Martin Luther vs. John Calvin

GratiaCorpusChristi said:

Yes, that pretty much condemns Anabaptists, Zwinglians, and Calvinsits. And 'reject' pretty much boils down to excommunicate.

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Article XII: Of Repentance.


1] Of Repentance they teach that for those who have fallen after Baptism there is remission of sins whenever they are converted 2] and that the Church ought to impart absolution to those thus returning to repentance. Now, repentance consists properly of these 3] two parts: One is contrition, that is, 4] terrors smiting the conscience through the knowledge of sin; the other is faith, which is born of 5] the Gospel, or of absolution, and believes that for Christ's sake, sins are forgiven, comforts 6] the conscience, and delivers it from terrors. Then good works are bound to follow, which are the fruits of repentance.
7] They condemn the Anabaptists, who deny that those once justified can lose the Holy Ghost. Also those who contend that some may attain to such 8] perfection in this life that they cannot sin.
9] The Novatians also are condemned, who would not absolve such as had fallen after Baptism, though they returned to repentance.
10] They also are rejected who do not teach that remission of sins comes through faith but command us to merit grace through satisfactions of our own.

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1] Confession in the churches is not abolished among us; for it is not usual to give the body of the Lord, except to them that have been previously examined and absolved. And 2] the people are most carefully taught concerning faith in the absolution, about which formerly there 3] was profound silence. Our people are taught that they should highly prize the absolution, as being the voice of God, 4] and pronounced by God's command. The power of the Keys is set forth in its beauty and they are reminded what great consolation it brings to anxious consciences, also, that God requires faith to believe such absolution as a voice sounding from heaven, and that such faith in Christ truly obtains and receives the forgiveness of sins. Aforetime satisfactions were immoderately extolled; 5] of faith and the merit of Christ and the righteousness of faith no mention was made; wherefore, on this point, our churches are by no means to be blamed. For this even our adversaries must needs concede 6] to us that the doctrine concerning repentance has been most diligently treated and laid open by our teachers.
7] But of Confession they teach that an enumeration of sins is not necessary, and that consciences be not burdened with anxiety to enumerate all sins, for it is impossible to recount all sins, as the Psalm 19:13 testifies: Who can understand his errors? Also Jeremiah 17:9 : 8] The heart is deceitful; who can know it? But if no sins were forgiven, except those that are recounted, 9] consciences could never find peace; for very many sins they neither see 10] nor can remember. The ancient writers also testify that an enumeration is not necessary. For in the Decrees, Chrysostom is quoted, 11] who says thus: I say not to you that you should disclose yourself in public, nor that you accuse yourself before others, but I would have you obey the prophet who says: "Disclose thy way before God." Therefore confess your sins before God, the true Judge, with prayer. Tell your errors, not with the tongue, but with the memory of your conscience, etc. 12] And the Gloss (Of Repentance, Distinct. V, Cap. Consideret) admits that Confession is of human right only [not commanded by Scripture, but ordained by the Church]. 13] Nevertheless, on account of the great benefit of absolution, and because it is otherwise useful to the conscience, Confession is retained among us.

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GratiaCorpusChristi said:

Phew, now isn't that a loaded question! No worries!

My personal theory on why the Book of Concord refers to Anabaptists as opposed to just the specific heresy in general in its condemnations is because the Anapbaptists were just so darn wrong in every single little thing they said. The group was better condemned not as a collection of individual, largely unrelated heresies, but as a group. Catholicism, on the other hand, is treated as a true church with individual defects.

Most Lutherans do not have to learn the whole Book of Concord, but are only taught the Small Catechism of Martin Luther, which is great reading. Often people will go from there to the Large Catechism and the Augsburg Confession, but all the other documents tend to be advanced reading. Granted, that isn't the way I think it should be, but my prescriptions for the Lutheran denominations are another matter...

As for our clergy... the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, of which I am a member, has only male clergymen (pastors- no bishops) and both male and female deacons (deacons and deaconesses). We also have elders, rather than bishops, who are more of a parish council with the deacons and oversee the pastor in that capacity, rather than as a superior. We had one so-called bishop (he, too, was elected) back in the day, but he was run out of town on trumped-up charges of adultery by our power-hungry founder, C.F.W. Walther.

The larger, mainline Protestant (note: Protestant is a dirty word as far as I'm concerned) Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has bishops who are elected for limited terms, pastors, and deacons. They can be male or female. I'm not sure whether the ELCA has elders.

Alas, there is no Lutheran church that has both the threefold office with full bishops and a purely male clergy above the deaconate level.

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GratiaCorpusChristi said:

Alas, we don't really have monasteries of any sort, or even non-cloistered orders. We do have a place up in Minnesota called St. Augustine House where two Lutheran guys follow the Benedictine rule, but that is not the norm at all. Oh, how I wish I could go there on retreat, though...

As I said, the ELCA has bishops. I don't know if they have a primate like the Anglicans do, but I'm pretty sure there is no position of patriarch.

As to your previous post: We have a corporate order of confession at the beginning of each Mass, but private confession is a bit ad hoc. It is always, in theory, offered, although there is no time of the day or week when it is specially offered in a confessional. Rather, it often takes place face to face in the pastor's office at the request of the penitent. Note that this diverges from standard Lutheran practice, which had both the corporate confession as a preface to the liturgy as well as regular private confession with confessional booths.

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