Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Part 37

But this entire view is founded on indifferentism and unionism flowing from the false principle that quality must be sacrificed to quant.i.ty, eternal truth to temporal peace and unity to external progress and temporary success. Viewed in the light of G.o.d's Word, error is the centrifugal force and the real cause of dissension and separations among Christians, while divine truth always acts as a centripetal or a truly unifying power. The _Formula_ therefore, standing clearly as it does for divine truth only, cannot be charged with causing dissension and breeding trouble among Christians. It settled many controversies and healed dissensions, but produced none. True, the _Formula_ was condemned by many, but with no greater justice and for no other reasons than those for which the truths of G.o.d's Word have always been a.s.sailed by their enemies.

Nor is the statement correct that the _Formula of Concord_ drove loyal Lutherans out of their own churches into Calvinistic folds. It clearly stated what, according to G.o.d's Word and their old confessions, Lutherans always will believe, teach, and confess, as also what they always must reject as false and detrimental to the cause of the Church of Christ; however, in so doing, it did not drive Lutherans into the ranks of the Calvinists, but drove masked Calvinists out of the ranks of loyal Lutherans into those folds to which they really belonged. Indeed, the _Formula_ failed to make true Lutherans of all the errorists; but neither did the _Augsburg Confession_ succeed in making friends and Lutherans of all Papists, nor the Bible, in making Christians of all unbelievers. However, by clearly stating its position in thesis and ant.i.thesis, the _Formula_ did succeed in bringing about a wholesome separation, ridding the Lutheran Church of antagonistic spirits, unsound tendencies, and false doctrines. In fact, it saved the Church from slow, but sure poisoning at the hands of the Crypto-Calvinists; it restored purity, unity, morale, courage, and hope when she was demoralized, distracted, and disfigured by many dissensions and corruptions.

Whatever, by adopting the _Formula of Concord_ the Lutheran Church therefore may have lost in extension, it won in intention; what it lost in numbers, it won in unity, solidity, and firmness in the truth.

True, the _Formula of Concord_ completely foiled Melanchthon's plan of a union between the Lutheran and Reformed churches on the basis of the Variata of 1540,--a fact which more than anything else roused the ire of Philippists and Calvinists. But that was an unG.o.dly union, contrary to the Word of G.o.d; a union involving a denial of essential Christian truths; a union incompatible with the spirit of Lutheranism, which cannot survive where faith is gagged and open confession of the truth is smothered; a union in which Calvinism, engrafted on Lutheranism, would have reduced the latter to a mere feeder of a foreign life. However, though it shattered the unG.o.dly plans of the Philippists and Calvinists, the _Formula_ did not in the least destroy the hope of, or block the way for, a truly Christian agreement. On the contrary, it formulated the only true basis for such a union, which it also realized among the Lutherans. And if the Lutheran and Reformed churches will ever unite in a true and G.o.dly manner it must be done on the basis of the truths set forth by the _Formula_.

289. Necessity of Formula of Concord.

Several Lutheran states, as related above, declined to accept the _Formula of Concord_, giving as their reason for such action that there was no need of a new confession. The fact, however, that the _Formula_ was adopted by the great majority of Lutheran princes, professors, preachers, and congregations proves conclusively that they were of a different opinion. A new confession was necessary, not indeed because new truths had been discovered which called for confessional coining or formulation, but because the old doctrines, a.s.sailed by errorists, were in need of vindication, and the Lutheran Church, distracted by prolonged theological warfare, was sorely in need of being restored to unity, peace, and stability. The question-marks suspended everywhere in Germany after Luther's death were: Is Lutheranism to die or live? Are its old standards and doctrines to be sc.r.a.pped or vindicated? Is the Church of Luther to remain, or to be transformed into a unionistic or Reformed body? Is it to retain its unity, or will it become a house divided against itself and infested with all manner of sects?

Evidently, then, if the Lutheran Church was not to go down ingloriously, a new confession was needed which would not only clear the religious and theological atmosphere, but restore confidence, hope, and normalcy. A confession was needed which would bring out clearly the truths for which Lutherans must firmly stand if they would be true to G.o.d, true to His Word, true to their Church, true to themselves, and true to their traditions. A confession was needed which would draw exactly, clearly, and unmistakably the lines which separate Lutherans, not only from Romanists, but also from Zwinglians, Calvinists, Crypto-Calvinists, unionists, and the advocates of other errors and unsound tendencies.

Being essentially the Church of the pure Word and Sacrament, the only way for the Lutheran Church to maintain her ident.i.ty and independence was to settle her controversies not by evading or compromising the doctrinal issues involved, but by honestly facing and definitely deciding them in accordance with her principles: the Word of G.o.d and the old confessions. Particularly with respect to the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, Melanchthon by constantly altering the _Augsburg Confession_, had muddied the water to such an extent that the adoption of the _Augustana_ was no longer a clear test of Lutheran orthodoxy and loyalty. Even Calvin, and the German Reformed generally subscribed to it, "in the sense," they said, "in which Melanchthon has explained it."

The result was a corruption of Lutheranism and a pernicious Calvinistic propaganda in Lutheran territories. A new confession was the only means of ending the confusion and checking the invasion.

290. Formula Fully Met Requirements.

The _Formula of Concord_ was just such a confession as the situation called for. The Preface to the _Apology of the Book of Concord_, signed by Kirchner, Selneccer, and Chemnitz, remarks that the purpose of the _Formula_ was "to establish and propagate unity in the Lutheran churches and schools, and to check the Sacramentarian leaven and other corruptions and sects." This purpose was fully attained by the _Formula_. It maintained and vindicated the old Lutheran symbols. It cleared our Church from all manner of foreign spirits which threatened to transform its very character. It settled the controversies by rendering a clear and correct decision on all doctrinal questions involved. It unified our Church when she was threatened with hopeless division, anarchy, and utter ruin. It surrounded her with a wall of fire against all her enemies. It made her a most uncomfortable place for such opponents of Lutheranism as Crypto-Calvinists, unionists, etc. It infused her with confidence, self-consciousness, conviction, a clear knowledge of her own position over against the errors of other churches and sects, and last, but not least, with a most remarkable vitality.

Wherever and whenever, in the course of time, the _Formula of Concord_ was ignored, despised, or rejected, the Lutheran Church fell an easy prey to unionism and sectarianism; but wherever and whenever the _Formula_ was held in high esteem, Lutheranism flourished and its enemies were confounded. Says Schaff: "Outside of Germany the Lutheran Church is stunted in its normal growth, or undergoes with the change of language and nationality, an ecclesiastical transformation. This is the case with the great majority of Anglicized and Americanized Lutherans, who adopt Reformed views on the Sacraments, the observance of Sunday, church discipline, and other points." But the fact is that, since Schaff wrote the above, the Lutheran Church developed and flourished nowhere as in America, owing chiefly to the return of American Lutherans to their confessions, including the _Formula of Concord_. The _Formula of Concord_ fully supplied the dire need created by the controversies after Luther's death; and, despite many subsequent controversies, also in America, down to the present day, no further confessional deliverances have been necessary, and most likely such will not be needed in the future either.

The _Formula of Concord_, therefore, must ever be regarded as a great blessing of G.o.d. "But for the _Formula of Concord_," says Krauth, "it may be questioned whether Protestantism could have been saved to the world. It staunched the wounds at which Lutheranism was bleeding to death; and crises were at hand in history in which Lutheranism was essential to the salvation of the Reformatory interest in Europe. The Thirty Years' War, the war of martyrs, which saved our modern world, lay indeed in the future of another century, yet it was fought and settled in the Cloister of Bergen. But for the pen of the peaceful triumvirate, the sword of Gustavus had not been drawn. Intestine treachery and division in the Church of the Reformation would have done what the arts and arms of Rome failed to do. But the miracle of restoration was wrought. From being the most distracted Church on earth, the Lutheran Church had become the most stable. The blossom put forth at Augsburg, despite the storm, the mildew, and the worm, had ripened into the full round fruit of the amplest and clearest Confession in which the Christian Church has ever embodied her faith." (Schmauk, 830.)

291. Formula Attacked and Defended.

Drawing accurately and deeply, as it did, the lines of demarcation between Lutheranism, on the one hand, and Calvinism, Philippism, etc., on the other, and thus also putting an end to the Calvinistic propaganda successfully carried on for decades within the Lutheran Church, the _Formula of Concord_ was bound to become a rock of offense and to meet with opposition on the part of all enemies of genuine Lutheranism within as well as without the Lutheran Church. Both Romanists and Calvinists had long ago accustomed themselves to viewing the Lutheran Church as moribund and merely to be preyed upon by others. Accordingly, when, contrary to all expectations, our Church, united by the _Formula_, rose once more to her pristine power and glory, it roused the envy and inflamed the ire and rage of her enemies. Numerous protests against the _Formula_, emanating chiefly from Reformed and Crypto-Calvinistic sources, were lodged with Elector August and other Lutheran princes.

Even Queen Elizabeth of England sent a deputation urging the Elector not to allow the promulgation of the new confession. John Casimir of the Palatinate, also at the instigation of the English queen, endeavored to organize the Reformed in order to prevent its adoption. Also later on the Calvinists insisted that a general council (of course, partic.i.p.ated in by Calvinists and Crypto-Calvinists) should have been held to decide on its formal and final adoption!

Numerous attacks on the _Formula of Concord_ were published 1578, 1579, 1581, and later, some of them anonymously. They were directed chiefly against its doctrine of the real presence in the Lord's Supper, the majesty of the human nature of Christ, and eternal election, particularly its refusal to solve, either in a synergistic or in a Calvinistic manner, the mystery presented to human reason in the teaching of the Bible that G.o.d alone is the cause of man's salvation, while man alone is the cause of his d.a.m.nation. In a letter to Beza, Ursinus, the chief author of the Heidelberg Catechism, shrewdly advised the Reformed to continue accepting the _Augsburg Confession_, but to agitate against the _Formula_. He himself led the Reformed attacks by publis.h.i.+ng, 1581, "_Admonitio Christiana de Libro Concordiae_, Christian Admonition Concerning the Book of Concord," also called "_Admonitio Neostadiensis_, Neustadt Admonition." Its charges were refuted in the "Apology or Defense of the Christian Book of Concord--_Apologia oder Verantwortung des christlichen Konkordienbuchs_, in welcher die wahre christliche Lehre, so im Konkordienbuch verfa.s.st, mit gutem Grunde heiliger, goettlicher Schrift verteidiget, die Verkehrung aber und Kalumnien, so von unruhigen Leuten wider gedachtes christliche Buch ausgesprenget, widerlegt worden," 1583 (1582). Having been prepared by command of the Lutheran electors, and composed by Kirchner, Selneccer, and Chemnitz, and before its publication also submitted to other theologians for their approval, this guardedly written _Apology_, also called the Erfurt Book, gained considerable authority and influence.

The Preface of this Erfurt Book enumerates, besides the Christian Admonition of Ursinus and the Neustadt theologians, the following writings published against the _Formula of Concord_: 1. _Opinion and Apology_ (_Bedencken und Apologie_) of Some Anhalt Theologians; 2.

_Defense_ (_Verantwortung_) of the Bremen Preachers; Christian Irenaeus on Original Sin; _Nova Novorum_ ("ein famos Libell"); other libelli, satyrae et pasquilli; _Calumniae et Scurrilia Convitia of Brother Na.s.s_ (_Bruder Na.s.s_); and the history of the _Augsburg Confession_ by Ambrosius Wolf, in which the author a.s.serts that from the beginning the doctrine of Zwingli and Calvin predominated in all Protestant churches.

The theologians of Neustadt, Bremen, and Anhalt replied to the Erfurt Apology; which, in turn, called forth counter-replies from the Lutherans. Beza wrote: _Refutation of the Dogma Concerning the Fict.i.tious Omnipresence of the Flesh of Christ_. In 1607 Hospinian published his _Concordia Discors_," [tr. note: sic on punctuation] to which Hutter replied in his _Concordia Concors_. The papal detractors of the _Formula_ were led by the Jesuit Cardinal Bellarmin, who in 1589 published his _Judgment of the Book of Concord_.

292. Modern Strictures on Formula of Concord.

Down to the present day the _Formula of Concord_ has been a.s.sailed particularly by unionistic and Reformed opponents of true Lutheranism.

Schaff criticizes: "Religion was confounded with theology, piety with orthodoxy, and orthodoxy with an exclusive confessionalism." (1, 259.) However, the subjects treated in the _Formula_ are the most vital doctrines of the Christian religion: concerning sin and grace, the person and work of Christ, justification and faith, the means of grace, --truths without which neither Christian theology nor Christian religion can remain; "Here, then," says Schmauk, "is the one symbol of the ages which treats almost exclusively of Christ--of His work, His presence, His person. Here is the Christ-symbol of the Lutheran Church. One might almost say that the _Formula of Concord_ is a developed witness of Luther's explanation of the Second and Third Articles of the Apostles'

Creed, meeting the modern errors of Protestantism, those cropping up from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, in a really modern way."

(751.) Tschackert also designates the a.s.sertion that the authors of the _Formula of Concord_ "abandoned Luther's idea of faith and established a dead scholasticism" as an unjust charge. (478.) Indeed, it may be questioned whether the doctrine of grace, the real heart of Christianity, would have been saved to the Church without the _Formula_.

R. Seeberg speaks of the "ossification of Lutheran theology" caused by the _Formula of Concord_, and Tschackert charges it with transforming the Gospel into a "doctrine." (571.) But what else is the Gospel of Christ than the divine doctrine or statement and proclamation of the truth that we are saved, not by our own works, but by grace and faith alone, for the sake of Christ and His merits? The _Formula of Concord_ truly says: "_The Gospel is properly a doctrine which teaches what man should believe_, that he may obtain forgiveness of sins with G.o.d, namely, that the Son of G.o.d, our Lord Christ, has taken upon Himself and borne the curse of the Law, has expiated and paid for all our sins, through whom alone we again enter into favor with G.o.d, obtain forgiveness of sins by faith, are delivered from death and all the punishments of sins, and eternally saved." (959, 20.) Says Schmauk: "The _Formula of Concord_ was ... the very substance of the Gospel and of the _Augsburg Confession_, kneaded through the experience of the first generation of Protestantism, by incessant and agonizing conflict, and coming forth from that experience as a true and tried teaching, a standard recognized by many." (821.) The _Formula of Concord_ is truly Scriptural, not only because all its doctrines are derived from the Bible, but also because the burden of the Scriptures, the doctrine of justification, is the burden also of all its expositions the living breath, as it were, pervading all its articles.

Another modern objection to the _Formula_ is that it binds the future generations to the _Book of Concord_. This charge is correct, for the _Formula_ expressly states that its decisions are to be "a public, definite testimony, not only for those now living, but also for our posterity, what is and should remain (_sei und bleiben solle--esseque perpetuo debeat_) the unanimous understanding and judgment of our churches in reference to the articles in controversy." (857, 16.) However, the criticism implied in the charge is unwarranted. For the Lutheran Confessions, as promoters, authors, and signers of the _Formula_ were fully persuaded, are in perfect agreement with the eternal and unchangeable Word of G.o.d. As to their contents, therefore, they must always remain the confession of every Church which really is and would remain loyal to the Word of G.o.d.

293. Formula Unrefuted.

From the day of its birth down to the present time the _Formula of Concord_ has always been in the limelight of theological discussion. But what its framers said in praise of the _Augsburg Confession_, _viz._, that, in spite of numerous enemies, it had remained unrefuted, may be applied also to the _Formula_: it stood the test of centuries and emerged unscathed from the fire of every controversy. It is true today what Thomasius wrote 1848 with special reference to the _Formula_: "Numerous as they may be who at present revile our Confession, not one has ever appeared who has refuted its chief propositions from the Bible." (_Bekenntnis der ev.-luth. Kirche_, 227.)

Nor can the _Formula_ ever be refuted, for its doctrinal contents are unadulterated truths of the infallible Word of G.o.d. It confesses the doctrine which Christians everywhere will finally admit as true and divine indeed, which they all in their hearts believe even now, if not explicitly and consciously, at least implicitly and in principle. The doctrines of the _Formula_ are the ec.u.menical truths of Christendom; for true Lutheranism is nothing but consistent Christianity. The _Formula_, says Krauth, is "the completest and clearest confession in which the Christian Church has ever embodied her faith." Such being the case, the _Formula of Concord_ must be regarded also as the key to a G.o.dly peace and true unity of entire Christendom.

The authors of the _Formula_ solemnly declare: "We entertain heartfelt pleasure and love for, and are on our part sincerely inclined and anxious to advance with our utmost power that unity [and peace] by which His glory remains to G.o.d uninjured, nothing of the divine truth of the Holy Gospel is surrendered, no room is given to the least error, poor sinners are brought to true, genuine repentance, raised up by faith, confirmed in new obedience, and thus justified and eternally saved alone through the sole merit of Christ." (1095, 95.) Such was the G.o.dly peace and true Christian unity restored by the _Formula of Concord_ to the Lutheran Church. And what it did for _her_ it is able also to do for the Church at large. Being in complete agreement with Scripture, it is well qualified to become the regeneration center of the entire present-day corrupted, disrupted, and demoralized Christendom.

Accordingly Lutherans, the natural advocates of a truly wholesome and G.o.d-pleasing union based on unity in divine truth, will not only themselves hold fast what they possess in their glorious Confession, but strive to impart its blessings also to others, all the while praying incessantly, fervently, and trustingly with the pious framers of the _Formula_: "May Almighty G.o.d and the Father of our Lord Jesus grant the grace of His Holy Ghost that we all may be one in Him, and constantly abide in this Christian unity, which is well pleasing to Him! Amen."

(837, 23.)

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

[tr. note: original printed text ends with a 10 page index that is not included in this transcription]