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Preface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 16
...riting of ours, either to introduce, furnish a cover for, and establish any false doctrine, or in the least even to recede from the Confession presented in the year 1530 at Augsburg, but rather, as many of us as participated in the transactions at Naumburg wholly reserved it to ourselves, and promised besides that if, in the course of tim...
Open source textPreface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 8
But, not without agitation of mind, we were informed that this declaration of ours and that repetition of a godly confession had too little weight with our adversaries, and that neither we nor our churches were delivered from the most grievous slanders, arising from prejudice, which they had circulated against us among the people; also, t...
Open source textPreface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 21
...o other doctrine be proclaimed and accurately set forth than that which is founded upon the Word of God, and contained in the Augsburg Confession and the Apology, (and that, too, when understood properly in its genuine sense,) and that opinions conflicting with these be not admitted; and indeed, with this design, this formula of agreement...
Open source textPreface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 15
Accordingly, when they perceived that the explanation of the controverted articles, indeed, agreed especially with the Word of God, and then with the Augsburg Confession, they received this Book of Concord with a very ready mind and an expression of their gratitude towards God, as expressing the godly and genuine meaning of the Augsburg C...
Open source textPreface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 7
...odly and excellent memory, together with some of us, assembled at Naumburg in Thuringia. On that occasion we took in hand the Augsburg Confession, offered to the Emperor Charles V in the great assembly of the Empire at Augsburg in the year 1530, and mentioned by us several times previously, and to that godly confession, built upon solid t...
Open source textPreface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 17
Moreover, as to the second edition of the Augsburg Confession, of which mention is made also in the transactions at Naumburg, we notice, what is also known to all, that, under the pretext of the words of this latter edition, some have wanted to cover and conceal corruptions with respect to the Lord’s Supper and other errors, and by means...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 43
...y, necessary to know and to teach that when holy men, still having and feeling original sin, also daily repenting of and striving with it, happen to fall into manifest sins, as David into adultery, murder, and blasphemy, that then faith and the Holy Ghost has departed from them [they cast out faith and the Holy Ghost]. For the Holy Ghost...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 34
Also, chap. 19: The Flesh has communion with the operating divinity of the Word, because the divine operations are executed as through the organ of the body, and because He that works both in a divine and human fashion is one. For it is necessary to know that just as His holy mind performs also His natural operations, etc., it participate...
Open source textSmalcald Articles
THE FIRST PART Treats of the Sublime Articles Concerning the Divine Majesty, as: I. That Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three distinct persons in one divine essence and nature, are one God, who has created heaven and earth. II. That the Father is begotten of no one; the Son of the Father; the Holy Ghost proceeds from Father and Son. III. Th...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 42
...He is said to be exalted on account of the flesh. For since it is His body, He Himself is properly said as man to be exalted and to receive something with respect to His body, according to humanity, because the body receives those things which the Word always possessed according to His own deity and perfection from the Father. He says, t...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 98
The same, cap. 19: “The flesh has communion with the operating divinity of the Word, because the divine operations are accomplished as through the organ of the body, and because He that works both in a divine and human fashion is one. For it is necessary to know that His holy mind works also its natural operations, etc., shares in the wor...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 178
CYRIL, lib. 2, John, cap. 32 (t. 3, p. 1063, ed. cit.): “The garments of Christ were divided into four parts, and His mantle alone remained undivided, which, I may say, was a sign of a mystery. For the four quarters of the world, brought to salvation, have shared the garment of the Word, that is, His flesh, among themselves in such a way...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 179
THEOPHYLACT, on John cap. 19 (f. 825, ed. cit.): “Therefore the holy body of Christ is indivisible, being divided and distributed among the four quarters of the earth; for both being distributed among them individually, and sanctifying the soul of each one with the body, the Only-begotten is by His own flesh entirely and indivisibly in al...
Open source textTreatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope | paragraph 65
But since by divine authority the grades of bishop and pastor are not diverse, it is manifest that ordination administered by a pastor in his own church is valid by divine law [if a pastor in his own church ordains certain suitable persons to the ministry, such ordination is, according to divine law, undoubtedly effective and right].
Open source textPreface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 23
..., renowned for their piety, as well as we ourselves, have acknowledged and professed. We mean that doctrine, which, having been derived from the Prophetic and Apostolic Scriptures, is contained in the three ancient Creeds, in the Augsburg Confession, presented in the year 1530 to the Emperor Charles V, of excellent memory, then in the Apo...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 9
...arity of each nature being unimpaired [remaining unmingled and unchanged], and coming together into one person, there has been assumed by [divine] Majesty [human] lowliness, by [divine] Power [human] weakness, by Eternity [the eternal divine Being] mortality [the human, mortal nature] (abstract for the concrete), and for the purpose of pa...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 43
For we must bear in mind everywhere [in the Holy Scriptures] that none of those things which He says that He received, namely, in time, He received in such a way as though He had not had them; for, being God and the Word, naturally He had those things always. But now He says that He received them according to humanity, so that, His flesh...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 102
That the Holy Scriptures and the fathers have understood this majesty which Christ has received in time not only of created gifts de finitis qualitatibus, but of the glory and majesty of divinity belonging to God, to which His human nature, in the person of the Son of God, has been exalted, and thus has received the power and efficacy of...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 3
...ly expect and hope, because the knaves who flee the light and shun the day take such wretched pains to delay and hinder the Council), those who live and remain after me may have my testimony and confession to produce, in addition to the Confession which I have issued previously, whereby up to this time I have abided, and, by God’s grace,...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 2
...nd] both manifest sinners and false saints [hypocrites], and suffers no one to be in the right [declares no one righteous], but drives them all together to terror and despair. This is the hammer, as Jeremiah 23:29 says: Is not My Word like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? This is not activa contritio or manufactured repentance,...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 42
...dy extant, and in the time of the insurrection [of the peasants] came to my own view, holding that all those who had once received the Spirit or the forgiveness of sins, or had become believers, even though they should afterwards sin, would still remain in the faith, and such sin would not harm them, and [hence] crying thus: “Do whatever...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 13
...he Holy Ghost spake through them. Article IX. Of Excommunication. The greater excommunication, as the Pope calls it, we regard only as a civil penalty, and it does not concern us ministers of the Church. But the lesser, that is, the true Christian excommunication, consists in this, that manifest and obstinate sinners are not admitted to t...
Open source textTreatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope | paragraph 10
IV. Gal. 2:7f St. Paul manifestly affirms that he was neither ordained nor confirmed [and endorsed] by Peter, nor does he acknowledge Peter to be one from whom confirmation should be sought. And he expressly contends concerning this point that his call does not depend upon the authority of Peter. But he ought to have acknowledged Peter as...
Open source textTreatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope | paragraph 24
...the power to ordain ministers of the Church. And Christ speaks in these words: Whatsoever ye shall bind, etc., and indicates to whom He has given the keys, namely, to the Church: Where two or three are gathered together in My name. Likewise Christ gives supreme and final jurisdiction to the Church, when He says: Tell it unto the Church.]...
Open source textPreface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 9
...orth and explained from the Word of God, the false teachings would be rejected and condemned, and, on the other hard, the truth divinely delivered be clearly and lucidly presented; because they were convinced that by this method both silence could be imposed upon the adversaries, and the more simple and godly be shown a sure way and plan...
Open source textPreface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 10
...g, therefore, the theologians communicated to one another certain writings concerning this subject, sufficiently comprehensive, and derived from the Word of God, in which they showed clearly and skilfully how these controversies, which were not without offense to the churches, could be put to rest and removed from sight without any loss t...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 15
O Lord Jesus Christ, do Thou Thyself convoke a Council, and deliver Thy servants by Thy glorious advent! The Pope and his adherents are done for; they will have none of Thee. Do Thou, then, help us, who are poor and needy, who sigh to Thee, and beseech Thee earnestly, according to the grace which Thou hast given us, through Thy Holy Ghost...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 26
...erhaps also in heaven, yet it does not follow thence that we should invoke and adore the angels and saints, and fast, hold festivals, celebrate Mass in their honor, make offerings, and establish churches, altars, divine worship, and in still other ways serve them, and regard them as helpers in need [as patrons and intercessors], and divid...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 27
...US (Demonstr. Evang., 1. 4, c. 13, p. 169, ed. Paris, 1628): The Word, however, communicates what is of His own to man, but does not receive, in turn, that which is from the mortal; and He imparts the divine power to the mortal, but is not led, in turn, into a participation of the mortal [the Word of the Father has of Himself communicated...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 35
That Christ has received this majesty in time, moreover, not according to the divinity, or the divine nature, but according to His assumed nature, or according to the flesh, as man, or as the Son of Man, humanitus, ratione corporis seu humanitatis, propter carnem, quia homo aut filius hominis [humanly, with respect to His body or humanity...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 46
BASIL THE GREAT, Against Eunomius, lib. 4 (p. 769, ed. Paris): “That the Lord is celebrated, and receives a name above every name; also [that he says]: ‘All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth; I live for the sake of the Father; Glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was,’ etc., – must be understoo...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 48
The same, lib. 5, cap. 2 (p.99): “For God does not give to the apostles participation in His seat, but to Christ, according to His humanity, is given participation in the divine seat.”
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 60
The same, Epist. 83 (fol. 134): “Although in Christ there is absolutely one and the same person of the divinity and the humanity, nevertheless we understand that exaltation and the name above every name pertain to that form which was to be enriched by the increase of so great a glorification. For by incarnation nothing had been withdrawn...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 71
the same, in the same place: “Christ, in His very body, came to His apostles, saying: ‘All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth’; which power the external temple received, and not God, [namely, according to His divinity], who built that temple [of His body] of extraordinary beauty.”
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 73
...to the glory of the Father. And he adds a general rule: When Scripture speaks of the glorification of Christ, it speaks of the flesh, which has received glory. And whatever Scripture says that the Son has received, it declares with respect to His humanity, and not to His divinity; as, when the apostle says that in Christ dwelleth all the...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 78
...A, in his homily of the Sixth Holiday after Easter (Feria 6, paschatos in homiliis 5, patrum, p. 297): “He who, according to His divinity, had always, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, power over all things, now also according to His humanity has received power over all things, so that this man who suffered not long ago rules over heave...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 129
In the same place (p. 279): The Word quickens on account of the ineffable birth from the living Father. Yet we should see where the efficacy of divine glory is ascribed also to His own flesh.” Also: “We will confess that, with respect to the ability to quicken, earthly flesh is inoperative, so far as its own nature is concerned.”
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 135
THEOPHYLACT, on John 3 (pp. 605. 184, ed. cit.): “And He has given all things into the hand of the Son, according to humanity. But if [also] according to divinity, what is meant? The Father has given all things to the Son by reason of nature, not of grace.”
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 174
LEO, Epist. 10 (Ep. 24, cap. 5, p. 245, and in Serm., f. 121, ed. cit.): “The Church Catholic lives and advances in this faith, that in Christ Jesus there is believed neither the humanity without the true divinity nor the divinity without the true humanity.”
Open source textPreface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 19
...e human nature possesses this majesty as its own or by itself (even in the personal union) essentially, formally, habitually, subjectively. (The schools like these terms, although they are not good Latin.) For if we would adopt this method both of speaking and teaching, the divine and human natures with their properties would be confounde...
Open source textPreface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 2
...and mercy, that after the darkness of papistical superstitions the light of His Gospel and Word, through which alone we receive true salvation, should arise and shine clearly and purely in Germany, our most beloved fatherland. And on this account, indeed, a brief and succinct confession was prepared from the Word of God, and the most hol...
Open source textPreface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 18
Now, although some theologians, and among them Luther himself, when they treated of the Lord’s Supper, were drawn, against their will, by their adversaries to disputations concerning the personal union of the two natures in Christ, nevertheless our theologians in the Book of Concord, and by the norm of sound doctrine which is in it, testi...
Open source textPreface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 14
...to be recited article by article and distinctly to the theologians, and the ministers of the church and of the schools collectively and individually, and have caused them to be urged to a diligent and accurate consideration of those parts of the doctrine which are contained in it.
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 2
...nd cheating, to hold a truly free [legitimate] Christian Council (as, indeed, he would be in duty bound to do), they be publicly delivered in order to set forth the Confession of our Faith.
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 5
...], even though heaven and earth, and whatever will not abide, should sink to ruin. For there is none other name under heaven, given among men whereby we must be saved, says Peter, Acts 4:12. And with His stripes we are healed, Is. 53:5. And upon this article all things depend which we teach and practice in opposition to the Pope, the devi...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 10
...gh it would be] possible for them to concede to us all the other articles, yet they could not concede this. As Campegius said at Augsburg that he would be torn to pieces before he would relinquish the Mass, so, by the help of God, I, too, would suffer myself to be reduced to ashes before I would allow a hireling of the Mass, be he good or...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 12
...y, by soul-baths so that the Mass is used almost alone for the dead, although Christ has instituted the Sacrament alone for the living. Therefore purgatory, and every solemnity, rite, and commerce connected with it, is to be regarded as nothing but a specter of the devil. For it conflicts with the chief article [which teaches] that only C...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 13
...er asked to be remembered at the altar or Sacrament. Now, all this is indeed nothing but the devotion of men, and that, too, of individuals, and does not establish an article of faith, which is the prerogative of God alone.
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 17
All of which we had to receive as articles of faith, and to live accordingly; and the Pope confirmed these things, as also the Mass and all other abominations. Here, too, there is no [cannot and must not be any] yielding or surrendering.
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 12
And of such repentance they fix three parts, contrition, confession, and satisfaction, with this [magnificent] consolation and promise added: If man truly repent, [feel remorse,] confess, render satisfaction, he thereby would have merited forgiveness, and paid for his sins before God [atoned for his sins and obtained a plenary redemption]...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 19
As regards confession, the procedure was this: Every one had [was enjoined] to enumerate all his sins (which is an impossible thing). This was a great torment. From such as he had forgotten [But if any one had forgotten some sins] he would be absolved on the condition that, if they would occur to him, he must still confess them. In this w...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 32
...ou, for ye are false penitents; so are these [the rest] false saints [or hypocrites], and all of you on either side need the forgiveness of sins, because neither of you know what true sin is not to say anything about your duty to repent of it and shun it. For no one of you is good; you are full of unbelief, stupidity, and ignorance of God...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 1
Of the Sacrament of the Altar we hold that bread and wine in the Supper are the true body and blood of Christ, and are given and received not only by the godly, but also by wicked Christians.
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 2
Now, as little as we or they have been given the power to make a woman out of a man or a man out of a woman, or to nullify either sex, so little have they had the power to [sunder and] separate such creatures of God, or to forbid them from living [and cohabiting] honestly in marriage with one another.
Open source textTreatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope | paragraph 1
I, Dr. John Bugenhagen, Pomeranus, subscribe the Articles of the Augsburg Confession, the Apology, and the Article presented to the princes at Smalcald concerning the Papacy.
Open source textTreatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope | paragraph 6
...] concerning doctrine, and wishes his articles, his decrees, his laws [his statutes and ordinances] to be considered equal to the divine laws [to other articles of the Christian Creed and the Holy Scriptures], i.e., he holds that by the papal laws the consciences of men are so bound that those who neglect them, even without public offense...
Open source textTreatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope | paragraph 23
In all these passages Peter is the representative of the entire assembly of apostles [and does not speak for himself alone, but for all the apostles], as appears from the text itself. For Christ asks not Peter alone, but says: Whom do ye say that I am? And what is here said [to Peter alone] in the singular number: I will give unto thee th...
Open source textTreatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope | paragraph 40
...ical authority and of the ministry has established for himself this kingdom. For he assigns as a pretext these words: I will give to thee the keys. Secondly, the doctrine of the Pope conflicts in many ways with the Gospel, and [thirdly] the Pope assumes to himself divine authority in a threefold manner. First, because he takes to himself...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 1
...the Book of Concord there is a deviation from phrasibus and modis loquendi, that is, the phrases and modes of speech of [received and approved by] the ancient pure Church and fathers, and that, on the contrary, new, strange, self-devised, unusual and unheard-of expressions are introduced; and since the testimonies of the ancient Church an...
Open source textPreface to the Christian Book of Concord | paragraph 12
...nd to be required for, this deliberation in a very good and suitable document. Afterwards this book was transmitted to some chief adherents of the Augsburg Confession, Electors, Princes, and Deputies, with the request that they themselves, calling to their aid the most eminent and most learned theologians, should read it with anxious care...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 4
For what shall I say? How shall I complain? I am still living, writing, preaching, and lecturing daily; [and] yet there are found such spiteful men, not only among the adversaries, but also false brethren that profess to be on our side, as dare to cite my writings and doctrine directly against myself, and let me look on and listen, althou...
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 4
Thirdly. The Sacrament can be received in a better and more blessed way [more acceptable to God], (yea, the only blessed way), according to the institution of Christ. Why, then, do they drive the world to woe and [extreme] misery on account of a fictitious, unnecessary matter, which can be well obtained in another and more blessed way?
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 2
...angerous and vain labor [dangerous annoyances and fruitless worship], such services as the prophets call Aven, i.e., pain and labor. Article IV: Of the Papacy.
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 3
And Paul says, 1 Cor. 4:4: For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified. Article VIII. Of Confession.
Open source textSmalcald Articles | paragraph 4
We say, besides, that if good works do not follow, faith is false and not true. Article XIV. Of Monastic Vows.
Open source textTreatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope | paragraph 32
Ambrose Blaurer. I have read, and again and again reread, the Confession and Apology presented at Augsburg by the Most Illustrious Prince, the Elector of Saxony, and by the other princes and estates of the Roman Empire, to his Imperial Majesty. I have also read the Formula of Concord concerning the Sacrament, made at Wittenberg with Dr. B...
Open source textTreatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope | paragraph 31
...l clearer, that Christ gave to the apostles only spiritual power, i.e., the command to teach the Gospel, to announce the forgiveness of sins, to administer the Sacraments, to excommunicate the godless without bodily force [by the Word], and that He did not give the power of the sword, or the right to establish, occupy or confer kingdoms o...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies
...the Book of Concord, included with most printings of the German edition in 1580. Though not a formal part of the Lutheran Confessions, per se, the Catalog of Testimonies was widely used and provides additional documentation and evidence for the Lutheran position on the doctrine of the two natures in Christ. This became particularly import...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 8
...Christ, the Son, the Lord, the Only-begotten, is known in two natures, without being commingled, without being changed, without being taken apart [or divided], without being segregated, the difference of the natures being in no wise abolished on account of the [personal] union, but the peculiarity of each nature being rather preserved, an...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 15
...rrectly said in concreto: God is man, man is God. On the other hand, it is speaking incorrectly when one says in abstracto: Divinity is humanity, humanity is divinity.
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 19
...st, that the Holy Scriptures, as also the fathers, when they speak of the majesty which the human nature of Christ has received through the personal union, employ the words, communicatio, communio, participatio, donatio, traditio, subiectio, exaltatio, dari, etc., that is, of the words “communication,” “communion,” “sharing,” “bestowed an...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 29
...lon.), quoted also by Epiphanius against the Dimoeritae (Haeres., 77; Contra Dimoeritas, t. 2, op. p. 1005, ed. Colon.): “Not in order to add to divinity did the Word become flesh, but in order that the flesh might rise up; not that the Word might be made better, He came forth from Mary; for rather was there a great addition to the human...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 40
John 5:26-27: He hath given to the Son to have life in Himself, and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 41
ATHANASIUS, quoted by Theodoret, Dialog 2, p. 330: “Now, whatever Scripture says that the Word received [in time], and as to whatever He was glorified, it says on account of His humanity, and not on account of His divinity.”
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 44
...pollinarius (pp. 603 and 611, ed. Colon., 1686): “When Peter says that Jesus was made of God Lord and Christ, He speaks not of His divinity, but of His humanity. His Word always was Lord, neither did He become Lord first after the cross, but His divinity made the humanity Lord and Christ.”
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 45
Also: “Whatever Scripture says that the Son has received, it understands as having been received with respect to His body, and that body is the first-fruits of the Church. Accordingly, God raised up and exalted His own body first, but afterwards the members of His body.” By these words Athanasius explained what a little afterwards he appl...
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 47
...“You have learned that He can subject all things to Himself undoubtedly according to the operation of Deity. Learn now that He receives, according to His flesh, all things as subjected to Him, as it is written, Eph. 1: According to the flesh, therefore, all things are delivered to Him as subject.”
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 56
THEODORET, on Ps. 2 (t. 1, p. 242): “Though Christ as God is Lord by nature, He receives universal power also as man.”
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 61
In the same place: “Whatever Christ has received in time He has received as man, upon whom are conferred those things which He did not have. For, according to the power of the Word, the Son also has all things that the Father has, without a difference.”
Open source textCatalog of Testimonies | paragraph 62
VIGILIUS, lib. 5, Against Eutyches (Ep. 66 sq., ed. Divion., 1664.4): “by advancements of dignity, to receive the power of heaven and earth by the merit of obedience. Therefore, according to the nature of the flesh He acquired these things who according to the nature of the Word never lacked any of them. For had the Creator no power and d...
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