SMALCALD ARTICLES
Story Behind the Confession
• The changed circumstances (from 1530):
papal intransigence; spreading Lutheranism
• Renewed negotiations with South German
Protestants: WITTENBERG CONCORD
“Therefore they hold that, where Christ’s
institution and command are observed, the
body and blood of Christ are truly distributed
to the unworthy, too, and they truly receive
it.”
– The question: What does “unworthy” mean?
• Differences of interpretation
– “Unworthy” pertains to the attitude of a
humble believer. (Lord, I am not worthy to
have you come under my roof.)
– “Unworthy” describes the attitude of an
unbeliever. (Whoever does not believe or
doubts is unworthy.)
• The two teachings
– Sacramentarians granted reception of
Christ’s body to believers only.
– Lutherans insisted that, since the word of
Jesus makes the sacrament what it is, his
body and blood are received by both
believers and unbelievers. Faith does not
validate the sacrament but receives it, for
the believer a blessing, for the unbeliever a
judgment.
D: 32
I. Ecumenical
• Sounds like Athanasian Creed
• Mary = semper virgines?
–1215 1st canon
• We emphasize Holy Spirit, not
Mary
II. Confrontational
1. Justification
2. The Mass
3. Monasticism
4. The Papacy
1. Justification
• The 4 Giants of the Bible
–
–
–
–
Romans 4:25
John 1:29
Isaiah 53:6
Romans 3:23-25
• Why is it correct to say that Luther's text is
Scripture alone?
• Luther “walks with hob-nailed boots”
– Places the papacy in the company of the devil
2. The Mass
•
The Mass had become the greatest
abomination
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
•
•
Human invention
Unnecessary
A better way
Abuses
Human work
Self-communion??
The decisive issue in the council
The Papacy
The Mass
Roman
Church
“This Dragon’s Tail”
1. Purgatory
2nd Benchmark: Only the Word of God shall
establish articles of faith.
2. Souls of the Departed
3. Pilgrimages
4. Fraternities
5. Relics
6. Indulgences
• Invocation of the Saints
3. Monasticism
• A short article because monasticism
was in decline
• “For all of this, too, is contrary to the
first and chief article concerning
redemption in Jesus Christ.”
4. The Papacy
• The pope is NOT the head of all
Christendom “by divine right.”
• In the papacy the anti-Christian
spirit comes to culmination
• The true end-times Antichrist
– Endchrist
– Widerchrist
Who is the Antichrist?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The spirit of heresy
The Roman empire
Nero
Diocletian
Julian
Caligula
Titus
Simon Magus
the Jews
Resurrected Nero
Emperor Frederick II
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A son of Luther
Peter the Great
Rasputin
Secretary-General of the
UN
Militant Islam
Friedrich Nietzsche
Marilyn Manson
Ronald Wilson Reagan
(666)
George W. Bush
David Hasselhoff
The Marks of the Antichrist
2 Thessalonians 2
•
•
The pope reigns in the church
Papal teaching contradicts the gospel
1. He assumes the right to alter Christ’s teaching
2. He claims power to loose and bind in this life
and authority over souls after this life
3. He places his authority above councils
4. He defends dreadful errors with the greatest
savagery: Masses, indulgences, saints
D: 33
http://www
http://www
http://www
http://www
Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
•
•
•
The bishop of Rome claims:
1. Superiority over all bishops and pastors
2. Both swords
3. Necessary for salvation to believe this
Scripture and church history reject hierarchy in the
church
Proof passages for hierarchy are misinterpreted
– Mt 16:18 and Jn 21:17
The Power and Jurisdiction of Bishops
• Scripture does not set up a hierarchy
• The right of government is given to the entire
church
• Matrimonial cases belong to the jurisdiction of
the government – not the church
III. Conversational
1. Sin
2. The Law
3.Repentance
4. The Gospel
5. Baptism
6. Sacrament of the Altar
7. The Keys
8. Confession
9. Excommunication
10. Ordination and
Vocation
11. Marriage of priests
12. The Church
13. Justification and Good
Works
14. Monastic Vows
15. Human Regulations
1. Concerning Sin
• Original sin = the
chief sin
• Fruits of this sin
• Believed on the
basis of the
Scriptures
• Scholastic teaching:
1. Natural powers
uncorrupted
2. A free will by nature
3. Ability to keep God’s
commands
4. Natural power to love
God
5. Do the best you can
6. Enough not to have an
evil intention
7. Can do good works
without faith
= Pagan teachings
2. Concerning the Law
• The message that reveals our sinfulness
1. A curb
2. A mirror
3. Concerning Repentance
•
•
•
•
The salutary effect of the law as a mirror
Longest article in SA
Active and passive contrition
After the Law come with the Gospel
PENANCE
• Contrition
• Confession
• Satisfaction
“always doing penance
but never arriving at
repentance”
REPENTANCE
• Contrition
• Faith
“Nothing in my hand I
bring; simply to Thy
cross I cling.”
simul justus et peccator
D: 34-36
4. Concerning the Gospel
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The spoken Word
Baptism
The Sacrament of the Altar
The Keys
Mutual conversation
5. Concerning Baptism
• Thomas Aquinas and the
Dominicans – the water
is spiritualized
• Duns Scotus and the
Franciscans – Baptism is
turned into a symbol
***
• Do not exempt infants
from original sin.
D: 37 & 38
6. Concerning the
Sacrament of the Altar
• Romanists have a
partial sacrament; the
Reformed have no
sacrament
• Substance = what
makes a thing what it is
• Accident = attached to a
substance
Body
and
Blood
changed to
Bread and
Wine
D: 39
7. Concerning the Keys
• An office and authority given to the church by
Christ to bind and loose sins.
8. Concerning Confession
•
•
Luther stresses absolution.
Enthusiasts say the Holy Spirit doesn’t need means and so the
Word isn’t necessary.
THE BENCHMARKS OF LUTHERANISM
1st Benchmark: All Scripture is Law and Gospel.
(AAC IV:5 p. 83)
2nd Benchmark: Only the Word of God shall
establish articles of faith. (SA II:15 p. 266)
3rd Benchmark: God does not deal with us except
through Word and Sacrament. (SA VIII:10 p.
281)
Rejected!!
Denied!!
D: 40
9. Concerning Excommunication
• Impenitence = the other side of the Keys
• Interdict
10. Concerning Ordination and
Vocation
• Who administers the Means of Grace?
11. Concerning the
Marriage of Priests
• “so little did they have the power to separate
such creatures of God or to forbid them from
living together honestly in marriage”
12. Concerning the Church
• “a seven-year-old child knows what the church
is: holy believers and the little sheep who hear
the voice of their Shepherd”
• Believers gathered around the Means of Grace
13. How a Person is Justified and
Concerning Good Works
• The heart and core of Lutheran theology
• AC IV and VI combined
14. Concerning Monastic Vows
• What is NOT necessary for justificaion
• Monastic vows are equal to baptism??
BLASPHEMY!!
15. Concerning
Human Regulations
• Human regulations cannot attain the
forgiveness of sins or merit salvation.