Friday, July 26, 2002

From Confessio Augustana

Here's Melanchthon:

From Augustana XXIV:

Augsburg Confession cover...At the same time the abominable error was condemned according to which is was taught that our Lord Christ has by his death made satisfaction only for original sin, and had instituted the Mass as a sacrifice for other sins. This transformed the Mass into a sacrifice for the living and the dead, a sacrifice by means of which sin was taken away and God was reconciled ... the Scriptures show in many places that there is no sacrifice for original sin, or for any other sin, except the one death of Christ. For it is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews that Christ offered himself once and by this offering made satisfaction for all sin. It is an unprecedented novelty in church doctrine that Christ's death should have made satisfaction only for original sin and not for other sins as well ... In the second place, St. Paul taught that we obtain grace before God through faith and not through works ... In the third place, the holy sacrament was not instituted to make provision as a sacrifice for sin –for the sacrifice had already taken place ... but to awaken our faith and comfort our consciences when we perceive that through the sacrament grace and forgiveness of sin are promised us by Christ...

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