John William Baier's _Compendium of Positive Theology_ Edited by C. F. W. Walther Published by: St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1877 [Translator's Preface. These are the major loci or topics of John William Baier's _Compendium of Positive Theology_ as edited by Dr. C. F. W. Walther. These should be seen as the broad outline of Baier-Walther's dogmatics, but please don't assume that this is all. Each locus usually includes copious explanatory notes and citations from patristics and other Lutheran dogmaticians. Chapter Three On faith in Christ. 1. So that sinful humans may reach eternal salvation through Christ the mediator, faith in Christ is required or, it is required that they trust in Christ as mediator. 2. Pertaining to faith in Christ is first knowledge, and that made clear, of those believing, especially knowledge about Christ and his merit, and the grace of God or the forgiveness of sins and salvation, obtained from God through faith. 3. Then assent, or a judgment of the intellect, pertains to faith in Christ, by which things in Scripture are handed down, especially about Christ the mediator and about obtaining through him the grace of God and salvation, and are judged to be truly spoken, being revealed on account of divine revelation or the truthfulness of God, and grace inwardly and supernaturally being inserted into the heart, or agreeing with the word of Scripture. 4. However also it is required to faith in Christ seen on the part of assent, that a human, under the universal propositions about Christ the mediator and grace through him, gives way to it in the individual sense, and he believes that Christ suffered and died for him. Also it is from this that special faith is named. 5. Besides knowledge and assent on the part of the intellect, faith in Christ also includes on the part of the will trust, or an action of such a kind, by which the will acquiesces in Christ the mediator, as an immediate good both for us and for the good of others, the good of the forgiveness of sins and the life eternal which follows from it. 6. And thus that faith is this, which is said to apprehend Christ and the merits of Christ, of course that it is assent with trust, or trust joined with assent; from which acts, as united, it exists now of that one, now called by that name, but always indicating the other. 7. However at the same time it is clear, in what way the same merit of Christ, the forgiveness of sins and life eternal, acquired by Christ for all humans, are applied to the believing through faith, so that truly the sharers of those things are restored. 8. And thus faith in Christ has a place among the principles and causes of salvation, not in itself and as an act or habit is believed, but as a rational object, in which it is made and which apprehends and applies to the believing. 9. The principle efficient cause of faith in Christ is the triune God. 10. The internal impulsive cause is the goodness of God or his free favor; the external impulsive cause is the merit of Christ. 11. The instrumental cause of our faith are the words of the Gospels and baptism. 12. The subject which of faith in Christ is the human sinner reborn or converted; not only adults, but also infants in their way. 13. The subject by which is the human soul on the part of the intellect and will. 14. The nearer goal and effect of faith is justification; then renewal; finally the eternal salvation of the believing. 15. A property of faith in Christ is first certainty, first on the part of the object, which is believed, which falseness cannot be near; then on the part of the subject, or of that one, who believes also in the divine promises, that there can be no deception in them; most tenaciously faith adheres to and rests on this certainty. 16. Believing humans are also able to, and accustomed to, know with infallible certainty, that truly they believe; although that is not manifested to them by a new divine revelation. 17. Another property of faith in Christ is that it has joined to itself hope and love, and these are joined to it by necessity; although these are not a reason for the cause of salvation. 18. Also it happens to faith in Christ that it is possible for humans through sins against the conscience to be sent away from faith, and not only for a time, but truly also finally, and if this happens, faith is never restored.. 19. And so as a human through the act of believing in Christ then is followed by the grace of God and the inheritance of salvation, so by the act of faith after this life it pertains to eternal salvation, that ought to be final faith. 20. Actual faith in Christ is able to be described as an act of the human intellect and will, by which a man recognizes the doctrine about Christ the mediator and about the grace of God or the forgiveness of sins, accomplished by God through the merits of that one, thus, so that by the divine strength joined to that doctrine the one persuaded not only plainly judges it be true and Christ himself to deserve grace from God, truly also in Christ, as the cause of getting grace from God, the one persuaded finds comfort in their following forgiveness of sins and the cause of eternal salvation. 21. Habitual faith is able to be described as a habit of the intellect and will recognizing that which is divinely revealed and are believed especially about Christ the mediator and the grace of God and the salvation obtained through Christ and assenting to the same through and according to divine revelation and trustingly finding in Christ comfort divinely attributed, the comfort of the following forgiveness of their sins and the cause of eternal salvation. -------------------------------------------------------------- This text was translated by Rev. Theodore Mayes and is copy- righted material, (c)1996, but is free for non-commercial use or distribution, and especially for use on Project Wittenberg. Please direct any comments or suggestions to: Rev. Robert E. Smith of the Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary. E-mail: smithre@mail.ctsfw.edu Surface Mail: 66000 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA Phone: (260) 452-3149 Fax: (260) 452-2126 --------------------------------------------------------------