4. The Central Position of the Doctrine of Justification.

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 article by which Christian doctrine and church stand and fall (articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae). At the end of this section we offer some testimonies to this. This centrality of the doctrine of justification was not conceived by Lutheran teachers, but is taught in Scripture itself, e.g., in the words 1 Cor. 2:2: "I did not think that I knew anything among you without Jesus Christ, the Crucified. We know that Paul also taught the law in a very powerful way. He proved extensively that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin (Rom. 3:9) and that all the world owes God (Rom. 3:19). Paul also taught_sanctification and good works in great detail and with great earnest. He wants "those who have believed in God to devote themselves to good works" (kaA@v épy@v mpootacbaa), "to be zealots in good works". '°°) In general Paul did not act in any way that he did not proclaim the counsel of God to all, tooov thv BovAyy tov Veoi (Acts 20, 26). of exaltation," p. 400 ff. Christ is actually the person who in each concrete case acts with us in the Word, in Baptism, in the Lord's Supper, that is, justifies us.

of sins should be assured and confirm the work of the key, that is, abandon faith and deny Christ" (in his work of reconciliation). He does not want to forgive and give you sin for your own sake, but for his own sake, by grace through the key. For the whole passage, cf. the longer remarks of Sz. L. XII, 2437 ff.; V, 1172 f.; I, 1691 ff.; XTX, 943-949. Especially about the fact that the enthusiasts, by setting aside the means of grace, again become "monks and saints of works", mixing justification and sanctification, Law and Gospel: St. L. IX, 413 f.; VU, 2346 f.; IX, 197 f.

When the apostle assures us, nevertheless, that he preached only Christ, the Crucified One, he is saying that he based all other teachings on this basic truth, that man is saved without merit through faith in Christ Crucified. The Christian doctrine of justification already occupies this central position in the Qld Testament. All prophets bear witness to Christ, not as the best "teacher of morality" or of a higher morality, but in this particular sense, "that by his name", that is, by what he has done for people, '***) "all who believe in him shall receive forgiveness of sins" (Acts 10:43). Nor does the teaching of righteousness through faith in the crucified Christ occupy the central place in only the Apostle Paul, as some modern theologians will admit. The same is also the case "in the teaching of Jesus". If, according to the teaching of Jesus, the Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom (Avtpov) for many and to shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins,'*>) then the "Pauline doctrine of justification" has already been placed in the center and all room has been taken away from the righteousness and salvation out of the "morality of man". According to Scripture, all other teachings are grouped around the doctrine of justification in this way: There is a divine law given to man, which obligates all men (Gal. 3:12). But no man is justified before God by the law (Gal. 2:16), because no man keeps the law (Rom. 3:23). People do not receive justification through their own works, but rather a curse (Gal. 3:10). But divine love, mercy, etc. is not satisfied with this sad result. God is a great philanthropist: 7 oiAavOparia éxepavy Tov o@THpOs NOV OEdv, Tit. 3:4. God loved the world, and to such an extraordinary degree (ovta) that he gave it his Son, not only as a teacher of virtue, but in

105, 98: Nomen Christi tantum fide apprehenditur. Igitur fiducia nominis Christi, non fiducia nostrorum operum, salvamur. Nomen enim significat causam, quae allegatura, propter quam contingit salus. Et allegare nomen Christi est confidere nomine Christi, tanquam causa seu pretio, propter quod salvamur. 102, 83: Petrus allegat consensum omnium prophetarum. Hoc est vere allegare ecclesiae auctoritatem. [Google] [Trigl 150, IV [II], 98; 145, IV [Il], 83]

the very specific function that he—the incarnate Son of God—was to fulfill the law and let life pass in the place of men, and all this for the purpose that through the Son of God mankind might be justified in suffering and doing without works of his own.!*3° Thus, according to the Scriptures, the whole Christology (L. de persona et de officio Christi) is merely the foundation for the doctrine of justification. And as for the doctrine of sanctification and good works, which is so broad and varied, Scripture very diligently states that no thought of sanctification and good works can arise except as a consequence and effect of justification without works: Of the Christian Church, Scripture says that she is no more and no less than the community of those who believe the promise, that is, the forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake, '#°8) and the Christian preaching office is 4 SiaKxovia tis SuKatocbvns (2 Cor. 3:9), the ministry that teaches righteousness from the Gospel without the works of the law. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are means of grace, "signs and testimonies of the [gracious] divine will toward us" (A. C.. XIII) as means of justification. '4°) The Law and the Gospel are, of course, both God's Word, and it is forbidden to change either of them. '* But the law does not come to stand beside the gospel as an independent entity within the order of salvation, but the law with its revelation of wrath stands propter evangelium in Scripture, as Scripture testifies in many ways. '4 It is therefore so: If the Christian doctrine is presented purely from the Scriptures, without the admixture of foreign principles, one recognizes a posteriori that it does not consist of incoherent details, but forms a firmly established unity, whereby the justification by faith without the law is so central to works that all other doctrines relate to it partly as antecedens and partly as consequent. From the doctrine of justification, therefore, the whole Christian doctrine is easily understood, whereas without the understanding of this doctrine

Christianity cannot be distinguished from heathenism. This point should be further elaborated under the section: "Harmfulness of error in the doctrine of justification." About the doctrine of justification as the main article of Christian doctrine and the central position of this doctrine, the Smalcald Articles (300, 5 [Trigl. 461, 5]) state: "From this article nothing can be moved or yielded to, it falls heaven and earth, or what will not remain. For there is no other name given to men by which we can be saved, says Peter Act. 4:12. And by his wounds we are healed, Isaiah 53:3. and on this article is written everything we teach and live against the Pope, devil and world. Therefore we must be certain of it and not doubt it, otherwise all is lost, and the Pope and the devil and all against us retains victory and justice. In the introduction to the 4th. Article of Apology (86, 1-4 [Zrig/. 119, IV [II], 1—4]) states "Such a quarrel" (between us and the Romans, that no one can obtain forgiveness of sins except by faith in Christ) "is above the highest and noblest article of all Christian doctrine, so that there is a great deal of interest in this article, which is also too clear, and alone > without which article no poor conscience can have a right and constant consolation or recognize the riches of Christ's grace." The relationship of the article of justification to the Church is described by the well-known words of Luther: Hie locus caput et angularis lapis est, qui solus ecclesiam Dei gignit, nutrit, aedificat, servat, defendit, ac sine eo ecclesia Dei non potest una hora subsistere (This article is the head and cornerstone of the Church, which alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and protects the Church; without it the Church of God cannot subsist one hour]. Applying to the teachers of the Church, Luther adds: Neque quisquam recte docere potest in ecclesia nec ulli adversario feliciter resistere, qui hunc locum non tenuerit [Neither can any one teach rightly in the church, nor successfully resist any adversary, who does not hold this position. ]. (Opp. v. 3. VII, 512. St. L. XIV, 168.) Luther speaks in great detail about the central position of the doctrine of justification in Joh. 16:3 (St. L. VUI, 627 ff.), further at the end of his interpretation of the 117th Psalm (V, 1170). Chemnitz points out in the preface to De iustificatione (Loci 1599, I, 545 sqq.) that Luther's concern that after his death the doctrine of justification would be obscured was soon fulfilled. In this context Chemnitz says about the doctrine of justification: Hic unicus locus praecipue discernit ecclesiam a reliquis omnibus gentibus et superstitionibus.... Imo hic locus est tanquam arx et Ppraecipuum propugnaculum totius doctrinae et religionis Christianae, quo vel obscurato vel adulterato vel subverso impossibile est puritatem doctrinae in aliis locis retinere. Salvo autem hoc loco corruunt per se omnes idolomaniae, superstitiones et quidquid est corruptelarum in omnibus fere aliis locis. [Google] Kromayer: Quidquid de imagine Dei, peccato, libero vel potius servo arbitrio, paucis, de miseria nostra et vicissim de remedio Christi persona et officio, de poenitentia, de fide, scire nos convenit, ad hunc articulum, quo coram Deo iustificamur et salvamur, fertur. [Google] (Theol. pos.-pol. I, 605; in Baier III, 245.) The same: Quodsiarticuli fidei dividantur in fundamentales, circumfundamentales et praeter fundamentales, hic omnium fundamentalissimus est, cuius ignorantia cum iactura salutis est coniuncta. Quodsi ad ordinem analyticum habetur respectus, hic articulus finem theologiae internum, per quem finem externum, salutem aeternam, obtinemus, constituit. [Google] (Theol. pos.-pol. [, 606; in Baier III, 246.)