CHAPTER XVII
Of The Catholic
and Holy Church of God,
and of The One Only Head of The Church
THE
CHURCH HAS ALWAYS EXISTED AND IT WILL ALWAYS EXIST. But because God from the
beginning would have men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth
(I Tim. 2:4), it is altogether necessary that there always should have been,
and should be now, and to the end of the world, a Church.
WHAT
IS THE CHURCH? The Church is an assembly of the faithful called or gathered out
of the world; a communion, I say, of all saints, namely, of those who truly
know and rightly worship and serve the true God in Christ the Savior, by the
Word and holy Spirit, and who by faith are partakers of all benefits which are
freely offered through Christ.
CITIZENS
OF ONE COMMONWEALTH. They are all citizens of the one city, living under the
same Lord, under the same laws and in the same fellowship of all good things.
For the apostle calls them "fellow citizens with the saints and members of
the household of God" (Eph. 2:19), calling the faithful on earth saints (I
Cor. 4:1), who are sanctified by the blood of the Son of God. The article of
the Creed, "I believe in the holy catholic Church, the communion of
saints," is to be understood wholly as concerning these saints.
ONLY
ONE CHURCH FOR ALL TIMES. And since there is always but one God, and there is
one mediator between God and men, Jesus the Messiah, and one Shepherd of the
whole flock, one Head of this body, and, to conclude, one Spirit, one
salvation, one faith, one Testament or covenant, it necessarily follows that
there is only one Church.
THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH. We, therefore, call this Church catholic because it is
universal, scattered through all parts of the world, and extended unto all
times, and is not limited to any times or places. Therefore, we condemn the
Donatists who confined the Church to I know not what corners of Africa. Nor do
we approve of the Roman clergy who have recently passed off only the Roman
Church as catholic.
PARTS
OR FORMS OF THE CHURCH. The Church is divided into different parts or forms;
not because it is divided or rent asunder in itself, but rather because it is
distinguished by the diversity of the numbers that are in it.
MILITANT
AND TRIUMPHANT. For the one is called the Church Militant, the other the Church
Triumphant. The former still wages war on earth, and fights against the flesh,
the world, and the prince of this world, the devil; against sin and death. But
the latter, having been now discharged, triumphs in heaven immediately after
having overcome all those things and rejoices before the Lord. Notwithstanding
both have fellowship and union one with another.
THE
PARTICULAR CHURCH. Moreover, the Church Militant upon the earth has always had
many particular churches. yet all these are to be referred to the unity of the
catholic Church. This [Militant] Church was set up differently before the Law
among the patriarchs; otherwise under Moses by the Law; and differently by
Christ through the Gospel.
THE
TWO PEOPLES. Generally two peoples are usually counted, namely, the Israelites
and Gentiles, or those who have been gathered from among Jews and Gentiles into
the Church. There are also two Testaments, the Old and the New.
THE
SAME CHURCH FOR THE OLD AND THE NEW PEOPLE. Yet from all these people there was
and is one fellowship, one salvation in the one Messiah; in whom, as members of
one body under one Head, all united together in the same faith, partaking also
of the same spiritual food and drink. Yet here we acknowledge a diversity of
times, and a diversity in the signs of the promised and delivered Christ; and
that now the ceremonies being abolished, the light shines unto us more clearly,
and blessings are given to us more abundantly, and a fuller liberty.
THE
CHURCH THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD. This holy Church of God is called the
temple of the living God, built of living and spiritual stones and founded upon
a firm rock, upon a foundation which no other can lay, and therefore it is
called "the pillar and bulwark of the truth" (I Tim. 3:15).
THE
CHURCH DOES NOT ERR. It does not err as long as it rests upon the rock Christ,
and upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles. And it is no wonder if it
errs, as often as it deserts him who alone is the truth.
THE
CHURCH AS BRIDE AND VIRGIN. This Church is also called a virgin and the Bride
of Christ, and even the only Beloved. For the apostle says: "I betrothed
you to Christ to present you as a pure bride to Christ" (II Cor. 11:2).
THE
CHURCH AS A FLOCK OF SHEEP. The Church is called a flock of sheep under the one
shepherd, Christ, according to Ezek., ch. 34, and John, ch. 10.
THE
CHURCH AS THE BODY. It is also called the body of Christ because the faithful
are living members of Christ under Christ the Head.
CHRIST
THE SOLE HEAD OF THE CHURCH. It is the head which has the preeminence in the
body, and from it the whole body receives life; by its spirit the body is
governed in all things; from it, also, the body receives increase, that it may
grow up. Also, there is one head of the body, and it is suited to the body.
Therefore the Church cannot have any other head besides Christ. For as the
Church is a spiritual body, so it must also have a spiritual head in harmony
with itself. Neither can it be governed by any other spirit than by the Spirit
of Christ. Wherefore Paul says: "He is the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might
be preeminent" (Col. 1:18). And in another place: "Christ is the head
of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior" (Eph. 5:23). And
again: he is "the head over all things for the church, which is his body,
the fulness of him who fills all in all" (Eph. 1:22 f.). Also: "We
are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom
the whole body, joined and knit together, makes bodily growth" (Eph. 4:15
f.). And therefore we do not approve of the doctrine of the Roman clergy, who
make their Pope at Rome the universal shepherd and supreme head of the Church
Militant here on earth, and so the very vicar of Jesus Christ, who has (as they
say) all fulness of power and sovereign authority in the Church.
CHRIST
THE ONLY PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. For we teach that Christ the Lord is, and
remains the only universal pastor, and highest Pontiff before God the Father;
and that in the Church he himself performs all the duties of a bishop or
pastor, even to the world's end; [Vicar] and therefore does not need a
substitute for one who is absent. For Christ is present with his Church, and is
its life-giving Head.
NO
PRIMACY IN THE CHURCH. He has strictly forbidden his apostles and their
successors to have any primacy and dominion in the Church. Who does not see,
therefore, that whoever contradicts and opposes this plain truth is rather to
be counted among the number of those of whom Christ's apostles prophesied:
Peter in II Peter, ch. 2, and Paul in Acts 20:2; II Cor. 11:2; II Thess., ch.2,
and also in other places?
NO
DISORDER IN THE CHURCH. However, by doing away with a Roman head we do not
bring any confusion or disorder into the Church, since we teach that the
government of the Church which the apostles handed down is sufficient to keep
the Church in proper order, the Church was not disordered or in confusion. The
Roman head does indeed preserve his tyranny and the corruption that has been
brought into the Church, and meanwhile he hinders, resists, and with all the
strength he can muster cuts off the proper reformation of the Church.
DISSENSIONS
AND STRIFE IN THE CHURCH. We are reproached because there have been manifold
dissensions and strife in our churches since they separated themselves from the
Church of Rome, and therefore cannot be true churches. As though there were
never in the Church of Rome any sects, nor contentions and quarrels concerning
religion, and indeed, carried on not so much in the schools as from pulpits in
the midst of the people. We know, to be sure, that the apostle said: "God
is not a God of confusion but of peace" (I Cor. 14:33), and, "While
there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh?" Yet we
cannot deny that God was in the apostolic Church and that it was a true Church,
even though there were wranglings and dissensions in it. The apostle Paul
reprehended Peter, an apostle (Gal. 2:11 ff.), and Barnabas dissented from
Paul. Great contention arose in the Church of Antioch between them that
preached the one Christ, as Luke records in The Acts of the Apostles, ch. 15.
And there have at all times been great contentions in the Church, and the most
excellent teachers of the Church have differed among themselves about important
matters without meanwhile the Church ceasing to be the Church because of these
contentions. For thus it pleases God to use the dissensions that arise in the
Church to the glory of his name, to illustrate the truth, and in order that
those who are in the right might be manifest (I Cor. 11:19).
OF
THE NOTES OR SIGNS OF THE TRUE CHURCH. Moreover, as we acknowledge no other
head of the Church than Christ, so we do not acknowledge every church to be the
true Church which vaunts herself to be such; but we teach that the true Church
is that in which the signs or marks of the true Church are to be found,
especially the lawful and sincere preaching of the Word of God as it was
delivered to us in the books of the prophets and the apostles, which all lead
us unto Christ, who said in the Gospel: "My sheep hear me voice, and I
know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life. A stranger
they do not follow, but they flee from him, for they do not know the voice of
strangers" (John 10:5, 27, 28).
And
those who are such in the Church have one faith and one spirit; and therefore
they worship but one God, and him alone they worship in spirit and in truth,
loving him alone with all their hearts and with all their strength, praying
unto him alone through Jesus Christ, the only Mediator and Intercessor; and
they do not seek righteousness and life outside Christ and faith in him.
Because they acknowledge Christ the only head and foundation of the Church,
and, resting on him, daily renew themselves by repentance, and patiently bear
the cross laid upon them. Moreover, joined together with all the members of
Christ by an unfeigned love, they show that they are Christ's disciples by
persevering in the bond of peace and holy unity. At the same time they
participate in the sacraments instituted by Christ, and delivered unto us by
his apostles, using them in no other way than as they received them from the
Lord. That saying of the apostle Paul is well known to all: "I received
from the Lord what I also delivered to you" (I Cor. 11:23 ff.).
Accordingly, we condemn all such churches as strangers from the true Church of
Christ, which are not such as we have heard they ought to be, no matter how
much they brag of a succession of bishops, of unity, and of antiquity.
Moreover, we have a charge from the apostles of Christ "ti shun the
worship of idols" (I Cor. 10:14; I John 5:21), and "to come out of
Babylon," and to have no fellowship with her, unless we want to be
partakers with her of all God's plagues (Rev. 18:4; II Cor. 6:17).
OUTSIDE
THE CHURCH OF GOD THERE IS NO SALVATION. But we esteem fellowship with the true
Church of Christ so highly that we deny that those can live before God who do
not stand in fellowship with the true Church of God, but separate themselves
from it. For as there was no salvation outside Noah's ark when the world
perished in flood; so we believe that there is no certain salvation outside
Christ, who offers himself to be enjoyed by the elect in the Church; and hence
we teach that those who wish to live ought not to be separated from the true
Church of Christ.
THE
CHURCH IS NOT BOUND TO ITS SIGNS. Nevertheless, by the signs [of the true
Church] mentioned above, we do not so narrowly restrict the Church as to teach
that all those are outside the Church who either do not participate in the
sacraments, at least not willingly and through contempt, but rather, being
forced by necessity, unwillingly abstain from them or are deprived of them; or
in whom faith sometimes fails, though it is not entirely extinguished and does
not wholly cease; or in whom imperfections and errors due to weakness are
found. For we know that God had some friends in the world outside the
commonwealth of Israel. We know what befell the people of God in the captivity
of Babylon, where they were deprived of their sacrifices for seventy years. We
know what happened to St. Peter, who denied his Master, and what is wont to
happen daily to God's elect and faithful people who go astray and are weak. We
know, moreover, what kind of churches the churches in Galatia and Corinth were
in the apostles' time, in which the apostle found fault with many serious
offenses; yet he calls them holy churches of Christ (I Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:2).
THE
CHURCH APPEARS AT TIMES TO BE EXTINCT. Yes, and it sometimes happens that God
in his just judgment allows the truth of his Word, and the catholic faith, and
the proper worship of God to be so obscured and overthrown that the Church
seems almost extinct, and no more to exist, as we see to have happened in the
days of Elijah (I Kings 19:10, 14), and at other times. Meanwhile God has in
this world and in this darkness his true worshippers, and those not a few, but
even seven thousand and more (I Kings 19:18; Rev. 7:3 ff.). For the apostle
exclaims: "God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal, `The Lord
knows those who are his,' " etc. (II Tim. 2:19). Whence the Church of God
may be termed invisible; not because the men from whom the Church is gathered
are invisible, but because, being hidden from our eyes and known only to God,
it often secretly escapes human judgment.
NOT
ALL WHO ARE IN THE CHURCH ARE OF THE CHURCH. Again, not all that are reckoned
in the number of the Church are saints, and living and true members of the
Church. For there are many hypocrites, who outwardly hear the Word of God, and
publicly receive the sacraments, and seem to pray to God through Christ alone,
to confess Christ to be their only righteousness, and to worship God, and to
exercise the duties of charity, and for a time to endure with patience in
misfortune. And yet they are inwardly destitute of true illumination of the
Spirit, of faith and sincerity of heart, and of perseverance to the end. But
eventually the character of these men, for the most part, will be disclosed.
For the apostle John says: "They went out from us, but they were not of us;
for if they had been of us, they would indeed have continued with us" (I
John 2:19). And although while they simulate piety they are not of the Church,
yet they are considered to be in the Church, just as traitors in a state are
numbered among its citizens before they are discovered; and as the tares or
darnel and chaff are found among the wheat, and as swellings and tumors are
found in a sound body, And therefore the Church of God is rightly compared to a
net which catches fish of all kinds, and to a field, in which both wheat and
tares are found (Matt. 13:24 ff., 47 ff.).
WE
MUST NOT JUDGE RASHLY OR PREMATURELY. Hence we must be very careful not to
judge before the time, nor undertake to exclude, reject or cut off those whom
the Lord does not want to have excluded or rejected, and those whom we cannot
eliminate without loss to the Church. On the other hand, we must be vigilant
lest while the pious snore the wicked gain ground and do harm to the Church.
THE
UNITY OF THE CHURCH IS NOT IN EXTERNAL RITES. Furthermore, we diligently teach
that care is to be taken wherein the truth and unity of the Church chiefly
lies, lest we rashly provoke and foster schisms in the Church. Unity consists
not in outward rites and ceremonies, but rather in the truth and unity of the catholic
faith. The catholic faith is not given to us by human laws, but by Holy
Scriptures, of which the Apostles' Creed is a compendium. And, therefore, we
read in the ancient writers that there was a manifold diversity of rites, but
that they were free, and no one ever thought that the unity of the Church was
thereby dissolved. So we teach that the true harmony of the Church consists in
doctrines and in the true and harmonious preaching of the Gospel of Christ, and
in rites that have been expressly delivered by the Lord. And here we especially
urge that saying of the apostle: "Let those of us who are perfect have
this mind; and if in any thing you are otherwise minded, God will reveal that
also to you. Nevertheless let us walk by the same rule according to what we
have attained, and let us be of the same mind" (Phil. 3:15 f.).
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