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Formula of Concord: Epitome

The brief summary of the Formula of Concord.

Formula of Concord

Antitheses: Contrary Doctrines Rejected.

Concordia Triglotta, 1921 English text

12 Therefore we reject and condemn all the following errors:

13 1. That Christ is our Righteousness according to His divine nature alone.

14 2. That Christ is our Righteousness according to His human nature alone.

15 3. That in the sayings of the prophets and apostles where the righteousness of faith is spoken of the words justify and to be justified are not to signify declaring or being declared free from sins, and obtaining the forgiveness of sins, but actually being made righteous before God, because of love infused by the Holy Ghost, virtues, and the works following them.

16 4. That faith looks not only to the obedience of Christ, but to His divine nature, as it dwells and works in us, and that by this indwelling our sins are covered.

17 5. That faith is such a trust in the obedience of Christ as can exist and remain in a man even when he has no genuine repentance, in whom also no love follows, but who persists in sins against his conscience.

18 6. That not God Himself, but only the gifts of God, dwell in believers.

19 7. That faith saves on this account, because by faith the renewal, which consists in love to God and one’s neighbor, is begun in us.

20 8. That faith has the first place in justification, nevertheless also renewal and love belong to our righteousness before God in such a manner that they [renewal and love] are indeed not the chief cause of our righteousness, but that nevertheless our righteousness before God is not entire or perfect without this love and renewal.

21 9. That believers are justified before God and saved jointly by the imputed righteousness of Christ and by the new obedience begun in them, or in part by the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, but in part also by the new obedience begun in them.

22 10. That the promise of grace is made our own by faith in the heart, and by the confession which is made with the mouth, and by other virtues.

23 11. That faith does not justify without good works; so that good works are necessarily required for righteousness, and without their presence man cannot be justified.