at Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus
and Chalcedon -- together with the Creed of blessed Athanasius [The
so-called Athanasian Creed was not written by Athanasius but dates from
the ninth century. It is also called the "Quicunque" from the opening
word of the Latin text.], and all similar symbols; and we condemn
everything contrary to these.
THE SECTS. And in
this way we retain the
Christian, orthodox and catholic faith whole and unimpaired; knowing
that nothing is contained in the aforesaid symbols which is not
agreeable to the Word of God, and does not altogether make for a
sincere exposition of the faith.
CHAPTER XII
Of the Law of God
THE WILL OF GOD IS
EXPLAINED FOR US IN THE LAW
OF GOD. We teach that the will of God is explained for us in the law of
God, what he wills or does not will us to do, what is good and just, or
what is evil and unjust. Therefore, we confess that the law is good and
holy.
THE LAW OF NATURE.
And this law was at one
time written in the hearts of men by the finger of God (Rom. 2:15), and
is called the law of nature (the law of Moses is in two Tables),
and at another it was inscribed by his finger on the two Tables of
Moses, and eloquently expounded in the books of Moses (Ex. 20:1 ff.;
Deut. 5:6 ff.). For the sake of clarity we distinguish the moral law
which is contained in the Decalogue or two Tables and expounded in the
books of Moses, the ceremonial law which determines the ceremonies and
worship of God, and the judicial law which is concerned with political
and domestic matters.
THE LAW IS
COMPLETE AND PERFECT. We believe
that the whole will of God and all necessary precepts for every sphere
of life are taught in this law. For otherwise the Lord would not have
forbidden us to add or to take away anything from this law; neither
would he have commanded us to walk in a straight path before this law,
and not to turn aside from it by turning to the right or to the left
(Deut. 4:2; 12:32).
WHY THE LAW WAS
GIVEN. We teach that this law
was not given to men that they might be justified by keeping it, but
that rather from what it teaches we may know (our) weakness, sin and
condemnation, and, despairing of our strength, might be converted to
Christ in faith. For the apostle openly declares: "The law brings
wrath," and, "Through the law comes knowledge of sin" (Rom. 4:15;
3:20), and, "If a law had been given which could justify or make alive,
then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture (that
is, the law) has concluded all under sin, that the promise which was of
the faith of Jesus might be given to those who believe....Therefore,
the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ, that we might be justified by
faith" (Gal.3:21 ff.).
THE FLESH DOES NOT
FULFIL THE LAW. For no
flesh could or can satisfy the law of God and fulfil it, because of the
weakness in our flesh which adheres and remains in us until our last
breath. For the apostle says again: "God has done what the law,
weakened bythe flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh and for sin" (Rom. 8:3). Therefore, Christ is the
perfecting of the law and our fulfilment of it (Rom. 10:4), who, in
order to take away the curse of the law, was make a curse for us (Gal.
3:13). Thus he imparts to us through faith his fulfilment of the law,
and his righteousness and obedience are imputed to us.
HOW FAR THE LAW IS
ABROGATED. The law of God
is therefore abrogated to the extent that it no longer condemns us, nor
works wrath in us. For we are under grace and not under the law.
Moreover, Christ has fulfilled all the figures of the law. Hence, with
the coming of the body, the shadows ceased, so that in Christ we now
have the truth and all fulness. But yet we do not on that account
contemptuously reject the law. For we remember the words of the Lord
when he said: "I have not come to abolish the law and the prophets but
to fulfil them" (Matt. 5:17). We know that in the law is delivered to
us the patterns of virtues and vices. We know that the written law when
explained by the Gospel is useful to the Church, and that therefore its
reading is not to be banished from the Church. For although Moses' face
was covered with a veil, yet the apostle says that the veil has been
taken away and abolished by Christ.
THE SECTS. We
condemn everything that heretics
old and new have taught against the law.
CHAPTER XIII
Of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
of the Promises,
and of the Spirit and Letter
THE ANCIENTS HAD
EVANGELICAL PROMISES. The
Gospel is, indeed, opposed to the law. For the law works wrath and
announces a curse, whereas the Gospel preaches grace and blessing. John
says: "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came
through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). Yet notwithstanding it is most
certain that those who were before the law and under the law, were not
altogether destitute of the Gospel. For they had extraordinary
evangelical promises such as these are: "The seed of the woman shall
bruise the serpent's head" (Gen. 3:15). "In thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 22:18). "The scepter shall not
depart from Judah...until he comes" (Gen. 49:10). "The Lord will raise
up a prophet from among his own brethren" (Deut. 18:15; Acts 3:22), etc.
THE PROMISES
TWOFOLD. And we acknowledge that
two kinds of promises were revealed to the fathers, as also to us. For
some were of present or earthly things, such as the promises of the
Land of Canaan and of victories, and as the promise today still of
daily bread. Others were then and are still now of heavenly and eternal
things, namely, divine grace, remission of sins, and eternal life
through faith in Jesus Christ.
THE FATHERS ALSO
HAD NOT ONLY CARNAL BUT
SPIRITUAL PROMISES. Moreover, the ancients had not only external and
earthly but also spiritual and heavenly promises in Christ. Peter says:
"The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched
and inquired about this salvation" (I Peter 1:10). Wherefore the
apostle Paul also said: "The Gospel of God was promised beforehand
through his prophets in the holy scriptures" (Rom. 1:2). Thereby it is
clear that the ancients were not entirely destitute of the whole Gospel.
WHAT IS THE GOSPEL
PROPERLY SPEAKING? And
although our fathers had the Gospel in this way in the writings of the
prophets by which they attained salvation in Christ through faith, yet
the Gospel is properly called glad and joyous news, in which, first by
John the Baptist, then by Christ the Lord himself, and afterwards by
the apostles and their successors, is preached to us in the world that
God has now performed what he promised from the beginning of the world,
and has sent, nay more, has given us his only Son and in him
reconciliation with the Father, the remission of sins, all fulness and
everlasting life. Therefore, the history delineated by the four
Evangelists and explaining how these things were done or fulfilled by
Christ, what things Christ taught and did, and that those who believe
in him have all fulness, is rightly called the Gospel. The preaching
and writings of the apostles, in which the apostles explain for us how
the Son was given to us by the Father, and in him everything that has
to do with life and salvation, is also rightly called evangelical
doctrine, so that not even today, if sincerely preached, does it lose
its illustrious title.
OF THE SPIRIT AND
THE LETTER. That same
preaching of the Gospel is also called by the apostle "the spirit" and
"the ministry of the spirit" because by faith it becomes effectual and
living in the ears, nay more, in the hearts of believers through the
illumination of the Holy Spirit (II Cor. 3:6). For the letter, which is
opposed to the Spirit, signifies everything external, but especially
the doctrine of the law which, without the Spirit and faith, works
wrath and provokes sin in the minds of those who do not have a living
faith. For this reason the apostle calls it "the ministry of death." In
this connection the saying of the apostle is pertinent: "The letter
kills, but the Spirit gives life." And false apostles preached a
corrupted Gospel, having combined it with the law, as if Christ could
not save without the law.
THE SECTS. Such
were the Ebionites said to be,
who were descended from Ebion the heretic, and the Nazarites who were
formerly called Mineans. All these we condemn, while preaching the pure
Gospel and teaching that believers are justified by the Spirit [The
original manuscript has "Christ" instead of "Spirit".] alone, and not
by the law. A more detailed exposition of this matter will follow
presently under the heading of justification.
THE TEACHING OF
THE GOSPEL IS NOT NEW, BUT
MOST ANCIENT DOCTRINE. And although the teaching of the Gospel,
compared with the teaching of the Pharisees concerning the law, seemed
to be a new doctrine when first preached by Christ (which Jeremiah also
prophesied concerning the New Teatament), yet actually it not only was
and still is an old doctrine (even if today it is called new by the
Papists when compared with the teaching now received among them), but
is the most ancient of all in the world. For God predestinated from
eternity to save the world through Christ, and he has disclosed to the
world through the Gospel this his predestination and eternal counsel
(II Tim. 2:9 f.). Hence it is evident that the religion and teaching of
the Gospel among all who ever were, are and will be, is the most
ancient of all. Wherefore we assert that all who say that the religion
and teaching of the Gospel is a faith which has recently arisen, being
scarcely thirty years old, err disgracefully and speak shamefully of
the eternal counsel of God. To them applies the saying of Isaiah the
prophet: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put
darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and
sweet for bitter!" (Isa. 5:20).
CHAPTER XIV
Of Repentance and the Conversion
of Man
The doctrine of
repentance is joined with the
Gospel. For so has the Lord said in the Gospel: "Repentance and
forgiveness of sins should be preached in my name to all nations" (Luke
24:47).
WHAT IS
REPENTANCE? By repentance we
understand (1) the recovery of a right mind in sinful man awakened by
the Word of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit, and received by true faith,
by which the sinner immediately acknowledges his innate corruption and
all his sins accused by the Word of God; and (2) grieves for them from
his heart, and not only bewails and frankly confesses them before God
with a feeling of shame, but also (3) with indignation abominates them;
and (4) now zealously considers the amendment of his ways and
constantly strives for innocence and virtue in which conscientiously to
exercise himself all the rest of his life.
TRUE REPENTANCE IS
CONVERSION TO GOD. And this
is true repentance, namely, a sincere turning to God and all good, and
earnest turning away from the devil and all evil.
1. REPENTANCE IS A
GIFT OF GOD. Now we
expressly say that this repentance is a sheer gift of God and not a
work of our strength. For the apostle commands a faithful minister
diligently to instruct those who oppose the truth, if "God may perhaps
grant that they will repent and come to know the truth" (II Tim. 2:25).
2. LAMENTS SINS
COMMITTED. Now that sinful
woman who washed the feet of the Lord with her tears, and Peter who
wept bitterly and bewailed his denial of the Lord (Luke 7:38; 22:62)
show clearly how the mind of a penitent man ought to be seriously
lamenting the sins he has committed.
3. CONFESSES SINS
TO GOD. Moreover, the
prodigal son and the publican in the Gospel, when compared with the
Pharisee, present us with the most suitable pattern of how our sins are
to be confessed to God. The former said: "Father, I have sinned against
heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son;
treat me as one of your hired servants" (Luke 15:8 ff.). And the
latter, not daring to raise his eyes to heaven, beat his breast,
saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner" (ch. 18:13). And we do not
doubt that they were accepted by God into grace. For the apostle John
says: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will
forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we
have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us" (I John
1:9 f.).
SACERDOTAL
CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION. But we
believe that this sincere confession which is made to God alone, either
privately between God and the sinner, or publicly in the Church where
the general confession of sins is said, is sufficient, and that in
order to obtain forgiveness of sins it is not necessary for anyone to
confess his sins to a priest, mumuring them in his ears, that in turn
he might receive absolution from the priest with his laying on of
hands, because there is neither a commandment nor an example of this in
Holy Scriptures. David testifies and says: "I acknowledged my sin to
thee, and did not hide my iniquity; I said, `I will confess my
transgressions to the Lord'; then thou didst forgive the guilt of my
sin" (Ps. 32:5). And the Lord who taught us to pray and at the same
time to confess our sins said: "Pray then like this: Our Father, who
art in heaven,...forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors"
(Matt. 6:12). Therefore it is necessary that we confess our sins to God
our Father, and be reconciled with our neighbor if we have offended
him. Concerning this kind of confession, the Apostle James says:
"Confess your sins to one another" (James 5:16). If, however, anyone is
overwhelmed by the burden of his sins and by perplexing temptations,
and will seek counsel, instruction and comfort privately, either from a
minister of the Church, or from any other brother who is instructed in
God's law, we do not disapprove; just as we also fully approve of that
general and public confession of sins which is usually said in Church
and in meetings for worship, as we noted above, inasmuch as it is
agreeable to Scripture.
OF THE KEYS OF THE
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
Concerning the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven which the Lord gave to the
apostles, many babble many astonishing things, and out of them forge
swords, spears, scepters and crowns, and complete power over the
greatest kingdoms, indeed, over souls and bodies. Judging simply
according to the Word of the Lord, we say that all properly called
ministers possess and exercise the keys or the use of them when they
proclaim the Gospel; that is, when they teach, exhort, comfort, rebuke,
and keep in discipline the people committed to their trust.
OPENING AND
SHUTTING (THE KINGDOM). For in
this way they open the Kingdom of Heaven to the obedient and shut it to
the disobedient. The Lord promised these keys to the apostles in Matt.,
ch. 16, and gave them in John, ch. 20, Mark, ch. 16, and Luke, ch. 24,
when he sent out his disciples and commanded them to preach the Gospel
in all the world, and to remit sins.
THE MINISTRY OF
RECONCILIATION. In the letter
to the Corinthians the apostle says that the Lord gave the ministry of
reconciliation to his ministers (II Cor. 5:18 ff.). And what this is he
then explains, saying that it is the preaching or teaching of
reconciliation. And explaining his words still more clearly he adds
that Christ's ministers discharge the office of an ambassador in
Christ's name, as if God himself through ministers exhorted the people
to be reconciled to God, doubtless by faithful obedience. Therefore,
they excercise the keys when they persuade [men] to believe and repent.
Thus they reconcile men to God.
MINISTERS REMIT
SINS. Thus they remit sins.
Thus they open the Kingdom of Heaven, and bring believers into it: very
different from those of whom the Lord said in the Gospel, "Woe to you
lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not
enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering."
HOW MINISTERS
ABSOLVE. Ministers, therefore,
rightly and effectually absolve when they preach the Gospel of Christ
and thereby the remission of sins, which is promised to each one who
believes, just as each one is baptized, and when they testify that it
pertains to each one peculiarly. Neither do we think that this
absolution becomes more effectual by being murmured in the ear of
someone or by being murmured singly over someone's head. We are
nevertheless of the opinion that the remission of sins in the blood of
Christ is to be diligently proclaimed, and that each one is to be
admonished that the forgiveness of sins pertains to him.
DILIGENCE IN THE
RENEWAL OF LIFE. But the
examples in the Gospel teach us how vigilant and diligent the penitent
ought to be in striving for newness of life and in mortifying the old
man and quickening the new. For the Lord said to the man he healed of
palsy: "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you"
(John 5:14). Likewise to the adulteress whom he set free he said: "Go,
and sin no more" (ch. 8:11). To be sure, by these words he did not mean
that any man, as long as he lived in the flesh, could not sin; he
simply recommends diligence and a careful devotion, so that we should
strive by all means, and beseech God in prayers lest we fall back into
sins from which, as it were, we have been resurrected, and lest we be
overcome by the flesh, the world and the devil. Zacchaeus the publican,
whom the Lord had received back into favor, exclaims in the Gospel:
"Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have
defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold" (Luke 19:8).
Therefore, in the same way we preach that restitution and compassion,
and even almsgiving, are necessary for those who truly repent, and we
exhort all men everywhere in the words of the apostle: "Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.
Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but
yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to
life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness" (Rom.
6:12 f.).
ERRORS. Wherefore
we condemn all impious
utterances of some who wrongly use the preaching of the Gospel and say
that it is easy to return to God. Christ has atoned for all sins.
Forgiveness of sins is easy. Therefore, what harm is there in sinning?
Nor need we be greatly concerned about repentance, etc. Notwithstanding
we always teach that an access to God is open to all sinners, and that
he forgives all sinners of all sins except the one sin against the Holy
Spirit (Mark 3:29).
THE SECTS.
Wherefore we condemn both old and
new Novatians and Catharists.
PAPAL INDULGENCES.
We especially condemn the
lucrative doctrine of the Pope concerning penance, and against his
simony and his simoniacal indulgences we avail ourselves of Peter's
judgment concerning Simon: "Your silver perish with you, because you
thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither
part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God"
(Acts 8:20 f.).
SATISFACTIONS. We
also disapprove of those who
think that by their own satisfactions they make amends for sins
committed. For we teach that Christ alone by his death or passion is
the satisfaction, propitiation or expiation of all sins (Isa., ch.53; I
Cor. 1:30). Yet as we have already said, we do not cease to urge the
mortification of the flesh. We add, however, that this mortification is
not to be proudly obtruded upon God as a satisfaction for sins, but is
to be performed humble, in keeping with the nature of the children of
God, as a new obedience out of gratitude for the deliverance and full
satisfaction obtained by the death and satisfaction of the Son of God.
CHAPTER XV
Of the True Justification of the
Faithful
WHAT IS
JUSTIFICATION? According to the
apostle in his treatment of justification, to justify means to remit
sins, to absolve from guilt and punishment, to receive into favor, and
to pronounce a man just. For in his epistle to the Romans the apostle
says: "It is God who justifies; who is to condemn?" (Rom. 8:33). To
justify and to condemn are opposed. And in The Acts of the Apostles the
apostle states: "Through Christ forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to
you, and by him everyone that believes is freed from everything from
which you could not be freed by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38 f.). For
in the Law and also in the Prophets we read: "If there is a dispute
between men, and they come into court...the judges decide between them,
acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty" (Deut. 25:1). And in
Isa., ch. 5: "Woe to those...who aqcuit the guilty for a bribe."
WE ARE JUSTIFIED
ON ACCOUNT OF CHRIST. Now it
is most certain that all of us are by nature sinners and godless, and
before God's judgment-seat are convicted of godlessness and are guilty
of death, but that, solely by the grace of Christ and not from any
merit of ours or consideration for us, we are justified, that is,
absolved from sin and death by God the Judge. For what is clearer than
what Paul said: "Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption
which is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:23 f.).
IMPUTED
RIGHTEOUSNESS. For Christ took upon
himself and bore the sins of the world, and satisfied divine justice.
Therefore, solely on account of Christ's sufferings and resurrection
God is propitious with respect to our sins and does not impute them to
us, but imputes Christ's righteousness to us as our own (II Cor. 5;19
ff.; Rom. 4;25), so that now we are not only cleansed and purged from
sins or are holy, but also, granted the righteousness of Christ, and so
absolved from sin, death and condemnation, are at last righteous and
heirs of eternal life. Properly speaking, therefore, God alone
justifies us, and justifies only on account of Christ, not imputing
sins to us but imputing his righteousness to us.
WE ARE JUSFIFIED
BY FAITH ALONE. But because
we receive this justification, not through any works, but through faith
in the mercy of God and in Christ, we therefore teach and believe with
the apostle that sinful man is justified by faith alone in Christ, not
by the law or any works. For the apostle says: "We hold that a man is
justified by faith apart from works of law" (Rom. 3:28). Also: "If
Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but
not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God,
and it was reckoned to him as righteousness....And to one who does not
work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is
reckoned as righteousness" (Rom. 4:2 ff.; Gen. 15:6). And again: "By
grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own
doing, it is the gift of God--not because of works, lest any man should
boast," etc. (Eph. 2:8 f.). Therefore, because faith receives Christ
our righteousness and attributes everything to the grace of God in
Christ, on that account justification is attributed to faith, chiefly
because of Christ and not therefore because it is our work. For it is
the gift of God.
WE RECEIVE CHRIST
BY FAITH. Moreover, the Lord
abundantly shows that we receive Christ by faith, in John, ch. 6, where
he puts eating for believing, and believing for eating. For as we
receive food by eating, so we participate in Christ by believing.
JUSTIFICATION IS
NOT ATTRIBUTED PARTLY TO
CHRIST OR TO FAITH, PARTLY TO US. Therefore, we do not share in the
benefit of justification partly because of the grace of God or Christ,
and partly because of ourselves, our love, works or merit, but we
attribute it wholly to the grace of God in Christ through faith. For
our love and our works could not please God in Christ through faith.
For our love and our works could not please God if performed by
unrighteous men. Therefore, it is necessary for us to be righteous
before we may love and do good works. We are made trulyrighteous, as we
have said, by faith in Christ purely by the grace of God, who does not
impute to us our sins, but the righteousness of Christ, or rather, he
imputes faith in Christ to us for righteousness. Moreover, the apostle
very clearly derives love from faith when he says: "The aim of our
command is love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a
sincere faith" (I Tim. 1:5)
JAMES COMPARED
WITH PAUL. Wherefore, in this
matter we are not speaking of a fictitious, empty, lazy and dead faith,
but of a living, quickening faith. It is and is called a living faith
because it apprehends Christ who is life and makes alive, and shows
that it is alive by living works. And so James does not contradict
anything in this doctrine of ours. For he speaks of an empty, dead
faith of which some boasted but who did not have Christ living in them
by faith (James 2:14 ff.). James said that works justify, yet without
contradicting the apostle (otherwise he would have to be rejected) but
showing that Abraham proved his living and justifying faith by works.
This all the pious do, but they trust in Christ alone and not in their
own works. For again the apostle said: "It is no longer I who live, but
Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by
faith in the Son of God, [The Latin reads: "by the faith of the Son of
God."] who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not reject the grace
of God; for if justification were through the law, then Christ died to
no purpose," etc. (Gal. 2:20 f.).
CHAPTER XVI
Of Faith and Good Works, and of
Their Reward,
and of Man's Merit
WHAT IS FAITH?
Christian faith is not an
opinion or human conviction, but a most firm trust and a clear and
steadfast assent of the mind, and then a most certain apprehension of
the truth of God presented in the Scriptures and in the Apostles'
Creed, and thus also of God himself, the greatest good, and especially
of God's promise and of Christ who is the fulfilment of all promises.
FAITH IS THE GIFT
OF GOD. But this faith is a
pure gift of God which God alone of his grace gives to his elect
according to this measure when, to whom and to the degree he wills. And
he does this by the holy Spirit by means of the preaching of the Gospel
and steadfast prayer.
THE INCREASE OF
FAITH. This faith also has its
increase, and unless it were given by God, the apostles would not have
said: "Lord, increase our faith" (Luke 17:5). And all these things
which up to this point we have said concerning faith, the apostles have
taught before us. For Paul said: "For faith is the sure subsistence, of
things hoped for, and the clear and certain apprehension" (Heb. 11:1).
And again he says that all the promises of God are Yes through Christ
and through Christ are Amen (II Cor. 1:20). And to the Philippians he
said that it has been given tothem to believe in Christ (Phil. 1:29).
Again, God assigned to each the measure of faith (Rom. 12:3). Again:
"Not all have faith" and, "Not all obey the Gospel" (II Thess. 3:2;
Rom. 10:16). But Luke also bears witness, saying: "As many as were
ordained to life believed" (Acts 13:48). Wherefore Paul also calls
faith "the faith of God's elect" (Titus 1:1), and again: "Faith comes
from hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God" (Rom. 10:17).
Elsewhere he often commands men to pray for faith.
FAITH EFFICACIOUS
AND ACTIVE. The same apostle
calls faith efficacious and active through love (Gal. 5:6). It also
quiets the conscience and opens a free access to God, so that we may
draw near to him with confidence and may obtain from him what is useful
and necessary. The same [faith] keeps us in the service we owe to God
and our neighbor, strengthens our patience in adversity, fashions and
makes a true confession, and in a word brings forth good fruit of all
kinds, and good works.
CONCERNING GOOD
WORKS. For we teach that truly
good works grow out of a living faith by the Holy Spirit and are done
by the faithful according tothe will or rule of God's Word. Now the
apostle Peter says: "Make every effort to supplement your faith with
virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control,"
etc.(II Peter 1:5 ff.). But we have said above that the law of God,
which is his will, prescribes for us the pattern of good works. And the
apostle says: "This is the will of God, your sanctification, that you
abstain form immorality...that no man transgress, and wrong his brother
in business" (I Thess. 4:3 ff.).
WORKS OF HUMAN
CHOICE. And indeed works and
worship which we choose arbitrarily are not pleasing to God. These Paul
calls "self-devised worship" Col. 2:23. Of such the Lord says in the
Gospel: "In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts
of men" (Matt. 15:9). Therefore, we disapprove of such works, and
approve and urge those that are of God's will and commission.
THE END OF GOOD
WORKS. These same works ought
not to be done in order that we may earn eternal life by them, for, as
the apostle says, eternal life is the gift of God. Nor are they to be
done for ostentation which the Lord rejects in Matt., ch. 6, nor for
gain which he also rejects in Matt., ch. 23, but for the glory of God,
to adorn our calling, to show gratitude to God, and for the profit of
the neighbor. For our Lord says again in the Gospel: "Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to
your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16). And the apostle Paul says:
"Lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called" (Eph.
4:1). Also: "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and to the Fatehr through
him" (Col. 3:17), and, "Let each of you look not to his own interests,
but to the interests of others" (Phil. 2:4), and, "Let our people learn
to apply themselves to good deeds, so as to help cases of urgent need,
and not to be unfruitful" (Titus 3;14).
GOOD WORKS NOT
REJECTED. Therefore, although
we teach with the apostle that a man is justified by grace through
faith in Christ and not through any good works, yet we do not think
that good works are of little value and condemn them. We know that man
was not created or regenerated through faith in order to be idle, but
rather that without ceasing he should do those things which are good
and useful. For in the Gospel the Lord says that a good tree brings
forth good fruit (Matt. 12:33), and that he who abides in me bears much
fruit (John 15:5). The apostle says: "For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10), and again: "Who gave himself
for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a
people of his own who are zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:14). We
therefore condemn all who despise good works and who babble that they
are useless and that we do not need to pay attention to them.
WE ARE NOT SAVED
BY GOOD WORKS. Nevertheless,
as was said above, we do not think that we are saved by good works, and
that they are so necessary for salvation that no one was ever saved
without them. For we are saved by grace and the favor of Christ alone.
Works necessarily proceed from faith. And salvation is improperly
attributed to them, but is most properly ascribed to grace. The
apostle's sentence is well known: "If it is by grace, then it is no
longer of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. But if it is
of works, then it is no longer grace, because otherwise work is no
longer work" (Rom. 11:6).
GOOD WORKS PLEASE
GOD. Now the works which we
do by faith are pleasing to God and are approved by him. Because of
faith in Christ, those who do good works which, moreover, are done from
God's grace through the Holy Spirit, are pleasing to god. For St. Peter
said: "In every nation anyone who fears God and does what is right is
acceptable to him" (Acts 10:35). And Paul said: "We have not ceased to
pray for you...that you may walk worthily of the Lord, fully pleasing
to him, bearing fruit in every good work" (Col. 1:9 f.).
WE TEACH TRUE, NOT
FALSE AND PHILOSOPHICAL
VIRTUES. And so we diligently teach true, not false and philosophical
virtues, truly good works, and the genuine service of a Christian. And
as much as we can we diligently and zealously press them upon all men,
while censuring the sloth and Hypocrisy of all those who praise and
profess the Gospel with their lips and dishonor it by their disgraceful
lives. In this matter we place before them God's terrible threats and
then his rich promises and generous rewards -- exhorting, consoling and
rebuking.
GOD GIVES A REWARD
FOR GOOD WORKS. For we
teach that God gives a rich reward to those who do good works,
according to that saying of the prophet: "keep your voice from
weeping,...for your work shall be rewarded" (Jer. 31:16; Isa., ch. 4).
The Lord also said in the Gospel: "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward
is great in heaven" (Matt. 5:12), and, "Whoever gives to one of these
my little ones a cup of cold water, truly, I say to you, he shall not
lose his reward" (ch. 10:42). However, we do not ascribe this reward,
which the Lord gives, to the merit of the man who receives it, but to
the goodness, generosity and truthfulness of God who promises and gives
it, and who, although he owes nothing to anyone, nevertheless promises
that he will give a reward to his faithful worshippers; meanwhile he
also gives them that they may honor him. Moreover, in the works even of
the saints there is much that is unworthy of God and very much that is
imperfect. But because God receives into favor and embraces those who
do works for Christ's sake, he grants to them the promised reward. For
in other respects our righteousnesses are compared to a filthy wrap
(Isa. 64:6). And the Lord says in the Gospel: "When you have done all
that is commanded you, say, "We are unworthy servants; we have only
done what was our duty" (Like 17:10).
THERE ARE NO
MERITS OF MEN. Therefore,
although we teach that God rewards our good deeds, yet at the same time
we teach, with Augustine, that God does not crown in us our merits but
his gifts. Accordingly we say that whatever reward we receive is also
grace, and is more grace than reward, because the good we do, we do
more through God than through ourselves, and because Paul says: "What
have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you
boast as if you had not received it?" (I Cor. 4:7). And this is what
the blessed martyr Cyprian concluded from this verse: We are not to
glory in anything in us, since nothing is our own. We therefore condemn
those who defend the merits of men in such a way that they invalidate
the grace of God.
CHAPTER XVII
Of The Catholic and Holy Church
of God,
and of The One Only Head of The Church
THE CHURCH HAS
ALWAYS EXISTED AND IT WILL
ALWAYS EXIST. But because God from the beginning would have men to be
saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth (I Tim. 2:4), it is
altogether necessary that there always should have been, and should be
now, and to the end of the world, a Church.
WHAT IS THE
CHURCH? The Church is an assembly
of the faithful called or gathered out of the world; a communion, I
say, of all saints, namely, of those who truly know and rightly worship
and serve the true God in Christ the Savior, by the Word and holy
Spirit, and who by faith are partakers of all benefits which are freely
offered through Christ.
CITIZENS OF ONE
COMMONWEALTH. They are all
citizens of the one city, living under the same Lord, under the same
laws and in the same fellowship of all good things. For the apostle
calls them "fellow citizens with the saints and members of the
household of God" (Eph. 2:19), calling the faithful on earth saints (I
Cor. 4:1), who are sanctified by the blood of the Son of God. The
article of the Creed, "I believe in the holy catholic Church, the
communion of saints," is to be understood wholly as concerning these
saints.
ONLY ONE CHURCH
FOR ALL TIMES. And since there
is always but one God, and there is one mediator between God and men,
Jesus the Messiah, and one Shepherd of the whole flock, one Head of
this body, and, to conclude, one Spirit, one salvation, one faith, one
Testament or covenant, it necessarily follows that there is only one
Church.
THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH. We, therefore, call this
Church catholic because it is universal, scattered through all parts of
the world, and extended unto all times, and is not limited to any times
or places. Therefore, we condemn the Donatists who confined the Church
to I know not what corners of Africa. Nor do we approve of the Roman
clergy who have recently passed off only the Roman Church as catholic.
PARTS OR FORMS OF
THE CHURCH. The Church is
divided into different parts or forms; not because it is divided or
rent asunder in itself, but rather because it is distinguished by the
diversity of the numbers that are in it.
MILITANT AND
TRIUMPHANT. For the one is called
the Church Militant, the other the Church Triumphant. The former still
wages war on earth, and fights against the flesh, the world, and the
pr
