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Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 1
...s document, in which we intend to explain the articles which have been drawn into controversy among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession (from which the Sacramentarians soon in the beginning, when the Confession was first composed and presented to the Emperor at Augsburg in 1530, entirely withdrew and separated, and presented their...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 2
moreover, since this [comprehensive form of doctrine] should not be based on private writings, but on such books as have been composed, approved, and received in the name of the churches which pledge themselves to one doctrine and religion, we have declared to one another with heart and mouth that we will not make or receive a separate or...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 26
Reason and free will are able to a certain extent to live an outwardly decent life; but to be born anew, and to obtain inwardly another heart, mind, and disposition, this only the Holy Ghost effects. He opens the understanding and heart to understand the Scriptures and to give heed to the Word, as it is written Luke 24:45: Then opened He...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 6
4. In the fourth place, as regards the proper and true sense of the oft-quoted Augsburg Confession, an extensive Apology was composed and published in print in 1531, after the presentation of the Confession, in order that we might explain ourselves at greater length and guard against the [slanders of the] Papists, and that condemned error...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 7
5. In the fifth place, we also confess the Articles composed, approved, and received at Smalcald in the large assembly of theologians, in the year 1537, as they were first framed and printed in order to be delivered in the council at Mantua, or wherever it would be held, in the name of the Estates, Electors, and Princes, as an explanation...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 61
While we, then, invent nothing new of ourselves, but receive and repeat the explanations which the ancient orthodox Church has given hereof from the good foundation of Holy Scripture, namely, that this divine power, life, might, majesty, and glory was given to the assumed human nature in Christ, not in such a way as the Father from eterni...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 36
...this is the meaning of the Apostle Paul when in this article he urges so diligently and zealously the particulas exclusivas, that is, the words by which works are excluded from the article of justification: absque operibus, sine lege, gratis, non ex operibus, that is, by grace, without merit, without works, not of works. These exclusivae...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 5
...Dr. Luther, and since this doctrine has been collected from, and according to, God’s Word into the articles and chapters of the Augsburg Confession against the corruptions of the Papacy and also of other sects, we confess also the First, Unaltered Augsburg Confession as our symbol for this time, not because it was composed by our theolog...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 12
So also, as before mentioned, they were all written and sent forth before the divisions among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession arose; therefore, since they are held to be impartial, and neither can nor should be rejected by either part of those who have entered into controversy, and no one who without guile is an adherent of the...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 41
Now, since Dr. Luther is to be regarded as the most distinguished teacher of the churches which confess the Augsburg Confession, whose entire doctrine as to sum and substance is comprised in the articles of the frequently mentioned Augsburg Confession, and was presented to the Emperor Charles V, the proper meaning and sense of the oft-men...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 22
...so that it is impossible to be saved without good works. For they are directly contrary to the doctrine de particulis exclusivis in articulo iustificationis et salvationis (concerning the exclusive particles in the article of justification and salvation), that is, they conflict with the words by which St. Paul has entirely excluded our wo...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 85
...fore his death, he says as follows: According to the other, the temporal, human birth, also the eternal power of God has been given Him; however, in time, and not from eternity. For the humanity of Christ has not been from eternity, like the divinity; but, as we reckon and write, Jesus, the Son of Mary, is 1543 years old this year. But fr...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 4
..., however, which have occurred in our time, we regard as the unanimous consensus and declaration of our Christian faith and confession, especially against the Papacy and its false worship, idolatry, superstition, and against other sects, as the symbol of our time, the First, Unaltered Augsburg Confession, delivered to the Emperor Charles...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 29
In Article XX the Confession says as follows: Because through faith the Holy Ghost is given, the heart thus becomes fit for doing good works. For before, because it is without the Holy Ghost, it is too weak, and, besides, is in the devil’s power, who drives poor human nature into many sins. [Without Christ, without faith, and without the...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 3
...re doctrine of the Holy Gospel and had their churches reformed in a Christian manner according to God’s Word, had a Christian Confession prepared from God’s Word at the great Diet of Augsburg in the year 1530 and delivered it to the Emperor Charles V. In this they clearly and plainly made their Christian confession as to what was being he...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 19
3. Thirdly, since within thirty years some divisions arose among some theologians of the Augsburg Confession on account of the Interim and otherwise, it has been our purpose to state and declare plainly [categorically], purely, and clearly our faith and confession concerning each and every one of these in thesis and antithesis, i. e., the...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 73
...udge, lastly, also the questions upon which, for quite a number of years, there has been controversy in the churches of the Augsburg Confession (An homo ante, in, post conversionem Spiritui Sancto repugnet, vel pure passive se habeat; an homo convertatur ut truncus; an Spiritus Sanctus detur repugnantibus, et an conversio hominis fiat per...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 12
Afterwards, when those who at Augsburg delivered their own Confession concerning this article had allied themselves with the Confession of our churches [seemed to be willing to approve the Confession of our churches], the following Formula Concordiae, that is, articles of Christian agreement, between the Saxon theologians and those of Upp...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 43
...gain, shortly afterwards: If the alloeosis is to stand as Zwingli teaches it, then Christ will have to be two persons, one divine and one human, because Zwingli applies the passages concerning suffering to the human nature alone, and diverts them entirely from the divinity. For if the works be parted and separated, the person must also be...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 1
Concerning this article no public dissension has occurred among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession. But since it is a consolatory article, if treated properly, and lest offensive disputations concerning the same be instituted in the future, it is also explained in this writing. Affirmative Theses. The Pure and True Doctrine concer...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 22
...of the controverted articles, which for a time have been debated and taught controversially among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession. Hence every simple Christian, according to the guidance of God’s Word and his simple Catechism, can perceive what is right or wrong, since not only the pure doctrine has been stated, but also the er...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 45
Therefore it is teaching incorrectly to assert that unregenerate man has still so much power as to desire to receive the Gospel and to be comforted by it, and that thus the natural human will cooperates somewhat [in a manner] in conversion. For such an erroneous opinion is contrary to the holy, divine Scripture, the Christian Augsburg Con...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 43
...y says, concerning the works of those who have already been justified through Christ, reconciled with God, and obtained forgiveness of sins through Christ. But if the question is, whereby and whence faith has this, and what appertains to this that it justifies and saves, it is false and incorrect to say: Fidem non posse iustificare sine o...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 34
From these explanations, and especially from that of Dr. Luther as the leading teacher of the Augsburg Confession, every intelligent man who loves truth and peace, can undoubtedly perceive what has always been the proper meaning and understanding of the Augsburg Confession in regard to this article.
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 3
2. And because directly after the times of the apostles, and even while they were still living, false teachers and heretics arose, and symbols, i. e., brief, succinct [categorical] confessions, were composed against them in the early Church, which were regarded as the unanimous, universal Christian faith and confession of the orthodox and...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 18
By this our doctrine, faith, and confession the person of Christ is not divided, as it was by Nestorius, who denied the communicatio idiomatum, that is, the true communion of the properties of both natures in Christ, and thus divided the person, as Luther has explained in his book Concerning Councils. Neither are the natures together with...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 39
20. When it is taught, and the passage Matt. 28:18: All power is given unto Me, etc., is thus interpreted and blasphemously perverted, namely, that all power in heaven and on earth was restored, that is, delivered again to Christ according to the divine nature, at the resurrection and His ascension to heaven, as though He had also accordi...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 16
Now, although the aforesaid writings afford the Christian reader, who delights in and has a love for the divine truth, clear and correct information concerning each and every controverted article of our Christian religion, as to what he should regard and receive as right and true according to God’s Word of the Prophetic and Apostolic Scri...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 20
...umerated above, and he will find out exactly that what was confessed in the beginning concerning each article in the comprehensive summary of our religion and faith, and what was afterward restated at various times, and is repeated by us in this document, is in no way contradictory, but the simple, immutable, permanent truth, and that we,...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 40
Since now, in the sight of God and of all Christendom [the entire Church of Christ], we wish to testify to those now living and those who shall come after us that this declaration herewith presented concerning all the controverted articles aforementioned and explained, and no other, is our faith, doctrine, and confession, in which we are...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 4
To this Christian [pious] Augsburg Confession, so thoroughly grounded in God’s Word, we herewith pledge ourselves again [publicly and solemnly] from our inmost hearts; we abide by its simple, clear, and unadulterated meaning as the words convey it, and regard the said Confession as a pure Christian symbol, with which at the present time t...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 8
...echisms of Dr. Luther, as they were written by him and incorporated in his works, because they have been unanimously approved and received by all churches adhering to the Augsburg Confession, and have been publicly used in churches, schools, and in [private] houses, and, moreover, because the Christian doctrine from God’s Word is comprise...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 9
Over against this it is taught in the Augsburg Confession from God’s Word concerning the Lord’s Supper: That the true body and blood of Christ are truly present in the Holy Supper under the form of bread and wine, and are there dispensed and received; and the contrary doctrine is rejected (namely, that of the Sacramentarians, who presente...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 51
...fully trained], testify forcefully that, for the reason and because of the fact that it has been personally united with the divine nature in Christ, the human nature in Christ, when it was glorified and exalted to the right hand of the majesty and power of God, after the form of a servant and humiliation had been laid aside, did receive,...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 57
1. First, there is a unanimously received rule of the entire ancient orthodox Church that what Holy Scripture testifies that Christ received in time He received not according to the divine nature (according to which He has everything from eternity), but the person has received it in time ratione et respectu humanae naturae, that is, as re...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 62
...r, this communication or impartation has not occurred through an essential or natural infusion of the properties of the divine nature into the human, so that the humanity of Christ would have these by itself and apart from the divine essence, or as though the human nature in Christ had thereby [by this communication] entirely laid aside i...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 18
However, that this has always and everywhere been the faith and confession, concerning such indifferent matters, of the chief teachers of the Augsburg Confession, into whose footsteps we have entered, and in whose Confession we intend by God’s grace to persevere, is shown [most clearly] by the following testimonies drawn from the Smalcald...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 1
Although among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession there has not occurred as yet any public dissension whatever concerning the eternal election of the children of God that has caused offense, and has become wide-spread, yet since this article has been brought into very painful controversy in other places, and even among our theolog...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 6
...ven our adversaries themselves must confess that in all this we abide by the true, simple, natural, and proper sense of the Augsburg Confession, in which we desire, moreover, by God’s grace, to persevere constantly until our end; and so far as it depends on our service, we will not connive at or be silent, lest anything contrary to the sa...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 1
...ough the Zwinglian teachers are not to be reckoned among the theologians who affiliate with [acknowledge and profess] the Augsburg Confession, as they separated from them at the very time when this Confession was presented, nevertheless, since they are intruding themselves (into their assembly], and are attempting, under the name of this...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 6
Now, although the Christian doctrine of this Confession has in great part remained unchallenged (save what has been done by the Papists), yet it cannot be denied that some theologians have departed from some great [principal] and important articles of the said Confession, and either have not attained to their true meaning, or at any rate...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 27
...obscured and the Gospel is again turned into a doctrine of the Law, as has occurred in the Papacy, and thus Christians are deprived of the true comfort which they have in the Gospel against the terrors of the Law, and the door is again opened in the Church of God to the Papacy, therefore the true and proper distinction between the Law and...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 33
Dr. Luther, who, above others, certainly understood the true and proper meaning of the Augsburg Confession, and who constantly remained steadfast thereto till his end, and defended it, shortly before his death repeated his faith concerning this article with great zeal in his last Confession, where he writes thus: I rate as one concoction,...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 3
...rld our churches and their teachers, claiming that not two preachers are found who agree in each and every article of the Augsburg Confession, but that they are rent asunder and separated from one another to such an extent that they themselves no longer know what is the Augsburg Confession and its proper [true, genuine, and germane] sense...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 1
It has also been disputed among some theologians who have subscribed to the Augsburg Confession concerning this article: When and in what manner the Lord Christ, according to our simple Christian faith, descended to hell: whether this was done before or after His death; also, whether it occurred according to the soul alone, or according t...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 39
...and follows from them, we reject and condemn as wrong, false, heretical, and contrary to the Word of God, the three Creeds, the Augsburg, Confession and Apology, the Smalcald Articles, and the Catechisms of Luther. Of these articles all godly Christians should and ought to beware, as much as the welfare and salvation of their souls is dea...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 17
Secondly, God’s Word testifies that the intellect, heart, and will of the natural, unregenerate man in divine things are not only turned entirely away from God, but also turned and perverted against God to every evil; also, that he is not only weak, incapable, unfit, and dead to good, but also is so lamentably perverted, infected, and cor...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 4
In opposition to both these parties it has been unanimously taught by the other teachers of the Augsburg Confession that Christ is our righteousness not according to His divine nature alone, nor according to His human nature alone, but according to both natures; for He has redeemed, justified, and saved us from our sins as God and man, th...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 25
...of justification, in and to which belong and are necessary only the grace of God, the merit of Christ, and faith, which receives this in the promise of the Gospel, whereby the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, whence we receive and have forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, sonship, and heirship of eternal life.
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 56
For even though Christ had been conceived and born without sin by the Holy Ghost, and had fulfilled all righteousness in His human nature alone, and yet had not been true and eternal God, this obedience and suffering of His human nature could not be imputed to us for righteousness. As also, if the Son of God had not become man, the divine...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 10
For, as Dr. Luther writes in the Preface to St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans: Thus faith is a divine work in us, that changes us and regenerates us of God, and puts to death the old Adam, makes us entirely different men in heart, spirit, mind, and all powers, and brings with it [confers] the Holy Ghost. Oh, it is a living, busy, active, p...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 32
Against this pernicious delusion the following true, immutable, divine threats and severe punishments and admonitions should be often repeated and impressed upon Christians who are justified by faith: 1 Cor. 6:9: Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, etc., shall inherit the kingdom of God. Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 34
...d salvation, and then resigns its office to the works as though thereafter they had to sustain faith, the righteousness received, and salvation; but in order that the promise, not only of receiving, but also of retaining righteousness and salvation, may be firm and sure to us, St. Paul, Rom. 5:2, ascribes to faith not only the entrance to...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 5
We intend also, by the grace of the Almighty, faithfully to abide until our end by [the doctrine of] this Christian Confession, mentioned several times, as it was delivered in the year 1530 to the Emperor Charles V; and it is our purpose, neither in this nor in any other writing, to recede in the least from that oft-cited Confession, nor...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 2
Although some Sacramentarians strive to employ words that come as close as possible to the Augsburg Confession and the form and mode of speech in its [our] churches, and confess that in the Holy Supper the body of Christ is truly received by believers, still, when we insist that they state their meaning properly, sincerely, and clearly, t...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 6
The consequence was that many great men were deceived by these fine, plausible words, when they alleged and boasted that they were of no other opinion than that the Lord Christ is present in His [Holy] Supper truly, essentially, and as one alive; but they understand this according to His divine nature alone, and not of His body and blood,...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 7
...nd the words of the Supper: Eat, this is My body, not properly, as they read, according to the letter, but figurate, as figurative expressions, so that eating the body of Christ means nothing else than believing, and body is equivalent to symbol, that is, a sign or figure of the body of Christ, which is not in the Supper on earth, but onl...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 16
...that it does not depend upon the worthiness or unworthiness of the minister who offers the Sacrament, or of the one who receives it. Therefore, as St. Paul says, that even the unworthy partake of the Sacrament, they hold that also to the unworthy the body and blood of Christ are truly offered, and the unworthy truly receive them, if [whe...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 62
...(wherein Christ, true God and man, is presented to us, together with all benefits which He has purchased for us by His flesh given into death for us, and by His blood shed for us, namely, God’s grace, the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, and eternal life), to receive it with faith and appropriate it to ourselves, and in all troubles an...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 71
...and confess such an infusion of the majesty of God and of all its properties into the human nature of Christ by which the divine nature is weakened [by which anything of the divine nature departs], or anything of its own is surrendered to another that it does not retain for itself, or that the human nature in its substance and essence sh...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 82
For here you must stand [confess] and say: Wherever Christ according to the divinity is, there He is a natural, divine person, and He is there also naturally and personally, as His conception in His mother’s womb well shows. For if He were to be God’s son, He must, naturally and personally be in His mother’s womb and become man. Now, if H...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 29
...d, that they may be enlightened, converted, and saved. For the Word, whereby we are called, is a ministration of the Spirit, that gives the Spirit, or whereby the Spirit is given, 2 Cor. 3:8, and a power of God unto salvation, Rom. 1:16. And since the Holy Ghost wishes to be efficacious through the Word, and to strengthen and give power a...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 72
...it to us according to His promise, as He has said, Luke 11:11ff : If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, h...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 10
...trine concerning the righteousness of faith before God it is necessary to urge with special diligence the particulae exclusivae, that is, the exclusive particles, i. e., the following words of the holy Apostle Paul, by which the merit of Christ is entirely separated from our works, and the honor given to Christ alone, when the holy Apostl...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 2
The chief question, however, has been, whether, in time of persecution and in case of confession, even if the enemies of the Gospel have not reached an agreement with us in doctrine, some abrogated ceremonies, which in themselves are matters of indifference and are neither commanded nor forbidden by God, may nevertheless, upon the pressur...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 15
14. By this brief explanation of the eternal election of God His glory is entirely and fully given to God, that out of pure mercy alone, without all merit of ours, He saves us according to the purpose of His will; besides, also, no cause is given any one for despondency or a vulgar, wild life [no opportunity is afforded either for those m...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 1
...] simply to enumerate the mere articles wherein they [the heretics of our time] err and teach contrary to our Christian faith and confession to which we have often referred.
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 24
But here very good attention must be given with especial diligence, if the article of justification is to remain pure, lest that which precedes faith, and that which follows after it, be mingled together or inserted into the article of justification as necessary and belonging to it, because it is not one or the same thing to speak of conv...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 30
In order, therefore, that troubled hearts may have a firm, sure consolation, also, that due honor be given to the merit of Christ and the grace of God, the Scriptures teach that the righteousness of faith before God consists alone in the gracious [gratuitous] reconciliation or the forgiveness of sins, which is presented to us out of pure...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 51
7. Item, applicationem promissionis gratiae fieri et fide cordis et confessione oris ac reliquis virtutibus (that is, also that the application of the promise of grace occurs both by faith of the heart and confession of the mouth, and by other virtues). That is: Faith makes righteous for this reason alone, that righteousness is begun in u...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 24
...edness is only of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Rom. 4:6. Likewise, in the Sixth Article of the Augsburg Confession it is written that we are saved without works, by faith alone. Thus Dr. Luther, too, has rejected and condemned these propositions:
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 33
...d of the article of justification, the Apology shows by an excellent model, when in Article XX, on the passage 2 Pet. 1:10: Give diligence to make your calling and election sure, it says as follows: Peter teaches why good works should be done, namely, that we may make our calling sure, that is, that we may not fall from our calling if we...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 11
For that we embodied the above-mentioned writing, namely, the Augsburg Confession, Apology, Smalcald Articles, Luther’s Large and Small Catechisms, in the oft-mentioned Sum of our Christian doctrine, was done for the reason that these have always and everywhere been regarded as the common, unanimously accepted meaning of our churches, and...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 22
Therefore every penitent sinner ought to believe, that is, place his confidence in the Lord Christ alone, that He was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification, Rom. 4:25, that He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, 2 Cor. 5:21, who of God is made unto us...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 38
...union, by which they wish to indicate that, although they also employ the formas: in pane, sub pane, cum pane, that is, these distinctive modes of speech: in the bread, under the bread, with the bread, yet they have received the words of Christ properly and as they read, and have understood the proposition, that is, the words of Christ’s...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 38
On this account, as the Augsburg Confession in Art. 11 says, we also retain private absolution, and teach that it is God’s command that we believe such absolution, and should regard it as sure that, when we believe the word of absolution, we are as truly reconciled to God as though we had heard a voice from heaven, as the Apology explains...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Solid Declaration | paragraph 4
we have not made a joint confession only in brief words or names, but wished to make a pure, clear, distinct declaration concerning all the disputed articles which have been discussed and controverted only among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession,
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 11
...hat one [a godly man] must not have anything to do with the ministers of the Church who preach the Gospel according to the Augsburg Confession, and rebuke the sermons and errors of the Anabaptists; also that he is neither to serve nor in any way to labor for them, but to flee from and shun them as perverters of God’s Word. Articles that C...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 30
...upon and follow from them, we reject and condemn as wrong, false, heretical, contrary to the Word of God, the three Creeds, the Augsburg Confession and Apology, the Smalcald Articles, and Luther’s Catechisms, against which all godly Christians of both high and low station are to be on their guard as they love the welfare and salvation of...
Open source textFormula of Concord, Epitome | paragraph 28
That Christ is not true, essential, natural God, of one eternal, divine essence with God the Father and the Holy Ghost, but is only adorned with divine majesty inferior to and alongside of God the Father [is so adorned with divine majesty, with the Father, that He is inferior to the Father].
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