Nonfundamental doctrines.
"Non-fundamental" as distinguished from "fundamental" are appropriately called such scriptural doctrines as stand in Scripture but are not foundation or object of faith insofar as faith obtains forgiveness of sins and makes one a child of God. They are doctrines in which the faith of those who have already obtained forgiveness of sins or have already become children of God is active in knowledge and should also be active according to God's will. Such doctrines are, for example, the doctrines of the Antichrist and of the angels. That the doctrine of the Antichrist does not belong to the foundation of the fides salvifica has already been explained. The same is to be said with regard to the doctrines of the angels. The faith that takes hold of the forgiveness of sins is not faith in the angels, but only faith in Christ. Faith in Christ benefits from the correct knowledge of these non-fundamental doctrines as well, in that they warn believers of dangers, such as the doctrine of the
374) Cf. the further exposition II, 302 f., and the example of Adam Neuser.
375) RE.2 VI, 777.
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Antichrist, or put the goodness of God even more into the light, like the doctrines of the angels. What goodness and grace of God shines out when it says of the angels: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation”! So also m relation to the articuli non-fundamentales 2 Tim. 3:16: πάσα γραφή ϑεόπνενοτος καί ωφέλιμος. But even in the denial of non-fundamental doctrines there is the danger of denying the divine authority of Scripture. Whoever does not want to believe that angels exist, even though he knows that the Scriptures teach the existence and activity of angels, denies the divine authority of the Scriptures and thus abandons the principle of knowledge of the whole Christian religion. Baier therefore says very correctly: Interim etiam in his cavendum est, ne errorem amplectendo aut profitendo in revelationem divinam Deumque ipsum temere peccetur [Google].376) This, of course, is also true with respect to the historical, geographical, archaeological, etc. information of the Scriptures. These, of course, are not the object of faith, inasmuch as faith makes one partaker of the forgiveness of sins. It is a grave error of Bellarmin when he says: Catholici tam late patere volunt obiectum fidei iustificantis, quam late patet Verbum Dei.377) Thus a work is made of faith. It is absolutely to be noted that the object of fides iustificans is only the Evangelical promise, which offers forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake.378) But whoever does not believe the Scriptures in the small matters of historical, geographical, etc., how will he believe the Scripture in the great things, which are about the incarnation and satisfactio vicaria of the Son of God, and against which all the religious concepts that man naturally harbors?379) For this reason Philippi felt impelled to withdraw, in the third edition of his Dogmatik, the doubts which he had formerly expressed concerning the reliability of the historical, etc. statements of Scripture..380)
376) Compendium I, 65.
377) Lib. 1 De Iustif., c. 4; in Quenstedt II, 1362.
378) This is explained in detail II, 505 under the section "The saving faith has only the gospel as its object".
379) 1 Cor. 1:23; 2:14.
380) Cf. supplement to the 3rd edition of the Doctrine of the Faith I, 279. Cf. report of the Synodal Conference 1886, p. 35.
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