FORMULA OF CONCORD
I. The Religious Turmoil and Its
Settlement
II. The Doctrinal Strife and Its
Settlement
Issues in controversy
• Making concessions to Catholics re adiaphora:
FC X
• Introducing subtle workrighteousness
(synergism): FC IV,II,I,III
• Rejecting use of law (antinomianism): FC V,VI
• Ambiguity re doctrine of Lord’s Supper
(Crypto-Calvinism): FC VII,VIII
• Local disputes: FC IX,XI
FC X: Adiaphora
• The Philippists who supported the Interims
were willing to reintroduce Corpus Christi
• The highest exercise of Christian liberty is not
to use it.
(either forbidden or
commanded)
D: 48
FC IV: Concerning Good Works
•
•
•
•
Grew out of Leipzig Interim
George Major (Majoristic Controversy)
Inner (not outer) compulsion
Good works
– as natural as breathing
– spontaneous
D: 49
FC II: Concerning Free Will
• What makes us humans?
–Reason?
–Emotions?
–Will?
• What is the role of the will in conversion?
• Synergism
D: 50-52
FC I: Concerning Original Sin
•
•
•
•
Strigel vs. Flacius
Debate on free will
Is original sin a substance or an accident?
“You are a Manichaean.”
God
spiritual
material
Devil
D: 53-55
FC III: The Righteousness of Faith
•
•
•
•
Andrae Osiander from Nuremburg
At Marburg and Smalcald
Vain, ousted from congregation, to Prussia
Said that “Christ’s righteousness in us is our
righteousness before God.”
• In attempting to chase the pope out the
front door he let him in the back door.
D: 56 & 57
FC V: Law in Christian Life
• John Agricola (Augsburg Interim)
• “The law doesn’t need to be preached to show
Christians their sins; the gospel can do it all.”
• “The law doesn’t condemn unbelief, the greatest
of all sins.”
• Coarse antinomianism
• Law and Gospel in a broad and a narrow sense
(as also repentance)
We know that the
law is good if one
uses it properly. We
also know that the
law is made not for
the righteous but for
lawbreakers and
rebels, the ungodly
and sinful, the
unholy and
irreligious.
no burden or coercion
Apology XII:29
“The sum of the preaching of the Gospel is this: to convict of sin; to offer for Christ’s
sake the forgiveness of sins…” Apology XII:29
FC VI: Law as Guide for the Sanctified Life
• Refined antinomianism
• Some falsely claimed that the law is not
necessary to teach Christians how to live a
God-fearing life.
• The gospel is the engine; the law is the
roadmap.
D: 58-60
FC VII: The Holy Supper
• The Peace of Augsburg of 1555 did not grant
freedom of worship to Calvinists or
Sacramentarians
• Crypto-Calvinists
• Wittenberg Concord 1536
The Real Presence is Real
1. The Holy Spirit inspired the exact words to be
written four times in exactly the same way.
2. When Christ spoke in figures he or his word
explained the figures.
3. Christ recited the words with his own lips
twice and exactly the same way.
4. This was the last will and testament of our
Lord.
5. When Jesus spoke he knew he was facing
death and it was not time to mince words.
Its fruits
1.Sacraments become symbols of believer’s piety.
2.Reformed piety encourages non-use of
sacraments.
3.Infants baptized on strength of future faith.
4.Faith becomes its own object so that a person is
directed to believe in faith rather than simple
believing.
FC VIII: The Person of Christ
• Resulted from Crypto-Calvinist error regarding
the Lord’s Supper: the human nature could
not be present in the supper.
• Separated the two natures: Nestorianism
• Zwingli’s alloeosis
D: 61-63
FC IX: Christ’s Descent into Hell
• Christ descended according to both
natures
• Hamburg: pastor thought descent was
last stage of humiliation
• Asked Wittenburg for an opinion
• Luther’s sermon at Torgau in 1533
from there he will
come to judge the
living and the dead
conceived by the
Holy Spirit
suffered under
Pontius Pilate
and is seated at the
right hand of God the
Father almighty
was crucified
He ascended into
heaven
died
and was buried
HUMILIATION
?
He descended into hell
the third day he rose
again from the dead
EXALTATION
D: 64
FC XI: God’s Eternal Foreknowledge
and Election
• Canons of Dort 1610: God elected some
to salvation and others to damnation
• Arminius’ minority view; a subtle form of
synergism
• Methodism influenced by Arminianism
• Church in Scotland influenced by
Calvinism
Calvin:
God
Elect
Damned
Arminius:
God
Elect
Damned
faith
unbelief
Arminianism??
??
Calvinism??
Arminianism
??
Calvinism
Arminianism
??
??
??
Calvinism
Arminianism
8For
it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith—and this not
from yourselves, it is the gift of
God— 9not by works, so that no
one can boast.
grace
no will
each one
God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to
come to a knowledge of the truth.
preservation
crosses
church always
D: 65-67