BWC3f: Regeneration/Conversion: against synergism, even of Lutherans

      This continues from Part BWC3e in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. — This segment concludes Chapter III, then introduces Chapter IV, Regeneration and Conversion. — Also we begin to see the importance of Walther's added quotes, as he uses these to correct Baier's and his father-in-law Museaus's synergistic tendencies. — From pages 168-240: 

Notable Quotes: (Italics follow the original. All quotes not from Baier are from Walther's additions of quotes from third parties. Authors are indicated in bold text. Red text indicates my comments.)

168: Gerhard: "our theologians on this question is that faith alone justifies, yet it is not alone, that is, it is not separated from charity and other good works"

168: Luther: "For they [Sophists/Papists] say that faith…does not justify unless it is informed by charity,"

170: Luther: "Therefore, when they [Papists] attribute justification to faith only because of charity, they attribute nothing at all to faith.…Let the sophists therefore go to hell with their impious and pestilent gloss." [See this blog post.]

172: Smalcald Articles: "For the Holy Spirit does not let sin reign and gain the upper hand…but rather restrains and prevents it from doing what it wants. But if it does what it wants, then the Holy Spirit and faith are not present"

173: Gerhard: "they [Papists] also say faith can exist alone without good works…Hence, they decree fornicating believers, adulterous believers, stealing believers, avaricious believers, drunkards, blasphemers, etc., as the Council of Trent, Session 6, chapter 15, decrees" [Notwithstanding "Catholic Answers", on James 2:24, tries to negate Trent which stated that faith isn't lost with "every mortal sin".]

176: Gerhard: "These are the words of the blessed Luther, which are drawn from the theological rule: 'Faith alone justifies,' although it is never alone, that is, separated from good works."

[Chapter IV. Of Regeneration and Conversion]

179: Huelsemann: "vivification and regeneration are nowhere said to happen day by day…but in an instant there is a translation from death to life, namely, a spiritual one"

180: "Regeneration, strictly speaking, signifies nothing other than conversion or the very gift of faith."

184: Brenz: "The Gentiles (Acts 10) are manifestly proven to have been regenerated by faith and renewed by the Holy Spirit even before baptism… it was nevertheless necessary to obey the ordinance [Baptism].

185: Dannhauer quoting Ae. Hunnius: "For although they were first converted and regenerated through the hearing of the Word, nevertheless that gift of regeneration was wonderfully increased and enriched in them through baptism."

186: "But concerning these [those who have lost their faith], it should be noted that if they are to be regenerated again, baptism is not to be repeated on that account, but they are to be brought to repentance through the word of the law and the gospel" [This was my situation.]

188: "it must by no means be held that natural powers, and the acts depending on them, contribute anything effectively to the production or acquisition of faith."

189: Luther: "…one should therefore say first, that they are all dead…it helps nothing to obtain forgiveness of sins, until they are born again and become new men"

189: Quenstedt: "because the Galatians had been regenerated through Paul, but having been seduced by the pseudo-apostles, they had lost the grace of regeneration…Adam, Lot, David, Peter, who all lost the grace of regeneration by sinning, yet recovered … through the Word of God"

190: Quenstedt: "Calvinists, who oppose the loss of the grace of regeneration and νίοθεσίας (adoption), and hold that the repetition of regeneration is absurd"

192: Huelsemann: "the Formula of Concord…teaches that the conversion of a man to God is the work of the Holy Spirit alone, to which the will of the man being converted contributes nothing"

198: "since Scripture teaches no satisfaction to God acceptable or valid in itself other than that of Christ, … by which one is first brought to Christ the Mediator, and through Him further to God, being reconciled by the merit of Christ"

199: "the flesh, even in the converted, still lusts against the Spirit, Galatians 5:17, which would not happen if the evil concupiscence had been or could be entirely expelled."

 202: Quenstedt against Johann Musaeus's synergism [see Pieper I, II]: "rightly responds Dr. Calov…Certainly, where such motions [good motions, holy thought, pious desire] are present, man is raised from death, and already lives a spiritual life, and consequently is converted." [Walther keeps Baier's synergism in check.]

203: Quenstedt: "The preparation has its own degrees and occurs successively; the translation itself from the state of wrath to the state of grace, however, happens in an instant and in a moment"

209: Kromayer: "a distinction must be made between ecclesiastical and spiritual actions. Ecclesiastical actions are, for example: reading the word of God, going to church, hearing sacred sermons, and indeed with attention; spiritual ones are, for example: believing the divine word, believing that Christ died for one, etc. The former are still in our own hands; the latter, however, are not."

211: Dannhauer: "‘If,’ says Gerhard, ‘new obedience is established as an essential part of conversion, there will be no firm promise of reconciliation with God and of the remission of sins, because our reconciliation with God and the remission of sins will be judged by the quality and quantity of the new obedience. [Compare with Dr. Scott Keith, Concordia-Irvine.]

213: Apology of the Augsburg Confession: "they [Papists] teach that one can merit grace through repentance…for faith distinguishes the repentance of Peter and Judas. But the adversaries do not think at all of the Gospel and faith"

216: Quenstedt: "Arminians…ascribe the cause of faith partly to the grace of God in Christ, and partly to man and his free will"

218: Kromayer: "For one unregenerate person is not more disposed to grace than another, but one is less indisposed than the other, . . . because sin, to which one allows more rein than the other, does not dispose to grace, but rather hinders it"

223: "And so it is rightly said: Grace precedes, the will accompanies."

223: Calov: "However, it is not…asserted that before conversion man is a fellow-worker and cooperates in his own conversion. Such a thing is nowhere taught by the Formula of Concord, as the new synergists contend." ["New synergists" to which Baier and his father-in-law Museaus tended.]

225: Strasbourg: "The determination of our will in the first act of conversion has always been by the orthodox ascribed, not to the power and cooperation of man, but to the Holy Spirit, working through the Word upon a will that is passively inclined."

228: B. Meisner: "Augustine…: ‘Grace…is not grace in any way, unless it is given freely in every way.'"

229-230: Luthardt, a synergist: "repentance and faith are demanded of man as his performance"; Kahnis, synergist: "Melanchthon had, through the doctrine of the cooperation of the human will in appropriating salvation (Synergism), entered upon the right, evangelical, and at the same time truly traditional path"

231: J. Olearius: "A man can…in no way oppose the infinite power or omnipotence itself, but rather [can resist] grace and its order"

In the next Part BWC3g…

BWC3e1: Some "Baieriana" that Walther disapproved (Excursus)

      This continues from Part BWC3e in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. — After completing all 3 of the main volumes of Walther's edition, I realized that a later "Index" volume was published in 1899. This was produced after Walther's passing by Theodore Buenger, Director of the Concordia College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and his Index received a glowing review by Franz Pieper. — I will present the entire book after the 3 volumes are finished, but because of the importance of some points that Walther disapproved of in Baier and others, especially in this Volume 3, these will provide a guide, and warnings, concerning some of Baier's "blemishes", that the dear Buenger called "Baieriana":

1. That there is such a thing as a practical science. I, 6 (see Hunnius's words, ibid.).

2. That the genus of theology is a practical science. I, 32. 33f. (see Calov's words, I, 34f.; Lehre und Wehre 34, 97 f.).

3. That the Word is "elevated." I, 159f. (see Lehre und Wehre 27, 49f.).

4. That the sacraments are "elevated." III, 405. (Dr. Walther, in his academic lectures of 1881–1882, according to the compiler of this index: "I don't like this expression at all; if God gives his Word, it already has the power. No elevatio is needed at all. One should not speak this way. The sacraments are nothing other than the Word.")

5. That the devils will be tormentors in hell. II, 141. 215 (see the words of Scherzer and Rambach, II, 141. — Academic lectures, 1880–1881: "I don't believe that either — that the devils are the tormentors.") 

6. That one should refrain from the phrase that original sin is not the adequate cause of damnation. II, 217 (see Scherzer's words, II, 218).

7. That he does not reject the opinion of a notable conversion of the Jews before the last judgment. II, 257 (see the words of Luther and Quenstedt, II, 257f.).

8. Various points on faith: that faith is the lesser principal impulsive cause of justification and of salvation, I, 41, II, 200, III, 162. 265. 299; that faith is the lesser principal impulsive cause of the decree of election, III, 559ff. 568. 602; that God predestined with a view to faith (intuitu fidei), I, 62, III, 550 (see I, 42, III, 266ff. 564ff.; Lehre und Wehre 27, 142f. 26, 42ff.).

9. On habitual faith and the habit of faith. III, 177. 187. 202. 265. (Academic lectures, 1881–1882: "It is not very advisable to make this distinction. Faith is a continual activity, a perpetual laying hold. We simply do not know how this happens, for instance, in sleep, and so theologians help themselves by positing a habitus fidei. It is not exactly wrong, but it easily leads to false notions.")

10. That regeneration occurs successively. III, 187 (see III, 179; Lehre und Wehre 18, 293ff.).

11. That he distinguishes less than well between conversion taken broadly and taken strictly, so called. III, 202. 203. 204f. — That men are more and more joined and reconciled with God. III, 202. 203.

12. That in conversion man does something together with operating grace. III, 220. 221. 222. 240. 307. (Academic lectures, 1881–1882: "Already twenty years ago a professor at Rostock wrote against me and laughed that I had introduced Baier. Already in Leipzig, when I was still a student, I knew that Baier was not sound on this point." On §38: "Only in the case where Baier understands by progressus the daily repentance is it correct. Whoever distinguishes in such a way that the progressus belongs to conversion proper is a false teacher." On §37, note d: "I cannot readily reconcile this with his explanation elsewhere. It has often seemed to me as though our dear Baier himself was not clear [on this point]." On §47, "further assisted": "This is false and rejected by everyone else; Calov and Quenstedt decisively opposed this in Musaeus." Lehre und Wehre 18, 293ff., and elsewhere.)

13. That men can, by the powers of free will, abstain from malicious resistance. III, 233 (see Hollaz's words, III, 15f.; Lehre und Wehre 26, 301. 27, 333ff. 28, 293ff. 315ff. 348. 393. 444. 513f.; First Southern District [Synodical] Report, 1882, p. 27f.).

14. That the law is the instrumental cause of renewal. III, 308 (see Carpzov, III, 308f.; academic lectures, 1881–1882: "It is at least questionable to call the law a causa instrumentalis; one would then also have to call, say, the cross, etc., by that name. No — only the gospel is a causa instrumentalis. I can only advise you not to adopt Baier's mode of teaching on this point.")

15. That the Law dictates to the regenerate. Ibid. ("Never to the regenerate as such," loc. cit.)

16. That Ps. 1:2 and Ps. 119 treat of the law. Ibid. ("This is entirely wrong; 'law' here always means the gospel," loc. cit.)

17. That the end of renewal, on man's part, is eternal life. III, 312. ("One must not entertain the thought that blessedness is attained through renovatio; the terminus would have been enough. In that way one would arrive at eudaemonism. — I cannot renew myself before I already possess blessedness," loc. cit.; see Carpzov and others, III, 312f.).

18. On the norm of renewal. III, 318. (On the word "ecclesiastical": "If by this he means the Mosaic ceremonial laws, I will allow it. But we are now bound by no law at all. It comes from the state churches that our doctors are so exceedingly unclear here" [loc. cit.]. On the phrase "tending toward the public good": "This too is imprudent, for how many laws are given that are not useful, and yet we must obey them and thereby do good works," loc. cit.)

19. That the third commandment involves the designation of a fixed time and day. III, 351 (see the sayings, III, 351ff.; Lehre und Wehre 10, 321ff. 345ff. 11, 4ff. 83ff.).

20. That love of self is included in the love of neighbor. III, 344, cf. on the seventh and eighth commandments, 357. 366 (Lehre und Wehre 12, 333ff.; Theses on Usury, St. Louis 1876, p. 9f.; Lehre und Wehre 28, 132).

21. That Article XI of the Formula of Concord treats of predestination taken broadly. III, 537. 539 (Lehre und Wehre 27, 144).

22. On the definition of predestination. III, 550. 602. 608. — That predestination and reprobation stand in the relation of opposites. III, 550. — On Rom. 8:29, III, 568. 612. — That foreknowledge [πρόγνωσις] is an act of the intellect alone, II, 161 (Lehre und Wehre 26, 129ff. 135ff. 73ff. 197ff.).

23. That the economy and the polity are within the church. II, 126, III, 724. 745 (see Luther and Brenz, II, 126, III, 725; Lehre und Wehre 2, 290ff. 361ff.).

24. That the magistracy has authority over sacred matters. III, 731. 733 (26th Western District [Synodical] Report, 1885, p. 35ff.; Lehre und Wehre 21, 231ff.).

25. That the priestly blessing pertains to the cause [validity] of marriage. III, 751 (American Lutheran Pastoral Theology, p. 238ff.).

26. That heaven is to be distinguished from the physical elements. II, 77 (see Reusch, II, 77f.).

27. On the administration of the Holy Supper by a layman. III, 494 (see Grapius, III, 494; 4th Iowa Synod Report, 1883, p. 58f.).

28. That man behaves indifferently. III, 317. (On note c: "Man does not, after all, behave in so entirely indifferent a manner.... The regenerate does indeed have a desire to do good, but doing evil comes more easily to him," loc. cit.)

29. That the material principles of reason are also employed in theology. I, 180. (On note e: "I believe that too much is already conceded here, for I think that when, e.g., the Holy Spirit uses the word 'man,' he is simply presupposing our [ordinary] understanding of the Word," 1880–1881, loc. cit.)

There is much more to be said about Volume 4 and its author Buenger, beginning with Part BWC4a.

BWC3e: Of Faith in Christ; sola scriptura! "true inward testimony"

      This continues from Part BWC3d in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. — This segment introduces Chapter III, Faith in Christ. Readers are reminded that, because most of these excerpts are from Walther's additions of quotes, the italics are mostly Walther's. — From pages 134-166: 

Notable Quotes: (Italics follow the original. All quotes not from Baier are from Walther's additions of quotes from third parties. Authors are indicated in bold text. Red text indicates my comments.)

[Chapter III. Of Faith in Christ]

134: "God nevertheless willed that sinners should acknowledge that satisfaction, provided for them by the Son of God, and, having grasped it by faith, make it their own"

134: Luther: "There is, of course, no doubt or lack in these words: 'Whoever believes will be saved,' etc., so that hell is already shut, heaven is open, eternal life and joy are there."

136: Gerhard: "Augustine…: 'The things which are believed are one thing, and the faith by which they are believed is another; and yet by the name of faith both are understood.'"

137: Kromayer: "it is called implicit faith when spiritual things are known not distinctly, but by their common principle, which is the Holy Scripture. For he who believes the Holy Scripture to be true, implicitly believes all that is contained in it"

137-138: Kromayer: "In a heretical sense, implicit faith is said to be: 1. by reason of a false common principle, which the Papists make to be the tradition of the church, and say that this or that is to be believed because the church believes it. For the Holy Scripture alone is the object of faith. [sola scriptura!] Acts 24:14: ‘I worship the God of my fathers,’ says the apostle, ‘believing all that is written in the law and the prophets.’"

138: Luther: The charcoal-burner's faith = blind faith - see this blog post.

138: Quenstedt: "the Papists, who assert that faith is to be defined not so much by knowledge as by ignorance"

139: Selneccer: "He who does not believe Christ, much less believes in Christ."

140: "sinners, anxious and troubled about their sins, may lift up their hearts in the universality of the satisfaction for all sins provided by Christ…Without this universality, the sinner would have no ground from which to lift himself up in the terrors of conscience"

141: Chemnitz: "For when that general foundation, establishing that whatever has been divinely revealed in the Word of God is true and certain, is not present or wavers, neither can the confidence in the promise of divine mercy forgiving sins for Christ's sake be conceived, nor can it be maintained in the struggle." [This explicitly refutes LC–MS Prof. Joel Biermann, a strong contender for the next president of the Synod!]

143: Hollaz: "For the demons are said to believe Christ, and also to believe that Christ exists; yet they are not said to believe in Christ."

145: Quenstedt: "Council of Trent. Session 6, Canon 12, reads as follows: 'If anyone says that the justifying faith is nothing other than confidence in the divine mercy, which remits sins for Christ's sake, or that this confidence alone is by which we are justified, let him be anathema.'" [This the Roman Catholic Church has not renounced.]

147: Gerhard: "the theological rule: ‘Scripture, when it speaks of faith, sometimes refers more to knowledge, sometimes more to trust.’"

148: Kromayer: "When we perceive no sense of faith, we should not immediately despair, for even the desire for faith is already faith itself, though weak. Phil. 2:13."

149: Quenstedt: "the Papists, who decree that the proper and adequate object of justifying faith is not the special mercy of God proposed in Christ, but the entire Word of God"

151: Luther: "Oh, faith is a living, busy, active, powerful thing, so that it is impossible for it not to be working good without ceasing"

152: Kahnis (modernist theologian): "the strict Lutherans always focused only on the goal of cutting off all human merit, they destroyed the psychological and moral foundation in the work of appropriating salvation."

 153: M. Chemnitz: "How then does it come that Judas is not taken up, that he does not receive forgiveness of sin, when he was yet sorry for what he had done? And what is lacking in his repentance and penance, that he cannot obtain grace? He had no faith in Christ"

156: Augsburg Confession: "the sacraments are to be used in such a way that faith comes along, which believes the promises that are presented and shown through the sacraments. Therefore, they condemn those who teach that the sacraments justify ex opere operato"

156: Luther: "that infants, being without faith, are justified through baptism, we strongly deny."

159: Gerhard: "seeds and shoots of trees: although they do not bear fruit, yet they have within them the power and nature to produce fruit in their own time: so the faith of infants"

162: "The proximate end and effect of faith is justification; then renewal; finally, eternal salvation of believers."

164: L. Hartmann: "When a person has a serious desire for the faith and the grace of God, that very desire is certainly to be regarded as the beginning of true faith, however weak it may seem"

164: Hoepfner: "the father of the demoniac acknowledged with infallible certainty, and indeed with divine faith, that his faith was true; and yet, with respect to his own adhering weakness, he calls that faith, of which he was certain, απιστίαν, unbelief, Mark 9:24" [This is my verse.]

165: Luther: "That we are children of God…this we have not from ourselves, nor from the law; but it is the testimony of the Holy Spirit, who, against the law and the feeling of our unworthiness, testifies such things in our weakness and makes us certain of it.…This is the true inward testimony, by which you recognize that the Holy Spirit is working in you" [Prof. David Scaer and Dr. Martin Noland fight against this, calling it Calvinism!]

166: Quenstedt: "very testimony of the Holy Spirit is divine…Although it is not an external revelation, it is nevertheless an internal one, proper to believers alone; namely, the internal operation of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, which does not exclude, but presupposes the external revelation made in the Word. This internal testimony of the Holy Spirit…" [See above.]

In the next Part BWC3f, Regeneration and Conversion. But before that, I present Part BWC3e1, a list compiled at a later time of points that Walther disagreed on of Baier and others.

BWC3d: "not for some only, but for all and every one"

      This continues from Part BWC3c in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. — This segment concludes Section III, the Office of Christ. — From pages 100-133: 

Notable Quotes: (Italics follow the original. All quotes not from Baier are from Walther's additions of quotes. Red text indicates my comments.)

[Section III. Of the Office of Christ]

101: "See Matt. 1:21 and 25, where the name Jesus, the Son of God incarnate, is said to be taken from the act or office of saving which He performs."

101: Kromayer: "The principal names by which our Savior is distinguished are Jesus and Christ…that the former is a proper name, a special name…by which He was distinguished from other individuals; the latter, however, is an appellative name, corresponding to the name of the Messiah"

104: "He informed men of those things which were necessary in belief and practice, and purified the law of God from Pharisaical corruptions, see Matt. 5, 6, 7"

105: S. Schmid: "Nor did He come into the world to explain or perfect His old law, but to bring the gospel and to prepare men for its reception by the explanation of the law."

106: "in the prophetic office of Christ,…Christ taught with a living voice for a full three years and more, indicated the sacraments to be celebrated in the church, and called to Himself ministers of the word and sacraments

108: Quenstedt: "The end and use of sacrifices is twofold: legal and evangelical. The legal use was …a remembrance of sins (Heb. 10:3),….The evangelical use was to point forward to that one propitiatory sacrifice on the altar of the cross, to be offered for us at a future time, and to reconcile penitent sinners to God."

109: Ad. Osiander: "The Papists object. They distinguish 1. between a bloody and an unbloody sacrifice; they concede that by the one offering he perfected all who are to be sanctified, that is, by the bloody sacrifice, but deny it by the unbloody one."

112: Quenstedt: "the λύτρον (ransom) had to be paid to Him alone, not to the devil. . . The devil in our captivity was nothing other than a keeper and minister of the prison, or a minister of God, who by his just judgment had delivered us into the power of Satan"

113: Quenstedt: "he notably says:  ‘He has reconciled us to Himself,’ because the beginning and origin of this reconciliation is not found in man, who is dead in sins, but only in God, who, having taken pity on us out of sheer philanthropy, sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins"

115: Calov: "The charity of God was that, since we had to die, He gave us Christ as a mediator and willed that He should die in our place. The wrath of God was that He avenged our sins on His Son and delivered Him to the most ignominious death to atone for sins."

116: Quenstedt: "the Papists…do not admit the satisfaction of Christ without any other satisfaction…contend that Christ has redeemed us from all sins in such a way that we ourselves must also make satisfaction for the temporal punishment and venial guilt of sins committed after baptism, either here or in purgatory"

117: von Hofmann: "the Son is not the object of the Father's wrath, even if only vicariously, but humanity is"

119: Gerhard: "We must therefore distinguish between the obedience of the law that Moses requires and the one that Christ prescribes for us."

121: Quenstedt: "Christ has satisfied for sinful men, not for some only, but for all and every one, with absolutely no one excepted.…Rom. 14:15; 1 Cor. 8:11; Heb. 6:4; 2 Pet. 2:1"

122: Quenstedt: "Calvinists, and indeed 1.) the more rigid, who openly declare that Christ did not satisfy by His merit for all men, and also for the reprobate, but only for the elect."

123: Christ "prayed not only for those who would later be converted, but also for those who in fact were not converted; see Luke 23:34, where Christ prayed for His crucifiers…to be converted and saved"

125: Calov: "If the mediator were merely human, confidence could have been placed…in a mere man, which is the curse pronounced in Jer. 17:5"

128: Quenstedt: "Some of the Papists, who admit only a metaphorical intercession of Christ, deny the properly so-called one, so that they may the more strongly establish the intercession of the saints"

129: Hollaz: "Hollaz: "The kingdom of Christ is indeed in the world and over the world, but not of the world; that is: it is not governed according to the ways of the rulers of this age, not by iron or carnal weapons."

130: Ad. Osiander: "But the kingdom of truth is not coercive, but persuasive, and it claims no right over temporal things, but over the morals of men; hence Pilate, seeing that Christ claimed for himself no more than the Stoics claimed for their wise man, fears no danger, but mocks that kingdom of truth."

131: Luther: "But because He now reigns in such a way through His Word, Sacraments, etc., that the world does not see it, this is called the kingdom of Christ"

133: Gerhard: "The Papists, against the royal office: 1.) exclude Christ's human nature from the omnipresent and omnipotent dominion in heaven and on earth; 2.) establish the Pope as Christ's vicar; 3.) transfer to the Roman Pontiff the honor, dignity, works, and names proper to Christ the king; 4.) transfer the temporal kingdom, under the pretext of Christ's vicariate, to the Pope."

In the next Part BWC3e…

BWC3c: "A divine humanity, a human divinity"

      This continues from Part BWC3b in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. — This segment finishes Section I on the Person of Christ, then proceeds to Christ's States of Humiliation and Exaltation. — From pages 68-99: selection of

Notable Quotes: (Italics follow the original. All quotes not from Baier are from Walther's additions of quotes. Red text indicates my comments.)

70: Kromayer: "Because of the office, a composite person was also required, since a mere God could neither suffer nor die, and a mere man could not sufficiently suffer and die. Therefore, a divine humanity and a human divinity were required.

71: N. Hunnius: "it was a human voice: 'Young man, I say to you, rise,' Luke 7:14, but it was also a divine voice, because it was an omnipotent voice calling the dead back to life; who, then, would not here recognize the human voice as the vehicle of divine action"

72: Luther: "Beware, beware, I say, of this Alloeosis [of Zwingli]; it is the devil's mask; for in the end it presents such a Christ that I would not gladly be a Christian…For God by His nature cannot die, but now that God and man are united in one person, it is rightly called the Death of God when the man dies, who is one thing or one person with God"

75: Gerhard: "The Calvinists resolve that proposition, 'God suffered,' so that the final analysis comes down to this: Only the human nature suffered"

[Section II. Of the States of Humiliation and Exaltation]

76: Formula of Concord: "We reject and condemn…while He was in the state of humiliation, He had also laid down and put off that power according to His divinity."

76: Luther: "Although the two natures are distinguished, it is nevertheless one person"

81: "He did not count it robbery [Phil. 2:6], that is, He was firmly convinced that this was in no way alien to Him, nor a seizure, but rightly His due, to be equal with God" [This explains the difficult word "robbery", that to be equal with God was His due.]

83: Gerhard: "The state of self-emptying begins at the first moment of the Incarnation and lasts until the time of the burial, inclusive, which the apostle calls the whole course of Christ's life on this earth"

84: "the emptying, or, as to the extent that the flesh of Christ, though not from a human seed, was nevertheless formed in the womb of a woman and from her blood; by which means it is certain that certain infirmities concurred,…in order that the Son of God might nevertheless become a true man."

86: Quenstedt: "Antithesis: 1. Of very many ancient doctors of the church, such as Cyril, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, Bernard, and others, who seek extraordinary miracles in the nativity of Christ. . . 2. Of the Papists, who decree the same."

88: Quenstedt: "Thomas Aquinas denies that Christ was a man during the three days of death, . . . ‘to assert that He was a man during the three days of death, is heretical'"

90: "Christ did not indeed undergo some difficult or bloody struggle with Satan, but …appeared to him as a victor and triumphant"

91: Hollaz: "Christ preached to the devils and the condemned souls [in His descent to hell]…not for their liberation and salvation (as some Papists would have it; for from hell there is no redemption; all consolation to the condemned is denied by Scripture, Luke 16:25 ff.), but for their confusion and refutation."

93: Hollaz: "Specifically, the resurrection of Christ is attributed to God the Father…for the consolation of consciences, so that we may know that the Father has been abundantly satisfied and that the same has been reconciled to us"

94-95: Calov: "As to the respects in which the resurrection of Christ was required for our justification, Gerhard explains: … by raising Him from the dead, He [the Father] in fact absolved Him from our sins imputed to Him, and consequently also absolved us in Him"

97: Hollaz: "it pleased the Savior to be carried up gradually [in His ascension], so that the disciples might testify of the true ascension more clearly and confidently"

99: Gerhard: "Visibly, therefore, Christ appears standing at the right hand of God in one place, while invisibly He sits everywhere at the right hand of God."

In the next Part BWC3d…, we begin Section III. Of the Office of Christ.

BWC3b: Jesus Christ, His Person; divine humanity, human divinity; "Hyperdulia"?

      This continues from Part BWC3a in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. —  From pages 19-67, our selection of

Notable Quotes: (Italics follow the original. All quotes not from Baier are from Walther's additions of quotes. Red text indicates my comments.)

[Chapter 2: Of Christ, the principle and foundation of our salvation.]

19: Quenstedt: "Christ is called the firstborn of all creation in Col. 1:15, not by reason of His humanity, but of His divinity, i.e., born of God the Father before all creation, and thus from eternity"

19: Gerhard: ""Jesus signifies a savior, for it is from the root ישע in the Hiphil ה֗וִשיַע he saved, preserved, delivered. …Christ means the Anointed, from χρίω, because our Savior was anointed with the oil of joy, with the fullness, namely of the Holy Spirit."

[Section I: Of the Person of Christ]

21: Kromayer: "this rule of great use was constructed: 'What the Son of God did not assume, He did not redeem.'"

22-23: "From the fact, however, that the same Christ is the one whom Scripture now writes of as God, now as man, it is concluded that there is one person of Christ in two natures. And this is that greatest mystery"

25: Quenstedt: "Augustine rightly says: 'The Word did not assume the person of man, but the nature of man.'"

28: "The very conception of Mary and the production of Christ's human nature in her can be described as a supernatural act, by which the Holy Spirit sanctified the bloody matter of the blessed virgin and…disposed and elevated it, so that a perfect human fetus might be formed from it."

29: Dannhauer: "Chrysostom says in Homily 6 on Matthew, He is to be seen weeping, but never laughing"

32: Gerhard: "The mode of this union is wonderfully unique and uniquely wonderful, surpassing the comprehension of all, not only of men, but also of angels, which is why it is called a great mystery by common consent."

32: Quenstedt: Christ's personal union "can be more easily determined by άρσιν [negation, or what it is not] than by θέσιν [affirmation, or what it is]"

 34: Quenstedt: "Nestorius… denied that the Son of Mary and the Son of God are one and the same, and urged that Mary should be called not Theotokos, God-bearer, but Christotokos, Christ-bearer"

36: Gerhard: "Because of the identity of the hypostasis and the interpenetration of the natures, the Logos is so present in the flesh and the flesh is so present in the Logos, that neither is the Logos outside the flesh, nor the flesh outside the Logos, but wherever the Logos is, there He also has the most immediate presence of the flesh"

37: Quenstedt: "the Calvinists, who contend that the Logos, who assumed the human nature, is no less entirely outside of the human nature than in it" [Contradicts the personal union, which then is the basis for their other errors on Christ's person.]

40: Gerhard: "we hold not a conversion of natures, not a change of essence, not the abolition of either nature, but a real communication of natures resulting from the personal union"

43: Luther: "Since no human mind can grasp or understand these things by its own ingenuity or wisdom, it must assent to them by faith"

43: J. G. Walch: "The Peripatetics…: 'Man is a doctor, two-footed, turning gray, and capable of laughter'"

45: J. A. Osiander: "For it is said a. The Lord of glory was crucified [1 Cor. 2:8]; therefore human idioms are attributed to the divine nature…"

47: Luther: "the Person (point to Christ) suffers, dies; now the Person is true God; therefore it is rightly said: The Son of God suffers; for although one part (that I speak of), the Godhead, does not suffer, yet the Person, who is God, suffers in the other part, namely, in the humanity"

50: Quenstedt: "Nestorius…strove to draw a distinction between the propositions: 'Christ suffered and died,' which he granted, and 'God suffered and died,' which he denied." [Calvinists have similar teaching.]

52: R. Teller: "for the errors of the followers of Calvin, and especially of the Crypto-Calvinists, must be met, who deny a true and real communication of the divine properties and perfections to the human nature in Christ, and…that the body and blood of Christ are not truly and really present in the most holy Supper."

54: N. Hunnius: "so that by a most powerful act and an efficaciously effective passion through death the devil might be destroyed, we might be healed by His bruises, sins might be expiated by death, and by the resurrection, righteousness restored; which all these effects, being a mixture of divine and human actions and passions, most certainly testify to the communion and mutual concurrence of divine and human properties"

56: Gerhard: "Both the Papists and the Calvinists deny the real communication of the divine idioms to the flesh of Christ, here bound together by the tails like the foxes of Samson [Judges 15:4], although in other parts of doctrine they disagree with each other."

58: Quenstedt: Calvinists "deny that omniscience of the Logos has been communicated to the human nature of Christ, and that it is truly omniscient…assert that Christ, by the reason of His human nature, even in the state of exaltation, is ignorant of certain things"

59: Ae. Hunnius: "To this, that axiom which these men treat as a Gordian knot, the Apostle long ago cut away from this mystery, when he writes that in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily"

63: Hutter quoting Chemnitz: "we generally maintain the principle that no creature, place, position, or time separates the two natures in the person of Christ from one another or leaves them behind, but rather that wherever He is, He has them personally or in the manner of the personal union in and with Himself.'"

63: Brenz: "They have fabricated a new and prodigious term, ubiquity, … that the body of Christ, like a leaven, geometrically extends and diffuses itself into all places."

65: Quenstedt: "Calvinists, who not only detract from the majesty of the omnipresence in the flesh of Christ, but also assail this dogma with various horrible accusations.…the Papists, who blow the same trumpets as the Calvinists."

65: "all should honor the Son, just as (καθὼς) they honor the Father; that is, with the same honor that is shown to God the Father, on account of the supreme excellence of His divine nature and perfections, and not with a different or inferior kind of worship" 

67: Quenstedt: "The Papists, who, distinguishing between λατρείαν [latreian] and ὑπερδουλείαν [hyperdouleian], attribute λατρείαν to God alone, δονλείαν [douleian, veneration] to angels and men, but the worship of νπερδονλείας [hyperdouleias] to the humanity of Christ and the Blessed Virgin."

In the next Part BWC3c…