III. De Iustitia Fidei coram Deo
The Controversy Over Christ's Righteousness
The chapter opens by stating the shared confession that sinners are justified by faith in Christ alone, then introduces the disputed question of whether Christ is our righteousness according to his divine nature alone or his human nature alone, describing the two opposing errors that arose.
The state of the controversy. With unanimous agreement — by the standard of God's Word and the teaching of the Augsburg Confession — it is taught among our churches that we sinners, utterly wretched, are justified and saved before God by faith in Christ alone, with the result that Christ alone is our righteousness. This Jesus Christ, our Savior and our righteousness, is true God and true man — for in him divine and human natures are personally united. The question therefore was: according to which nature is Christ our righteousness? And on this occasion two errors — indeed, errors at odds with each other — disturbed certain churches. For one side has perceived that Christ is our righteousness solely according to his divine nature — that is, provided he dwells in us through faith. Indeed, all the sins of humanity, when compared (as they must be) with that divinity dwelling within us through faith, are like a single drop of water set against the vast sea. Against this view, certain others have maintained that Christ is our righteousness before God solely according to his human nature.
The Whole Christ Our Righteousness
The affirmative teaching confesses that the whole Christ — according to both his divine and human natures — is our righteousness, not through one nature alone but through his complete obedience rendered to the Father even to death, by which he merited remission of sins and eternal life.
AFFIRMATIVE. The sincere teaching of the godly churches, set against each of the errors just mentioned. I. To refute each error, we believe, teach, and confess unanimously that Christ is truly our righteousness — but not according to his divine nature alone, nor according to his human nature alone; rather, the whole Christ, according to both natures, in his obedience alone — namely, the obedience he rendered to the Father even to death, the most complete obedience, as both God and man. And by that obedience he merited for us the remission of all sins and eternal life. As it is written: Just as through one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. (Rom.)✦ 5.
Grace Alone Forgives and Credits Christ's Righteousness
Thesis II teaches that God forgives sins out of sheer grace, without regard to any human worthiness, and grants and credits to believers the righteousness of Christ's obedience, on account of which they are received into divine favor and reckoned righteous.
II. We therefore believe, teach, and confess that this itself is our righteousness before God: the Lord forgives us our sins out of sheer grace, without any regard to preceding, present, or subsequent works of ours, or to their worthiness or merit. For he grants and credits to us the righteousness of Christ's obedience: on account of that righteousness we are received by God into favor, and are reckoned righteous.
Faith Alone Lays Hold of Christ
Thesis III confesses that faith alone is the instrument by which we seize Christ our Savior, and that on account of Christ this faith is imputed to us for righteousness.
III. We also believe, teach, and confess that faith alone is the means and instrument by which we lay hold of Christ our Savior, and so in Christ that righteousness which can stand before the judgment of God: for on account of Christ, that faith is imputed to us for righteousness, Rom. 4.
Justifying Faith as God's Surpassing Gift
Thesis IV defines justifying faith not as bare historical knowledge but as a great gift of God by which we recognize Christ in the Gospel and trust in him, receiving remission of sins, righteousness, and eternal salvation on account of his obedience alone.
IV. We also believe, teach, and confess that justifying faith is not a bare knowledge of the history about Christ, but a great and surpassing gift of God, by which we rightly recognize Christ our Redeemer in the word of the Gospel, and trust in him himself: namely, that on account of his obedience alone, by grace we may have remission of sins, be reckoned holy and righteous before God the Father, and obtain eternal salvation.
"To Justify" Means to Absolve from Sins
Thesis V clarifies that in Scripture's language of justification, "to justify" means to absolve from sins, citing Solomon and the apostolic affirmation that God is the one who justifies his elect.
V. We believe, teach, and confess that the word "justify" in the language of sacred Scripture, in this article, means the same as to absolve from sins — as can be understood from the saying of Solomon: "Whoever justifies the ungodly and whoever condemns the righteous, both are an abomination before God." Likewise: Who will accuse God's elect? God is the one who justifies.
Distinguishing Justification from Renewal
Thesis V continues by noting that when terms like "regeneration" and "vivification" are used in place of "justification" (as in the Apology), they carry a higher meaning, since elsewhere those words rightly refer to the renewal of the person, which is distinct from justification by faith.
And if, at any point, the terms 'regeneration' and 'vivification' are used in place of the term 'justification' (as was done in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession), these are to be understood in that higher meaning. For elsewhere those words are understood of the renewal of the human person, which is rightly distinguished from justification by faith.1
Assurance of Salvation Despite Weakness
Thesis VI teaches that even though believers remain subject to many weaknesses until death, they must not doubt their imputed righteousness or eternal salvation, but firmly hold that on account of Christ they have God reconciled to them according to the Gospel's promise.
VI. We believe, teach, and confess also, that even if those truly believing in Christ and reborn are subject to many weaknesses and blemishes right up to death, they must nevertheless not doubt either the righteousness that is imputed to them through faith, or their eternal salvation; but rather they must firmly hold that, on account of Christ, according to the promise and the immovable word of the Gospel, they have God reconciled to them.✦2
Preserving the Exclusive Particles of Grace
Thesis VII insists on retaining the exclusive particles — by grace, freely, without works, apart from law — by which Paul separates Christ's merit from human works, affirming that by faith alone in Christ we are justified and saved.
VII. We believe, teach, and confess that, in order to preserve the pure teaching about the righteousness of faith before God, it is necessary that the exclusive particles — by which the Apostle Paul entirely separates the merit of Christ from our works and assigns that glory to Christ alone — be retained as carefully as possible, just as Paul writes: by grace, freely, without merits, apart from law, without works, not from works.✦ All these say exactly this: by faith alone in Christ we are justified and saved.✦
True Faith Is Living, Active, and Never Alone
Thesis VIII teaches that while contrition and new obedience do not belong to justification before God, justifying faith is never feigned alongside an evil purpose; rather, after justification faith becomes truly living and active through love, and good works always follow true faith, which is never alone but always accompanied by love and hope.
VIII. We believe, teach, and confess that even though the contrition that comes before and the new obedience that follows after do not belong to the article of justification before God, nevertheless such a justifying faith is not to be feigned as one that could exist and stand together with an evil purpose — namely, of sinning — and of acting against conscience. But after a person has been justified through faith, then that faith is truly a living and active faith through love, and good works always follow justifying faith and are most certainly recognized together with it, provided that faith is true and living. For true faith is never alone, but always has love and hope with it.
Rejection of False Doctrine
The antithesis rejects and condemns eleven false teachings: that Christ is our righteousness according to only one nature; that justification means becoming just through love and works rather than absolution; that faith rests on Christ's indwelling divinity; that faith can persist without repentance or love; that only God's gifts, not God himself, dwell in believers; that faith saves because of the newness begun in us; that renewal and love share in our righteousness; that believers are justified partly by imputed righteousness and partly by new obedience; that grace is applied through confession and other virtues apart from faith alone; and that faith does not justify apart from good works.
The antithesis, or negative formulation. The rejection of the opposing and false doctrine. Therefore, let's reject and condemn all false teachings, which we'll now recite. I. That Christ is our righteousness solely according to his divine nature. II. Christ is our righteousness solely according to his human nature. III. In the prophetic and apostolic writings, where the justification of faith is discussed, the terms "to justify" and "to be justified" do not mean the same thing as "to absolve from sins" and "to be absolved," and "to obtain the remission of sins." Rather, through the love poured into us by the Holy Spirit, through virtues, and through works that flow from love, we actually become just before God.✦ IV. Faith looks not only to Christ's obedience but to his divine nature — that is, to the way it dwells within us and is at work there — so that through this indwelling our sins may be covered. V. Faith should be such a confidence in Christ's obedience that it can stand firm in that very person even where someone lacks true repentance and love does not follow — but where a person persists in sin against conscience. VI. Not God himself, but only God's gifts, dwell in believers. VII. Faith confers salvation on us for this reason: because that newness which consists in love toward God and neighbor is begun in us through faith. VIII. Faith, then, takes the leading role in justification. But renewal and love also have a part in our righteousness before God — with this result: renewal and love are not, admittedly, the principal cause of our righteousness, yet if renewal and love are absent, our righteousness before God is neither whole nor perfect. IX. Those who believe in Christ are righteous before God and saved, both through the righteousness of Christ credited to them and through the new obedience begun in them — or, to put it another way, partly through the crediting of Christ's righteousness, and partly through the new obedience begun in them. X. The promise of grace is applied to us through faith in the heart, and then also through the confession that is made with the mouth, and through other virtues. XI. Faith doesn't justify apart from good works; so good works are necessarily required for righteousness, and a person can't be justified without them.
Read the original Latin
Status controversiae. Unanimi consensu (ad normam verbi divini et sententiam Augustanae Confessionis) in Ecclesiis nostris docetur, nos peccatores longe miserrimos sola in Christum fide coram Deo iustificari et salvari: ita ut Christus solus nostra sit iustitia. Hic autem Iesus Christus salvator noster, et iustitia nostra, verus Deus est, et verus homo, etenim divina et humana naturae in ipso sunt personaliter unitae. Quaesitum igitur fuit: secundum quam naturam Christus nostra sit iustitia? Et hac occasione duo errores et quidem inter se pugnantes, Ecclesias quasdam perturbarunt.
Una enim pars sensit, Christum tantummodo secundum divinam naturam esse nostram iustitiam: si, videlicet, ille per fidem in nobis habitet: etenim omnia hominum peccata, collata nimirum cum illa per fidem inhabitante divinitate, esse instar unius guttulae aquae, cum magno mari comparatae. Contra hanc opinionem alii quidam asseruerunt, Christum esse nostram coram Deo iustitiam, duntaxat secundum humanam naturam.
AFFIRMATIVA. Sincera doctrina piarum Ecclesiarum, utrique commemorato errori opposita.
I. Ad refellendum utrunque errorem, credimus, docemus, et confitemur unanimiter, quod Christus vere sit nostra iustitia: sed tamen neque secundum solam divinam naturam, neque secundum solam humanam naturam, sed totus Christus, secundum utranque naturam, in SOLA, videlicet, obedientia sua: quam patri ad mortem usque absolutissimam Deus et homo praestitit: eaque nobis peccatorum omnium remissionem, et vitam aeternam promeruit. Sicut scriptum est: Sicut per inobedientiam unius hominis peccatores constituti sunt multi: ita et per unius obedientiam iusti constituentur multi, Rom. 5.
II. Credimus igitur, docemus, et confitemur, hoc ipsum nostram esse coram Deo iustitiam, quod Dominus nobis peccata remittit, ex mera gratia, absque ullo respectu praecedentium, praesentium, aut consequentium nostrorum operum, dignitatis aut meriti. Ille enim donat atque imputat nobis iustitiam obedientiae Christi: propter eam iustitiam a Deo in gratiam recipimur, et iusti reputamur.
III. Credimus etiam, docemus et confitemur, SOLAM FIDEM esse illud medium et instrumentum, quo Christum salvatorem, et ita in Christo iustitiam illam, quae coram iudicio Dei consistere potest, apprehendimus: propter Christum enim fides illa nobis ad iustitiam imputatur, Rom. 4.
IV. Credimus praeterea, docemus, et confitemur, fidem illam iustificantem non esse nudam notitiam historiae de Christo, sed ingens atque tale Dei donum, quo Christum Redemtorem nostrum, in verbo Evangelii recte agnoscimus, ipsique confidimus: quod videlicet, propter solam ipsius obedientiam, ex gratia, remissionem peccatorum habeamus, sancti et iusti coram Deo Patre reputemur, et aeternam salutem consequamur.
V. Credimus, docemus, et confitemur, vocabulum (iustificare) phrasi scripturae sacrae, in hoc articulo, idem significare, quod, absolvere a peccatis: ut ex dicto Salomonis intelligi potest: Qui iustificat impium, et qui condemnat iustum, abominabilis est uterque apud Deum. Item: Quis accusabit electos Dei? Deus est, qui iustificat.
Et, si quando pro vocabulo iustificationis, vocabula regenerationis et vivificationis usurpantur: (quod in Apologia Augustanae Confessionis factum est) sunt ea in illa superiore significatione accipienda. Nam alias eae voces de hominis renovatione intelligendae sunt, quae a fidei iustificatione recte discernitur.
VI. Credimus, docemus, et confitemur etiam, etsi vere in Christum credentes et renati multis infirmitatibus et naevis usque ad mortem sunt obnoxii: non tamen illis vel de iustitia, quae per fidem ipsis imputatur, vel de aeterna salute esse dubitandum: quin potius firmiter illis statuendum esse, quod propter Christum, iuxta promissionem et immotum verbum Evangelii, Deum sibi placatum habeant.
VII. Credimus, docemus, et confitemur, quod ad conservandam puram doctrinam de iustitia fidei coram Deo, necessarium sit: ut particulae exclusivae, (quibus Apostolus Paulus Christi meritum ab operibus nostris prorsus separat, SOLIQUE Christo eam gloriam tribuit) quam diligentissime retineantur, ut cum Paulus scribit, ex gratia, gratis, sine meritis, absque lege, sine operibus, non ex operibus. Quae omnia hoc ipsum dicunt: SOLA fide in Christum iustificamur et salvamur.
VIII. Credimus, docemus, et confitemur, etsi antecedens contritio, et subsequens nova obedientia ad articulum iustificationis coram Deo non pertinent: non tamen talem fidem iustificantem esse fingendam, quae una cum malo proposito, peccandi videlicet, et contra conscientiam agendi, esse et stare possit. Sed postquam homo per fidem est iustificatus, tum veram illam et vivam fidem esse per charitatem efficacem, et bona opera semper fidem iustificantem sequi, et una cum ea, si modo vera et viva fides est, certissime deprehendi. Fides enim vera nunquam sola est, quin charitatem et spem semper secum habeat.
ANTITHESIS, SEU NEGATIVA. Reiectio contrariae et falsae doctrinae.
Repudiamus ergo, et damnamus omnia falsa dogmata, quae iam recitabimus.
I. Christum esse iustitiam nostram solummodo secundum divinam naturam.
II. Christum esse iustitiam nostram tantummodo iuxta humanam naturam.
III. In dictis Propheticis et Apostolicis, ubi de iustificatione fidei agitur, vocabula (iusticare et iustificari) non idem esse, ac a peccatis absolvere, et absolvi, et remissionem peccatorum consequi, Sed nos per charitatem a Spiritu sancto infusam, per virtutes, et per opera, quae a charitate promanant, reipsa coram Deo iustos fieri.
IV. Fidem non respicere in solam Christi obedientiam, sed in divinam eius naturam: quatenus, videlicet, ea in nobis habitet atque efficax sit: ut per eam inhabitationem peccata nostra tegantur.
V. Fidem esse talem fiduciam in obedientiam Christi, quae possit in eo etiam homine permanere et consistere, qui vera poenitentia careat, et ubi charitas non sequatur: sed qui contra conscientiam in peccatis perseveret.
VI. Non ipsum Deum, sed tantum dona Dei in credentibus habitare.
VII. Fidem ideo salutem nobis conferre, quod novitas illa, quae in dilectione erga Deum et proximum consistit, per fidem in nobis inchoëtur.
VIII. Fidem in iustificationis negotio primas quidem partes tenere: sed tamen etiam renovationem et charitatem ad iustitiam nostram coram Deo pertinere: ita, ut renovatio et charitas quidem non sint principalis causa nostrae iustitiae: sed tamen iustitiam nostram coram Deo (si absint renovatio et charitas) non esse integram et perfectam.
IX. Credentes in Christum coram Deo iustos esse et salvos, simul per imputatam Christi iustitiam, et per inchoatam novam obedientiam: vel, partim quidem per imputationem iustitiae Christi, partim vero per inchoatam novam obedientiam.
X. Promissionem gratiae nobis applicari per fidem in corde, et praeterea etiam per confessionem, quae ore fit, et per alias virtutes.
XI. Fidem non iustificare sine bonis operibus: itaque bona opera necessario ad iustitiam requiri, et absque eorum praesentia, hominem iustificari non posse.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rom.5.19 — For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
- ↩Rom.4.5;2Cor.5.19-2Cor.5.21 — But to the one who does not work, but believes in the One who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. 2Cor.5.19 — that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation. 2Cor.5.20 — Therefore, on behalf of Christ we are ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. 2Cor.5.21 — God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
- ↩Rom.3.24;Eph.2.8-Eph.2.9 — being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Eph.2.8 — For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Eph.2.9 — not by works, so that no one may boast
- ↩Rom.3.28;Acts.15.11 — For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Acts.15.11 — But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus we are saved, just as they are.
- ↩Rom.5.5 — And hope does not put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Notes
- 1 ↩The antecedent of 'eae' is uncertain in the source; it is taken here as referring to the terms just mentioned (vocabula regenerationis et vivificationis). The singular 'discernitur' with plural 'quae' may reflect constructio ad sensum; the translation preserves the sense of a real distinction without resolving the grammatical ambiguity.
- 2 ↩The Latin 'Deum sibi placatum habeant' literally means 'they have God placated/propitiated to themselves'. Rendered as 'reconciled to them' to reflect the relational reality of justification in contemporary theological English while preserving the objective sense of God's favor.
Formula of Concord / Book of Concord companion
Doctrine settles in daily doses, not weekend cramming
Chosen Portion pairs a short historic reading with prayer every day, including confessional texts like this one, free on iOS.
The Book of Concord was written to be read and confessed regularly in churches and courts, and Chosen Portion turns that regular confessional reading into a personal daily portion.
- A 3-minute daily reading from historic confessions and devotional works
- Cover one Concord article roughly each week alongside daily prayer
- Free iOS app plus a weekly email digging into one doctrine