2. Law and sin.
Since sin is ανομία [“lawlessness”], in the doctrine of sin it must be clearly seen what is the νόμος [“law”] by whose transgression ανομία comes about. The definition that the Formula of Concord 1565) gives of the law proves to be scriptural in all parts:
1563) Müller 84, 42, 43. [Trigl. 117, 43 🔗]
1564) Schriftbeweis 2 I, 562. L. u. W. 24, 248 [sic — p. 228: not 248]. Later Lutheran theologians also hold with the Lutheran confession that τό voluittarium does not belong to the essence of sin. Baier II, 275: Philosophis quidem peccatorum appellatione nihil venit, nisi in quo aliqua ratio voluntarii apparet, ut, quae contra legem fiunt, in tantum dicantur peccata, in quantum de voluntario participant. In Scripturis autem peccatum in significatione multo latiore accipitur, prout Iobannes 1. Epist. 3:4 satis habet, per ανομίαν definire peccatum, non expressa ratione τον voluntarii.. [Google] Quenstedt l, 967: Antithesis: 1. Pontificiorum quorumdam, ut Andradii, lib. 3, Defens. Cone. Trid., qui negat, quamvis ανομίαν peccatum esse. ... 2. Pelagianorum, ... contendentium, peccatum originale non esse peccatum, quia in infantibus est involuntarium. 3. pontificiorum, statuentium, τo voluntarium esse de ratione peccati, adeo ut non sit peccatum, quod nullo modo est voluntarium. Ita Bellarminus. ... 4. Socinianorum, ut Socini, Ostorodi, Smalzii, qui peccatum originale propter eandem rationem (scilicet quia non est voluntarium) plane negant. ... 5. Arminianorum, in Actis Synodical. Def., art. 4, et in Apol. Conf., cap. 7, voluntarium ad rationem peccati requirentium. ... 6. Zwinglii et Calvini, in cap. 3. genes, peccatum originale pari ratione negantium, quod involuntarium sit. [Google]
1565) Müller 636, 17 [Trigl. 957, 17 🔗].
634 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The doctrines of man. [English ed. 530]
"We believe, teach and confess unanimously that the law is actually a divine doctrine, in which the righteous, unchangeable will of God is revealed, how man should be constituted in his nature, thoughts, words and works, so that he may be pleasing and acceptable to God. Very correctly, it is first pointed out here that only God's will to man constitutes laws for man. This belongs to human dignity. Every man is subject to God's law, but also only to God's law. Commandments given by men are only a binding norm if God has made these commandments His commandments, as is the case with the commandments of the worldly authorities (Rom. 13:1 ff.: "Let every man be subject to the authority that has power over him") and of the parents (Col. 3:20: "You children, be obedient to your parents in all things"), as long as they do not contradict God's commandments (Acts 6:27 ff.: "You must obey God more than men"). The so-called commandments of the church are not a conscience-binding norm, because Christ did not confer legislative power (potestas legislatoria) on His church, but expressly forbade it, Matt. 23:8: "One is your Master, Christ; but you are all brethren." What Christ has not commanded is not ordered in the Church by territories, but by Christians themselves by way of mutual agreement. Even through the abuse of freedom, the Church must not be tempted to command things that God has not commanded. In short, it must be maintained under all circumstances that only God's law is the norm by whose transgression sin comes about. "The pope," says Luther,1566) "has filled the world with satanic obedience. For the pope has not commanded what God has commanded, but what he himself has devised; hence it has come about that his whole religion has not been righteous, but made and chosen by himself, and, in sum, has been a blatant hypocrisy." — On the other hand, God's law must be brought to bear not merely in part, but in its entire content. God demands in His law the purity of human nature (which is why Eph. 2:3 says in relation to the innate corrupt state of nature: "children of wrath by nature") and therefore also the purity of all inner and outer acts that belong to a righteous, pure nature, thus the
1566) St. L. 1, 765.
635 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The doctrines of man. [English ed. 531]
purity of thought (Matt. 6:22: "Whoever is angry with his brethren is guilty of judgment"; v. 28: "Whoever lusts after a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart"), of words (Matt. 12:36: "I tell you that men will have to give an account on the Last Day for every useless word they speak"), of deeds (Eph. 6:5: "I tell you that men will have to give an account on the last day for every useless word they speak"). 12:36: "I tell you that men will have to give an account on the last day of every useless word they have spoken"), of works (Eph. 6:5: "Know this, that no fornicator or unclean person or covetous person who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God"). Against this scope of the divine law, as extending to all inward and outward human acts, public and even more secret opposition has arisen at all times (Ps. 10:11: "God has forgotten; he has hidden his face; he will never see it"). In particular, a general protest arose and still arises against the fact that even the corrupt state of nature, which is innate in man, is truly sin and bears the "character of guilt"; rather, the expression "guiltless sin" should be appropriate here. More about this under the section De Peccato Originali. But whatever we men dismiss from God's law, that nevertheless stands as a divine requirement, and also all attempts to separate guilt from our non-conformity with the divine law are completely unsuccessful, as is also testified — to which we must always be reminded — by the fact of evil conscience. That the Formula of Concord correctly defines the divine law, when it says that it is the justified, unchangeable will of God "how man should be constituted in his nature, thoughts, words, and works, that he may be pleasing and acceptable to God," is also glaringly evident from the fact that the, who in our — man's — place came under the duty and penalty of the divine law, and thus made us "pleasing and acceptable to God," had to be a quite unique, wonderful person, namely, δαιος, ακακος, αμίαντος, κεχωρισμένος από των αμαρτωλών [““holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners” “](Heb. 7:26), μη γνοϋς αμαρτίαν [one “who knew no sin”] (2 Cor. 5:21).