Article IV Augsburg which reads,
…men are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, hath made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight. Romans 3 and 4.
Luther has written: ‘If only this article remains in view pure, the Christian Church also remains pure, and is harmonious and without all sects; but if it do not remain pure, it is not possible to resist any error or any fanatical spirit.’… If we should read the whole Augsburg Confession even in a cursory way, we should be impressed with the fact that the leading principle in every direction was to reform whatever tended to obscure the precious doctrine of justification by faith.
As it is written in our Sunday service, “Go in peace. Your sins are forgiven.”
