|
|
This is an official LCMS statement
Of the Holy Scriptures
Top
1.
We teach that the Holy Scriptures differ from all
other books in the world in that they are the Word of
God. They are the Word of God
because the holy men of God who wrote the Scriptures
wrote only that which the Holy Ghost communicated to
them by inspiration, 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1: 21.
We teach also that the verbal inspiration of the
Scriptures is not a so-called "theological deduction,"
but that it is taught by direct statements of the
Scriptures, 2 Tim. 3:16; John 10:35; Rom. 3:2; 1 Cor.
2:13. Since the Holy Scriptures are
the Word of God, it goes without saying that they
contain no errors or contradictions, but that they are
in all their parts and words the infallible truth, also
in those parts which treat of historical, geographical,
and other secular matters, John 10:35.
2.
We furthermore teach regarding the Holy
Scriptures that they are given by God to the Christian
Church for the foundation of faith, Eph.
2:20. Hence the Holy Scriptures are
the sole source from which all doctrines proclaimed in
the Christian Church must be taken and therefore, too,
the sole rule and norm by which all teachers and
doctrines must be examined and judged. - With the
Confessions of our Church we teach also that the "rule
of faith" (analogia fidei) according to which the Holy
Scriptures are to be understood are the clear passages
of the Scriptures themselves which set
forth the individual doctrines. (Apology.
Triglot, p. 441, @SYMBOL 32 \f "Symbol" _ 60;
Mueller, p. 284). The rule of faith
is not the man-made so-called "totality of Scripture" ("Ganzes
der Schrift").
3.
We reject the doctrine which under the name of
science has gained wide popularity in the Church of our
day that Holy Scripture is not in all its parts the Word
of God, but in part the Word of God and in part the word
of man and hence does, or at least, might, contain
error. We reject this
erroneous doctrine as horrible and blasphemous, since it
flatly contradicts Christ and His holy apostles, sets up
men as judges over the Word of God, and thus overthrows
the foundation of the Christian Church and its faith.
Of God
Top
4.
On the basis of
the Holy Scriptures we teach the sublime article of the
Holy Trinity; that is, we teach that the one true God,
Deut 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:4, is the Father and the Son and the
Holy Ghost, three distinct persons, but of one and the
same divine essence, equal in power, equal in eternity,
equal in majesty, because each person possesses the one
divine essence entire, Col. 2:9; Matt. 28:19. We hold
that all teachers and communions that deny the doctrine
of the Holy Trinity are outside the pale of the
Christian Church. The Triune God is the God who is
gracious to man, John 3:16-18; 1 Cor. 12:3. Since the
Fall no man can believe in the "fatherhood" of God
except he believe in the eternal Son of God, who became
man and reconciled us to God by His vicarious
satisfaction, 1 John 2:23; John 14:6. Hence we warn
against Unitarianism, which in our country has to a
great extent impenetrated the sects and is spread
particularly also through the influence of the lodges.
Of Creation
Top
5. We teach
that God has created heaven and earth, and
that in the manner and in the space of time recorded in
the Holy Scriptures, especially Gen 1 and 2, namely, by
His almighty creative word, and in six days. We reject
every doctrine which denies or limits the work of
creation as taught in Scripture. In our days it is
denied or limited by those who assert, ostensibly in
deference to science, that the world came into existence
through a process of evolution; that is, that it has, in
immense periods of time, developed more or less out of
itself. Since no man was present when it pleased God to
create the world, we must look for a reliable account of
creation to God's own record, found in God's own book,
the Bible. We accept God's own record with full
confidence and confess with Luther's Catechism: "I
believe that God has made me and all creatures.”
Of Man and of SinTop
6. We teach that the
first man was not brutelike nor merely capable of
intellectual development, but that God created man in
His own image, Gen. 1: 26, 27; Eph. 4: 24; Col. 3: 10,
that is, in true knowledge of God and in true
righteousness and holiness and endowed with a truly
scientific knowledge of nature, Gen. 2:19-23.
7. We furthermore
teach that sin came into the world by the fall of the
first man, as described Gen. 3. By this Fall not only he
himself, but also all his natural offspring have lost
the original knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and
thus all men are sinners already by birth, dead in sins,
inclined to all evil, and subject to the wrath of God,
Rom. 5:12,18; Eph. 2:1-3. We teach
also that men are unable, through any efforts of their
own or by the aid of culture and science," to reconcile
themselves to God and thus to conquer death and
damnation.
Of RedemptionTop
8. We teach that in
the fulness of time the eternal Son of God was made man
by assuming, from the Virgin Mary through the operation
of the Holy Ghost, a human nature like unto ours, yet
without sin, and receiving it unto His divine person.
Jesus Christ is therefore "true God, begotten of
the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the
Virgin Mary," true God and true man in one undivided and
indivisible person The purpose of this miraculous
incarnation of the Son of God was that He might become
the Mediator between God and men, both fulfilling the
divine Law and suffering and dying in the place of
mankind. In this manner God has
reconciled the whole sinful world unto Himself, Gal.
4:4,5; 3:13; 2 Cor. 5:18,19.
Of Faith in ChristTop
9. Since God has
reconciled the whole world unto Himself through the
vicarious life and death of His Son and has commanded
that the reconciliation effected by Christ be proclaimed
to men in the Gospel, to the end that they may believe
it, 2 Cor. 5:18, 19; Rom 1:5, therefore faith in Christ
is the only way for men to obtain Personal
reconciliation with
God, that is, forgiveness of sins, as both the Old and
the New Testament Scriptures testify, Acts 10: 43; John
3:16-18,36. By this faith in Christ, through which men
obtain the forgiveness of sins, is not meant any human
effort to fulfill the Law of God after the example of
Christ, but faith in the Gospel, that is, in the
forgiveness of sins, or justification, which was fully
earned for us by Christ and is offered in the Gospel.
This faith justifies, not inasmuch as it is a work of
man, but inasmuch as it lays hold of the grace offered,
the forgiveness of sins, Rom. 4:16.
Of Conversion
Top
10.
We teach that
conversion consists in this, that a man, having learned
from the Law of God that he is a lost and condemned
sinner, is brought to faith in the Gospel,
which offers him forgiveness of sins and eternal
salvation for the sake of Christ's vicarious
satisfaction, Acts 11: 21; Luke 24: 46,47; Acts 26:18.
11.
All men, since
the Fall, are dead in sins, Eph. 2:1-3, and inclined
only to evil, Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Rom. 8:7. For this
reason, and particularly because men regard the Gospel
of Christ, crucified for the sins of the world, as
foolishness, I Cor. 2:14, faith in the Gospel, or
conversion to God, is neither wholly nor in the least
part the work of man, but the work of God's grace and
almighty power alone, Phil. 1:29; Eph. 2:8; 1:19;-Jer.
31:18. Hence Scripture calls the faith of man, or his
conversion, a raising from the dead, Eph. 1:20; Col.
2:12, a being born of God, John 1: 12, 13, a new birth
by the Gospel, 1 Pet. 1: 23-25, a work of God like the
creation of light at the creation of the world, 2 Cor.
4:6.
12.
On the basis of
these clear statements of the Holy Scriptures we reject
every kind of synergism, that is, the doctrine that
conversion is wrought not by the grace and power of God
alone, but in part also by the co-operation of man
himself, by man's right conduct, his right attitude, his
right self-determination, his lesser guilt or less evil
conduct as compared with others, his refraining from
willful resistance, or anything else whereby man’s
conversion and salvation is taken out of the gracious
hands of God and made to depend on what man does or
leaves undone. For this refraining from willful
resistance or from any kind of resistance is also solely
a work of grace, which "changes unwilling into willing
men," Ezek- 36:26; Phil. 2:13. We reject also the
doctrine that man is able to decide for conversion
through "powers imparted by grace," since this doctrine
presupposes that before conversion man still possesses
spiritual powers by which he can make the right use of
such "powers imparted by grace."
13.
On the other
hand, we reject also the Calvinistic perversion of the
doctrine of conversion, that is, the doctrine that God
does not desire to convert and save all hearers of the
Word, but only a portion of them. Many hearers of the
Word indeed remain unconverted and are not saved, not
because God does not earnestly desire their conversion
and salvation, but solely because they stubbornly resist
the gracious operation of the Holy Ghost, as Scripture
teaches, Acts 7:51; Matt 23:37; Acts 13:46.
14. As to the question why
not all men are converted and saved, seeing that God's
grace is universal and all men are equally and utterly
corrupt, we confess that we cannot answer it. From
Scripture we know only this: A man owes his conversion
and salvation, not to any lesser guilt or better conduct
on his part, but solely to the grace of God. But any
man's non-conversion is due to himself alone: it is the
result of his obstinate resistance against the
converting operation of the Holy Ghost, Hos. 13:9.
15. Our refusal to go
beyond what is revealed in these two Scriptural truths
is not 'masked Calvinism" ("Cryptocalvinism") but
precisely the Scriptural teaching of the Lutheran Church
as it is presented in detail in the Formula of Concord (Triglot,
P. 1081, @57-59, 60 b, 62, 63; M., P. 716 f.): "That one
is hardened, blinded, given over to a reprobate mind,
while another, who is indeed in the same guilt, is
converted again, etc. - in these and similar questions
Paul fixes a certain limit to us how far we should go,
namely, that in the one part we should recognize God's
judgment. For they are well-deserved penalties of sins
when God so punished a land or nation for despising His
Word that the Punishment extends also to their
posterity, as is to be seen in the Jews.
And thereby God in some lands and persons
exhibits His severity to those that are His in order to
indicate what we all would have well deserved and would
be worthy and worth, since we act wickedly in opposition
to God's Word and often grieve the Holy Ghost sorely; in
order that we may live in the fear of God and
acknowledge and praise God's goodness, to the exclusion
of, and contrary to, our merit in and with us, to whom
He gives His Word and with whom He leaves it and whom He
does not harden and reject.... And this His righteous,
well-deserved judgment He displays in some countries,
nations, and persons in order that, when we are placed
alongside of them and compared with them (quam simillimi
illis deprehensi, i. e., and found to be most similar to
them), we may learn the more diligently to recognize and
praise God's pure, unmerited grace in the vessels of
mercy. . . . When we proceed thus far in this article,
we remain on the right way, as it is written, Hos. 13:9:
'O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thy
help.' However, as regards these things in this
disputation which would soar too high and beyond these
limits, we should with Paul place the finger upon our
lips and remember and say, Rom. 9:20: 'O man, who art
thou that repliest against God?"' The Formula of Concord
describes the mystery which confronts us here not as a
mystery in man's heart (a "psychological" mystery), but
teaches that, when we try to understand why "one is
hardened, blinded, given over to a reprobate mind, while
another, who is indeed in the same guilt, is converted
again," we enter the domain of the unsearchable
judgments of God and ways past finding out, which are
not revealed to us in I-Iis Word, but which we shall
know in eternal life. 1 Cor. 13:12.
16.
Calvinists solve this mystery, which God has not
revealed in His Word, by denying the universality of
grace; synergists, by denying that salvation is by grace
alone. Both solutions are utterly
vicious, since they contradict Scripture and since every
Poor sinner stands in need of, and must cling to, both
the unrestricted universal grace and the unrestricted
"by grace alone," lest he despair and perish.
Of Justification
Top
17.
Holy Scripture sums up all its teachings
regarding the love of God to the world of sinners,
regarding the salvation wrought by Christ, and regarding
faith in Christ as the only way to obtain salvation, in
the article of justification.
Scripture teaches that God has already declared the
whole world to be righteous in Christ, Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor.
5:18-21; Rom. 4:25; that therefore not for the sake of
their good works, but without the works of the Law, by
grace, for Christ's sake, He justifies, that is,
accounts as righteous, all those who
believe in Christ, that is, believe, accept, and
rely on, the fact that for Christ's sake
their sins are forgiven. Thus the
Holy Ghost testifies through St. Paul: "There is no
difference; for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God, being justified freely by His grace,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," Rom. 3:
23,24. And again: "Therefore we
conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the
deeds of the Law," Rom. 3:28.
18.
Through this doctrine alone Christ is given the
honor due Him, namely, that through His holy life and
innocent suffering and death He is our Savior.
And through this doctrine alone can poor sinners
have the abiding comfort that God is assuredly gracious
to them. We reject as apostasy from
the Christian religion all doctrines whereby man's own
works and merit are mingled into the article of
justification before God. For the
Christian religion is the faith that we have forgiveness
of sins and salvation through faith in Christ Jesus,
Acts 10:43.
19.
We reject as apostasy from the Christian religion
not only the doctrine of the Unitarians, who promise the
grace of God to men on the basis of their moral efforts;
not only the gross work-doctrine of the papists, who
expressly teach that good works are necessary to obtain
justification; but also the doctrine of the synergists,
who indeed use the terminology of the Christian Church
and say that man is justified "by faith," "by faith
alone," but again mix human works into the article of
justification by ascribing to man a co-operation with
God in the kindling of faith and thus stray into
papistic territory.
Of Good WorksTop
20. Before God only
those works are good which are done for the glory of God
and the good of man, according to the rule of the divine
Law. Such works, however, no man
performs unless he first believes that God has forgiven
him his sins and has given him eternal life by grace,
for Christ's sake, without any works of his own, John
15:4,5. We reject as a great folly
the assertion, frequently made in our day, that works
must be placed in the fore, and "faith in dogmas"
-meaning the Gospel of Christ Crucified for the sins of
the world - must be relegated to the rear.
Since good works never precede faith, but are
always and in every instance the result of faith in the
Gospel, it is evident that the only means by which we
Christians can become rich in good works (and God would
have us to be rich in good works, Titus 2:14) is
unceasingly to remember the grace of God which we have
received in Christ, Rom.12:1; 2 Cor.
8:9. Hence we reject as unchristian
and foolish any attempt to produce good works by the
compulsion of the Law or through carnal motives.
Of the Means of Grace
Top
21. Although God is
present and operates everywhere throughout all creation
and the whole earth is therefore full of the temporal
bounties and blessings of God, Col. 1:17; Acts 17:28,
14:17, still we hold with Scripture that God offers and
communicates to men the spiritual blessings purchased by
Christ, namely, the forgiveness of sins and the
treasures and gifts connected therewith, only through
the external means of grace ordained by Him.
These means of grace are the Word of the Gospel,
in every form in which it is brought to man, and the
Sacraments of Holy Baptism and of the Lord's Supper.
The Word of the Gospel promises and applies the
grace of God, works faith and thus regenerates man, and
gives the Holy Ghost, Acts 20:24; Rom. 10:17; 1 Pet.
1:23; Gal. 3:2. Baptism, too, is
applied for the remission of sins and is therefore a
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
Acts 2:38; 22:16; Titus 3:5.
Likewise the object of the Lord's Supper, that is, of
the ministration of the body and blood of
Christ, is none other than the communication and sealing
of the forgiveness of sins, as the words declare: "Given
for you," and: "Shed for you for the remission of sins,"
Luke 22:19, 20; Matt. 26:28, and: "This cup is the New
Testament in My blood," 1 Cor. 11:23; Jer. 31:31-34
("New Covenant").
22.
Since it is
only through the external means ordained by Him that God
has promised to communicate the grace and salvation
purchased by Christ, the Christian Church must not
remain at home with the means of grace entrusted to it,
but go into the whole world with the preaching of the
Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments, Matt.
28: 19, 20; Mark 16:15, 16. For the same reason also
the churches at home should never forget that there is
no other way of winning souls for the Church and keeping
them with it than the faithful and diligent use of the
divinely ordained means of grace. Whatever activities
do not either directly apply the Word of God or subserve
such application we condemn as "new methods," unchurchly
activities, which do not build, but harm, the Church.
23.
We reject as a
dangerous error the doctrine, which disrupted the Church
of the Reformation, that the grace and the Spirit of God
are communicated not through the external means ordained
by Him, but by an immediate operation of grace. This
erroneous doctrine bases the forgiveness of sins, or
justification, upon a fictitious "infused grace," that
is, upon a quality of man, and thus again establishes
the work-doctrine of the papists.
Of the Church
Top
24.
We believe that
there is one holy Christian Church on earth, the Head of
which is Christ and which is gathered, preserved, and
governed by Christ through the Gospel.
The members of the Christian
Church are the Christians, that is, all those who have
despaired of their own righteousness before God and
believe that God forgives their sins for Christ's sake.
The Christian Church, in the proper sense of the term,
is composed of believers only, Acts 5:14; 26:18; which
means that no person in whom the Holy Ghost has wrought
faith in the Gospel, or - which is the same thing - in
the doctrine of justification, can be divested of his
membership in the Christian Church; and, on the other
hand, that no person in whose heart this faith does not
dwell can be invested with such membership. All
unbelievers, though they be in external communion with
the Church and even hold the office of teacher or any
other office in the Church, are not members of the
Church, but, on the contrary, dwelling-places and
instruments of Satan, Eph. 2:2. This is also the
teaching of our Lutheran Confessions: "It is certain,
however, that the wicked are in the power of the devil
and members of the kingdom of the devil, as Paul
teaches, Eph. 2:2, when he says that 'the devil now
worketh in the children of disobedience,"' etc.
(Apology. Triglot, p. 231, @SYMBOL
32 \f "Symbol" _
16; M., p. 154.)
25.
Since it is by
faith in the Gospel alone that men become members of the
Christian Church, and since this faith cannot be seen by
men, but is known to God alone, 1 Kings 8:39; Acts 1:
24; 2 Tim. 2:19, therefore the Christian Church on earth
is invisible, Luke 17:20, and will remain invisible till
Judgment Day, Col. 3:3, 4. In our day some Lutherans
speak of two sides of the Church, taking the means of
grace to be its "visible side." It is true, the means of
grace are necessarily related to the Church, seeing that
the Church is created and preserved through them. But
the means of grace are not for that reason a part of the
Church; for the Church, in the proper sense of the word,
consists only of believers, Eph. 2:19,20; Acts 5:14.
Lest we abet the notion that the Christian Church in the
proper sense of the term is an external institution, we
shall continue to call the means of grace the "marks" of
the Church. Just as wheat is to be found only where it
has been sown, so the Church can be found only where the
Word of God is in use.
26.
We teach that
this Church, which is the invisible communion of all
believers, is to be found not only in those external
church communions which teach the Word of God purely in
every part, but also where, along with error, so much of
the Word of God still remains that men may be brought to
the knowledge of their sins and to faith in the
forgiveness of sins, which Christ has gained for all
men, Mark 16:16; Samaritans: Luke 17:16; John 4:25.
27.
Local Churches
or Local Congregations. -- Holy Scripture, however, does
not speak merely of the one Church, which embraces the
believers of all places, as in Matt. 16:18; John 10: 16,
but also of churches in the plural, that is, of local
churches, as in 1 Cor. 16: 19; 1: 2; Acts 8: 1: the
churches of Asia, the church of God in Corinth, the
church in Jerusalem. But this does not mean that there
are two kinds of churches, for the local churches also,
in as far as they are churches, consist solely of
believers, as we see clearly from the addresses of the
epistles to local churches; for example, "unto the
church which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified,
in Christ Jesus, called to be saints," 1 Cor. 1: 2; Rom.
1: 7, etc. The visible society, containing hypocrites
as well as believers, is called a church only in an
improper sense, Matt. 13:47-50, 24-30, 38-43.
28.
On
Church-Fellowship. - Since God ordained that His Word
only, without the admixture of human doctrine, be taught
and believed in the Christian Church, 1 Pet. 4: 11; John
8:31,32; 1 Tim. 6:3,4, all Christians are required by
God to discriminate between orthodox and heterodox
church-bodies, Matt. 7:15, to have church-fellowship
only with orthodox church-bodies, and, in case they have
strayed into heterodox church-bodies, to leave them,
Rom. 16:17. We repudiate unionism, that is,
church-fellowship with the adherents of false doctrine,
as disobedience to God's command, as causing divisions
in the Church, Rom. 16:17; 2 John 9,10, and as involving
the constant danger of losing the Word of God entirely,
2 Tim. 2:17-21.
29.
The orthodox
character of a church is established not by its mere
name nor by its outward acceptance of, and subscription
to, an orthodox creed, but by the doctrine which is
actually taught in its pulpits, in its theological
seminaries, and in its Publications. On the other hand,
a church does not forfeit its orthodox character through
the casual intrusion of errors, provided these are
combated and eventually removed by means of doctrinal
discipline, Acts 20:30; 1 Tim. 1: 3.
30.
The Original
and True Possessors of All Christian Rights
and Privileges. - Since the Christians are the Church,
it is self-evident that they alone originally possess
the spiritual gifts and rights which Christ has gained
for, and given to, I-!is Church. Thus St. Paul reminds
all believers: "All things are yours," 1 Cor. 3: 21, 22,
and Christ Himself commits to all believers the keys of
the kingdom of heaven, Matt. 16:13-19; 18:17-20; John
20:22, 23, and commissions all believers to preach the
Gospel and to administer the Sacraments, Matt. 28:19,20;
1 Cor. 11:23-25. Accordingly, we reject all doctrines
by which this spiritual power or any part thereof is
adjudged as originally vested in certain individuals or
bodies, such as the Pope, or the bishops, or the order
of the ministry, or the secular lords, or councils, or
synods, etc. The officers of the Church publicly
administer their offices only by virtue of delegated
powers, conferred on them by the original possessors of
such powers, and such administration remains under the
supervision of the latter, Col. 4:17. Naturally all
Christians have also the right and the duty to judge and
decide matters of doctrine, not according to their own
notions, of course, but according to the Word of God, 1
John 4: 1; I Pet. 4: 11.
Of the Public Ministry
Top
31.
By the public
ministry we mean the office by which the Word of God is
preached and the Sacraments are administered by order
and in the name of a Christian congregation. Concerning
this office we teach that it is a divine ordinance; that
is, the Christians of a certain locality must apply the
means of grace not only privately and within the circle
of their families nor merely in their common intercourse
with fellow-Christians, John 5:39; Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:16,
but they are also required, by the divine order, to make
provision that the Word of God be publicly preached in
their midst, and the Sacraments administered according
to the institution of Christ, by persons qualified for
such work, whose qualifications and official functions
are exactly defined in Scripture, Titus 1:5; Acts 14:23;
20:28; 2 Tim. 2:2.
32.
Although the
office of the ministry is a divine ordinance, it
possesses no other power than the power of the Word of
God, 1 Pet. 4: 11; that is to say, it is
the duty of Christians to yield unconditional obedience
to the office of the ministry whenever, and as long as,
the minister proclaims to them the Word of God, Heb.
13:17; Luke 10: 16If, however, the minister, in his
teachings and injunctions, were to go beyond the Word of
God, it would be the duty of Christians not to obey, but
to disobey him, so as to remain faithful to Christ,
Matt. 23:8. Accordingly, we reject the false doctrine
ascribing to the office of the ministry the right to
demand obedience and submission in matters which Christ
has not commanded.
33.
Regarding
ordination we teach that it is not a divine, but a
commendable ecclesiastical ordinance. (Smalcald
Articles. Triglot, p. 525, @70; M., p. 342.)
Of Church and State
Top
34.
Although both
Church and State are ordinances of God, yet they must
not be commingled. Church and State have entirely
different aims. By the Church, God would save men, for
which reason the Church is called the "mother" of
believers, Gal. 4:26. By the State, God would maintain
external order among men, "that we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness and honesty," 1 Tim.
2:2. It follows that the means which Church and State
employ to gain their ends are entirely different. The
Church may not employ any other means than the preaching
of the Word of God, John 18:11,36; 2 Cor. 10: 4. The
State, on the other hand, makes laws bearing on civil
matters and is empowered to employ for their execution
also the sword and other corporal punishments, Rom.
13:4. Accordingly we condemn the policy of those who
would have the power of the State employed "in the
interest of the Church" and who thus turn the Church
into a secular dominion; as also of those who, aiming to
govern the State by the Word of God, seek to turn the
State into a Church.
Of the Election of Grace
Top
35.
By election of
grace we mean this truth, that all those who by the
grace of God alone, for Christ's sake, through the means
of grace, are brought to faith, are justified,
sanctified, and preserved in faith here in time, that
all these have already from eternity been endowed by God
with faith, justification, sanctification, and
preservation in faith, and this for the same reason,
namely, by grace alone, for Christ's sake, and by way of
the means of grace. That this is the doctrine of Holy
Scripture is evident from Eph. 1:3-7; 2 Thess. 2:13,14;
Acts 13:48; Rom. 8:28-30; 2 Tim. 1:9; Matt. 24:22-24
(cp. Form. of Conc. Triglot, p. 1065, @ 5, 8, 23; M.,
p. 705).
36. Accordingly we reject
as an anti-Scriptural error the doctrine that not alone
the grace of God and the merit of Christ are the cause
of the election of grace, but that God has, in addition,
found or regarded something good in us which prompted or
caused Him to elect us, this being variously designated
as "good works right conduct," "proper
self-determination refraining from willful resistance,"
etc. Nor does Holy Scripture know of an election "by
foreseen faith in view of faith," as though the faith of
the elect were to be placed before their election; but
according to Scripture the faith which the elect have in
time belongs to the spiritual blessings with which God
has endowed them by His eternal election. For Scripture
teaches, Acts 13:48: "And as many as were ordained unto
eternal life believed." Our Lutheran Confession also
testifies (Triglot, p. 1065, @SYMBOL
32 \f "Symbol" _
8; M., p. 705): "The internal election of
God however, not only foresees and foreknows the
salvation of the elect, but is also, from the gracious
will and pleasure of God in Christ Jesus, a cause which
procures, works, helps, and promotes our salvation and
what pertains thereto; and upon this our salvation is so
founded that the gates of hell cannot prevail against
it, Matt. 16:18, as is written John 10: 28: 'Neither
shall any man pluck My sheep out of My hand'; and again,
Acts 13:48: 'And as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed."'
37. But as earnestly as we
maintain that there is an election of grace, or a
predestination to salvation, so decidedly do we teach,
on the other hand, that there is no election of wrath,
or predestination to damnation. Scripture plainly
reveals the truth that the love of God for the world of
lost sinners is universal, that is, that it embraces all
men without exception, that Christ has fully reconciled
all men unto God, and that God earnestly desires to
bring all men to faith, to preserve them therein,
and thus to save them, as Scripture testifies, 1 Tim.
2:4: "God will have all men to be saved and to come to
the knowledge of the truth." No man is lost because God
has predestinated him to eternal damnation.-Eternal
election is a cause why the elect are brought to faith
in time, Acts 13:48; but election is not a cause why men
remain unbelievers when they hear the Word of God.
The reason assigned by Scripture for this sad
fact is that these men judge themselves unworthy of
everlasting life, putting the Word of God from them and
obstinately resisting the Holy Ghost, whose earnest will
it is to bring also them to repentance and faith by
means of the Word, Acts 13:46; 7:51; Matt 23:37.
38.
To be sure, it is necessary to observe the
Scriptural distinction between the election of grace and
the universal will of grace. This
universal gracious will of God embraces all men; the
election of grace, however, does not embrace all, but
only a definite number, whom "God hath from the
beginning chosen to salvation," 2 Thess. 2:13, the
9 4
remnant," the "seed" which "the Lord left," Rom.
9:27-29, the “election,” Rom. 11: 7;
and while the universal will of grace is frustrated in
the case of most men, Matt 22:14; Luke 7:30, the
election of grace attains its end with all whom it
embraces, Rom. 8:28-30. Scripture,
however, while distinguishing between the universal will
of grace and the election of grace, does not place the
two in opposition to each other. On
the contrary, it teaches that the grace dealing with
those who are lost is altogether earnest and fully
efficacious for conversion. Blind
reason indeed declares these two truths to be
contradictory; but we impose silence on our reason.
The seeming disharmony will disappear in the
light of heaven, I Cor. 13:12.
39. Furthermore, by
election of grace, Scripture does not mean that one part
of God's counsel of salvation according to which He will
receive into heaven those who persevere in faith unto
the end, but, on the contrary, Scripture means this,
that God, before the foundation of the world, from Pure
grace, because of the redemption of Christ, has chosen
for His own a definite number of persons Out of the
corrupt mass and has determined to bring them, through
Word and Sacrament. to faith and salvation.
40. Christians can and
should be assured of their eternal ,election. This is
evident from the fact that Scripture addresses them as
the chosen ones and comforts them with their election,
Eph. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13. This assurance of one's
personal election, however, springs only from faith in
the Gospel, from the assurance that God so loved the
world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. For God sent not His Son into the world to
condemn the world; on the contrary, through the life,
suffering, and death of I-Ls Son He fully reconciled the
whole world of sinners unto Himself. Faith in this
truth leaves no room for the fear that God might still
harbor thoughts of wrath and damnation concerning us.
Scripture inculcates that in Rom. 8:32,33: "He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall He not with Him also freely give us all
things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It is God that justifieth." Luther's pastoral
advice is therefore in accord with Scripture: "Gaze upon
the wounds of Christ and the blood shed for you; there
predestination will shine forth." (St. Louis Ed., II,
181; on Gen. 26:9.) That the Christian obtains the
personal assurance of his eternal election in this way
is taught also by our Lutheran Confessions (Formula of
Concord. Triglot, p. 1071, @SYMBOL
32 \f "Symbol" _
26; M., p. 709): "Of this we should not
judge according to our reason nor according to the Law
or from -any external appearance. Neither should we
attempt to investigate the secret, concealed abyss of
divine predestination, but should give heed to the
revealed will of God. For He has made known unto us the
mystery of His will and made it manifest through Christ
that it might be preached, Eph. 1: 9 ff.; 2 Tim. 1: 9
f." - In order to insure the proper method of viewing
eternal election and the Christian’s assurance of it,
the Lutheran Confessions set forth at length the
principle that election is not to be considered "in a
bare manner (nude), as though God only held a muster,
thus: 'This one shall be saved, that one shall be
damned' " (Formula of Concord. Triglot, p. 1065, @SYMBOL
32 \f "Symbol" _
9; M., p. 706); but "the
Scriptures teach this doctrine in no other way than to
direct us thereby to the Word, Eph.
I- 13; 1 Cor. 1: 7; exhort to repentance, 2 Tim. 3:16;
urge to godliness,
Eph. 1: 14; John 15: 3; strengthen faith
and assure us of our salvation, Eph. 1: 13; John 10: 27
f.; 2 Thess. 2:13 f." (Formula of Concord. Triglot, p.
1067, @12; M., p. 707 ). To sum up, just as God in time
draws the Christians unto Himself through the Gospel, so
He has already in His eternal election endowed them with
"sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth,"
2 Thess. 2:13. Therefore: If, by the grace of God, you
believe in the Gospel of the forgiveness of your sins
for Christ's sake, you are to be certain that you also
belong to the number of God's elect, even as Scripture,
2 Thess. 2:13, addresses the believing Thessalonians as
the chosen of God and gives thanks to God for their
election.
Of
Sunday
Top
41. We teach that in the
New Testament God has abrogated the Sabbath and all the
holy-days prescribed for the Church of the Old Covenant,
so that neither "the keeping of the Sabbath nor of any
other day" nor the observance of at least one specific
day of the seven days of the week is ordained or
commanded by God, Col 2:16; Rom. 14:5 (Augsburg
Confession. Triglot, p. 91, @SYMBOL
32 \f "Symbol" _
51-60; M., p. 66).
The observance of Sunday and
other church festivals is an ordinance of the Church,
made by virtue of Christian liberty. (Augsburg
Confession; Triglot, p. 91, @51-53, 60; M., p. 66.
Large Catechism; Triglot, p. 603, @SYMBOL
32 \f "Symbol" _
83, 85, 89; M., P. 401.) Hence Christians
should not regard such ordinances as ordained by God and
binding upon the conscience, Col. 2:16; Gal. 4: 10.
However, for the sake of Christian love and peace they
should willingly observe them, Rom. 14:13; 1 Cor. 14:40.
(Augsburg Confession. Triglot, P. 91, @53-56; M., p.
67.)
Of the Millennium
Top
42. With the Augsburg
Confession (Art. XVII) we reject every type of
Millennialism, or Chiliasm, the opinions that Christ
will return visibly to this earth a thousand years
before the end of the world and establish a dominion of
the Church over the world; or that before the end of the
world the Church is to enjoy a season of special
prosperity; or that before the general resurrection on
Judgment Day a number of departed Christians or
martyrs are to be raised again to reign in glory in this
world, or that before the end of the world a universal
conversion of the Jewish nation (of Israel according to
the flesh) will take place.
Over against this, Scripture clearly
teaches, and we teach accordingly, that the kingdom of
Christ on earth will remain under the cross until the
end of the world, Acts 14:22; John 16:33; 18:36; Luke
9:23; 14:27; 17:20-37; 2 Tim. 4:18; Heb. 12:28; Luke
18:8; that the second visible coming of the Lord will be
His final advent, His coming to judge the quick and the
dead, Matt. 24:29, 30; 25:31; 2 Tim. 4: 1; 2 Thess. 2:8;
Heb. 9:26-28; that there will be but one resurrection of
the dead, John 5:28; 6:39, 40; that the time of the Last
Day is, and will remain, unknown, Matt. 24:42; 25:13;
Mark 13: 32, 37; Acts 1: 7, which would not be the case
if the Last Day were to come a thousand years after the
beginning of a millennium; and that there will be no
general conversion, a conversion en masse, of the Jewish
nation, Rom. 11: 7; 2 Cor. 3:14; Rom. 11: 25; 1 Thess.
2:16.
According to these clear passages of
Scripture we reject the whole of Millennialism, since it
not only contradicts Scripture, but also engenders a
false conception of the kingdom of Christ, turns the
hope of Christians upon earthly goals, I Cor. 15:19;
Col. 3:2, and leads them to look upon the Bible as an
obscure book.
Of the Antichrist
Top
43. As to the
Antichrist we teach that the prophecies of the Holy
Scriptures concerning the Antichrist, 2 Thess. 2: 3-12;
1 John 2:18, have been fulfilled in the Pope of Rome and
his dominion. All the features of
the Antichrist as drawn in these prophecies, including
the most abominable and horrible ones, for example, that
the Antichrist "as God sitteth in the temple of God," 2
Thess. 2:4; that he anathematizes the very heart of the
Gospel of Christ, that is, the doctrine of the
forgiveness of sins by grace alone, for Christ's sake
alone, through faith alone, without any merit or
worthiness in man (Rom. 3:20-28; Gal. 2:16); that he
recognizes only those as members of the Christian Church
who bow to his authority; and that, like a deluge, he
had inundated the whole Church with his
antichristian doctrines till God revealed hirn through
the Reformation these very features are the outstanding
characteristics of the Papacy. (Cf. Smalcald Articles.
Triglot, p. 515, @SYMBOL
32 \f "Symbol" _
39 to . 1; p. 401,
SYMBOL 32 \f "Symbol"
_
45; M., pp. 336, 258.)
Hence we subscribe to the statement of our Confessions
that the Pope is "the very Antichrist." (Smalcald
Articles. Triglot, p. 475, @SYMBOL
32 \f "Symbol" _
10; M, p. 308.)
Of Open Questions
Top
44.
Those questions
in the domain of Christian doctrine may be termed open
questions which Scripture answers either not at all or
not clearly. Since neither an individual nor the Church
as a whole is permitted to develop or augment the
Christian doctrine, but are rather ordered and commanded
by God to continue in the doctrine of the apostles, 2
Thess. 2:15; Acts 2:42, open questions must remain open
questions. -Not to be included in the number of open
questions are the following: the doctrine of the Church
and the Ministry, of Sunday, of Chiliasrn, and of
Antichrist, these doctrines being clearly defined in
Scripture.
Of the Symbols of the Lutheran
Church
Top
45.
We accept as
our confessions all the symbols contained in the Book of
Concord of the year 1580. -The symbols of the Lutheran
Church are not a rule of faith beyond, and supplementary
to, Scripture, but a confession of the doctrines of
Scripture over against those who deny these doctrines.
46.
Since the
Christian Church cannot make doctrines, but can and
should simply profess the doctrine revealed in Holy
Scripture, the doctrinal decisions of the symbols are
binding upon the conscience not because our Church has
made them nor because they are the outcome of doctrinal
controversies, but only because they are the doctrinal
decisions of Holy Scripture itself.
47.
Those desiring
to be admitted into the public ministry of the Lutheran
Church pledge themselves to teach according to the
symbols not "in so far as," but "because," the symbols
agree with Scripture. He who is unable to accept as
Scriptural the doctrine set forth in the Lutheran
symbols and their rejection of the corresponding errors
must not be admitted into the ministry of the Lutheran
Church.
48.
The
confessional obligation covers all doctrines, not only
those that are treated ex professor but
also those that are merely introduced in support of
other doctrines.
The obligation does not extend to
historical statements, "purely exegetical questions,"
and other matters not belonging to the doctrinal content
of the symbols. All doctrines of the symbols are based
on clear statements of Scripture.Top |
