BWC3n: Old Testament Sacraments; Baptism

      This continues from Part BWC3m in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. — 

Notable Quotes: (Italics and bolding 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.)

422: Baier: "Extraordinarily, however, circumcision was also performed by laymen and women."

425: Baier: Circumcision was for "only the males…; although women were not on that account deprived of the covenantal grace"

426: Baier: The "end of this sacrament of circumcision was the conferral of covenantal grace concerning the remission of sins"

427: Baier: Circumcision: "to infants indeed it conferred faith, to adult believers it sealed and confirmed it"

430: Baier: In reference to the male lamb slaughtered for the Passover feast: "And the antitype, the Son of Man, in whom is masculine power and perfection, corresponds."

430: Quenstedt: "the Papists, who, in order to obtain, contend that the sacrament of the Supper or the Mass is also a sacrifice properly so called"

432: Baier: The subjects "to be admitted to the eating of the paschal lamb, were the Israelites all, without distinction of sex or age"

434 ff.: On Baptism

434: Quenstedt: "A distinction must be made between the broader and improper signification of the word sacrament… and between the strict and proper signification, and thus we assert that only two sacraments exist in the New Testament"

436: Quenstedt: "Gregory of Valencia,…and others acknowledge that the seven sacraments cannot be proven from Scripture. But without scriptural authority, we acknowledge no sacrament."

438: Quenstedt: "The Papists, who decree that 'the baptism of John was not the same sacrament as the baptism of Christ'"

440: Gerhard: "Some heretics attack the substantial elements of baptism, for example, those who use something other than water, or who brazenly and directly deny the mystery of the Trinity…their baptism is not to be considered true and efficacious"

441: P. Tarnov: "Another errs concerning the end and effect of baptism, like the Calvinists,…can do so [baptize legitimately] only if the error and heresy are privately and secretly fostered by the minister alone or by a few. But if it runs rampant openly and publicly and takes over the entire church, its minister can in no way administer a true and legitimate baptism.…baptism is a good of the church, not of the minister."

445: Gerhard: "although that regeneration concerns the whole person, it is not necessary for the entire body to be washed with baptismal water, since the power of regeneration does not come from the water, but from the Holy Spirit, which works effectively through the water sanctified by the Word"

446: Cyprian: "'And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: …And this is how you shall make them clean: sprinkle them with the water of purification.'… From this, it appears that the sprinkling of water also has the effect of a salutary washing" [Immersion not required.]

451: Baier: "these words of Chrysostom, truly golden…bear witness: 'Christians who wish to receive the firmness of faith should flee to no other thing, but to Scripture alone.'"

456: Hutter: "also hypocrites are sprinkled in baptism not with water only, but also with the very Holy Spirit, yet they do not become partakers of the salutary fruit…; for the Holy Spirit…indeed intends that salutary operation, but does not perfect or exercise it in the actual act because of their unbelief."

456: Luther: "The ungodly, however, like a cow or a dog, see nothing but the mere water. With such cow-like and dog-like eyes, these enthusiasts look at the outward ceremonies of baptism, judging and condemning solely according to their cow-like sight, but they bring no ears with them to hear the Word, command, and promise of God, which are in and with this ceremony"

459: Luther: "Beware, do not distinguish the baptism so that you attribute the external to man and the internal to God; attribute both to God alone, and do not accept the person of the one administering it as anything other than an instrument of God"

460: Quenstedt, Antithesis: "Certain Papists, who baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and Mary."

460: Quenstedt, Antithesis: "Bellarmine, [Papist theologian]…: denying that the baptismal formula in use in our churches: ‘I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.' can be demonstrated from the Gospel alone, but that one must necessarily resort to traditions and the declaration of the Church"

461: Gerhard, Antithesis: "The Papists first consecrate the water to be used in baptism on the vigils of Easter and Pentecost with certain rites and exorcisms, which they later call ‘blessed’.…That consecration of the water is devoid of the Word of God."

In the next Part BWC3o…

BWC3m: The Sacraments, the "visible Word"

      This continues from Part BWC3l in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. — This begins the 2nd half of Volume 3, presenting pages 400–788. 

      When one compares Walther's edition of Baier's work with his series of essays to the Western District entitled All Glory to God, one finds considerable overlap of subject matter. The major difference of Walther's edition of the Compendium is the numerous quotes from many orthodox theologians, the Book of Concord, and also from erring theologians. The following is a preview of the Table of Contents:

Chapter VIII. Of the Sacraments in General. 400

Chapter IX. Of the Sacraments of the Old Testament 421

Chapter X. Of Baptism 434

Chapter XI. Of Holy Communion.   489

Chapter XII. Of Predestination and Reprobation 531

Appendix to the preceding chapter on Predestination, concerning 

the inscription in the Book of Life 609

Chapter XIII. Of the Church 614

Chapter XIV. Of the Ecclesiastical Ministry 683

Chapter XV. Of the Civil Magistrate 724

Chapter XVI. Of the State and Domestic Society, and specifically 

on the Conjugal, Paternal, and Master/Servant. 745

Notable Quotes: (Italics and bolding 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.)

400: Luther: "our enthusiasts now run off and abandon this way [outward means] which God has given us in the New Testament"

401: Gerhard: "although the word 'sacrament' occurs in the Latin version of the Bible, it is not…used specifically for those external and visible signs of grace,…but was translated to that meaning by ecclesiastical writers"

403: Gerhard: "we deny that the proximate and adequate genus of a sacrament is sign…A genus must not be ambiguous. But the word ‘sign’ is ambiguous" [Reformed consider sacraments only as 'signs'.]

404: Baier: "the general doctrine of sacraments must be deduced from what is specifically stated in Scripture"

405: Luther: "the devil…is always God's ape and wants to imitate all things after God and make a better one…, just as he does with weather-makers, sorcerers, exorcists"

407: Quenstedt: "the intention of the minister…is a matter of piety for him…It is a matter of necessity that the intention of Christ be observed in an external act."

407: Quenstedt: "the Papists, who teach that for the integrity, truth, and virtue of the sacrament the minister's intention is required"

407: Augsburg Confession: "Article 8 of the Augsburg Confession…: ‘that the sacraments and the word are efficacious by virtue of Christ's institution and command, even if administered by the wicked.’"

408: Luther: "St. Augustine says, 'The Word is added to the element and a sacrament is made.'"

410: Tilemann Heshusius: "if some Christians were among the Calvinists…or…were under such pastors or church officers who practiced public tyranny and cruelly persecuted the true confessors of the truth…it is also permitted to an individual private person and a believing Christian to absolve the penitent sinner from sins, to comfort the weak with the Word of God, to baptize infants and to administer the Lord's Supper…For when the preachers do not perform their office as they ought, or when there are none present, the office reverts to the Church, to whom it belongs to grant it"

415: Apology of the Augsburg Confession: "Augustine has splendidly said, that a sacrament is the 'visible word,' because the rite is received by the eyes and is like a picture of the word, signifying the same thing as the word."

417: Baier: "For the situation is different with infants and with adults. For in the latter, faith must already be present in order for them to make salutary use of the sacraments; in the former [infants], however, faith is finally produced through the sacrament [of Baptism] itself."

418: Luthardt (modernist German Lutheran theologian): "modern Lutheran theology seeks to derive a specific gift and effect of the sacrament, in distinction from that of the Word"

418: Luther: "Because the Word of God is the greatest, most necessary, and highest part in Christendom (for the sacraments cannot exist without the Word, but the Word can well exist without the sacraments, and in a pinch, a person could be saved without a sacrament, but not without the Word"

420: Luther: "our signs or sacraments have the annexed word of promise, which requires faith, and cannot be fulfilled by any other work"

In the next Part BWC3n, we begin with the section on Old Testament sacraments, then start with Baptism.

BWC3l: L & G II: Luther & Walther: Proper Distinction; download, another BTL book

      This continues from Part BWC3k in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. — This segment concludes the section on Law & Gospel, and finishes my first part of Volume 3. — From pages 381-399: 

Notable Quotes: (Italics and bolding 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.)

382: The Gospel "was revealed not only in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament…For to this belong the promises of the seed of the woman…the seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth are to be blessed…of the Messiah, Shiloh, to be born of the tribe of Judah…concerning a prophet like Moses"

383: Quenstedt: "Jer. 31:31-32: ‘Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not like the covenant that I made with your fathers'"

384: Quenstedt: "Of the Arminians, who…say: 'It is certain that the precept of faith in Christ is nowhere found clearly set forth in the Old Testament, nor in express terms the promise of eternal life'"

385: Luther: "Here I ask and urge all lovers of godliness…to learn with all diligence this article, which teaches what the proper and true work of the Law is, and how one should rightly use it,…which, I greatly fear, will after our time be again obscured and completely suppressed. For even now, while we are still alive and most diligently show what both the Law and the Gospel, each in particular, are for, there are very, very few, even among those who profess the Gospel and know how to boast of it splendidly, who rightly and properly understand and know this office of the Law."

 

 386: Luther on The Proper Distinction of Law and Gospel: 

"When we distinguish the Law and the Gospel in this way, we give to each its proper and due work and office to which it is entitled. But of such a distinction of the Law and the Gospel, you will not find a single letter in all the books of all the monks, canonists, and sophists, nor even of the old Fathers. St. Augustine understood and indicated this distinction in part, but Jerome and many others knew little of it. In short,

for several hundred years in all schools and churches, nothing sound has been taught or preached about this distinction between the Law and the Gospel, whereby poor, miserable consciences have come into great danger and harm." 

[Then came Martin Luther, and…C.F.W. Walther!]

387: Chemnitz: "What other light has dispelled the densest darkness of the papal kingdom, if not this above all, that the true distinction between the Law and the Gospel has been demonstrated?"

387: Gerhard: Our works "are not to be brought into the theater of our justification before God; for there is a perpetual opposition between working and believing, between grace and works, between the Law and the Gospel."

389: Luther: "the Law is easier in this respect than the Gospel, because it forbids not the heart but the hand…; whereas the Gospel is easier than the Law in that it has abolished circumcision and the ceremonies"

390: Quenstedt: "The Papists contend that the evangelical promises require a condition of inherent righteousness…Thus the Council of Trent, Session 6, Canon 20"

392: Quenstedt: "Of Philip Melanchthon, who after the death of blessed Luther not obscurely made this error of the Antinomians his own in the last edition of the Loci"

393: Luther: Christians "should learn to forget the law…but live before God as if, in fact, there were no law at all. For unless you …think, in short, that there is no law at all, but pure grace, you cannot be saved."

394: Quenstedt: "Of the Anabaptists and Socinians, as well as the Remonstrants or Arminians, who, together with the Dominicans and Jesuits, pervert the true distinction of the law and the gospel with this hypothesis, that the gospel is a new law from the new lawgiver Christ, which has succeeded the old law of Moses"

398: Luther: "the Law (as well as the Gospel) must be preached without distinction, to both the righteous or believers and the ungodly." [Walther was criticized for doing just this!]

The following is my translated version utilizing DeepL, and Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, and Grok to aid in polishing the text. Highlighting and red text are mine. Italics follow the original. Hyperlinks added to each page which follow the original publication:

Download the full text here; print version, no highlighting here, PDF here, original text here.

In the next Part BWC3m, we begin the second half of Volume 3.

BWC3k: Hearing the Word not better than reading; self-love; usury (L & G b)

      This continues from Part BWC3j in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. — This segment begins Chapter VII, on the Law and the Gospel. — From pages 337-381: 

Notable Quotes: (Italics and bolding 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 VII. Of the Word of the Law and the Gospel]

[Hearing the Word not better than reading the Word ; self-love; Usury]

337: Ad. Osiander: "that hearing the Word is a necessary requirement for introducing the ability to receive grace; whereas repentance and prayer are an inseparable fruit, which presupposes the Holy Spirit already dwelling"

338: Luther: "What is it that you run back and forth like this…as if there is no Christ to be found, and you will not be satisfied until you find Him in yourself and feel holy and sinless; nothing will come of it"

339: Gerhard: "what is said in Romans 10:17 ‘faith comes from hearing,' is not to be taken exclusively, as if hearing the preached Word is set in opposition to the reading of the written Word, but inclusively"…the same is and remains the Word, whether it is preached and heard, or written and read"

339-340: "Formula of Concord: "We believe, teach, and confess that the distinction of the Law and Gospel, as a particularly glorious light…by which the Word of God …is rightly divided."

340: Luther: "it is of the utmost necessity that these two words be rightly and properly distinguished; for where this is not done, neither the Law nor the Gospel can be understood, and consciences must perish in blindness and error."

342: Quenstedt: "in the Scriptures the name of the law is more often assigned to the gospel, but the appellation of the gospel is never attributed to the law."

343: Luther: "what is a more earnest, more terrible indication and preaching of God's wrath over sin than the suffering and death of Christ…the damned in hell will have no greater torment…than from this sight of the death of the Son of God…as also Judas the traitor, when he would not listen to the Lord Christ's friendly admonition and warning"

344: Luther: "some of the Fathers have taken from the words of this command [Matt. 22:39: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'] the delusion that an ordered love begins with oneself.…I understand the commandment to mean that it does not command self-love, but only the love of one's neighbor."

345: Luther: "beware of such heathenish teachings and sayings: ‘Be your own next;’ ‘Be your own nearest neighbor;’ and, ‘Each for himself, God for all,’ and the like; for they are false"

345: Quenstedt on Reformed vs. Lutherans on the numbering of the Ten Commandments: "The Calvinists place four commandments on the first table, making a second commandment out of the appendix to the first, and on the second table they place six…We consider that commandment, which is mentioned by the apostle as the first in the promise (Eph. 6:2), to be the first on the second table." [Cp. Reformed Michael Horton.]

347: Luther: "only the law of the Ten Commandments remains, which existed before Moses from the beginning of the world and among all the Gentiles"

349: Luther: "For the memorial images, or witness images, such as crucifixes and images of the saints, are also attested to above from Moses, that they are well to be tolerated" [E.g. stained glass images.]

350: Luther: "For the idols before God are no joke; they are the idols of the heart: false righteousness, praise for works, unbelief, and whatever else sits in the heart in place of Christ and His faith."

351: Augsburg Confession on women's head coverings: "for no one says that a woman sins if she goes out with her head uncovered, provided she does not cause offense."

352: A. C.: "These same errors have crept into Christendom…Some dispute about Sunday, saying that it must be observed, although not by divine right [nevertheless almost as much as by divine right] *) (*) Words of the first edition [of the A.C.]" [Walther's bolding.]

355: "For the Sabbath is observed among Christians…so that we assemble to hear and treat God's Word"

357: "The Sixth Commandment forbids adultery and all related (a) impurities, of deed…such as fornication, concubinage, incest, sodomy, etc."

363: Luther on Usury: "God, by frequently repeated emphasis, has generally and expressly condemned usury in the most atrocious terms.…In this way, usury is permitted in the Old Testament, that is, civilly; but it is condemned theologically, in the conscience before God."

365: Luther: "And when Scripture commands that we relieve the needy and destitute by a free exchange, it shows that this duty is not prescribed for those who are self-sufficient." [2 Thess. 3:12]

368: Gerhard: "the apostles observed and commanded the observance of abstinence from blood and from what was strangled…This was not because they believed these things pertained to the moral law and to all Christians of all time and place, but so that, ‘that the Jewish synagogue might be honorably buried’"

370: Gerhard: "As for the sacrifices of the Gentiles, they were not so much devised by them for the purpose of pleasing the incorporeal God, as they were borrowed from the Israelites out of a certain perverse κακοζηλία [bad imitation]." [Heathen sacrifices point to original sacrifices of the Jews!]

374: Luther: "The passage of John 10:35 nonetheless remains true, that 'the Scripture cannot be broken,' and Matthew 5:18, that 'not one letter or one tittle of the law shall pass away, until all is fulfilled.' Therefore, when I say: the commandment, the law, I may break, that is as much as to say, I may break its wrong interpretation (as David did) and hold the right one.…[StL 19, 1653; AE 44, 390]"

376: Hollaz: "The antithesis is that of the Anabaptists, Socinians, and Arminians, who assert that Christ is a new lawgiver, who made the moral law more perfect and completed it with new precepts."

380-381: Quenstedt: "the Papists, who hold that the perfect fulfillment of the law does not exceed the powers of the regenerate man…Thus the Council of Trent, session 6, chapter 18"

In the next Part BWC3l…

BWC3j: Renewal/Good Works; supererogation; good intentions: pilgrimages, lit candles, rosaries, superstitions

      This continues from Part BWC3i in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. — This segment concludes Chapter VI, on Justification. It covers the distinction from, and relationship to, Good Works. — From pages 300-336: 

Notable Quotes: (Italics and bolding 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 VI. Of Renewal and Good Works]

300: J. B. Carpzov sen.: "the distinction between justification and sanctification is always maintained in the Holy Scriptures"…‘Augustine, deceived by the breadth of the word 'to sanctify' and 'to justify,' was sometimes led beyond the meaning of Scripture'"

301: Carpzov: "Justification is equal, and neither the act nor the imputed righteousness is increased or decreased; renewal, however, is unequal, receives increments, and is not only continued, like justification, but also increased" 5. In justification, the righteousness of Christ is considered as a gift, by the imputation of which we are constituted righteous; in renewal, however, Christ is presented as an example"

304: Luther: "For a Christian is becoming, not being.…Whoever, therefore, is a Christian is not a Christian; that is, whoever thinks he has already become a Christian, when he is only supposed to become one, is nothing."

305: Quenstedt: "The Anabaptists, who boast of the perfection of good works in this life, and therefore think that the regenerate can attain to that perfection, so that they are without all sin."

307: Carpzov: "For as long as the regenerate one is in the struggle, the flesh does not have full dominion, but the spirit resists it"

308: Carpzov: "most clear texts of Scripture…attribute illumination, a change of heart, etc., to the Word…In all these texts, however, the reference is to the gospel alone."

309-310: Formula of Concord: "as soon as the Holy Spirit…has begun his work of regeneration and renewal in us through the Word and Holy Sacraments, it is certain, that we can and should cooperate through the power of the Holy Spirit, although still in greater weakness"

312-313: A. Osiander: "Paul, Eph. 2:8–9, does not say, 'You were converted or justified by grace,' but 'you were saved by grace,' to show that even the final salvation does not depend on renewal as on a merit or means, but depends entirely on grace itself."

313: Luther: "My antinomians preach very finely…they are fine Easter preachers, but shameful Pentecost preachers."

314: Huelsemann: "a murderer will not inherit the kingdom of God, yet not all who are not murderers will inherit the kingdom of God and of Christ."

315-316: Luther: "Good, pious works never make a good, pious man; but a good, pious man makes good, pious works. Evil works never make an evil man, but an evil man makes evil works.…Thus it is with the works of man as well; as he is in faith or unbelief, so his works are good or bad"

318: Quenstedt: "The standard of good works is not, as the Papists feign, the 'evangelical counsels,' from which works of supererogation and a higher perfection than we are bound to are performed"

319: Quenstedt: "The Papists paint this fabricated worship with the diluted color of good intention; for if anything is done by them against or beyond God's command, they consider it a good work because it is done with a good intention."

319: Luther: "Before the Gospel came, this is what was preached: that good works were those we ourselves devised and chose out of our own piety; for example, that one would go to St. James, another on a different pilgrimage; this one gave to the monks in the monastery and had many Masses said; that one lit wax candles, fasted on water and bread, and prayed as many rosaries, etc."

321: Quenstedt: "Indeed, the entire papal religion, as such, is…[a] voluntary religion, not confirmed by the word of divine promise or command, which is in itself the very definition of superstition"

322: The Constitution of the Society of Jesus: "It has seemed good to us in the Lord that no constitutions, declarations, or any rule of living can impose an obligation to commit mortal or venial sin, unless a superior orders it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ or in virtue of obedience" [See this.]

324: Luther: "If I were given the choice, I would choose the most sordid and rustic work of a single Christian peasant or servant over all the victories and triumphs of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, etc. Why? Because here is God, there is the devil"

325: Quenstedt: "the Papists, as the Council of Trent, session 6, canon 7, anathematizes: ‘If anyone shall say that all the works which are done before justification, by whatever means they are done, are truly sins.'"

327: Gerhard: "For if filial obedience were rendered or ought to be rendered with a view to a reward, there would be no difference between a son and a servant"

329: Luther: "For if it is a good work, then God has done it through me and in me.…it has happened to the praise and honor of God, and for the benefit and salvation of my neighbor"

332: Formula of Concord: "Here one must be very careful that the works are not drawn into and mixed up with the article of justification and salvation. Therefore, the propositions that good works are necessary for the believer's salvation, so that it is impossible to be saved without good works, are rightly rejected."

332: Formula: "it must rightly be rejected, what was decreed in the Council of Trent and whatever else has been directed to the same opinion, namely, that our good works preserve salvation"

333: Quenstedt: Luther's "colleague Philip Melanchthon,…who after Luther's death was led by interimistic and adiaphoristic controversies to establish the necessity of good works for salvation" [See this series.]

334: Luther: "Christ speaks in this sermon [on the Mount] (Matt. 5–7) of nothing about how we become Christians, but only of the works and fruits which no one can do unless he is already a Christian…When one speaks of such fruits, which follow upon grace and the forgiveness of sin, we will allow them to be called a merit and a reward; …only that such passages are not falsely twisted and used against Scripture to claim merit for grace"

335: Luther: "the papacy, with its masses, monasticism, purgatory, veneration of saints, etc., must be nothing, and that everything falls away of its own accord."

335: Gerhard: "It must be exceedingly impudent for one who, as if well-deserving, demands a reward for having paid his debts."

336: Quenstedt: "Papists, who…state that the good works of the justified are truly meritorious of eternal life. The Council of Trent, Session 6, Canon 16 [sic: Canon 26?], while admitting that good works are gifts of God, nevertheless insists that they are merits of the justified man and anathematizes those who think otherwise."

In the next Part BWC3k…

BWC3i: Trent blasphemes "Faith Alone"; Huber's error

      This continues from Part BWC3h in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. — This segment concludes Chapter V, on Justification. — From pages 281-299: 

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.)

281: Quenstedt: "the Papists, who . . . not only deny that faith alone justifies, but also deny that faith principally justifies, since the principal parts are due to charity. The Council of Trent pronounces anathema on those who say that we are justified by faith alone [fiduciam], Sess. 6, can. 12. cf. can. 14. . . . They say that faith does not justify alone, but together with six other acts, namely, fear, hope, love, repentance, the purpose of receiving the sacraments, and the purpose of a new life."

282: H. Kromayer: "Sin in justification is removed, not so that it is not there, but so that it does not harm."

286-287: Wittenberg theologians: "we could not allow his [Samuel Huber: see Pieper CD III, 478; Jack Kilcrease blog] phrasing to stand… that is, Christ has delivered (or given) salvation to the whole human race in reality and in deed.…such a 'conferre,' …does not properly pertain to acquisition, but rather to application…Those who have never believed in Christ (as all hardened Jews and Turks and many others never will), have of course never received the forgiveness of sins…‘He who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him’? John 3:36."

288: Luther: "Workers lacking faith do many things indeed: they fast, they pray, they impose a cross on themselves. But because they think that by these things they can placate the wrath of God and merit grace, they do not give glory to God"

289: Luther: "For reason cannot grasp that a man should have joy under the cross, peace under unrest. It is a gift of God, known to no one except the one who has experienced it."

289-290: Chemnitz: "And they [Papists] count this doubt not among the infirmities and blemishes of the flesh, but among the virtues of faith"…For it is not doubt, but faith that justifies, and not he who doubts, but he who believes, has eternal life"

291: Luther: "Even if in the papacy everything else had been preserved, nevertheless this monster of uncertainty surpasses all monsters" [This "monster" Pres. Matthew Harrison is willing to overlook.]

292: Quenstedt: "the Council of Trent, sess. 6. can. 15, thus fulminates: ‘If anyone says that a man, once justified and regenerated, is bound by faith to believe that he is one of the predestined, let him be anathema.'"

294: Quenstedt: "Luther…says that the believer is so conjoined to Christ through faith that …he can say with confidence, 'I am Christ'; but he [Luther] immediately explains himself, adding: i.e. the righteousness, life, and victory of Christ is mine; and in turn Christ says, 'I am that sinner,' i.e. his sins, death, etc. are mine."

296: Luther: "But if I see and feel that I gladly forgive my neighbor, then I can conclude and say: I do not do this work by nature, but by God's grace I feel differently than I did before.…But Scripture teaches us this: that we should not look to ourselves, but to God's Word and promise, and cling to them with faith" [Objective!]

298: Ae. Hunnius: "they [Papists] substitute a hope that can disappoint, a fluctuating, wavering hope, which at last casts a man from doubt into the vortex of despair"

299: Hunnius: "so that if they…desire to persevere in the grace of God, no diabolical power can tear them away from God and Christ, so also He, on the other hand, exhorts them to crucify the flesh with its desires"

In the next Part BWC3j…

BWC3h: Justification through the Word; Faith Alone

      This continues from Part BWC3g in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. — This segment continues Chapter V, Justification. It is practically the pinnacle of Walther's quotes on the "article on which the Church stands or falls".— From pages 258-278: 

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.)

260: Chemnitz: "There is a twofold instrumental cause: 1. teaching, revealing, offering…this is the voice of the gospel and the use of the sacraments or, as the ancients speak, the vocal and visible Word. 2. Receiving or apprehending, by which we apply to ourselves those good things which are offered in the gospel"

261: Apology of the A. C.: "One cannot deal with God, one cannot apprehend God, except through the Word. Therefore justification takes place through the Word, as Paul says in Romans 1:16: 'The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.'"

 261: Luther: "The Jews also believe that there is one God, but they deny the way to come to God, namely, through the humanity of Christ. The Turk [Muslims] also acknowledges God, but denies the way, the means, the bridge by which one comes to God, that is, the grace of God. They do not want Christ, nor any sacraments"

262: Luther on the Enthusiasts: "God has so ordained that this treasure is given and administered to us through Baptism, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and the outward Word. For these are the means and instruments by which we come to God's grace. They deny this."

263: Luther: "for the entire papacy rests on this doctrine: that grace is poured into a person through a secret effect, and whoever wishes to receive it must repent, confess, and make satisfaction.…they do not base the forgiveness of sins on the Word and faith, where it ought to be placed, but on our repentance, confession, and satisfaction"

 264: Luther: "You should repent (that is true), but to think that this alone makes the forgiveness of sins certain and confirms the work of the key is to abandon faith and deny Christ."

[Luther's great analogy of the King and a castle:]

265: Luther: "A king gives you a castle: if you do not accept it, the king has not therefore lied or failed, but you have deceived yourself, and it is your fault, for the king certainly gave it."

267: Quenstedt: "The causal reason or the justifying power belongs to faith, not in itself and by its own nature…as if God valued faith so highly that He would attribute to it the dignity and worth of justification"

268: Gerhard: "Faith is not to be compared to the hand that takes hold of the cup in which the salutary drink is contained, but is the spiritual mouth by which we drink from the fountain of salvation"

268: S. Schmid: "For when I say: If you believe, you will be saved, I do not mean the moral condition under which you are to be saved, but the necessity of the instrument by which you are to be saved. We also perceive the same thing in the natural world. If you have wings, you will fly…"

269: Osiander: "Faith does not justify, as does obedience and being under the law…but insofar as it receives"

271: Gerhard: "How is it that in Rom. 5:18 the righteousness of Christ has overflowed upon all men to justification, when not all are justified? Answer: The Apostle is speaking not of the application, but of the acquisition of the benefit."

272: Ad. Osiander: "For it is understood either of the acquisition or of the application; if the former, then certainly all men were actually saved, since Christ died for them, paying the price for all; but since [in the latter,] application involves faith and men are distinguished into believers and unbelievers"

273: Ph. D. Burk: "2 Cor. 5:19: 'God reconciled the world to Himself and did not impute their sins to them.' And a witness of the truth must at all times preach the Gospel in such a way that he makes God's universal offer of grace to all people his chief work." [Walther would have loved Burk.]

275-277: Luther’s great treatise on “Faith Alone”. StL 19:968 ff., 978 ff.; AE 35:182, 188-189, 195 f.

277: Quenstedt: "justification is attributed to faith alone, but not to faith torn away from the other exercises of piety." [Answers Papist arguments against faith alone.]

278: C. Loescher: "but it is not necessary that those works should simultaneously with faith influence the justification"

In the next Part BWC3i…