True Christian Religion (Chadwick) n. 464

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464. (i) 'The scholars of the Confession of Augsburg hold that as the result of the fall of our first parents, man is so utterly corrupt that in spiritual matters relating to our conversion and salvation he is by nature blind, and on hearing the Word of God preached he neither understands it nor can understand it, but judges it a foolish thing; and he never of himself approaches God, but is rather an enemy of God and so remains, until by the power of the Holy Spirit on hearing the Word preached he is by pure grace, without any co-operation on his own part, converted, endowed with faith, regenerated and made new' (pp. [655,] 656).

[2] (ii) 'We believe that the understanding, heart and will of a person who has not been born again cannot of his own natural abilities in spiritual and Divine matters understand, believe, embrace, think, will, begin, complete, do, perform or co-operate in anything whatever; but that man is so corrupt and dead to good, that since the fall and before regeneration there remains left over not so much as a spark of spiritual ability, to enable him to prepare himself for God's grace, or to grasp it when offered, or to fit himself for it or of his own accord to receive it. Nor can he of his own ability contribute to his own conversion either totally or to the extent of a half or even the slightest extent, or act, work or co-operate of his own accord, or as if of his own accord; but man is a slave to sin and in bondage to Satan, by whom he is impelled. Thus by reason of the corruption of his abilities and the depravity of his nature his natural free will is active and effective only in matters which displease and oppose God' (p. 656).

[3] (iii) 'In secular and natural matters man is industrious and clever, but in spiritual and Divine matters which concern the salvation of his soul he is like a tree-trunk, a stone or the pillar of salt into which Lot's wife was turned, unable to use eyes, mouth or any senses' (p. 661).

[4] (iv) 'None the less man has the power of movement and is able to control his external parts, to listen to the Gospel, and in some way to meditate on it, but still in his unexpressed thoughts he despises it as a folly, and he is unable to believe it, being in this respect worse than a tree-trunk, unless the Holy Spirit is effective in him, and kindles and produces in him faith, the other virtues pleasing to God and obedience' (p. 662).

[5] (v) 'It can in a way be argued that man is not a stone or a tree-trunk: these do not offer resistance, nor do they understand or feel what is done to them, in the way that man by his will resists God, until he has been turned towards God. Yet it is true that before conversion man is a rational creature, endowed with understanding, though not in Divine matters, and with a will, though incapable of willing any good which might lead to his salvation; yet he is unable to make any contribution to his conversion, and in this respect he is worse than a tree-trunk or a stone' (pp. 672, 673).

[6] (vi) 'The whole act of conversion is the action, gift and work of the Holy Spirit alone, who by His strength and power brings about and effects this, by means of the Word, in man's understanding, heart and will, as if in a passive object, where man does nothing but is only worked on. However, this is not like the way a statue is shaped from a block of stone or a seal is imprinted on wax, because the wax has neither knowledge nor will' (p. 681).

[7] (vii) 'The writings of certain Fathers and modern scholars have alleged that God draws man but only with his consent, so that man's will plays some part in his conversion; but these statements are not in accordance with sound discourse, for they support a false view of the powers of human choice in conversion' (p. 582).

[8] (viii) 'In outward, worldly matters, which are open to reason, man has left to him a certain amount of understanding, ability and faculties, although these wretched remains are very weak; and these same talents, small as they are, are poisoned and contaminated by inherited disease, so that they are worthless in the sight of God' (p. 641).

[9] (ix) 'Man in his conversion, which turns him from a son of wrath into a son of grace, does not co-operate with the Holy Spirit, seeing that man's conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit alone and unaided' (pp. 219, 579f, 663ff, Appendix p. 143). 'However, once he has been born again, man can co-operate by the power of the Holy Spirit, although there is at the same time great weakness in him. He does good deeds to the extent that and so long as the Holy Spirit leads, controls and guides him; but he does not co-operate with the Holy Spirit like two horses together pulling a carriage' (p. 674).

[10] (x) 'Original sin is not a crime which is perpetrated in action, but something intimately implanted and inherent in man's nature, substance and essence, acting as the spring from which well up all sins realised in action, such as wicked thoughts, conversations and evil deeds' (p. 577). 'The inherited disease which has corrupted his whole nature is a dreadful sin, and indeed the beginning and chief of all sins, the root and source from which flow forth all transgressions' (p. 640). 'By that sin, as it were by spiritual leprosy, completely lodged in even the inmost viscera and the deepest recesses of the heart, man's nature is in God's sight totally infected and corrupted; and on account of this corruption man's person is accused and condemned by God's law, so that we are by nature sons of wrath, slaves of death and damnation, unless benefiting by Christ's merit we are freed and saved from these evils' (p. 639). 'As a result we suffer a total lack or deprivation of original righteousness or the image of God which was created along with us in Paradise, and this is the source of the powerlessness, ineptitude and stupidity which unfits man for all Divine or spiritual concerns. In place of the lost image of God man suffers an intimate, most evil and deep, inscrutable and unspeakable corruption of his whole nature, and of all his powers, particularly the higher and principal faculties of the soul, in mind, understanding, heart and will' (p. 640).


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