5. The cause of the divisions within the external Christianity.
Since the non-Christian religions seek reconciliation with God through human works, but their own works cannot bring their consciences to rest, it is not strange but completely natural that the non-Christian religions appear in almost endless forms. The Lutheran Confessions also reminds us of this reason for the multiformity of non-Christian religions. The Apology says: Quia nulla opera reddunt pacatam conscientiam, ideo subinde nova opera excogitantur praeter mandata Dei.74) On the other hand, one should expect that within Christianity different parties are completely excluded. The Christian church has only one source of knowledge for its doctrines, namely Christ's word.75) which he gave to the church through his apostles and prophets.
71) Cf. Luther on Gen. 3:15. St. L. I, 230 ff; III, 650 ff.
72) Acts 10:43.
73) Luther speaks about this in particular detail in St. L. VII, 1704 to 1712.
74) M. 122, 87 [Trigl. 177, 87 🔗].
75) Jn. 8:31-32: "If you abide in my address (τφ λόγω τφ έμφ), you are my right disciples and will know the truth."
23 ><w:t xml:space="preserve"> The nature and concept of theology. [English ed. 22-23]
has given?76) In this word of Christ, however, the fruitful mother of party formations, namely the religion of works, is most decisively rejected77) and, on the other hand, the divine forgiveness of sins without the works of the law, through faith in Christ's once accomplished and perfect work of reconciliation, is most clearly taught.78) In addition, experience has shown that through faith in the reconciliation made by Christ, human consciences are at peace and there is no reason to look for other methods of reconciliation.79) Thus, one should really expect that various parties and divisions in the Christian church would be completely excluded, as they are also expressly forbidden in Scripture.80) But in the history of the Christian church we encounter quite a different picture. Even the apostolic church had to suffer from factions.
Where do these divisions come from? They have their reason neither in the difference of climate, as some have thought, nor in the difference of race, as others have said, 81) but in the fact that within the church teachers appeared and found followers who did not stick to the word of the apostles and prophets of Christ, but proclaimed their own word and thus consequently also damaged or downright denied the differentia specifica of the Christian religion, the justification by faith without works of the Law. That already under the eyes of the Apostles people appeared who did not want to accept the apostolic word as the Word of God, but set their human opinion against it, is clearly evident from Paul's admonition to the Roman congregation: " I beseech you, brethren, mark them which
76) Jn. 17:20: Διά τον λόγον αντών, namely the apostle, shall believe in Christ all who become faithful until the Last Day. Eph. 2:20: έποικοδομηθέντες επι τφ θεμελίφ τών αποστόλων και προφητών.
77) Gal. 2:16: οὐ δικαιωθήσεται ἐξ ἔργων νόμου πᾶσα σάρξ. Gal. 3:10 ὅσοι ἐξ ἔργων νόμου εἰσὶν ὑπὸ κατάραν εἰσίν.
78) Rom. 3:28: Λογιζόμεθα ονν πίστει δικαιονσθαι άνθρωπον χωρίς έργων νόμον. Gal. 2:16: εἰδότες ὅτι οὐ δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ἔργων νόμου ἐὰν μὴ διὰ πίστεως ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ.
79) Rom. 5:1: Δικαιωθεντες ονν εκ πίστεως, ειρήνην έχομεν προς τον θεόν διά τον κνρίον ήμών Ίηαον Χρίστον. Col. 2:10: Έατέ έν αν τφ [in Christo] πεπληρωμένοι.
80) 1 Cor. 1:10: μή ή έν νμϊν σχίσματα.
81) Cf. Nitzsch-Stephan, Ev. Dogmatik, p. 270. Hase, Hutterus Redivivus 10, p. 12, note 1.
24 ><w:t xml:space="preserve"> The nature and concept of theology. [English ed. 23-24]
cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them!" 82) Especially in the Corinthian congregation there were people who considered themselves "prophets" and "spiritual" and nevertheless, or precisely because of this, decisively questioned the divine authority of the Apostle's word. Paul sees himself prompted to the sharp word: "If anyone lets himself think that he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize (επιγινωσκέτω, acknowledge) what I write to you, for they are the Lord's commandments."83) And that thus in the apostolic church mightily stirred up the attempt to substitute works doctrine for the Christian doctrine of grace, is evident both from Paul's astonishment at the apostasy of the Galatians: "I am astonished that you should so soon turn away from him who called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel," as well as from Paul's extremely vehement polemic against the works teachers: "If we also, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any other gospel than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed!" and, "Would to God that they also were cut off who disturb you!" 84) These efforts to set aside the Apostle's word and with it also the Christian doctrine of grace of Christianity, declare to us the emergence and the existence of factions in the Christian church until this day.
In order to prove this, we must examine the main existing church parties, i.e. the Roman party, the Reformed fellowships, the parties within the Lutheran church, also the modern-theological trend, in their own way. For this purpose it is necessary that we bring here, in the introduction, short excerpts from longer expositions, which run through the whole dogmatics and serve there for the detailed exposition of the individual doctrines in thesis and antithesis. Here we treat what in recent dogmatics and monographs is brought under the titles: "Romanism and Protestantism", "Lutheran and Reformed Protestantism", "Further Development of Lutheranism", "Modern Theology of the Old Faith", "Irenic Theology", etc.
As for the largest, the Roman party, while recognizing in thesi the divine authority of Scripture, but interpreted in the sense of the Roman Church, the sancta mater ecclesia, that is, in the last instance
82) Rom. 16:17.
83) 1 Cor. 14:37.
84) Gal. 1:6-9; 5:12.
25 ><w:t>The nature and concept of theology. [English ed. 24-25]
according to the sense of the pope.85) In this interpretation of the Scriptures according to the sense of the "holy mother church", resp. of the pope, the Roman party comes to the point that it expressly and very decidedly puts a curse on the central doctrine of the Christian religion, the justification of man by faith in the gospel of grace without works of the law.86) The fact that there are still Christians within the Roman party is due to the fact that there are always individual souls who, in defiance of the "church" prohibition, abandon their trust in their own works and place their confidence before God solely in the grace of God in Christ.87) But the fact remains: That the Roman Church as such forms a special party in external Christianity is first of all due to the fact that it does not allow Christ's word, the word of the prophets and apostles, the Holy Scriptures, to come into its own, but in fact substitutes the doctrinal determinations of the sancta mater ecclesia, that is, of the pope, for the Christian principle of knowledge. Or as Luther adequately puts it in the Smalcald Articles:88) "The Pope boasts that all rights exist in the shrine of his heart (in scrinio sui pectoris), and what he judges and says with his church is to be spirit and law, even if it is above and against Scripture or the oral word." With the actual setting aside of Scripture, the forbidding of the Christian doctrine of grace is then also given. The whole great machinery of the Roman party is set upon works doctrine and the authority of the Pope. In the event that these two factors were abandoned, the Roman party would disappear from external Christendom.
Reformed church fellowships also admit the divine authority of Scripture in thesi, with a strong emphasis on the inspiration of Scripture, notably among the older Reformed, but also among newer Reformed.89) It has become widely fashionable
85) Thus the Tridentine. Sess. IV, Decretum de editione et usu sacrorum librorum. Smets, p. 15.
86) Tridentinum, Sess.VI, can. 11, 12, 20. The further exposition under the section "The Papal Church and the Doctrine of Justification," II, 667 ff.
87) Apology, 151, 271 [Trigl. 225, 271 🔗]: Etiamsi in ecclesia pontifices aut nonnulli theologi ac monachi docuerunt, remissionem peccatorum, gratiam et iustitiam per nostra opera et novos cultus quaerere, … mansit tamen apud aliquos pios semper cogmtio Christi.
88) M. 321, 4.<w:t>[Trigl. 495, 4 🔗] <w:t>89) Gaußen, Kuhper, Böhl, Shedd, Hodge.
26 ><w:t xml:space="preserve"> The nature and concept of theology. [English ed. 25-26]
to define the difference between the Reformed and Lutheran churches as the Reformed church letting Scripture be "more exclusively" the source of Christian doctrine, while the Lutheran church, being more "historical" and "conservative" in nature, lets tradition come into play as well as Scripture.90) This dogma-historical view is factually incorrect. The factual situation is clearly this: The Reformed Church, insofar as it walks in Zwingli's and Calvin's paths, sets aside the Scripture Principle in the doctrines by which it distinguishes itself from the Lutheran Church and has established itself as an independent party in external Christendom, and sets in its place clearly stated and very emphatically held rationalistic axioms.
This happens 1. in relation to the means of grace ordered by God. Although the statements of Holy Scriptures are that the divine presentation of the forgiveness of sins acquired by Christ and the bringing forth and strengthening of faith are accomplished through the external means ordered by God (through the Word of God, and through Baptism and Holy Communion),91) Zwingli and Calvin, as well as more recent Reformed Christians, maintain that it is not proper for the Holy Spirit to tie His revelation of grace and His efficacy of grace to the external means ordered by God, and in fact the Holy Spirit, where He works for salvation, does not use these external means.92) It was this "Holy Spirit" detached from the means of grace that caused division in the Protestant camp at the time of the Reformation and raised the accusation that Luther had not rightly discerned the gospel but rather in the "flesh" — by which was understood Luther's adherence
90) A compilation of statements about the character of the Lutheran and Reformed churches in Luthardt, Dogmatik. 11, p. 26 f.
91) See the sections "The Means of Grace in General" and "All Means of Grace Have the Same Purpose and Effect," III, 122 ff.
92) Thus Zwingli, Fidei Ratio. Niemeyer, p. 24: Dux vel vehiculum Spiritui non est necessarium, ipse enim est virtus et latio, qua cuncta feruntur, non qui ferri opus habeat. ["A guide or a vehicle is not necessary for the Spirit, for he is the power and strength by which all things are carried, not that which needs iron"]. Likewise Calvin, Inst. IV, 14, 17. The Geneva Catechism (Niemeyer, p. 161) inculcates: Non esse visibilibus signis inhaerendum, ut salutem inde petamus. ["We should not cling to visible signs, so that we may seek salvation therefrom"]. Charles Hodge, Syst. Theol. ii, 684: "Efficacious grace acts immediately." So also Böhl, Dogmatik, p. 447 f., restricts the validity and effect of the Word to those previously and immediately reborn.
27 ><w:t>The nature and concept of theology. [English ed. 26-27]
to the means of grace — got stuck.93) The practical consequence of this separation of the revelation of grace and the efficacy of grace from the means of grace is the relapse into the Roman "infused grace" (gratia infusa) and thus an apostasy from the Christian doctrine of justification. For all men who allow themselves to be turned away from the external means of grace do not base their confidence in God on the forgiveness of sins or the gracious disposition of God (favor Dei propter Christ), which is present through Christ's satisfactio vicaria, is presented in the Evangelical promise of the means of grace and is to be believed on the basis of this objective presentation and promise, but on an allegedly directly effected inner transformation, illumination and renewal, that is, on a grace that is conceived as a good quality inherent in man. Since, however, the Holy Spirit professes not to be concerned with such a direct revelation and effect of grace,94) , all those who really strive for direct enlightenment and renewal according to Zwingli's and Calvin's instructions, of necessity substitute their own human product for the real effect of the Spirit. Luther's frequently expressed judgment that "papists and enthusiasts are one thing" does not originate from the "exaggerated polemics of the sixteenth century," but is a completely objective judgment. That there are nevertheless many children of God in the Reformed fellowships, despite the official denial of the means of grace, comes from an inconsistency that Luther often pointed out, especially in the Smalcald Articles. If the official deniers of the means of grace were to put their theory into practice, they would also have to keep silent about the gospel in outwardly spoken and in outwardly written words, so as not to disturb the supposedly immediate effectiveness of the Holy Spirit. But instead of remaining silent, they are very busy in word and doctrine, and insofar as they then teach the gospel of Christ crucified for the sins of the world, they give opportunity to the Holy Spirit,
93) Zwingli's answer to Luther's writing "That these words" etc., printed in the St. Louis edition of Luther's works, XX, 1131 f.: "I (Zwingli) want to put before your (Luther's) eyes that you have not recognized the broad, glorious glow of the Gospel, because you have forgotten it again."
94) Cf. III, 170 ff., 175 ff.
28 ><w:t>The nature and concept of theology. [English ed. 27]
not without the Word and alongside the Word, but precisely through the Word, that is, indirectly, to work and maintain faith in Christ.95)
2 Another setting aside of the Scriptural word on the basis of a rationalistic axiom also underlies the Reformed denial of the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper. That the scriptural words of the Lord's Supper refer prima facie not to the absence but to the presence of the body and blood of Christ is admitted directly and indirectly. Only the words of the Lord's Supper would have to be interpreted in such a way that they agree with "faith." To the question of the content of the "faith" according to which the words of the Lord's Supper are to be interpreted, the old and the new Reformed doctrines do not bring scriptural statements, but a human decree of the content that Christ's human nature, if it is not to be destroyed, can only ever have a visible and local presence (visibilis et localis praesentia). Christ according to his human nature, as Calvin very emphatically instructs us, is only ever to have one presence that does not extend beyond the natural size of Christ's body (dimensio corporis, mensura corporis), i.e. only over about six feet, and is therefore in any case not sufficient for the simultaneous celebration of the Lord's Supper in many places in the world. Not only Carlstadt and Zwingli, but also Calvin, in particular, base their opposition to the Real Presence, on which the words of the Lord's Supper are based, on the canon that Christ's body, wherever it is, must necessarily always have spatial extension and be visible.96) Also in the closed doors mentioned in Jn. 20:19 an opening must be added, and Luke 24:31 must be interpreted in such a way that Christ Himself did not become invisible according to His human nature, but that the eyes of the Emmaus disciples were covered.97) In short, the Reformed denial of the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper is clearly based on the fact that a human axiom is asserted against the statements of Scripture.
95) on Reformed self-deception III, 188 ff.
96) Inst. IV, 17, 19 Calvin insists on a presence of the body of Christ, quae nec mensuram illi suam auferat vel pluribus simul locis distrahat — vel in pluribus simul locis ponitur. [Google] Inst. IV, 17, 29: Haec est propria corporis veritas, ut spatio contineatur, ut suis dimensionibus constet, ut suam faciem habeat. [Google]
97) Inst. IV, 17, 29, at the end.
29 ><w:t>The nature and concept of theology. [English ed. 28]
Calvin accepts Luther's statement of the status controversiae: "All their thing stands upon it, that Christ's body must be alone in one place, bodily and in a tangible manner."98)
The question whether the grace of God in Christ is universal (gratia universalis) or particular (gratia particularis), the Calvinist Reformed think they should answer not from the statements of Scripture, which read universal grace,99) but from the historical "success" or the historical "experience". “We must assume that the result is the interpretation of the purposes of God.”100) The Reformed argument, which eliminates the statements of Scripture concerning general grace, runs as follows: because not all men are saved, it must be concluded that Christ's merit and God's will of grace do not extend to all men. The assumption of a general will of grace with a particular result would be an insult to the divine wisdom, power and majesty.101) The strongest rejection of the Scriptural Principle
98) Detailed exposition of the motive for the reformed doctrine of absence III, 376 ff.
99) Jn. 1:29; 3:16 ff.; 1 Jn. 1:2; 1 Tim. 2:4-6 etc. The detailed exposition II, 21 ff.
100) Charles Hodge, Systematic Theol. II, 323. Likewise Calvin, Inst. III, 24, 17. 15: Quamlibet enim universales sint salutis promissiones, nihil tamen a reproborum praedestinatione discrepant, modo in carum effectum mentem dirigamus.- Experientia docet, ita [Deum] velle resipiscere quos ad se invitat, ut non tangat omnium corda.
101) Calvin invokes Inst. III, 24, 16 to refute the general will of grace on God's omnipotence: Si tenacius urgeant, quod dicitur [Deum] velle misereri omnium, ego contra excipiam, quod alibi scribitur, Deum nostrum esse in coelo, ubi faciat quaeeunque velit, Ps. 115:3. Hodge, op. cit.: "It cannot he supposed that God intends what is never accomplished-that He adopts means for an end which is never to be attained. This cannot be affirmed of any rational being who has the wisdom and power to secure the execution of his purposes. Much less can it he said of Him whose power and wisdom are infinite." Incidentally, Calvin took the liberty of a change in wording when quoting Ps. 115:3. The words, "But our God is in heaven; all that he pleases (חָפֵ֣ץ) [HEBREW]) he makes," are but a description of the omnipotence of God in contrast to the impotence of the idols of the heathen, as is immediately pointed out, v. 4: "Those idols find silver and gold, made by the hands of men." By inserting a ubi: Our God is in heaven, "ubi faciat quaecunque velit," Calvin perverses the idea that God wills and acts differently in heaven than on earth.
30 ><w:t>The nature and concept of theology. [English ed. 28-29]
and the most decisive adoption of a speculative rationalism on Calvin's part comes to our attention where Calvin, in order to protect his gratia particularis, virtually mocks Christ's lamentation and tears before Jerusalem (Matt. 23:37; Luke 19:41 ff.) and God's arms spread out for the salvation of the people (Is. 65:2; Rom. 10:21) as a reliable revelation of God's general will of grace by the remark that this would erroneously transfer human things to God.102) Whoever carefully reads the relevant passages in Calvin's Institutiones cannot help feeling that Calvin, in the interest of his rationalistic speculation about the absolute God, becomes a fanatical fighter and persecutor of all scriptural statements that refer to the general grace of God in Christ. The necessary consequence of the path interpretation of gratia universalis is that it makes the gospel of Christ practically useless. In the sinner struck by the law of God, faith in the Savior of sinners cannot arise as long as the idea of a gratia particularis dominates the consciousness. That there are also among the Calvinistic Reformed children of God who rejoice in their redemption through Christ, is due to the fact that some among them have never accepted the gratia particularis, others, who have accepted it, take refuge in the universalis gratia under the terrores conscientiae, to which inconsequentially Reformed teachers themselves counsel and thus condemn their partisanship with regard to the gratia particularis itself.103)
Besides the Calvinist Reformed, there are also Arminian Reformed. These, in contrast to the Calvinist Reformed, want to hold on to the gratia universalis, but think that they can only do this by leaving the sola gratia behind. They teach a human participation for the origin of faith.104) But this "limitation" of sola gratia is an apostasy from the Scripture Principle, because Scripture ascribes man's conversion and salvation
102) Quod humanum est ad Deum transferri. Inst. III, 24, 17.
103) Cf. Schneckenburger's exposition that pastoral practice drives the Calvinist Reformed to the Lutheran standpoint of universal grace, in Vergleichende Darstellung d. luth. u. ref. Lehrbegriffs, I, 260 ff.
104) The Apol. Conf. Remonstr., Ps. 162, asserts that the effect of God's grace for conversion non posse exire in actum sine cooperatione liberae voluntatis humanae ac proinde, ut effectum habeat, pendere a libera voluntate.
31 ><w:t>The nature and concept of theology. [English ed. 29-30]
to the sole efficacy of God.105) At the same time, through this Arminian faith, which is a partial work of man, the Christian doctrine of justification χωρίς νόμον, ονκ έξ έργων, is struck right to the heart. As Luther remarks against Erasmus, who also demanded the admission of the facultas se applicandi ad gratiam to bring about conversion, "You are at my throat!"106)
The same is true, of course, of the synergistic Lutherans, who also teach that Arminian cooperation in obtaining the grace of God under various expressions (right conduct, self- assertion, self-decision, lesser guilt in comparison with others, etc.) and thereby prevent the emergence of the Christian faith, because the Christian faith at all times has the nature in itself that it arises only in broken hearts107) and builds on the sola gratia.108) That there are nevertheless children of God among those who teach synergism in words and writings comes from the fact that they become inconsistent, namely, they do not believe their own doctrine before God and in their prayer closet. Frank rightly thinks that Melanchthon never believed his synergistic theory.109) But what division and separation synergism has caused in the Christian church from Melanchthon to our time is well enough known.
In more recent times, a particularly fruitful source of disunity and division within external Christianity has arisen from the fact that most of the public teachers who were considered to be setting the tone have abandoned the Christian concept of the Holy Scriptures.
105) Eph. 1:19; Phil. 1:29; 1 Cor. 2:14; 1:23. The detailed exposition II, 546 ff. 564 ff; III, 107 ff.
106) St. L. XVIII, 1967. opp. v. a. VII, 367.
107) Luther, Opp. v. a. VII, 154: Quamdiu homo persuasus fuerit, sese vel tantulum posse pro salute sua, manet in fiducia sui, nec de se penitus desperat, ideo non humiliatur coram Deo, sedlocum, tempus, opus aliquod sibi praesumit vel sperat vel optat saltem, quo tandem perveniat ad salutem. [Google]
108) Apology, 97, 56 [Trigl. 136, 55 🔗]: "As often as Scripture addresses faith, it means faith built on pure grace."
109) Theology of the Formula of Concord I, 135. On the renunciation on the part of theoretical synergists to come before God with their synergism, cf. also Luther, De Servo Arbitrio, Opp. v. a. VII, 166; St. L. XVIII, 1729 f. Likewise Mead, Irenic Theology, p. 163.
32 ><w:t xml:space="preserve"> The nature and concept of theology. [English ed. 30-31]
Indeed, they deny that the Holy Scriptures are God's own and infallible Word. They thus abandon the Holy Scriptures as the source and norm of Christian doctrine and, eo ipso, the principle of unity in the Christian Church. For only those who abide in Christ's Word know the truth, as Christ himself says."110) And Christ's apostle, Paul, assures us that anyone who does not abide in the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ is darkened and knows nothing.111) Modern theology, also the so-called positive one, substitutes as theological principle of knowledge the "experience" of the "theologizing subject", also called "faith consciousness", "Christian consciousness", "born-again I", etc., for the Holy Scriptures. Regarding this "theological method", however, there is a great agreement in modern theology. We even read, "No one bases his dogmatics in the old Protestant manner on the norma normans, the Bible." 112) But this general agreement in theological method is — we quoted the words earlier — "bound up with an almost endless abundance of diversities in the application of these principles, as they are determined sometimes more by the religious individuality of the dogmatist, soon more caused by the degree of his scientific consistency."113) And as by modern theologians in great agreement the Holy Scriptures are abandoned as the sole source and norm of Christian doctrine, so also by them in great agreement the Scriptural doctrine of Christ's satisfactio vicaria, and with it the Scriptural doctrine of justification by faith "without works of the law" (ονκ εξ έργων), are rejected.114) To the question whether Christian faith is still possible with the denial of Scripture as the Word of God and with the denial of the satisfactio Christi vicaria, the answer is: consequently not. Whoever does not believe Christ and His apostles Jn. 10:35; 2 Tim. 3:16; 1 Petr. 1:10-12 should consequently also believe them Jn. 3:16; Matt. 20:28; Jn. 1:29; 1 Jn. 1:9; Rom. 3:28 etc. But it can happen, and has happened, that someone who theoretically denied the inspiration of the Scriptures and the vicarious satisfaction of Christ, believes, in the face of temptation and
110) Jn. 8:31-32.<w:t>111) I Tim. 6:3ff.
112) Nitzsch-Stephan, Ev. Dogmatik, p. 15.
113) A. a. O., Preface, IX.<w:t>114) Thieme in RE.3 XXI, 120.
33 ><w:t>The nature and Concept of Theology... [English ed. 31-32]
the distress of death, the forgiveness of his sins on the basis of the word of the Scriptures and on the basis of the vicarious satisfaction of Christ. But then he gives up his hitherto taken partisan position and returns to the unity of faith with the Christian church, which abides by Christ's words and knows no other basis of confidence in the grace of God than the redemption (απολύτρωοις, redemption), which has come about through Christ Jesus.
Thus, by presenting the main ecclesiastical parties, we would have convinced ourselves that factions within the Christian church have their basis in nothing other than the fact that Scripture is abandoned as the sole source and norm of Christian doctrine, and then, consequently, in one form or another, works doctrine also takes the place of the Christian doctrine of grace.
The discussion of parties within external Christianity is followed by the much-discussed question of whether the Lutheran Church should also be included among the parties. In order to answer this question properly, it is necessary to understand what we mean by "Lutheran church" and by "sect” [or party]. We do not understand by "Lutheran church" all fellowships that still call themselves Lutheran, but only those that actually teach and confess the Lutheran doctrine as taught and known in the Confessions of the Lutheran Church. By parties we mean such church fellowships that have constituted themselves independently on the basis of doctrines contrary to Scripture. In this understanding of "Lutheran Church" and "party," it should be said that the Lutheran Church does not form a party because it does not hold any special doctrines in its confession, but only confesses and teaches the doctrine which, according to God's will and order, all Christians should confess and teach. This is the ecumenical character of the Church of the Reformation. On the one hand, the Lutheran Church does not identify itself with the una sancta, but rather confesses that children of God can also be found in such fellowships where, in addition to doctrines of men, so much of the gospel is still spoken that faith in Christ as the only Redeemer of sins can thereby arise. On the other hand, the Lutheran Church claims to be the Church of pure doctrine, that is, that its doctrine agrees in all matters with the Holy Scriptures and is to be believed and accepted by all men according to God's will. The proof of this ecumenical character
34 ><w:t>The nature and Concept of Theology... [English ed. 32-33]
of Lutheran doctrine is naturally to be led by way of induction. As Luther says in his confession of faith of 1529:115) "Whether someone after my death would say: Where Luther now lived, he would teach and hold this or this article differently, because he has not considered it sufficiently, etc.: against this I say now as then and then as now, that by God's grace I have considered all these articles most diligently, have often drawn them through the Scriptures and back again, and wanted to defend the same as surely as I have now defended the sacrament of the altar.” — Here it should only be pointed out that the Lutheran Church passes the examination with regard to the Scripture Principle of its doctrine also at the point at which the great majority of theologians since Augustine until recent times have abandoned the Scripture Principle for rationalistic considerations. We mean the point which has been called the crux theologorum and which we would like to call the most severe test of adherence to the Scripture Principle. For one thinks with regard to the grace of God that the universalis gratia and the sola gratia cannot both be held fast. The Calvinists maintain, as we have seen, that in order to save the sola gratia the universalis gratia must be abandoned; the synergists demand that in order to save the universalis gratia the sola gratia must be sacrificed. To hold both at the same time is impossible. The Lutheran Church is clearly aware of the difficulty here for human comprehension. Nevertheless, she holds both universalis gratia and sola gratia without reservation because both doctrines are clearly attested in Scripture. It expects the solution of the difficulty here for human comprehension to be found in eternal life.116)
To the discussion of the divisions within the outer Christianity belongs also a reference to the motives for the deviation from the Scripture doctrine and the usually following party formation. The Holy Scriptures do not know any noble, but only carnal motives for this abnormal phenomenon within the Christian church.
115) St. L. XX, 1094 ff. Erl. 30, 363 ff.
116) F. C. 709, 28. 29 [Trigl., 1071, 28-29. 🔗]; 557, 17-19 [837, 17-19 🔗] (confession of gratia universalis).- F. C. 525, 9-11 [788, 9-11 🔗]; 716, 57-64 [1081, 57-64 🔗] (confession of sola gratia and renunciation of the solution of the difficulty present here for human comprehension in this life). Likewise Luther, De Servo Arbitrio, Opp. v. a. VII, 365, St. L. XVIII, 1965 f.
35 ><w:t xml:space="preserve"> and Concept of Theology... [English ed. 33-34]
The judgment of Scripture stands in sharp contrast to the judgment of recent theologians of all shades, who not only assume a number of noble motives for the deviation from the teaching of Scripture, such as scientific sense, sense of truth, etc., but also declare "various trends in the church to be intended by God and useful to the church." But the Scriptural statements expressing the contrary judgment are numerous and very definite. As Scripture often and earnestly warns against deviation from the apostles' doctrine, which is Christ's own doctrine,117) so it also abundantly points out the motives for doing so. In general terms, it cites self-interest as the motive: "Such do not serve the Lord Jesus Christ, but their bellies, and by sweet words and splendid addresses they seduce innocent hearts."118) Specializing she calls: Pomposity in their own wisdom,119) Honor before men,120) Shyness of the cross,121) Envy.122) The mildest name of the motive is "ignorance".123) The quality of the motives confirms also church history. Novatian would probably not have become the father of Novatianism and the Novatian schism if he, and not Cornelius, had been chosen as bishop of Rome.124) Also Zwingli would hardly have appeared as a reformer beside and against Luther, if he had not meant that Luther was only "one honest Ajax or Diomedes among many Nestors, Ulysses, Menelaen".125) It is not beyond the scope of dogmatics to point out emphatically that the evil nature which underlies the apostasy from the Word of Scripture and the formation of parties was not peculiar only to Novatian, Zwingli, and the party founders of the apostolic times, but is found in all of us and is also continually active among us. We experience it in the individual congregations, in the synod and in the bindings of synods, how ambition, envy, personal inclinations and aversions stir up and threaten to degenerate into party formation and separation. Multae in ecclesia haereses ortae sunt tantum odio doctorum.126) It therefore stands
117) Rom. 16:17.<w:t>118) Rom. 16:18.<w:t>119) 1 Tim. 6:3.
120) Jn. 5:44.<w:t>121) Gal. 6:12.122) Matt. 27:18.
123) 1 Tim. 6:3; Jn. 16:3; 1 Tim. 1:13.
124) Seeberg, Dogmengeschichte I, 138. So also F. H. Foster in Concise Dictionary, by Jackson, Chambers and Foster: "The theoretical difference grew out of a personal one." [1899, p. 658]
125) St. L. XX, 1134.<w:t>126) Apol. 128:121. [Trigl. 187, 121 🔗]
36 ><w:t>The nature and Concept of Theology... [English ed. 34-35]
like this: where unity in Christian doctrine exists and is maintained, it is in no way the result of our strength, wisdom and skill, but a work of divine grace and power alone. This is what the Scriptures teach,127) and this is also expressed in our church prayers.128)