BWC1b: Non-fundamental doctrines, Antichrist; Papists made Luther "a fairly good theologian"

      This continues from Part BWC1a in a series (Table of Contents in Part BWC1) presenting Walther's edition of Baier's Compendium of Positive Theology. — We are first greeted in this segment with very important words of Luther on the importance of the Doctrine of Justification, then we continue with my highlights…

Notable Quotes: (Italics follow the original. All quotes not from Baier were from Walther's additions.)

55: Gerhard: "Some things revealed in the Word are so arranged that they can be ignored without jeopardizing salvation, although they cannot be denied without the same danger"

57: Luther: "For in this (article on justification) everything hangs and stands, and it draws all the others along with it, and everything is for the sake of this one; that whoever errs in the others certainly does not have this one correctly, and even if he holds the others but does not have this one, it is all in vain. [LUTHER!; StL 8, 628–630; AE 24, 320–322]

59: Luther: "Do we not see in Augustine many errors, which he recanted? These would have all been damning to him, if he had not been preserved by faith… Whoever now follows them, follows to his own destruction."

63: Luther: "And I, a thoughtless fool [20 years ago], could not see the consequence that I would have to admit that if faith alone were sufficient, then monasticism and the Mass could not be".

63: Gerhard: "but whoever, after the scriptures have been published, would pertinaciously deny that there are any divine scriptures, he will be considered a heretic and excluded from the possession of salvation". [Prof. Biermann may not have denied that the Scriptures are divine, but his emphasis on "tradition" does just that.]

65: Baier: "even in these matters [non-fundamental articles], care must be taken not to sin rashly against divine revelation…For thus, as if through a mortal sin, the Holy Spirit and faith can nevertheless be and are shaken." [Example: Copernicanism.]

66: Quenstedt: "To this class we refer the doctrine about the Antichrist because of the prophecies of the Scriptures… "

67: Huelsemann: "the serious warnings of Christ and the Apostles in Matthew 7:24; Luke 12:42 ff., 17:35 ff., 21:8; 2 Thessalonians 2; 2 Timothy 3:4; 2 Peter 2; 1 John 2:4; Revelation 11:12 ff. contain admonitions about avoiding the snares of the Antichrist"

67: Huelsemann: "the doctrine of discerning the Antichrist from true teachers is no less necessary today than the doctrine on the malices and snares of the devils."

69: Luther: "One finds more heathen and human conceit than a certain holy doctrine of the Scripture among the theologians."

73: Luther: "For I myself … have a great deal to thank my Papists for, that they have beaten me, pressed me, and tormented me so through the devil's raging, that is, they have made me a fairly good theologian". [Luther: "a fairly good theologian"!]

75: Dannhauer: "the theologian, instructed with more resources, polished by more practiced senses, must see more in proportion to the degree of his talent and calling, and not only see, but also vindicate from false hermeneutics".

78-79: Kliefoth: "von Hofmann…recommends the path of speculative system-building…he seeks the simplest thing as a starting point, which is to unfold itself…while setting aside Scripture and church doctrine".

In the next Part BWC1c we continue with Notable Quotes from Volume I.