Volume 2

Foreword.

In this second volume of dogmatics, the Christian doctrines of saving grace, of Christ's person and work, of faith, of the origin of faith and of justification by faith come to the presentation, on the task...

1. The Necessity of Grace.

Scripture teaches that all men have become sinners through Adam's fall and are under the judgment of damnation according to the divine justice expressed in the law. Scripture also teaches that people cannot...

2. Concept of saving grace.

The word grace (y&pic), pronounced by God in relation to sinful human beings, ' first of all denotes God's gracious disposition, which God, for Christ's sake, holds against sinful human beings and consists in...

3. Attributes of saving grace.

a. Grace in Christ. The grace according to which God is gracious to sinful people condemned by the law is, according to Scripture, not an absolute grace, but a grace in Christ or for Christ's sake, that is, a...

4. On Ecclesiastical Terminology in Relation to God's Will of Grace.

The gracious attitude which God has for all people in Christ is also called the will of God against men in Scripture, 1 Tim. 2:4: "Who will (9éA€1) have all men to be saved" etc. In the negotiations about this...

1. God's Will to Save All Men Is Not an Absolute Will.

an absolute (voluntas absoluta) but an ordered (voluntas ordinata) will, because it is based on the merit of Christ (satisfactio vicaria), and includes the means of giving (the means of giving) on the part of...

3. Voluntas Antecedens and Voluntas Consequens.

antecedens, vol. prima) and a following or second will (vol. consequens, vol. secunda)® jst much impropriety has been taught for and against. The distinction is scriptural when it is used to express the...

I. The Doctrine of Christ's Person.

(De persona Christi.) It has often become the custom to complain about an excessively detailed and cumbersome presentation of the doctrine of the person of Christ, especially by Lutheran dogmatists, but also...

1. The True Divinity of Christ.

Scripture places great emphasis on the nature of the person of Christ, especially the divinity of Christ. Recently, it has been asserted again that a "Christological" confession is not a prerequisite for the...

2. The True Humanity of Christ.

A detailed dogmatic exposition of the true and perfect humanity of Christ is prompted by the fact that within external Christianity the humanity of Christ was partly denied completely by attributing to Christ...

1. The Emergence of Christ's Human Nature Through the Action of the Holy Spirit.

the Holy Spirit. * While all men since Adam and Eve receive their human nature by natural descent from a pair of parents, father and mother, propheticam denominationem, Dan. 7:13. Ut ex Daniele sumta fuit...

2. The Sinlessness of Christ's Human Nature.

human beings have been sinners since Adam's fall, ovk é'ottv dikatos ov 6& gic, Rom. 3:10; mavtec Huaptov, Rom. 3:23, Christ is without sin according to his human nature: apwaptiav ovK émoinoev ovdé evpé9y...

3. The Impersonality of Christ's Human Nature.

evvmootacid). A peculiarity of the human nature of Christ is that it does not form a person in its own right. Otherwise, every human nature also forms a separate person in its own right. But the human nature...

3. The Personal Union.

(De unione personali.) In Christ, God and man are united as one person, namely—as has just been explained—in such a way that human nature, which did not previously exist, was taken into the Person of the Son...

4. The Communion of Natures.

(De communione naturarum.) The reason for special treatment of the Communion of Natures. It should not be necessary, after having explained the personal union of God 2:2; 1 Petr. 4:11. man in Christ, to deal...

5. The Communication of Attributes.

(De communicatione idiomatum.) There has been much debate within the Christian church about the communication of attributes of both the union of God and man to one Person. When Luther begins the lament "that...

The Second Genus of the Communication of Attributes

(genus maiestaticum). We saw in the presentation of the so-called first genus of the communication of attributes, how decidedly Nestorius, Zwingli and followers demanded that the human carnem meam induit,...

The Communicated Omnipresence.

Already in the preliminary remarks on the genus maiestaticum it was pointed out that the participation of the human nature of the Son of God in his divine omnipresence had caused a very special contradiction....

Summarizing Assessment of Reformed Christology.

There has been much debate about whether or not the Reformed Christology, in so far as it contrasts with the Lutheran one, is touching the foundations of the Christian faith. Walch also dealt with this...

II. The Doctrine of the States of Christ.

(De statibus exinanitionis et exaltationis.) The Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments present Christ in a dual state. First in a state of humiliation, which includes a thirty-three year life on earth...

1. The Nature and Concept of Christ's Humiliation and Exaltation.

About the nature and concept of humiliation and exaltation the following is repeated and compiled here: Since the incarnation of God consists in the fact that the Son of God entered into his human nature...

2. The Individual Parts of Humiliation and Exaltation.

Humiliation includes all events of Christ's earthly life from conception to burial. The fact that the descent into hell (descensus ad inferos) cannot be counted among the state of humiliation results from the...

III. The Doctrine of Christ's Work.

(De opere sive officio Christi.) The work of Christ in general. Christ is such a wonderful Person, namely God-man (jecvipwmoc), to accomplish an exceedingly wonderful?’ work given to him by God and willingly...

2. Directing the Prophetic Office in the State of Exaltation.

In the state of exaltation, Christ directs the prophetic office through intermediaries. Even within the Lutheran Church, Christ's prophetic office has been limited to the state of humiliation, and then the...

1. Objection: God Can Forgive Sin by Virtue of His Power.

without any satisfaction given by Christ to mankind. °° Answer: The discussion of what God can do in his power is useless and foolish, since God has declared in Scripture that he can forgive sin only on the...

2. Objection: It Is Unworthy to Present God as Requiring Satisfaction.

sinful man in such an angry way that he could only be reconciled through Christ's vicarious suffering and death.) Answer: What are worthy or unworthy concepts of God, man can learn only from God's revelation,...

3. Objection: Christ's Death Reveals Only God's Love.

revealed, Rom. 5:8: "Therefore God commendeth (ovviotnot) his love for us in that Christ died for us, since we were still sinners": thus there can be no reconciliation of the wrath of God through the death of...

4. Objection: It Is Unjust That the Innocent Should Suffer.

Christ has been punished in the place of the guilty. Answer: What God does is just. Now Scripture explicitly testifies: a. That God has attributed the guilt of mankind to the innocent Christ, Isaiah 53:6; 2...

5. Objection: Christ Did Not Suffer What All Men Should Suffer.

namely, eternal hell-punishments; thus the concept of vicarious punishment falls away. Also Luthardt, as we have already seen, lacks the courage to stand up for the biblical-church doctrine. He thinks that...

6. Objection: The Doctrine of Satisfaction Is Too Juridical.

view that God has reconciled people to himself through Christ's vicarious satisfaction is too "juridical" and too little "ethical". Answer: This cannot be changed if we want to remain with Scripture. According...

1. Christ Himself Used His Active Obedience.

obliged to fulfill the law. Answer: This assertion denies the personal union (unio personalis) of God and man in Christ. By virtue of the personal union, human nature belongs to the Person of the Son of God....

2. Scripture Attributes Redemption to the Shedding of Christ's Blood.

blood of Christ, that is, to the obedentia passiva. Answer: But not exclusively! If in passages such as Peter 1:19; Col. 1:14, etc. the obedientia passiva is placed in the foreground, there are also scriptural...

4. Christ Fulfilled the Law on Behalf of All People.

damages morals, since no one will then seriously engage in the fulfillment of the law. 1° obedientiam, nimirum creaturas rationales nondum in peccatum prolapsas, v. g. sanctos angelos obligat tantum ad...

The sacrifice of Christ and the Atonement of the Old Testament.

Scripture explicitly states that the Atonement offerings of the Old Testament were models of the sacrifice of Christ. Hebr. 10, 1 says in relation to the annual and daily atonement sacrifices of the Old...

1. The State of Grace or the State of Peace.

The state of grace as a consequence of justification encompasses both the certainty of present grace (Rom. 5:1 ff: Aucawm@évtec obv ék Tistews siprvyv EXOLEV TPdc TOV Oedv — Ti Tpocay@ytV ECYNKALEV TH TiOTEL...

2. The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit and of the Whole Holy Trinity.

mystica) This mysterious (Eph. 5:32: 16 uvotnpiov tovto péya éotiv) connection of God with Christians is also clearly taught in Scripture as a consequence of justification by faith. Of the Holy Spirit it says...

3. The New Life and Its Activity in Sanctification and Good Works.

new spiritual life as a consequence and effect of faith in the reconciliation brought about by Christ once and for all and completely, Paul Eph. 2:20 teaches by his own example: "What I now live in the flesh"...

4. Membership in the Christian Church and Its Privileges.

with it. No relationship among people or with people (nationality, natural descent, external communion with members of the Church, etc.) makes a member of the Christian Church (Gal. 3:28: od évt Tovdaioc...

5. Membership in the Kingdom of Glory.

Christian Church on earth through faith in the Gospel and were preserved in this membership by faith through the power of God (1 Peter 1:5) will be transferred to the kingdom of eternal glory at the Last Day....

1. Saving faith has only the Gospel as its object.

The object of faith, in so far as it brings into possession the forgiveness of sins, is only the Gospel, not also the Law or the whole of the Holy Scriptures. It explicitly states Gal. 3:12: 6 5& vOpLoc obK...

2. Saving Faith Is Fiducia Cordis.

Because faith, in so far as it makes us saved, has as its object only the Gospel, which promises forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake, faith is by its very nature a (formal) trust of the heart (fiducia...

3. Saving Faith Is Fides Specialis.

Because saving faith has the gospel of the forgiveness of sins as its object, it is always fides specialis, individual faith or personal faith, that is, a person is a believer when he does not merely believe...

4. Saving Faith Is Fides Actualis.

Because faith, inasmuch as it brings into possession the promise of forgiveness, has as its object the promise of the Gospel, it is always fides actualis, that is, the act of seizing, actus apprehendi, not...

5. Faith Is Merely Instrumental in Justification and Salvation.

salvation. Because faith, in so far as it justifies and makes saved, has the gospel as its object, it is always to be understood as justifying and making saved only instrumental, that is, merely as a means of...

6. Saving Faith Is Fides Directa.

The faith that seizes the promise of grace can exist without man being aware that he believes. The Christian believes, fide actuali, no matter whether he is awake or asleep, man or child.!73° Yes, faith is...

7. Saving Faith Includes the Certainty of Grace and the Testimony of the Holy Spirit.

the Holy Spirit. In the summarizing presentation it has already been shown that faith is certain of its cause, namely the grace of God, and that it is divinely certain, because the grace of God is the object...

8. Saving Faith Trusts the Grace Offered in the Gospel.

Because the justifying faith has the gospel as its object, it is at the same time said that it is always faith in the forgiveness of sins pronounced in the word of promise. We are dealing with a very crude...

1. The Nature of Conversion.

in Christ is graciously disposed toward men, and because he proclaims see F. Pieper, ""Grundbekenntnis", pp. 46 ff., [English 1930 ed. - pp. 50 ff.] the section: "The Augsburg Confession in danger and saved...

2. The Efficient Cause of Conversion.

conversionis). There are logically three different answers to the question of who is effective in conversion, and there are in fact three possible answers. has done, and keeps all my judgments, and does right...

3. The Means Through Which God Effects Conversion.

conversio a Deo efficitur). If conversion consists in a person believing in the forgiveness of sins offered in the Gospel, the means of conversion is the Gospel. The same Gospel, which according to its content...

4. The Inner Motions of Conversion.

conversio absolvitur). If conversion is effected through the Gospel with the help of the law, then this already describes the inner processes under which conversion takes place. These are a. the terrors of...

5. Conversion Is Instantaneous.

Since conversion takes place by believing in God who is gracious through Christ, it always happens at the moment when, among the terrores conscientiae, a spark of faith is kindled in the heart or a desire for...

6. Man Can Prevent His Conversion.

resistibilis est). Although God alone, and with almighty power (Eph. 1:19; 2 Cor. 4:6), works to bring about conversion, man can prevent his conversion, Matt. 23:37: od« NOEAjoats, Acts 7:51: to avebdpatt TO...

7. Transitive and Intransitive Conversion.

conversio transitiva (God converts man) and conversio intransitiva (man converts), it must be noted that these are not two processes that are different in fact and time, but one and the same process that is...

8. Continued Conversion.

speak of a continued conversion, that is, a conversion that extends throughout the life of those who have already become believers. When the disciples of Jesus, in carnal pride, discussed the question which of...

9. Repeated Conversion.

teaches that true converts can fall from the state of conversion, or what is the same: believers can lose faith. Scripture teaches this in Word °° and example. 17°) Cf. the section "Synonym of conversion".

Synergistic Arguments Against Divine Monergism.

given, he determines himself for grace, behaves rightly toward makes conversion "effectively possible", man makes conversion only a fact. See Luthardt, Dogmatik, p. 274, 186; Glaubenslehre, p. 441 ff....

The Real Reasons for Combating God's Sole Efficacy in Conversion.

of communicated powers of grace not only expressly teach that conversion and salvation do not depend solely on God's grace,'*° but also declare the teaching of sola gratia to be a fatal error. 95 An explicit...

1. The Harmfulness of Synergism.

grace to men who are less guilty or behave better than others—there is no such gospel. According to the Gospel revealed in the Scriptures, God's grace returns to those who are broken-hearted, not to those who,...

2. Synergism Prevents Conversion and Undermines Faith.

for those who have already believed through the sola gratia, as much as it is in him, he throws himself out of the faith. It does not allow conversion to take place because it prevents man from despairing...

3. Synergism Contradicts Scripture, Luther, and the Lutheran Confession.

contradictions. Although it springs from rationalism, its objections to the sole efficacy of God in the conversion of mere paralogisms are gross violations of logic, as we have seen when examining the...

1. Regeneration.

establishment of a new, namely spiritual, life. But that this rebirth consists in the kindling of faith in Christ is stated in 1 John 5:1: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God (é« tod...

2. Vivification or Resurrection.

expressions denote conceptually the transfer from spiritual death to spiritual life. But that the raising to life or resuscitation takes place through faith in the Gospel is stated in scriptures as Col. 2:12:...

3. Illumination.

transfer of man, who is by nature in spiritual darkness (Eph. 5:8: nte yap mote oK0toc [Ye were sometimes darkness]) into the state of spiritual light (1. c.: viv d€ ac év Kvpio [But now are ye light in the...

4. Calling.

double sense. First of all, it means the mere proclamation of the Gospel and the presentation of the forgiveness of sins and the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about faith. In this sense all people who...

5. Repentance.

Formula of Concord (634, 7 [Trigl. 953, F. C., Sol. Decl., V, 7]) recalls, has an narrower and a wider meaning in Scripture. It denotes a. contrition (contritio), that is, the knowledge of sins brought about...

2. The Polemics of Scripture Against the Interference of Works in Justification.

justification. Not only does Scripture teach that justification is completely independent of works, but it also opposes in abundant and sharp polemics the putting of works into justification before God. It...

3. The Postulates of Justification by Faith Without Works.

It was already explained in more detail in the doctrine of the reconciling work of Christ that justification by faith or subjective justification presupposes the so-called objective justification or...

4. The Central Position of the Doctrine of Justification.

There are numerous passages in which the Lutheran confessional writings, Luther and Lutheran teachers call the article of justification a summarium of all Christian doctrine or declare it to be the main...

5. The Actual Agreement of All Christians in the Article of Justification.

In the Christian church, as Luther often reminds us, there are strong and weak, wise and foolish. Not all Christians have reached the same degree of knowledge of Christian doctrine. ' It has been pointed out...

6. The Harmfulness of Erring in the Doctrine of Justification.

. Whoever is wrong in his heart about the doctrine of justification in general, that is, who trusts before God in his own morality, works, etc., in order to obtain the forgiveness of sins, is always so wrong...

7. The Terminology Employed in Presenting the Doctrine of Justification.

justification. For the correct view of the Christian Doctrine of Justification the following ecclesiastical terminology is used: a. Justification happens "by grace, for Christ's sake, through faith". Formula...

8. Justification by Works.

Scripture also teaches a justification from works. This is the justification that happens and is to happen before men. The justification before God (evam.ov Sov) happens in every case (1400 oGp&) without the...

Justification by Faith and Justification by Works Distinguished.

what Luther says about the fides abstracta seu absoluta and the fides concreta, composita seu incarnata, '

9. The Doctrine of Justification and the Distinction Between Law and Gospel.

The Christian doctrine of justification coincides factually with the separation of Law and Gospel. In Christian doctrine, we teach about justification only when we teach it only from the Gospel and exclude the...