Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Professor Loy - Columbus, Ohio - On the Chief Article



In this paragraph, Prof. Loy is introducing his discussion of Article IV of the Augsburg Confession:
This fourth article of our Confession sets forth in words of admirable simplicity the doctrine of the Gospel which lay at the foundation of the whole glorious work of the Reformation, and which Luther rightly pronounced the article of a standing or a falling Church, meaning that this truth of the sinner’s justification by faith is the final test of the Christian Church, the departure from which would indicate its fall from grace and from Christ and thus manifest its apostasy from the truth which our Lord revealed and to which He came as the King of Zion to bear witness. Our teachers have accordingly always insisted upon this as the criterion of evangelical fidelity, and refused fellowship with any Church or party that denied, or even ignored, the fundamental import of this precious truth. How could they do otherwise, seeing that this doctrine involves the whole counsel of God for the salvation of all men, whom sin has brought under condemnation and for whom no salvation is possible save through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. The entire cause of Christianity depends on the maintenance of this article in its evangelical purity.
From From Loy, Matthias. The Augsburg confession: An Introduction To Its Study And An Exposition Of Its Contents Columbus, Ohio: Lutheran Book Concern, 1908.