Magyar Református Egyház

CHAPTER XIV

Of Repentance and the Conversion of Man

The doctrine of repentance is joined with the Gospel. For
so has the Lord said in the Gospel: “Repentance and forgiveness of sins
should be preached in my name to all nations” (Luke 24:47).

WHAT IS REPENTANCE? By repentance we understand (1) the
recovery of a right mind in sinful man awakened by the Word of the Gospel and
the Holy Spirit, and received by true faith, by which the sinner immediately
acknowledges his innate corruption and all his sins accused by the Word of God;
and (2) grieves for them from his heart, and not only bewails and frankly
confesses them before God with a feeling of shame, but also (3) with indignation
abominates them; and (4) now zealously considers the amendment of his ways and
constantly strives for innocence and virtue in which conscientiously to exercise
himself all the rest of his life.

TRUE REPENTANCE IS CONVERSION TO GOD. And this is true
repentance, namely, a sincere turning to God and all good, and earnest turning
away from the devil and all evil.

1. REPENTANCE IS A GIFT OF GOD. Now we expressly say that
this repentance is a sheer gift of God and not a work of our strength. For the
apostle commands a faithful minister diligently to instruct those who oppose the
truth, if “God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the
truth” (II Tim. 2:25).

2. LAMENTS SINS COMMITTED. Now that sinful woman who
washed the feet of the Lord with her tears, and Peter who wept bitterly and
bewailed his denial of the Lord (Luke 7:38; 22:62) show clearly how the mind of
a penitent man ought to be seriously lamenting the sins he has committed.

3. CONFESSES SINS TO GOD. Moreover, the prodigal son and
the publican in the Gospel, when compared with the Pharisee, present us with the
most suitable pattern of how our sins are to be confessed to God. The former
said: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer
worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants” (Luke
15:8 ff.). And the latter, not daring to raise his eyes to heaven, beat his
breast, saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (ch. 18:13). And we
do not doubt that they were accepted by God into grace. For the apostle John
says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive
our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned,
we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (I John 1:9 f.).

SACERDOTAL CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION. But we believe that
this sincere confession which is made to God alone, either privately between God
and the sinner, or publicly in the Church where the general confession of sins
is said, is sufficient, and that in order to obtain forgiveness of sins it is
not necessary for anyone to confess his sins to a priest, mumuring them in his
ears, that in turn he might receive absolution from the priest with his laying
on of hands, because there is neither a commandment nor an example of this in
Holy Scriptures. David testifies and says: “I acknowledged my sin to thee,
and did not hide my iniquity; I said, `I will confess my transgressions to the
Lord’; then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin” (Ps. 32:5). And the
Lord who taught us to pray and at the same time to confess our sins said: “Pray
then like this: Our Father, who art in heaven,…forgive us our debts, as we
also forgive our debtors” (Matt. 6:12). Therefore it is necessary that we
confess our sins to God our Father, and be reconciled with our neighbor if we
have offended him. Concerning this kind of confession, the Apostle James says:
“Confess your sins to one another” (James 5:16). If, however, anyone
is overwhelmed by the burden of his sins and by perplexing temptations, and will
seek counsel, instruction and comfort privately, either from a minister of the
Church, or from any other brother who is instructed in God’s law, we do not
disapprove; just as we also fully approve of that general and public confession
of sins which is usually said in Church and in meetings for worship, as we noted
above, inasmuch as it is agreeable to Scripture.

OF THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. Concerning the keys
of the Kingdom of Heaven which the Lord gave to the apostles, many babble many
astonishing things, and out of them forge swords, spears, scepters and crowns,
and complete power over the greatest kingdoms, indeed, over souls and bodies.
Judging simply according to the Word of the Lord, we say that all properly
called ministers possess and exercise the keys or the use of them when they
proclaim the Gospel; that is, when they teach, exhort, comfort, rebuke, and keep
in discipline the people committed to their trust.

OPENING AND SHUTTING (THE KINGDOM). For in this way they
open the Kingdom of Heaven to the obedient and shut it to the disobedient. The
Lord promised these keys to the apostles in Matt., ch. 16, and gave them in
John, ch. 20, Mark, ch. 16, and Luke, ch. 24, when he sent out his disciples and
commanded them to preach the Gospel in all the world, and to remit sins.

THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION. In the letter to the
Corinthians the apostle says that the Lord gave the ministry of reconciliation
to his ministers (II Cor. 5:18 ff.). And what this is he then explains, saying
that it is the preaching or teaching of reconciliation. And explaining his
words still more clearly he adds that Christ’s ministers discharge the office
of an ambassador in Christ’s name, as if God himself through ministers exhorted
the people to be reconciled to God, doubtless by faithful obedience. Therefore,
they excercise the keys when they persuade [men] to believe and repent. Thus
they reconcile men to God.

MINISTERS REMIT SINS. Thus they remit sins. Thus they
open the Kingdom of Heaven, and bring believers into it: very different from
those of whom the Lord said in the Gospel, “Woe to you lawyers! For you
have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you
hindered those who were entering.”

HOW MINISTERS ABSOLVE. Ministers, therefore, rightly and
effectually absolve when they preach the Gospel of Christ and thereby the
remission of sins, which is promised to each one who believes, just as each one
is baptized, and when they testify that it pertains to each one peculiarly.
Neither do we think that this absolution becomes more effectual by being
murmured in the ear of someone or by being murmured singly over someone’s head.
We are nevertheless of the opinion that the remission of sins in the blood of
Christ is to be diligently proclaimed, and that each one is to be admonished
that the forgiveness of sins pertains to him.

DILIGENCE IN THE RENEWAL OF LIFE. But the examples in the
Gospel teach us how vigilant and diligent the penitent ought to be in striving
for newness of life and in mortifying the old man and quickening the new. For
the Lord said to the man he healed of palsy: “See, you are well! Sin no
more, that nothing worse befall you” (John 5:14). Likewise to the
adulteress whom he set free he said: “Go, and sin no more” (ch. 8:11).
To be sure, by these words he did not mean that any man, as long as he lived in
the flesh, could not sin; he simply recommends diligence and a careful devotion,
so that we should strive by all means, and beseech God in prayers lest we fall
back into sins from which, as it were, we have been resurrected, and lest we be
overcome by the flesh, the world and the devil. Zacchaeus the publican, whom
the Lord had received back into favor, exclaims in the Gospel: “Behold,
Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one
of anything, I restore it fourfold” (Luke 19:8). Therefore, in the same
way we preach that restitution and compassion, and even almsgiving, are
necessary for those who truly repent, and we exhort all men everywhere in the
words of the apostle: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies,
to make you obey their passions. Do not yield your members to sin as
instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been
brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of
righteousness” (Rom. 6:12 f.).

ERRORS. Wherefore we condemn all impious utterances of
some who wrongly use the preaching of the Gospel and say that it is easy to
return to God. Christ has atoned for all sins. Forgiveness of sins is easy.
Therefore, what harm is there in sinning? Nor need we be greatly concerned
about repentance, etc. Notwithstanding we always teach that an access to God is
open to all sinners, and that he forgives all sinners of all sins except the one
sin against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29).

THE SECTS. Wherefore we condemn both old and new Novatians
and Catharists.

PAPAL INDULGENCES. We especially condemn the lucrative
doctrine of the Pope concerning penance, and against his simony and his
simoniacal indulgences we avail ourselves of Peter’s judgment concerning Simon:
“Your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the
gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your
heart is not right before God” (Acts 8:20 f.).

SATISFACTIONS. We also disapprove of those who think that
by their own satisfactions they make amends for sins committed. For we teach
that Christ alone by his death or passion is the satisfaction, propitiation or
expiation of all sins (Isa., ch.53; I Cor. 1:30). Yet as we have already said,
we do not cease to urge the mortification of the flesh. We add, however, that
this mortification is not to be proudly obtruded upon God as a satisfaction for
sins, but is to be performed humble, in keeping with the nature of the children
of God, as a new obedience out of gratitude for the deliverance and full
satisfaction obtained by the death and satisfaction of the Son of God.

CHAPTER XV

Of the True Justification of the Faithful

WHAT IS JUSTIFICATION? According to the apostle in his
treatment of justification, to justify means to remit sins, to absolve from
guilt and punishment, to receive into favor, and to pronounce a man just. For
in his epistle to the Romans the apostle says: “It is God who justifies;
who is to condemn?” (Rom. 8:33). To justify and to condemn are opposed.
And in The Acts of the Apostles the apostle states: “Through Christ
forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone that believes is
freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses”

(Acts 13:38 f.). For in the Law and also in the Prophets we read: “If
there is a dispute between men, and they come into court…the judges decide
between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty” (Deut.
25:1). And in Isa., ch. 5: “Woe to those…who aqcuit the guilty for a
bribe.”

WE ARE JUSTIFIED ON ACCOUNT OF CHRIST. Now it is most
certain that all of us are by nature sinners and godless, and before God’s
judgment-seat are convicted of godlessness and are guilty of death, but that,
solely by the grace of Christ and not from any merit of ours or consideration
for us, we are justified, that is, absolved from sin and death by God the
Judge. For what is clearer than what Paul said: “Since all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift,
through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23 f.).

IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. For Christ took upon himself and
bore the sins of the world, and satisfied divine justice. Therefore, solely on
account of Christ’s sufferings and resurrection God is propitious with respect
to our sins and does not impute them to us, but imputes Christ’s righteousness
to us as our own (II Cor. 5;19 ff.; Rom. 4;25), so that now we are not only
cleansed and purged from sins or are holy, but also, granted the righteousness
of Christ, and so absolved from sin, death and condemnation, are at last
righteous and heirs of eternal life. Properly speaking, therefore, God alone
justifies us, and justifies only on account of Christ, not imputing sins to us
but imputing his righteousness to us.

WE ARE JUSFIFIED BY FAITH ALONE. But because we receive
this justification, not through any works, but through faith in the mercy of
God and in Christ, we therefore teach and believe with the apostle that sinful
man is justified by faith alone in Christ, not by the law or any works. For the
apostle says: “We hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works
of law” (Rom. 3:28). Also: “If Abraham was justified by works, he
has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture
say? Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness….And
to one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his
faith is reckoned as righteousness” (Rom. 4:2 ff.; Gen. 15:6). And again:

“By grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own
doing, it is the gift of God–not because of works, lest any man should boast,”
etc. (Eph. 2:8 f.). Therefore, because faith receives Christ our righteousness
and attributes everything to the grace of God in Christ, on that account
justification is attributed to faith, chiefly because of Christ and not
therefore because it is our work. For it is the gift of God.

WE RECEIVE CHRIST BY FAITH. Moreover, the Lord abundantly
shows that we receive Christ by faith, in John, ch. 6, where he puts eating for
believing, and believing for eating. For as we receive food by eating, so we
participate in Christ by believing.

JUSTIFICATION IS NOT ATTRIBUTED PARTLY TO CHRIST OR TO
FAITH, PARTLY TO US. Therefore, we do not share in the benefit of justification
partly because of the grace of God or Christ, and partly because of ourselves,
our love, works or merit, but we attribute it wholly to the grace of God in
Christ through faith. For our love and our works could not please God in
Christ through faith. For our love and our works could not please God if
performed by unrighteous men. Therefore, it is necessary for us to be righteous
before we may love and do good works. We are made trulyrighteous, as we have
said, by faith in Christ purely by the grace of God, who does not impute to us
our sins, but the righteousness of Christ, or rather, he imputes faith in
Christ to us for righteousness. Moreover, the apostle very clearly derives love
from faith when he says: “The aim of our command is love that issues from
a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith” (I Tim. 1:5)

JAMES COMPARED WITH PAUL. Wherefore, in this matter we are
not speaking of a fictitious, empty, lazy and dead faith, but of a living,
quickening faith. It is and is called a living faith because it apprehends
Christ who is life and makes alive, and shows that it is alive by living works.
And so James does not contradict anything in this doctrine of ours. For he
speaks of an empty, dead faith of which some boasted but who did not have Christ
living in them by faith (James 2:14 ff.). James said that works justify, yet
without contradicting the apostle (otherwise he would have to be rejected) but
showing that Abraham proved his living and justifying faith by works. This all
the pious do, but they trust in Christ alone and not in their own works. For
again the apostle said: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives
in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
[The Latin reads: "by the faith of the Son of God."] who loved me and
gave himself for me. I do not reject the grace of God; for if justification
were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose,” etc. (Gal. 2:20 f.).

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28