IV. De Bonis Operibus
The Controversy Stated
Two disputes are introduced: whether good works are necessary or ruinous for salvation, and whether the Law should be preached to Christians at all.
The state of the controversy. In the teaching about good works, two controversies have arisen in certain churches. I. The first split arose among certain theologians, when some insisted that good works are necessary for salvation, that it's impossible to be saved without good works, and that no one has ever been saved without good works; but others taught that good works are ruinous for salvation. II. A second dispute arose among some theologians over the terms "necessary" and "free." One side argues that the word "necessary" shouldn't be used of a new obedience, since it flows not from any necessity or compulsion but from a willing spirit. The other side, however, judged that the word "necessary" should be kept entirely, because that obedience isn't placed within our own control and left to us as a free choice; rather, those who are reborn owe and ought to render that obedience. And while the dispute was over those aforementioned terms, eventually the thing itself was also debated. For some maintained that the Law should not be taught among Christians at all, but that only the teaching of the Gospel should invite people to good works. Others attacked this opinion.
Faith Bears Fruit in Works
The church's sincere teaching is introduced, and the first article declares that true, living faith inevitably produces good works as fruit.
AFFIRMATIVE. The Church's sincere teaching on this controversy. So that these controversies may be thoroughly and skillfully explained and resolved, this is our faith, teaching, and confession. I. Because good works most certainly and unmistakably follow true faith — if only faith itself is not dead, but living — just as the fruit of a good tree.
Works Excluded from Justification
Good works must be excluded from both justification and eternal salvation, as testified by Romans 4, Psalm 32, and Ephesians 2.
II. We also believe, teach, and confess that good works must be utterly excluded — not only when the justification of faith is being discussed, but also when our eternal salvation is being debated — just as the Apostle testifies in clear words when he says: Just as David also speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God reckons righteousness, apart from works.✦ Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.✦ Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not reckoned sin, etc.✦ And elsewhere: By grace, he says, you are saved, through faith, and this is not from you — for it is the gift of God — not from works, so that no one may boast.✦
The Obligation of the Reborn
All people are bound to do good works, especially the reborn, and the terms 'necessary' and 'obliged' rightly describe their willing obedience under grace, not legal compulsion.
III. We believe, teach, and confess that all people are obligated to do good works, but especially those who have been born again and renewed through the Holy Spirit. IV. And in this statement those terms — what is necessary, being obliged, being proper — are used correctly, even concerning people who have been reborn, and they don't conflict with the pattern of sound words.✦ V. But when words like 'necessity' or 'necessary' are used concerning the reborn, the point is not coercion, but only that owed obedience — which those who truly believe render, insofar as they are reborn, not by coercion or compulsion of the law, but with a free and willing spirit, since they are no longer under the law but under grace.
Freedom of the Spirit
The reborn do good works by a free and willing spirit, not by slavish fear of punishment but by filial love of justice, though this freedom does not mean the will is left to choose evil.
VI. We therefore believe, teach, and confess that when people say the reborn do good works by a free and willing spirit, this isn't to be taken as meaning that the choice to do good or evil has been left to the reborn person's own judgment, to act however they please. Even so, they still keep faith, even if they persist in sin deliberately. VII. This, however, is to be understood only as referring to the human spirit now set free: just as Christ himself and his Apostles make clear, the freed human spirit does what is good not out of fear of punishment, like a slave, but out of love of justice — the kind of obedience that sons are accustomed to offer.
Weakness Pardoned in Christ
The spirit's freedom in God's children is imperfect and burdened with weakness, as Paul confesses, yet the Lord does not hold this against them on account of Christ, for there is no condemnation in him.
VIII. This freedom of the spirit in God's chosen children we acknowledge to be not perfect, but still burdened with many weaknesses—just as D. Paul himself complains about that matter regarding his own person. IX. Yet the Lord doesn't hold that weakness against his chosen ones, because of the mediator Christ. For so it is written: There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.✦
Faith Preserved by the Spirit
Faith and salvation are kept not by works but by the Spirit of God and through faith, while good works serve as testimonies that the Holy Spirit dwells in believers.
X. Furthermore, we believe, teach, and confess that faith and salvation are preserved or kept in us not through works, but only through the Spirit of God and through faith — the means, that is, by which salvation is guarded — and that good works are testimonies that the Holy Spirit is present and dwells in us.
Condemnation of False Teachings
The confession rejects the bare claim that works are necessary for salvation, the destructive claim that works are harmful, and the antinomian claim that faith and the Spirit persist in those who willfully persist in sin.
Negative statements. A false teaching that contradicts the preceding statement. I. So we reject and condemn the following phrases, when it's taught that good works are necessary for salvation, that no one was ever saved without good works, and that it's impossible to be saved without good works. II. We reject and condemn this bare phrase, full of stumbling blocks and destructive to Christian discipline: that good works are harmful for salvation. For in these last times, it is no less necessary to invite and encourage people to a right and faithful way of living and to good works than it is necessary that they declare their faith and gratitude toward God by practicing good works — and just as necessary as it is to beware lest good works be mixed up with the business of justification. For people can incur condemnation no less from an Epicurean persuasion about faith than from a Pharisaic and Papist confidence in their own works and merits. III. Furthermore, we reject and condemn the teaching that faith in Christ is not lost, and that the Holy Spirit nevertheless dwells in a person even if that person knowingly and willingly sins; and that the holy and elect retain the Holy Spirit even if they fall into adultery or other crimes and persist in them.
Read the original Latin
Status controversiae. In doctrina de bonis operibus, duae controversiae in quibusdam Ecclesiis ortae sunt.
I. Primum schisma inter Theologos quosdam factum est, cum alii assererent: bona opera necessaria esse ad salutem: impossibile esse salvari sine bonis operibus: Et, neminem unquam sine bonis operibus salvatum esse: Alii vero docerent: Bona opera ad salutem esse perniciosa.
II. Alterum schisma inter Theologos nonnullos super vocabulis (necessarium, et liberum) ortum est. Altera enim pars contendit, vocabulum (necessarium) non esse usurpandum de nova obedientia: eam enim non a necessitate quadam et coactione, sed a spontaneo spiritu promanare. Altera vero pars vocabulum (necessarium) prorsus retinendum censuit: propterea, quod illa obedientia non in nostro arbitrio posita et libera sit, sed homines renatos illud obsequium debere praestare.
Et dum de commemoratis illis vocabulis disputatum est, tandem etiam de reipsa fuit disceptatum. Alii enim contenderunt, Legem apud Christianos prorsus non esse docendam: sed tantummodo doctrina Evangelii homines ad bona opera invitandos esse. Alii hanc opinionem impugnarunt.
AFFIRMATIVA. Sincera Ecclesiae doctrina de hac controversia.
Ut hae controversiae solide et dextre explicentur atque decidantur, haec nostra fides, doctrina et confessio est.
I. Quod bona opera veram fidem (si modo ea non sit mortua, sed viva fides) certissime atque indubitato sequantur, tanquam fructus bonae arboris.
II. Credimus etiam, docemus, et confitemur: quod bona opera penitus excludenda sint, non tantum cum de iustificatione fidei agitur, sed etiam cum de salute nostra aeterna disputatur, sicut Apostolus perspicuis verbis testatur, cum ait: Sicut et David dicit, beatitudinem hominis, cui Deus accepto fert iustitiam sine operibus. Beati, quorum remissae sunt iniquitates, et quorum tecta sunt peccata. Beatus vir, cui non imputavit Dominus peccatum, etc. Et alibi: Gratia, inquit, estis salvati, per fidem, et hoc non ex vobis, Dei enim donum est, non ex operibus, ne quis glorietur.
III. Credimus, docemus, et confitemur, omnes quidem homines, praecipue vero eos, qui per Spiritum sanctum regenerati sunt et renovati, ad bona opera facienda debitores esse.
IV. Et in hac sententia vocabula illa (necessarium, debere, oportere) recte usurpantur, etiam de renatis hominibus, et cum forma sanorum verborum non pugnant.
V. Sed tamen per vocabula (necessitas, necessarium) quando videlicet de renatis est sermo, non intelligenda est coactio, sed tantum debita illa obedientia: quam vere credentes, quatenus renati sunt, non ex coactione, aut compulsu legis, sed libero et spontaneo spiritu praestant: quandoquidem non amplius sub lege sunt, sed sub gratia.
VI. Credimus igitur, docemus, et confitemur, cum dicitur: renatos bene operari libero et spontaneo spiritu: id non ita accipiendum esse, quod in hominis renati arbitrio relictum sit, bene aut male agere, quando ipsi visum fuerit: ut nihilominus tamen fidem retineat, etiamsi in peccatis ex proposito perseveret.
VII. Hoc tamen non aliter, quam de spiritu hominis iam liberato intelligendum est: sicut hanc rem ipse Christus, eiusque Apostoli declarant: quod videlicet spiritus hominis liberatus bene operetur, non formidine poenae, ut servus: sed iustitiae amore: qualem obedientiam filii praestare solent.
VIII. Hanc vero libertatem spiritus, in electis Dei filiis non perfectam, sed multiplici infirmitate adhuc gravatam agnoscimus: quemadmodum D. Paulus super ea re de sua ipsius persona conqueritur.
IX. Illam tamen infirmitatem Dominus electis suis non imputat: idque propter mediatorem Christum. Sic enim scriptum est: Nihil iam damnationis est his, qui in Christo Iesu sunt.
X. Credimus praeterea, docemus, et confitemur, fidem et salutem in nobis conservari, aut retineri non per opera, sed tantum per Spiritum Dei, et per fidem (qua scilicet salus custoditur) bona autem opera testimonia esse, quod Spiritus sanctus praesens sit, atque in nobis habitet.
Negativa. Falsa doctrina, superiori repugnans.
I. Reiicimus igitur, et damnamus subsequentes phrases, cum docetur: Bona opera necessaria esse ad salutem: Neminem unquam sine bonis operibus salvatum: Impossibile esse, sine bonis operibus salvari.
II. Repudiamus et damnamus nudam hanc, offendiculi plenam, et Christianae disciplinae perniciosam phrasin: Bona opera noxia esse ad salutem.
His enim postremis temporibus, non minus necessarium est, ut homines ad recte et pie vivendi rationem, bonaque opera invitentur atque moneantur, quam necessarium sit, ut ad declarandam fidem atque gratitudinem suam erga Deum in bonis operibus sese exerceant: quam necessarium est, cavere, ne bona opera negotio iustificationis admisceantur. Non minus enim homines Epicurea persuasione de fide, quam Pharisaica et Papistica fiducia in propria opera et merita, damnationem incurrere possunt.
III. Praeterea reprobamus atque damnamus dogma illud: quod fides in Christum non amittatur, et Spiritus sanctus nihilominus in homine habitet, etiamsi sciens volensque peccet: et quod sancti atque electi Spiritum sanctum retineant, tametsi in adulterium, aut in alia scelera prolabantur, et in iis perseverent.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rom.4.5-Rom.4.6 — But to the one who does not work, but believes in the One who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. Rom.4.6 — Just as David also speaks of the blessedness of the person to whom God counts righteousness apart from works.
- ↩Ps.32.1 — Of David. A Maskil. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
- ↩Ps.32.2 — Blessed is the one to whom the LORD does not count iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
- ↩Eph.2.8-Eph.2.9 — 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
- ↩2Tim.1.13 — Hold fast to the pattern of sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
- ↩Rom.8.1 — Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
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