Hi.
After reading the Augsburg Confession I would say that I agree with most of it. I would just like to pose a few questions that I would hope to be answered.
I
am church shopping, and I'm coming from a Southern Baptist background. But I'm open to change if it's biblical.
1. Article V states that through both the Word and Sacraments the Holy Ghost is given. Can this happen without the Sacraments. If no, how does one receive the Spirit through the sacraments?
Sacraments are defined as the Word connected to and comprehended with an element. So Baptism is God's word connected to water, without the Word it's just water, not Baptism. Hence we read from St. Paul in Ephesians 5:26, "[Christ cleansed the Church] through the washing of water by the word."
We speak of "Word and Sacrament" as a single thing because we don't think we should separate them. Yes, the preaching of the Gospel is indeed efficacious, it is Means of Grace. But it's not so much Word without the Sacraments, because the preaching of the Gospel is always also with the Sacraments.
From the Large Catechism,
"
For neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe on Him, and obtain Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the Gospel. The work is done and accomplished; for Christ has acquired and gained the treasure for us by His suffering, death, resurrection, etc. But if the work remained concealed so that no one knew of it, then it would be in vain and lost. That this treasure, therefore, might not lie buried, but be appropriated and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to go forth and be proclaimed, in which He gives the Holy Ghost to bring this treasure home and appropriate it to us." - Large Catechism, Part II, Article III.38
Also,
"
For to be baptized in the name of God is to be baptized not by men, but by God Himself. Therefore, although it is performed by human hands, it is nevertheless truly God's own work. From this fact every one may himself readily infer that it is a far higher work than any work performed by a man or a saint. For what work greater than the work of God can we do? ... From this now learn a proper understanding of the subject, and how to answer the question what Baptism is, namely thus, that it is not mere ordinary water, but water comprehended in God's Word and command, and sanctified thereby, so that it is nothing else than a divine water; not that the water in itself is nobler than other water, but that God's Word and command are added. ... Comprehend the difference, then, that Baptism is quite another thing than all other water; not on account of the natural quality but because something more noble is here added; for God Himself stakes His honor, His power and might on it. Therefore it is not only natural water, but a divine, heavenly, holy, and blessed water, and in whatever other terms we can praise it,-all on account of the Word, which is a heavenly, holy Word, that no one can sufficiently extol, for it has, and is able to do, all that God is and can do [since it has all the virtue and power of God comprised in it]. Hence also it derives its essence as a Sacrament, as St. Augustine also taught: Accedat verbum ad elementum et fit sacramentum. That is, when the Word is joined to the element or natural substance, it becomes a Sacrament, that is, a holy and divine matter and sign." - Large Catechism, Section IV.10, 14, 17-18
It's not Word or Sacrament, but Word and Sacrament. Thus whether one hears the Word and is then baptized, or is baptized (as an infant) and hears the Word, it is Word and Sacrament all the same. Further, we acknowledge that there may be circumstances where one does not receive the Sacraments and we do not say such a person is lost on this account. So that, for example, a child who perishes without receiving Baptism is not said to be condemned, or one who dies before they can receive Baptism (such as in ancient times during persecution and catechumens suffered martyrdom before they could receive Baptism). The Word is all sufficient. As it is also not the Sacraments working
ex opere operato (of the working of themselves, the mere act), it is faith which is given as a gift here through Word and Sacrament which justifies. So that one who has heard the Gospel, given faith, and though by circumstance may never receive Baptism, still they have received Christ in full through faith.
Ultimately the Lutheran point isn't to try and argue some rigorous formula for salvation, but instead to confess God's grace. God alone saves us, and when we speak of Word and Sacrament we aren't trying to place a box around God's grace, but instead are speaking and confessing the Scriptures in how they speak about how God's grace acts. So Baptism is not an obstacle to be overcome to be saved, as though it were a work of man; it is instead confessed as God's gracious means.
It's not about formulas and systems, but rather about confessing God's grace and the glorious work of Jesus Christ.
2. Article VIII talks about how the Sacraments and the Word are effectual even though the minister may not be perfect. Have I understood this right?
Correct. We reject the heresy of Donatism. Donatus was a heretic from the 4th century, though he may have been motivated in part by piety, what he ended up teaching is dangerous heresy. Toward the end of the 3rd century and beginning of the 4th the Emperor Diocletian was waging the worst persecution against the Church which it had ever seen. It was an absolutely brutal campaign that resulted in deaths, imprisonment, and torture. So brutal was it that at the Council of Nicea many of the bishops who attended bore the scars of their faith, they had missing eyes, limbs, and other physical ailments which they had suffered at the hands of a brutal tyrant.
But also, because it was so brutal, many clergy had succumbed to the torture, handing over sacred books to be burned, or even denying the Lord out of fear for their own lives. These who succumbed were known as traditors, and after the persecution the Church largely was willing to welcome them back in with repentance. And so priests and bishops who had become traditors were restored in the Church. But there were some, like Donatus, who held the traditors in contempt, and argued that anyone who had succumbed during the persecutions was unfit to preach or administer the Sacraments. And so Donatus, in essence, taught that the efficacy of preaching and the Sacraments resided in the minister. The Church's response was to recognize this as heretical, because it is not the minister, but God who makes His Word and Sacraments what they are.
So even if preached by wicked men, the Gospel is still the Gospel. Baptism is still Baptism. The Eucharist is still the Eucharist.
3. Article IX says that baptism is necessary to salvation. Does baptism produce justifying or non-justifying grace?
Not produce, but rather is Means of. God graciously works through Baptism to grant us faith through which we are freely justified by God's grace on Christ's account. So that the baptized in saying, "I am baptized" can have full confidence that they belong to God in Jesus Christ, having received the Holy Spirit, that their sins are forgiven, they have peace with God, and all other things so promised in Holy Scripture.
4. Article XIII says that there are promises set forth and offered in the Sacraments, what are they?
We are told, "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins,
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38), "All of us who were baptized into Christ
have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27), "
For He saved us not by works of righteousness, but by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:5) And so on and so forth. Likewise the Lord Jesus Himself says, "This is
My body broken for you" and "This is the cup of
the New Covenant in My blood" concerning the Eucharist, and also St. Paul says, "Is not the cup of blessing which we bless
partaking of the blood of Christ? And is not the bread which we break a
partaking of the body of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 10:16)
5. Article XV talks about how consciences are not to be burdened. What is legalism to a Lutheran, or is there such a thing?
Legalism: That one can be justified by works of the Law. The Law is unable to render us just before God, and in fact just the opposite, the Law condemns us in our sins. The Law being all which God has commanded, not just the Ten Commandments or the Torah given exclusively to the Jews on Mt. Horeb.
Luther writes in his Heidelberg Disputations, "The Law says 'Do this' and it is never done. Grace says 'Trust this' and it is done already.", this is the Distinction between Law and Gospel. The Law is what God commands, and we do not do it on account of sin, and thus we are sinners; the Gospel is what God has already done and promised us and gives us freely as pure gift. Thus sinners are saved by the grace of God alone on Christ's account alone, not by any works of the Law. Legalism is any attempt to say that we can, in anyway, be righteous, good, or holy by our own working, effort, strength, under God's commandments.
6. Article XVIII talks about freewill. What is total depravity, and is it a normal Lutheran belief?
Total Depravity is the idea that every part of our humanity is broken and bent, malformed by sin. The "total" here means "in its entirety", and "depravity" comes from the Latin pravus, meaning "bent, twisted, crooked" as in a bent or twisted branch or twig. With the Latin prefix de- meaning effectively, of brokenness, or of crookedness, etc. That man, even in his will, emotion, reason, thinking (etc) is affected by the effects of sin, so that it is impossible for fallen, sinful man to turn to God and do right by God.
It is
only by the grace of God that man can be saved, by no effort, will, strength, or act of our own.
7. Article XX talks about good works. Are we justified as Christians by grace through faith in Christ alone or are works apart of the equation?
These are the 7 questions from the confession I have. Have fun y'all.
Works can accomplish nothing for us for our salvation. We are justified by grace alone, through faith, on Christ's account alone. Christ has accomplished everything, and God does everything, so that the Holy Spirit grants faith to us, through Word and Sacrament, to appropriate for us everything which Christ has done, which is the perfect, finished, and completed work of God to save the whole world.
-CryptoLutheran