Wednesday, May 16, 2012

F. Bente - Historical Introductions.
XVI. The Osiandrian and Stancarian Controversies


Andreas Osiander

XVI. The Osiandrian and Stancarian Controversies.

175. Osiander in Nuernberg and in Koenigsberg.

In the writings of Luther we often find passages foreboding a future
corruption of the doctrine of justification, concerning which he
declared in the _Smalcald Articles_: "Of this article nothing can be
yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth, and whatever will
not abide, should sink to ruin.... And upon this article all things
depend which we teach and practise in opposition to the Pope, the devil,
and the world. Therefore we must be sure concerning this doctrine, and
not doubt, for otherwise all is lost, and the Pope and devil and all
things gain the victory and suit over us." (461, 5.) Martin Chemnitz
remarks: "I frequently shudder, because Luther--I do not know by what
kind of presentiment--in his commentaries on the Letter to the Galatians
and on the First Book of Moses so often repeats the statement: 'This
doctrine [of justification] will be obscured again after my death.'"
(Walther, _Kern und Stern_, 26.)

Andrew Osiander was the first to fulfil Luther's prophecy. In 1549 he
began publicly to propound a doctrine in which he abandoned the forensic
conception of justification by imputation of the merits of Christ, and
returned to the Roman view of justification by infusion _i.e._, by
infusion of the eternal essential righteousness of the divine nature of
Christ. According to his own statement, he had harbored these views ever
since about 1522. He is said also to have presented them in a sermon
delivered at the convention in Smalcald, 1537. (Planck 4, 257.) Yet he
made no special effort to develop and publicly to disseminate his ideas
during the life of Luther. After the death of the Reformer, however,
Osiander is reported to have said: "Now that the lion is dead, I shall
easily dispose of the foxes and hares"--_i.e._, Melanchthon and the
other Lutheran theologians. (257.) Osiander was the originator of the
controversy "Concerning the Righteousness of Faith before God," which
was finally settled in Article III of the _Formula of Concord_.

Osiander, lauded by modern historians as the only real "systematizer"
among the Lutherans of the first generation, was a man as proud,
overbearing, and passionate as he was gifted, keen, sagacious, learned,
eloquent, and energetic. He was born December 19, 1498, at Gunzenhausen,
Franconia, and died October 17, 1552, at Koenigsberg, where he was also
buried with high honors in the Old City Church. In 1522 he was appointed
priest at St. Lawrence's Church in the Free City of Nuernberg. Here he
immediately acted the part of a determined champion of the Reformation.
Subsequently he also participated in some of the most important
transactions of his day. He was present at the Marburg Colloquy, 1529,
where he made the personal acquaintance of Luther and the Wittenbergers.
He also took part in the discussions at the Diet in Augsburg, 1530; at
Smalcald, 1537; at Hagenau and Worms, 1540. Nor were his interests
confined to theological questions. When, at Nuernberg, 1543, the work of
Copernicus, _De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium_, "Concerning the
Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies," was published for the first time,
Osiander read the proof-sheets and wrote the Preface, in which he
designated the new theory as "hypotheses," thus facilitating its
circulation also among the Catholics, until in the 17th century the book
was placed on the _Index Librorum Prohibitorum_, where it remained till
the 18th century.

When the Augsburg Interim was introduced in Nuernberg, Osiander
resigned, and with words of deep emotion (in a letter of November 22,
1548, addressed to the city council) he left the place where he had
labored more than a quarter of a century. January 27 1549, he arrived in
Koenigsberg. Here he was joyously received by Count Albrecht of Prussia,
whom he had gained for the Reformation in 1523. Moved by gratitude
toward Osiander, whom he honored as his "spiritual father," Count
Albrecht appointed him pastor of the Old City Church and, soon after,
first professor of theology at the University of Koenigsberg, with a
double salary, though Osiander had never received an academic degree.
The dissatisfaction which this unusual preferment caused among his
colleagues, Briessman, Hegemon, Isinder, and Moerlin, soon developed
into decided antipathy against Osiander, especially because of his
overbearing, domineering ways as well as his intriguing methods. No
doubt, this personal element added largely to the animosity and violence
of the controversy that was soon to follow, and during which the
professors in Koenigsberg are said to have carried firearms into their
academic sessions. (Schaff, _Creeds_ 1, 273.) Yet it cannot be regarded
as the real cause or even as the immediate occasion, of the conflict,
which was really brought about by the unsound, speculative, and mystical
views of Osiander on the image of God and, particularly, on
justification and the righteousness of faith,--doctrinal points on which
he deviated from the Lutheran teaching to such an extent that a
controversy was unavoidable. Evidently, his was either a case of relapse
into Romanism, or, what seems to be the more probable alternative,
Osiander never attained to a clear apprehension of the Lutheran truth
nor ever fully freed himself from the Roman doctrine, especially in its
finer and more veiled form of mysticism.

176. Opposed by Moerlin and Lutherans Generally.

Osiander, as stated, had conceived the fundamental thoughts of his
system long before he reached Koenigsberg. In 1524, when only twenty-six
years of age, he laid down the outlines of his theory in a publication
entitled: "_A Good Instruction (Ein gut Unterricht) and Faithful Advice
from the Holy Divine Scriptures What Attitude to Take in These
Dissensions Concerning Our Holy Faith and Christian Doctrine_, dealing
especially with the questions what is God's Word and what human
doctrine, what Christ and what Antichrist." Here he says: "Whoever
hears, retains, and believes the Word, receives God Himself, for God is
the Word. If, therefore, the Word of God, Christ, our Lord, dwells in us
by faith and we are one with Him, we may say with Paul: 'I live, though
not I, but Christ lives in me,' and then we are justified by faith."
(Gieseler 3, 2, 270.) In the following year, 1525, he wrote in his
_Action of the Honorable Wise Council in Nuernberg with their Preachers
(Handlung eines ehrsamen weisen Rats zu Nuernberg mit ihren
Praedikanten)_: "The one and only righteousness availing before God is
God Himself. But Christ is the Word which we apprehend by faith, and
thus Christ in us, God Himself, is our Righteousness which avails before
God." "The Gospel has two parts; the first, that Christ has satisfied
the justice of God; the other, that He has cleansed us from sin, and
justifies us by dwelling in us (_und uns rechtfertigt, so er in uns
wohnet_)." (271.) The embryonic ideas of these early publications
concerning the image of God and justification were fully developed by
Osiander in his book of 1550, _Whether the Son of God would have had to
be Incarnated (An Filius Dei fuerit Incarnandus), if Sin had Not Entered
the World;_ and especially in his confession of September, 1551,
_Concerning the Only Mediator Jesus Christ (Von dem einigen Mittler Jesu
Christo) and Justification of Faith_ which appeared also in Latin under
the title _De Unico Mediatore_, in October of the same year.

The public conflict began immediately after Osiander had entered upon
his duties at the university. In his inaugural disputation of April 5,
1549, "Concerning the Law and Gospel (De Lege et Evangelio)," Osiander's
vanity prompted him at least to hint at his peculiar views, which he
well knew were not in agreement with the doctrine taught at Wittenberg
and in the Lutheran Church at large. His colleague, Matthias Lauterwald,
a Wittenberg master, who died 1555, immediately took issue with him. On
the day following the disputation, he published theses in which he
declared: "Osiander denied that faith is a part of repentance." October
24 of the following year Osiander held a second disputation ("On
Justification, De Iustificatione") in which he came out clearly against
the doctrine hitherto taught in the Lutheran Church. But now also a
much more able and determined combatant appeared in the arena, Joachim
Moerlin, who henceforth devoted his entire life to defeat Osiandrism
and to vindicate Luther's forensic view of justification.

Moerlin (Moehrlein) was born at Wittenberg April 6, 1514, he studied
under Luther and was made Master in 1537 and Doctor in 1540; till 1543
he was superintendent in Arnstadt, Thuringia, and superintendent in
Goettingen till 1549, when he was compelled to leave because of his
opposition to the Augsburg Interim. Recommended by Elizabeth Duchess of
Braunschweig-Lueneburg, the mother-in-law of Duke Albrecht, he was
appointed preacher at the Dome of Koenigsberg in 1550. Clearly
understanding that solid comfort in life and death is possible only as
long as our faith rests solely on the _aliena iustitia_, on the
objective righteousness of Christ, which is without us, and is offered
in the Gospel and received by faith; and fully realizing also that
Christian assurance is incompatible with such a doctrine as Osiander
taught, according to which our faith is to rely on a righteous condition
within ourselves, Moerlin publicly attacked Osiander from his pulpit,
and in every way emphasized the fact that his teaching could never be
tolerated in the Lutheran Church. Osiander replied in his lectures. The
situation thus created was most intolerable. At the command of the Duke
discussions were held between Moerlin and Osiander, but without result.

In order to settle the dispute, Duke Albrecht, accordingly, on October
5, 1551, placed the entire matter before the evangelical princes and
cities with the request that the points involved be discussed at the
various synods and their verdicts forwarded to Koenigsberg. This aroused
the general interest and the deepest concern of the entire Lutheran
Church in Germany. Numerous opinions of the various synods and
theologians arrived during the winter of 1551 to 1552. With the
exception of the Wuerttemberg _Response (Responsum)_, written by John
Brenz, and the _Opinion_ of Matthew Vogel, both of whom regarded
Osiander's teaching as differing from the doctrine received by the
Lutheran Church in terms and phrases rather than in substance, they were
unfavorable to Osiander. At the same time all, including the opinions of
Brenz and Vogel, revealed the fact that the Lutherans, the theologians
of Wittenberg as well as those of Jena, Brandenburg, Pomerania, Hamburg,
etc., were firmly united in maintaining Luther's doctrine, _viz._, that
the righteousness of faith is not the essential righteousness of the Son
of God, as Osiander held but the obedience of Christ the God-man imputed
by grace to all true believers as their sole righteousness before God.

Feeling safe under the protection of Duke Albrecht, and apparently not
in the least impressed by the general opposition which his innovations
met with at the hands of the Lutherans, Osiander continued the
controversy by publishing his _Proof (Beweisung) that for Thirty Years I
have Always Taught the Same Doctrine_. And irritated by an opinion of
Melanchthon (whom Osiander denounced as a pestilential heretic),
published with offensive explanations added by the Wittenbergers, he in
the same year (April, 1552) wrote his _Refutation (Widerlegung) of the
Unfounded, Unprofitable Answer of Philip Melanchthon_. In this
immoderate publication Osiander boasted that only the Philippian rabble,
dancing according to the piping of Melanchthon, was opposed to him.

Before long, however, also such opponents of the Philippists as Flacius,
Gallus, Amsdorf, and Wigand were prominently arraigned against Osiander.
Meanwhile (May 23, 1552) Moerlin published a large volume entitled:
_Concerning the Justification of Faith_. Osiander replied in his
_Schmeckbier_ of June 24 1552, a book as keen as it was coarse. In 1552
and 1553 Flacius issued no less than twelve publications against
Osiander, one of them bearing the title: _Zwo fuernehmliche Gruende
Osiandri verlegt, zu einem Schmeckbier_; another: _Antidotum auf
Osiandri giftiges Schmeckbier_. (Preger 2, 551)

When the controversy had just about reached its climax, Osiander died,
October 17, 1552. Soon after, the Duke enjoined silence on both parties,
and Moerlin was banished. He accepted a position as superintendent in
Brunswick, where he zealously continued his opposition to Osiandrism as
well as to other corruptions of genuine Lutheranism. At Koenigsberg the
Osiandrists continued to enjoy the protection and favor of Duke Albrecht
and gradually developed into a quasi-political party. The leader of the
small band was John Funck, the son-in-law of Osiander and the chaplain
of the Duke. In 1566, however, the king of Poland intervened, and Funck
was executed as a disturber of the public peace. Moerlin was recalled
and served as bishop of Samland at Koenigsberg from 1567 till his death
in 1571. The _Corpus Doctrinae Pruthenicum_, or _Borussicum_, framed by
Moerlin and Chemnitz and adopted 1567 at Koenigsberg, rejected the
doctrines of Osiander. Moerlin also wrote a history of Osiandrism
entitled: _Historia, welcher gestalt sich die Osiandrische Schwaermerei
im Lande zu Preussen erhaben_.

177. Corruptions Involved in Osiander's Teaching.

Osiander's theory of justification according to which the righteousness
of faith is the eternal, essential holiness of the divine nature of
Christ inhering and dwelling in man, consistently compelled him to
maintain that justification is not an act by which God declares a man
just, but an act by which He actually makes him inherently just and
righteous; that it is not an imputation of a righteousness existing
outside of man, but an actual infusion of a righteousness dwelling in
man; that it is not a mere acquittal from sin and guilt, but
regeneration, renewal, sanctification and internal, physical cleansing
from sin that it is not a forensic or judicial act outside of man or a
declaration concerning man's standing before God and his relation to
Him but a sort of medicinal process within man, that the righteousness
of faith is not the alien (strange, foreign) righteousness, _aliena
iustitia_ (a term employed also by Luther), consisting in the obedience
of Christ, but a quality, condition, or change effected in believers by
the essential righteousness of the divine nature dwelling in them
through faith in Christ; that faith does not justify on account of the
thing outside of man in which it trusts and upon which it relies, but
by reason of the thing which it introduces and produces in man; that,
accordingly, justification is never instantaneous and complete, but
gradual and progressive.

Osiander plainly teaches that the righteousness of faith (our
righteousness before God) is not the obedience rendered by Christ to the
divine Law, but the indwelling righteousness of God (_iustitia Dei
inhabitans_),--essentially the same original righteousness or image that
inhered in Adam and Eve before the Fall. It consists, not indeed in good
works or in "doing and suffering," but in a quality (_Art_) which
renders him who receives it just, and moves him to do and to suffer what
is right. It is the holiness (_Frommigkeit_) which consists in the
renewal of man, in the gifts of grace, in the new spiritual life, in the
regenerated nature of man. By His suffering and death, said Osiander,
Christ made satisfaction and acquired forgiveness for us, but He did not
thereby effect our justification. His obedience as such does not
constitute our righteousness before God, but merely serves to restore
it. It was necessary that God might be able to dwell in us, and so
become our life and righteousness. Faith justifies, not inasmuch as it
apprehends the merits of Christ, but inasmuch as it unites us with the
divine nature, the infinite essential righteousness of God, in which our
sins are diluted, as it were, and lost, as an impure drop disappears
when poured into an ocean of liquid purity.

According to the teaching of Osiander therefore, also the assurance that
we are justified and accepted by God does not rest exclusively on the
merits of Christ and the pardon offered in the Gospel, but must be based
on the righteous quality inhering in us. Our assurance is conditioned
not alone upon what Christ has done outside of us and for us but rather
upon what He is in us and produces in us. The satisfaction rendered by
Christ many centuries ago is neither the only ground on which God
regards us as just, nor a sufficient basis of our certainty that we are
accepted by God. Not the Christ for us, but rather the Christ in us, is
the basis both of our justification and assurance. Accordingly in order
to satisfy an alarmed sinner, it is not sufficient to proclaim the
Gospel-promise of divine absolution. In addition, an investigation is
required whether the righteousness and holiness of God is also really
found dwelling in him. While Luther had urged alarmed consciences to
trust in the merits of Christ alone for their justification and
salvation, Osiander led them to rely on the new life of divine wisdom,
holiness, and righteousness dwelling in their own hearts. From the very
beginning of the controversy, Moerlin, Melanchthon, and the Lutherans
generally were solicitous to point out that Osiander's doctrine robs
Christians of this glorious and only solid comfort that it is not a
subjective quality in their own hearts, but solely and only the
objective and absolutely perfect obedience rendered by Christ many
hundred years ago, which God regards when He justifies the wicked, and
upon which man must rely for the assurance of his acceptance and
salvation.

Consistently developed, therefore, the innovation of Osiander was bound
to vitiate in every particular the doctrine of justification restored
once more by Luther. In fact, his theory was but a revamping of just
such teaching as had driven the Lutherans out of the Church of Rome.
True, Osiander denied that by our own works we merit justification; that
our righteousness consists in our good works; that our good works are
imputed to us as righteousness. But the fact that he held a subjective
condition to be our righteousness before God gives to his doctrine an
essentially Roman stamp, no matter how widely it may differ from it in
other respects. Moehler, the renowned Catholic apologist, declared that
properly interpreted and illucidated, Osiander's doctrine was "identical
with the Roman Catholic doctrine." (Frank 2, 5. 91.) As stated before,
his teaching was Romanism in its finer and more veiled form of
mysticism.

178. Excerpts from Osiander's Writings.

In his publication of January 10, 1552 _Wider den lichtfluechtigen
Nachtraben_, Osiander endeavors to prove that he is in complete
doctrinal agreement with Luther. In it he gives the following summary,
but guarded, presentation of his views. "I understand it this way," says
he. "1. It flowed from His pure grace and mercy that God sacrificed His
only Son for us. 2. The Son became man and was made under the Law, and
He has redeemed us from the Law and from the curse of the Law. 3. He
took upon Himself the sins of the whole world, for which He suffered,
died, shed His blood, descended into hell, rose again, and thus overcame
sin, death, and hell, and merited for us forgiveness of sin,
reconciliation with God, the grace and gift of justification, and
eternal life. 4. This is to be preached in all the world. 5. Whoever
believes this and is baptized, is justified and blessed (_selig_) by
virtue of such faith. 6. Faith apprehends Christ so that He dwells in
our hearts through faith, Eph. 3, 17. 7. Christ, living in us through
faith, is our Wisdom, Righteousness, Holiness, and Redemption, 1 Cor. 1,
30, Jer. 23, 6; 33, 16. 8. Christ, true God and man, dwelling in us
through faith, is our Righteousness according to His divine nature, as
Dr. Luther says: 'I rely on the righteousness which is God Himself; this
He cannot reject. Such is, says Luther, the simple, correct
understanding; do not suffer yourself to be led away from it.'" (Frank
2, 7f.) Seeberg cites the following passage: "But if the question be
asked what is righteousness, one must answer: Christ dwelling in us by
faith is our Righteousness according to His divinity; and the
forgiveness of sins, which is not Christ Himself, but merited by Christ,
is a preparation and cause that God offers us His righteousness, which
He is Himself." (_Dogg_. 4, 498.) Incidentally Osiander's appeal to
Luther is unwarranted. For according to him Christ is our Righteousness
because His obedience is God's obedience, the work not only of His human
nature, but, at the same time, also of His divine nature, while
according to Osiander everything that Christ did for us merely serves to
bring about the indwelling of the divine nature of Christ, whose
essential holiness is our righteousness before God. That Osiander was
not in agreement with Luther, as he claimed, appears also from his
assertion that such statements of Luther as: Christ's death is our life,
forgiveness of sins is our righteousness, etc., must be explained
figuratively, as words flowing from a joyous heart. (2, 23.)

The manner in which Osiander maintained that Christ is our Righteousness
only according to His divine nature appears from the following excerpts:
"If the question be asked according to what nature Christ, His whole
undivided person, is our Righteousness, then just as when one asks
according to what nature He is the Creator of heaven and earth, the
clear, correct, and plain answer is that He is our Righteousness
according to His divine, and not according to His human nature, although
we are unable to find, obtain or apprehend such divine righteousness
apart from His humanity." (Frank 2, 12.) Again: "When we say: Christ is
our Righteousness, we must understand His deity, which enters us through
His humanity. When Christ says: I am the Bread of Life, we must
understand His deity which comes into us through His humanity and is our
life. When He says: My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink
indeed, we must take it to mean His deity which is in the flesh and
blood and is meat and drink for us. Thus, too, when John says, 1 John 1,
7: The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin, we must understand the
deity of Christ which is in the blood; for John does not speak of the
blood of Christ as it was shed on the cross, but as it, united with the
flesh of Christ, is our heavenly meat and drink by faith." (23.)
Osiander, therefore, is but consistent when he reiterates that the Son
of God, the Holy Spirit, and the Father are our Righteousness, because
their divine essence which by faith dwells in Christians, is one and the
same.

Osiander emphasizes that the essential righteousness of the divine
nature of Christ alone is able to save us. He says: "For of what help
would it be to you if you had all the righteousness which men and angels
can imagine, but lacked this eternal righteousness which is itself the
Son of God, according to His divine nature, with the Father and the Holy
Ghost? For no other righteousness can lift you up to heaven and bring
you to the Father. But when you apprehend this righteousness through
faith, and Christ is in you, what can you then be lacking which you do
not possess richly, superabundantly, and infinitely in His deity?"
Again: "Since Christ is ours and is in us, God Himself and all His
angels behold nothing in us but righteousness on account of the highest,
eternal, and infinite righteousness of Christ, which is His deity itself
dwelling in us. And although sin still remains in, and clings to, our
flesh, it is like an impure little drop compared with a great pure
ocean, and on account of the righteousness of Christ which is in us God
does not want to see it." (Frank 2, 100. 102.)

To this peculiarity of Osiander, according to which he seems to have had
in mind a justification by a sort of mystico-physical dilution rather
than by imputation, the _Formula of Concord_ refers as follows: "For one
side has contended that the righteousness of faith, which the apostle
calls the righteousness of God, is God's essential righteousness, which
is Christ Himself as the true, natural, and essential Son of God, who
dwells in the elect by faith and impels them to do right, and thus is
their righteousness, compared with which righteousness the sins of all
men are as a drop of water compared with the great ocean." (917, 2; 790,
2.)

In his confession _Concerning the Only Mediator_, of 1551, Osiander
expatiates on justification, and defines it as an act by which
righteousness is "infused" into believers. We read: "It is apparent that
whatever part Christ, as the faithful Mediator, acted with regard to
God, His heavenly Father, for our sakes, by fulfilling the Law and by
His suffering and death, was accomplished more than 1,500 years ago,
when we were not in existence. For this reason it cannot, properly
speaking, have been, nor be called, our justification, but only our
redemption and the atonement for us and our sins. For whoever would be
justified must believe; but if he is to believe, he must already be born
and live. Therefore Christ has not justified us who _now_ live and die;
but we are redeemed by it [His work 1,500 years ago] from God's wrath,
death, and hell.... This, however, is true and undoubted that by the
fulfilment of the Law and by His suffering and death He merited and
earned from God, His heavenly Father, this great and superabounding
grace, namely, that He not only has forgiven our sin and taken from us
the unbearable burden of the Law, but that He also _wishes to justify us
by faith in Christ, to infuse justification or the righteousness
(sondern auch uns durch den Glauben an Christum will rechtfertigen, die
Gerechtmachung eingiessen)_, and, if only we obey, through the operation
of His Holy Spirit and through the death of Christ, in which we are
embodied by the baptism of Christ, _to mortify, purge out, and entirely
destroy sin_ which is already forgiven us, but nevertheless still dwells
in our flesh and adheres to us. Therefore the _other part_ of the office
of our dear faithful Lord and Mediator Jesus Christ is now to turn
toward us in order to deal also with us poor sinners as with the guilty
party, that we acknowledge such great grace and gratefully receive it by
faith, _in order that He by faith may make us alive and just from the
death of sin, and that sin, which is already forgiven, but nevertheless
still dwells and inheres in our flesh, may be altogether mortified and
destroyed in us. And this, first of all, is the act of our
justification._" (Tschackert, 492f.; Planck 4, 268.)

That Osiander practically identified justification with regeneration,
renewal, and gradual sanctification appears from the following
quotations. To justify, says he, means "to make a just man out of an
unjust one, that is to recall a dead man to life--_ex impio iustum
facere, hoc est, mortuum ad vitam revocare._" (Seeberg 4, 499.) Again:
"Thus the Gospel further shows its power and also justifies us, _i.e._,
it makes us just, even as, and in the same degree as, He also makes us
alive (_eben und in aller Masse, wie er uns auch lebendig macht_)."
(Frank 2, 18.) "And here you see again how terribly those err who
endeavor to prove by this passage of David and Paul that our
righteousness is nothing else than forgiveness of sin; for they have
overlooked the covering of sin with the [essential] righteousness of
Christ whom we put on in Baptism; _they have also removed from
justification the renewal of the inner man effected by regeneration._"
(102.)

Osiander was fanatical in denouncing those who identified justification
with the forgiveness of sins. In his Disputation of October 24, 1550, he
declared: "The entire fulness of the deity dwells in Christ bodily,
hence in those also in whom Christ dwells.... Therefore we are just by
His essential righteousness.... Whoever does not hold this manner of our
justification is certainly a Zwinglian at heart, no matter what he may
confess with his mouth.... They also teach things colder than ice [who
hold] that we are regarded as righteous only on account of the
forgiveness of sins, and not on account of the [essential] righteousness
of Christ who dwells in us through faith. _Glacie frigidiora docent nos
tantum propter remissionem peccatorum reputari iustos, et non etiam
propter iustitiam Christi per fidem in nobis inhabitantis. Non enim tam
iniquus Deus est, ut eum pro iusto habeat, in quo verae iustitiae
prorsus nil est._" (Frank 2, 97; Tschackert, 494; Seeberg 4, 497.) They
are errorists, Osiander declared, "who say, teach, and write that the
righteousness is outside of us." (Frank 2, 100.) "The [essential]
righteousness of Christ is indeed, imputed to us, but only when it is in
us." "For God is not so unrighteous, nor such a lover of unrighteousness
that He regards him as just in whom there is absolutely nothing of the
true righteousness; as it is written, Ps. 5, 4: 'For Thou art not a God
that hath pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil dwell with Thee,'"
(Planck 4, 273.) Evidently, Osiander rejected or had never fully grasped
Paul's clear statement and teaching concerning the God who justifies the
ungodly, Rom. 4, 5: "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him
that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."

179. Attitude of Brenz and Melanchthon.

With the exception of Brenz and Vogel, who, as stated before, regarded
Osiander's doctrine as differing from the generally received view in
phraseology and mode of presentation rather than in substance, the
Lutherans everywhere were unanimous in rejecting Osiander's theory as a
recrudescence of the Romish justification not by imputation, but by
infusion. And as to Brenz, who put a milder construction on the
statements of Osiander, Melanchthon wrote October 1, 1557: "Concerning
the affair with Osiander, my writings are publicly known, which I hope
will be of benefit to many. Brenz also is agreed with us doctrinally. He
said he had advised peace, for he did not take Osiander's expressions to
be as dangerous as the opponents did, and for this reason could not as
yet condemn his person; but in doctrine he was agreed with us and would
unite in condemning Osiander if the charges made against him were
proved." Melanchthon himself fully realized the viciousness of
Osiander's error, although at the colloquy in Worms, 1557, he, too, was
opposed to condemning Osiandrism together with Zwinglianism, Majorism,
and Adiaphorism, as the theologians of Ducal Saxony demanded. (_C. R._
9, 311. 402.)

In May, 1551, Melanchthon wrote to Osiander that by the essential
righteousness of Christ renewal is effected in us, but that we have
forgiveness of sins and are reputed to be righteous on account of the
merit of Christ whose blood and death appeased the wrath of God. In his
confutation of the Osiandric doctrine, written in September, 1555, we
read: "Osiander's definition of righteousness is: Righteousness is that
which makes us do what is righteous.... Hence man is righteous by doing
what is righteous.... Thereupon Osiander, in order to say something also
concerning forgiveness of sins, tears remission of sins from
righteousness. He expressly declares that the sins are forgiven to all
men; Nero however, is damned because he does not possess the essential
righteousness; and this, he says, is God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit.... Osiander contends that man is just on account of the
indwelling of God, or on account of the indwelling God, not on account
of the obedience of the Mediator, not by the imputed righteousness of
the Mediator through grace. And he corrupts the proposition, 'By faith
we are justified,' into, By faith we are prepared that we may become
just by something else, _viz._, the inhabiting God. Thus he in reality
says what the Papists say: 'We are righteous by our renewal,' except
that he mentions the cause where the Papists mention the effect. _Ita re
ipsa dicit, quod Papistae dicunt, sumus iusti novitate, nisi quod
nominat causam, ubi nominant Papistae effectum_. We are just when God
renews us. He therefore detracts from the honor due to the Mediator,
obscures the greatness of sin, destroys the chief consolation of the
pious, and leads them into perpetual doubt. For faith cannot exist
unless it looks upon the promise of mercy concerning the Mediator. Nor
is there an inhabitation unless the consolation is received by this
faith. And it is a preposterous way of teaching that one is to believe
first the inhabitation, afterwards forgiveness of sins (_prius credere
inhabitationem, postea remissionem peccatorum_). Since therefore this
dogma of Osiander is both false and pernicious to consciences, it must
be shunned and damned." (_C. R._ 7, 781; 8, 579ff.)

In another essay, of September, 1556, signed also by Melanchthon, the
following propositions are rejected: 1. Man becomes righteous on
account of the essential righteousness. 2. Man becomes righteous on
account of the essential righteousness of God the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. 3. Man becomes righteous before God on account of the indwelling
of God. 4. Righteousness consists in the indwelling of Christ, on
account of which God imputes righteousness to us.... 5. Nor must one say
there are two or more parts of justification: faith, inhabitation, good
works, etc. For justification before God is to receive forgiveness of
sins and to become acceptable to God on account of Christ.... 6. This
proposition, too, is false: The regenerate after the Fall are righteous
in the same manner as Adam was before the Fall, namely, not by
imputation, but by inhabitation or original righteousness.... 8. It is
also false when some say we are righteous by faith, namely, in a
preparative way in order afterwards to be righteous by the essential
righteousness. At bottom this is Popish and destructive of faith.... 9.
The following propositions must be rejected altogether: The obedience of
Christ is called righteousness in a tropical sense; Christ justifies
accidentally (_per accidens_). (_C. R._ 8, 561f.; 9, 3l9. 451. 455.
457.)

180. Osiander's Views on Image of God.

Osiander's corruption of the doctrine of justification was closely
connected with his peculiar view concerning the image of God (the
central idea of his entire system), of which, however, he declared that
he did not consider it essential, and would not contend with anybody
about it. Nor were the questions involved disputed to any extent or
dealt with in the _Formula of Concord_. As to Osiander, however, the
train of his thoughts runs as follows:--

The Logos, the divine Word, is the image of God, into whom His entire
essence flows in a manner and process eternal. In a temporal and
historical way the same image is destined to be realized in the nature
of man. Divine essential righteousness indwelling and efficacious in
humanity--such was the eternal plan of God. For the realization of this
purpose the Logos, God's image, was to become man, even if the human
race should not have fallen. This was necessary because in finite man
there is absolutely no similarity with the infinite essence of the
non-incarnate Logos. Without the incarnation, therefore, this infinite
dissimilarity would have remained forever (_esset et maneret simpliciter
infinita dissimilitudo inter hominem et Verbum Dei_). And in order that
man might be capable of God and share His divine nature (_capax Dei et
divinae naturae consors_), God created him according to His image;
_i.e._, according to the idea of the incarnate Logos. "God formed the
body of man," said Osiander, "that it should be altogether like unto the
future body of Christ. Thereupon He breathed into it the breath of life,
_i.e._, a rational soul together with the human spirit, adorned with the
proper powers, in such a manner that it, too, should be like unto the
future soul of Christ in everything." (Frank 2, 104.)

In the incarnate Logos, however, according to whom man was created,
humanity and divinity are personally united. When the Word was made
flesh, the divine essence was imparted to His human nature. And Christ,
in turn, imparts the same essence to all who by faith are one with Him.
From eternity the incarnate Word was destined to be the head of the
congregation in order that the essential righteousness of God might flow
from Him into His body, the believers. Before the Fall the Son of God
dwelled in Adam, making him just by God's essential righteousness. By
the Fall this righteousness was lost. Hence the redemption and atonement
of Christ were required in order again to pave the way for the renewal
of the lost image or the indwelling of God's essential righteousness in
man. The real source of this righteousness and divine life in man,
however, is not the human, but the divine nature of Christ. In the
process of justification or of making man righteous, the human nature of
Christ merely serves as a medium, or as it were, a canal, through which
the eternal essential wisdom, holiness, and righteousness of Christ's
divine nature flows into our hearts.

Christ, the "inner Word" (John 1), says Osiander, approaches man in the
"external Word" (the words spoken by Jesus and His apostles), and
through it enters the believing soul. For through Word, Sacrament, and
faith we are united with His humanity. In the Lord's Supper, for
instance, we become the flesh and blood of Christ, just as we draw the
nourishment out of natural food and transform it into our flesh and
blood. And since the humanity of Christ, with which we become one in the
manner described, is personally united with the deity, it imparts to us
also the divine essence, and, as a result, we, too, are the abode of the
essential righteousness of God. "We cannot receive the divine nature
from Christ," says Osiander, "if we are not embodied in Him by faith and
Baptism, thus becoming flesh and blood and bone of His flesh, blood, and
bone." As the branches could not partake of the nature of the vine if
they were not of the wood of the vine, even so we could not share the
divine nature of Christ if we had not, incorporated in Him by faith and
Baptism, become flesh, blood, and bone of His flesh, blood, and bone.
Accordingly, as Christ's humanity became righteous through the union
with God, the essential righteousness which moved Him to obedience
toward God, thus we also become righteous through our union with Christ
and in Him with God. (Frank 2, 104. 20ff.; Seeberg 4, 497f.)

In view of such speculative teaching, in which justification is
transformed into a sort of mystico-physical process, it is not
surprising that the charge of pantheism was also raised against
Osiander. The theologians of Brandenburg asserted that he inferred from
his doctrine that the believers in Christ are also divine persons,
because the Father, Son and Holy Ghost dwell in them essentially. But
Osiander protested: "Creatures we are and creatures we remain, no matter
how wonderfully we are renewed; but the seed of God and the entire
divine essence which is in us by grace in the same manner as it is in
Christ by nature and remains eternally in us (_das also aus Gnaden in
uns ist wie in Christo von Natur und bleibt ewiglich in uns_) is God
Himself, and no creature, and will not become a creature in us or on
account of us but will eternally remain in us true God." Frank says
concerning the doctrine of Osiander: It is not pantheism or a mixture of
the divine and human nature, "but it is a subjectivism by which the
objective foundation of salvation as taught by the Lutheran Church is
rent to the very bottom. It is a mysticism which transforms the Christ
_for us_ into the Christ _in us_, and, though unintentionally, makes the
consciousness of the _inhabitatio essentialis iustitiae_ (indwelling of
the essential righteousness) the basis of peace with God." (2, 19. 10.
13. 95. 103.) In his teaching concerning the image of God and
justification, Osiander replaced the comforting doctrine of the Bible
concerning the substitutionary and atoning work of Christ in His active
and passive obedience unto death with vain philosophical speculations
concerning divinity and humanity or the two natures of Christ. It was
not so very far beside the mark, therefore, when Justus Menius
characteized his theory as "a new alchmistic theology." (Planck 4, 257.)

181. Error of Stancarus.

The Stancarian dispute was incidental to the Osiandric conflict. Its
author was Francesco Stancaro (born in Mantua, 1501), an Italian
ex-priest, who had emigrated from Italy on account of his Protestant
views. Vain, opinionated, haughty, stubborn, and insolent as he was, he
roamed about, creating trouble wherever he appeared, first in Cracow as
professor of Hebrew, 1551 in Koenigsberg then in Frankfort-on-the-Oder,
next at various places in Poland, Hungary, and Transylvania. He died at
Stobnitz, Poland, November 12, 1574. Stancarus treated all of his
opponents as ignoramuses and spoke contemptuously of Luther and
Melanchthon, branding the latter as an antichrist. In Koenigsberg he
immediately felt called upon to interfere in the controversy which had
just flared up. He opposed Osiander in a fanatical manner, declaring
him to be the personal antichrist. The opponents of Osiander at
Koenigsberg however, were not elated over his comradeship, particularly
because he fell into an opposite error. They were glad when he resigned
and left for Frankfort the same year he had arrived at Koenigsberg. In
Frankfort, Stancarus continued the controversy, publishing, 1552, his
_Apology against Osiander--Apologia contra Osiandrum_. But he was
ignored rather than opposed by the Lutheran theologians. In 1553
Melanchthon wrote his _Answer (Responsio) Concerning Stancar's
Controversy_. Later on, 1561, when Stancarus was spreading his errors in
Poland, Hungary, and Transylvania, Calvin and the ministers of Zurich
also wrote against him. The chief publication in which Stancarus set
forth and defended his views appeared 1562, at Cracow, under the title:
_Concerning the Trinity (De Trinitate) and the Mediator, Our Lord Jesus
Christ_. As late as 1585 Wigand published his book _Concerning
Stancarism--De Stancarismo_.

Stancarus had been trained in scholastic theology and was a great
admirer of Peter Lombard. In his book _De Trinitate et Mediatore_ he
says: "One Peter Lombard is worth more than a hundred Luthers, two
hundred Melanchthons, three hundred Bullingers, four hundred Peter
Martyrs, five hundred Calvins out of whom, if they were all brayed in a
mortar, not one drop of true theology would be squeezed. _Plus valet
unus Petrus Lombardus quam centum Lutheri, ducenti Melanchthones,
trecenti Bullingeri, quadringenti Petri Martyres et quingenti Calvini,
qui omnes, si in mortario contunderentur, non exprimeretur una mica
verae theologiae._" (J. G. Walch, _Religionsstreitigkeiten_ 4, 177.)

Concerning Christ's obedience Peter Lombard taught: "_Christus Mediator
dicitur secundum humanitatem, non secundum divinitatem.... Mediator est
ergo, in quantum homo, et non in quantum Deus_. Christ is called
Mediator according to His humanity, not according to His divinity.... He
is therefore Mediator inasmuch as He is man, and not inasmuch as He is
God." (Planck 4, 451; Seeberg 4, 507.) In accordance with this teaching,
Stancarus maintained, in pointed opposition to Osiander, that Christ is
our Righteousness only according to His human nature, and not according
to His divine nature. The divine nature of Christ, Stancarus declared
must be excluded from the office of Christ's mediation and priesthood;
for if God the Son were Mediator and would do something which the Father
and the Holy Spirit could not do, then He would have a will and an
operation and hence also a nature and essence different from that of the
Father and the Holy Spirit. He wrote: "Christ, God and man, is Mediator
[and Redeemer] only according to the other nature, namely, the human,
not according to the divine; Christ made satisfaction for us according
to His human nature, but not according to His divine nature; according
to His divine nature Christ was not under the Law, was not obedient unto
death, etc." (Frank 2, 111.) Stancarus argued: "Christ is one God with
the Father and the Holy Spirit. Apart from the three personal properties
of '_paternitas, filiatio, and spiratio passiva_' the three divine
persons are absolutely identical in their being and operation. Their
work is the sending of the Mediator, whose divine nature itself, in an
active way, participates in this sending; hence only the human nature of
the God-man is sent, and only the human nature of the Mediator acts in a
reconciling way. Men are reconciled by Christ's death on the cross; but
the blood shed on the cross and death are peculiar to the human nature,
not to the divine nature; hence we are reconciled by the human nature of
Christ only, and not by His divine nature (_ergo per naturam humanam
Christi tantum sumus reconciliati et non per divinam_)." (Schluesselburg
9, 216ff.)

Consistently, the Stancarian doctrine destroys both the unity of the
person of Christ and the sufficiency of His atonement. It not only
corrupts the doctrine of the infinite and truly redeeming value of the
obedience of the God-man, but also denies the personal union of the
divine and human natures in Christ. For if the divine nature is excluded
from the work of Christ, then it must be excluded also from His person,
since works are always acts of a person. And if it was a mere human
nature that died for us, then the price of our redemption is altogether
inadequate, and we are not redeemed, as Luther so earnestly emphasized
against Zwingli. (CONC. TRIGL. 1028, 44.) True, Stancarus protested:
"Christ is Mediator according to the human nature only; this exclusive
'only' does not exclude the divine nature from the person of Christ, but
from His office as Mediator." (Frank 2, 111.) However, just this was
Luther's contention, that Christ is our Mediator also according to His
divine nature, and that the denial of this truth both invalidates His
satisfaction and divides His person.

The Third Article of the _Formula of Concord_, therefore, rejects the
error of Stancarus as well as that of Osiander. Against the latter it
maintains that the active and passive obedience of Christ is our
righteousness before God: and over against the former, that this
obedience was the act of the entire person of Christ, and not of His
human nature alone. We read: "In opposition to both these parties
[Osiander and Stancarus] 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, through His
complete obedience; that therefore the righteousness of faith is the
forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and our adoption as God's
children only on account of the obedience of Christ, which through faith
alone, out of pure grace is imputed for righteousness to all true
believers, and on account of it they are absolved from all their
unrighteousness." (917, 4.)

182. Deviations of Parsimonious and Hamburg Ministers.

In 1563 a collateral controversy concerning the obedience of Christ was
raised by Parsimonius (George Karg). He was born 1512; studied under
Luther in Wittenberg; 1547 he became pastor in Schwabach, and 1556
superintendent in Ansbach; 1563 he was deposed because of erroneous
theses published in that year; he was opposed by Hesshusius and Ketzmann
in Ansbach; 1570, having discussed his difference with the theologians
in Wittenberg, Karg retracted and was restored to his office; he died
1576. In his theses on justification Parsimonius deviated from the
Lutheran doctrine by teaching that Christ redeemed us by His passive
obedience only, and by denying that His active obedience had any
vicarious merit, since as man He Himself owed such obedience to the Law
of God,--a view afterwards defended also by such Reformed divines as
John Piscator, John Camero, and perhaps Ursinus. (Schaff 1, 274.)

Over against this error the _Formula of Concord_ explains and declares:
"Therefore the righteousness which is imputed to faith or to the
believer out of pure grace is the obedience suffering, and resurrection
of Christ, since He has made satisfaction for us to the Law, and paid
for our sins. For since Christ is not man alone, but God and man in one
undivided person, He was as little subject to the Law (because He is the
Lord of the Law) as He had to suffer and die as far as His person is
concerned. For this reason, then, His obedience, not only in suffering
and dying, but also in this, that He in our stead was voluntarily made
under the Law and fulfilled it by this obedience, is imputed to us for
righteousness, so that, on account of this complete obedience which He
rendered His heavenly Father for us, by doing and suffering, in living
and dying, God forgives our sins, regards us as godly and righteous, and
eternally saves us." (919, 16.)--

In their zealous opposition to the doctrine of Osiander according to
which the indwelling essential holiness of the divine nature of Christ
is our righteousness before God, also the Hamburg ministers went a step
too far in the opposite direction. They denied, or at any rate seemed to
deny, the indwelling of the Holy Trinity as such in believers. In their
_Response (Responsio)_ of 1552 they declared: "God is said to dwell
where He is present by His grace and benevolence, where He gives the
Word of His grace, and reveals His promises concerning His mercy and the
remission of sins, where He works by His Spirit, etc." (Frank 2, 107.)
Again: "That His indwelling pertains to His efficacy and operation
appears from many passages which describe without a figure the efficacy
and operation of Christ and of the Holy Spirit dwelling in believers."
"The dwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers signifies that they are
led by the Spirit of God." "But it cannot be proved by the Scripture
that the fulness of God dwells bodily in us as it dwells in Christ
Jesus. The inhabitation of God in us is a matter of grace, not of
nature; of gift, not of property." (107.)

In 1551 Melanchthon had written: "It must be admitted that God dwells in
our hearts, not only in such a manner that He there is efficacious,
though not present with His own essence, but that He is both present and
efficacious. A personal union, however, does not take place in us, but
God is present in us in a separable manner as in a separable domicile."
(_C. R._ 7, 781.) This was the view of the Lutheran theologians
generally. Article III of the _Formula of Concord_, too, is emphatic in
disavowing a personal union of the deity and humanity in believers, as
well as in asserting that God Himself, not merely His gifts, dwell in
Christians. (935, 54; 937, 65.) In addition to the aberrations
enumerated, Article III rejects also some of the Roman and the
Romanizing errors concerning justification in the Leipzig Interim, and
some views entertained by Majorists which are extensively and _ex
professo_ dealt with in Article IV. (CONC. TRIGL. 917, 5.)
58. (�5 3 � H�� 6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'> 
278. The Swabian-Saxon Concordia.

On March 22, 1574, Andreae sent the _Swabian Concordia_ to Duke Julius
and Chemnitz with the request to examine it and to have it discussed in
the churches of Lower Saxony. On the twelfth of May the Duke ordered
Chemnitz to prepare an opinion on the book and to present it to the
clergy for their examination and approval. Under the leadership of
Chemnitz numerous conferences were held, and the various criticisms
offered led to a revision of the document. This work was begun in April,
1575, by the theological faculty of Rostock. Apart from numerous changes
and additions everywhere, the articles on Free Will and on the Lord's
Supper were completely remodeled by Chytraeus and Chemnitz.

The new confession, known as the _Swabian [Lower] Saxon Concordia_, was
subscribed by the theologians and pastors of the duchies of Brunswick,
Mecklenburg, Mansfeld, Hoya, and Oldenburg. It acknowledges as its
doctrinal basis the Holy Scriptures, the three Ecumenical Creeds, the
_Augsburg Confession_, its _Apology_, the _Smalcald Articles_, and
Luther's two Catechisms. It discusses the following articles in the
following order: 1. Of Original Sin; 2. Of the Person of Christ; 3. Of
the Righteousness of Faith before God; 4. Of Good Works, 5. Of the Law
and the Gospel; 6. Of the Third Use of the Law of God; 7. Of the Holy
Supper; 8. Of God's Eternal Providence and Election; 9. Of Church Usages
which are Called Adiaphora or Things Indifferent; 10. Of Free Will or
Human Powers; 11. Of Other Factions and Sects which have Never
Acknowledged the _Augsburg Confession_.

While this new _Concordia_ was adopted in Lower Saxony, the Swabians, to
whom it was forwarded, September 5, 1575, were not quite satisfied with
its form, but did not object to its doctrinal contents. They criticized
the unevenness of its style, its frequent use of Latin technical terms,
its quotations (now approved, now rejected) from Melanchthon, etc.
Particularly regarding the last mentioned point they feared that the
references to Melanchthon might lead to new dissensions; hence they
preferred that citations be taken from Luther's writings only, which was
done in the _Formula of Concord_ as finally adopted.

279. The Maulbronn Formula.

The movement for a general unity within the Lutheran Church received a
powerful impetus by the sudden and ignominious collapse of
Crypto-Calvinism in Electoral Saxony, 1574. By unmasking the
Philippists, God had removed the chief obstacle of a godly and general
peace among the Lutherans. Now the clouds of dissension began to
disappear rapidly. As long as the eyes of Elector August were closed to
the dishonesty of his theologians, there was no hope for a peace
embracing the entire Lutheran Church in Germany. Even before the public
exposure of the Philippists, August had been told as much by Count
Henneberg and other princes, _viz._, that the Wittenberg theologians
were universally suspected, and that peace could not be established
until their Calvinistic errors had been condemned. For in the doctrines
of the Lord's Supper and of the person of Christ, as has been shown in
the chapter on the Crypto-Calvinistic Controversy, the Philippists of
Electoral Saxony and of other sections of Germany were Calvinists rather
than Lutherans. It was the appearance of the Calvinistic _Exegesis
Perspicua_ of 1574 which left no doubt in the mind of the Elector that
for years he had been surrounded by a clique of dishonest theologians
and unscrupulous schemers, who, though claiming to be Lutherans, were
secret adherents of Calvinism. And after the Elector, as Chemnitz
remarks, had discovered the deception of his theologians in the article
on the Lord's Supper, he began to doubt their entire contention.
(Richard, 426.)

Among Lutherans generally the humiliating events in Saxony increased the
feeling of shame at the conditions prevailing within their Church as
well as the earnest desire for a genuine and lasting peace in the old
Lutheran truths. And now Elector August, who, despite his continued
animosity against Flacius, always wished to be a true Lutheran, but up
to 1574 had not realized that the Philippistic type of doctrine dominant
in his country departed from Luther's teaching, was determined to
satisfy this universal longing for unity and peace. Immediately after
the unmasking of the Philippists he took measures to secure the
restoration of orthodox Lutheranism in his own lands. At the same time
he placed himself at the head of the larger movement for the
establishment of religious peace among the Lutherans generally by the
elaboration and adoption of a doctrinal formula settling the pending
controversies. To restore unity and peace to the Lutheran Church, which
his own theologians had done so much to disturb, was now his uppermost
desire. He prosecuted the plan of pacification with great zeal and
perseverance. He also paid the heavy expenses (80,000 gulden), incurred
by the numerous conventions, etc. And when, in the interest of such
peace and unity, the theologians were engaged in conferences the pious
Elector and his wife were on their knees, asking God that He would crown
their labor with success.

The specific plan of the Elector was as appears from his rescript of
November 21, 1575, to his counselors, that pacific theologians,
appointed by the various Lutheran princes "meet in order to deliberate
how, by the grace of God, all [the existing various _corpora doctrinae_]
might be reduced to one _corpus_ which we all could adopt, and that this
book or _corpus doctrinae_ be printed anew and the ministers in the
lands of each ruler be required to be guided thereby." Before this
Elector August had requested Count George Ernest of Henneberg to take
the initiative in the matter. Accordingly, in November, 1575 Henneberg,
Duke Ludwig of Wuerttemberg and Margrave Carl of Baden agreed to ask a
number of theologians to give their opinion concerning the question as
to how a document might be prepared which would serve as a beginning to
bring about true Christian concord among the churches of the _Augsburg
Confession_. The theologians appointed were the Wuerttemberg
court-preacher Lucas Osiander (born 1534; died 1604), the Stuttgart
provost Balthasar Bidembach (born 1533; died 1578) and several
theologians of Henneberg and Baden. Their opinion, delivered November
14, 1575, was approved by the princes, and Osiander and Bidembach were
ordered to prepare a formula of agreement in accordance with it. The
document which they submitted was discussed with theologians from
Henneberg and Baden at Cloister Maulbronn, Wuerttemberg and subscribed
January 19, 1576.

The _Maulbronn Formula_, as the document was called, differs from the
_Swabian-Saxon Concordia_ in being much briefer (about half as
voluminous), in avoiding technical Latin terms, in making no reference
whatever to Melanchthon, in quoting from Luther's works only, and in
omitting such doctrinal points (Anabaptism, Schwenckfeldianism,
Antitrinitarianism, etc.) as had not been controverted among the
Lutherans. Following the order of the _Augustana_, this _Formula_ treats
the following articles. 1. Of Original Sin; 2. Of the Person of Christ;
3. Of Justification of Faith 4. Of the Law and Gospel; 5. Of Good Works;
6. Of the Holy Supper of Our Lord Christ; 7. Of Church Usages, Called
Adiaphora or Things Indifferent; 8. Of Free Will; 9. Of the Third Use of
God's Law.

280. The Torgau Book.

On February 9, 1576, the _Maulbronn Formula_, approved by Count Ludwig
of Wuerttemberg, Margrave Carl of Baden, and Count George Ernest of
Henneberg, was transmitted to Elector August, who had already received a
copy of the Swabian-Saxon Concordia from Duke Julius of Brunswick. The
Elector submitted both to Andreae for an opinion, whom formal reasons
induced to decide in favor of the _Maulbronn Formula_. At the same time
Andreae advised the Elector to arrange a general conference of prominent
theologians to act and decide in this matter, suggesting as two of its
members Chemnitz and Chytraeus of Rostock. This being in agreement with
his own plans, the Elector, at the convention at Lichtenberg, February
15, 1576 submitted the suggestions of Andreae to twelve of his own
theologians, headed by Nicholas Selneccer, then professor in Leipzig.
[Selneccer was born December 6, 1530. In 1550 he took up his studies in
Wittenberg, where he was much impressed and influenced by Melanchthon.
In 1557 he was appointed court-preacher in Dresden. Beginning with 1565
after the banishment of Flacius and his colleagues, he was professor in
Jena. He returned to Leipzig in 1568. In 1570 he accepted a call from
Duke Julius as court-preacher and superintendent in Brunswick, but
returned to Leipzig in 1574. Before the unmasking of the
Crypto-Calvinists his theological attitude lacked clearness and
determination. Ever after, however, he was the leader of the Lutheran
forces in Electoral Saxony. At the Lichtenberg Convention, convoked
February 16, 1576, by Elector August, Selneccer successfully advocated
the removal of the Wittenberg Catechism, the _Consensus Dresdensis_, and
the _Corpus Philippicum_. In their place he recommended the adoption of
a new _corpus doctrinae_ containing the three Ecumenical Creeds, the
_Unaltered Augsburg Confession_, the _Apology_, the _Smalcald Articles_,
the Catechisms of Luther, and, if desired, Luther's _Commentary on
Galatians_. Finally he advised that the electors and princes arrange a
convention of such representative theologians as, _e.g._, Chytraeus,
Chemnitz, Andreae, and Marbach, to discuss the doctrinal differences.
Selneccer's recommendations were adopted by the convention and
transmitted to Elector August. Though contributing little to the
contents of the _Formula of Concord_, Selneccer heartily cooperated in
its preparation, revision, and adoption. In 1580, of his own accord, he
published the Latin _Book of Concord_, which was followed in 1584 by an
edition authorized by the princes. Selneccer also participated in
preparing the _Apology of the Book of Concord_, first published 1582 in
Magdeburg. In May, 1589, after the Crypto-Calvinistic reaction under
Christian I, Selneccer, whom the Calvinists hated more than others of
the theologians who had participated in the promulgation of the _Formula
of Concord_, was deposed, harassed, and reduced to poverty because of
his testimony against Chancellor Crell and his earnest and continued
warnings against the Calvinists. After the death of Christian I,
Selneccer was recalled to Leipzig, where he arrived May 19, 1592, five
days before his death, May 24, 1592.]

Having through the influence of Selneccer, at Lichtenberg, obtained the
consent of his clergy to his plans of unification, and, also in
accordance with their desire, called Andreae to Saxony, Elector August
immediately made arrangements for the contemplated general convention of
theologians. It was held at Torgau, from May 28 to June 7, 1576, and
attended by Selneccer, the Saxon ministers who had participated in the
Lichtenberg convention, Andreae, Chemnitz, Andrew Musculus [General
Superintendent of Brandenburg], Christopher Cornerus [professor in
Frankfurt-on-the-Oder; born 1518; died 1549], and David Chytraeus [born
February 26, 1530, in Wuerttemberg; awarded degree of magister in
Tuebingen when only fourteen years old; began his studies 1544 in
Wittenberg, where he also heard Luther; was professor in Rostock from
1551 till his death, June 25, 1600]. The result of the Torgau
deliberations, in which much time was spent on the articles of Original
Sin and Free Will, was the so-called _Torgau Book_. On the seventh of
June the theologians informed the Elector that, on the basis of the
Swabian-Saxon and the Maulbronn documents, they, as desired by him, had
agreed on a _corpus doctrinae_.

The _Torgau Book_ was essentially the _Swabian-Saxon Concordia_, recast
and revised, as urged by Andreae, with special reference to the
desirable features (enumerated above) of the _Maulbronn Formula_. The
majority decided, says Chemnitz, that the Saxon Concordia should be
retained, but in such a manner as to incorporate also the quotations
from Luther, and whatever else might be regarded as useful in the
_Maulbronn Formula_. The _Torgau Book_ contained the twelve articles of
the later _Formula of Concord_ and in the same sequence; Article IX, "Of
the Descent of Christ into Hell," had been added at Torgau. The Book was
entitled: "_Opinion_ as to how the dissensions prevailing among the
theologians of the _Augsburg Confession_ may, according to the Word of
God, be agreed upon and settled in a Christian manner." It was signed as
"their faith, doctrine, and confession" by the six men who were chiefly
responsible for its form and contents: Jacob Andreae, Martin Chemnitz,
Nicholas Selneccer, David Chytraeus, Andrew Musculus, and Christopher
Cornerus. The convention was closed with a service of thanksgiving to
Almighty God for the blessed results of their labors and the happy
termination and favorable issue of their discussions, Selneccer
delivering the sermon. Similar services were held at other places,
notably in Mecklenburg and Lower Saxony.

In a letter to Hesshusius, Chemnitz says concerning the Torgau
Convention: "Everything in this entire transaction occurred aside from,
beyond, above, and contrary to the hope, expectation, and thought of
all. I was utterly astounded, and could scarcely believe that these
things were done when they were done. It seemed like a dream to me.
certainly a good happy and desired beginning has been made toward the
restoration of purity of doctrine, toward the elimination of
corruptions, toward the establishment of a godly confession." In a
letter of July 24, 1576, to Hesshusius and Wigand, Andreae wrote in a
similar vein, saying: "Often were they [Chemnitz and Chytraeus] almost
overwhelmed with rejoicing and wonder that we were there [at Torgau]
brought to such deliberation. Truly, this is the change of the right
hand of the Most High, which ought also to remind us that since the
truth no longer suffers, we should do everything that may contribute to
the restoration of good feeling." (Richard, 428. 430.)