AC Summaries Flashcards
[1] In the first place, it is with one accord taught and held, following the decree of the Council of Nicea, [2] that there is one divine essence which is named God and truly is God. [3] But there are three persons in the same one essence, equally powerful, equally eternal: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. All three are one divine essence, eternal, undivided, unending, of immeasurable power, wisdom, and goodness, the creator and preserver of all visible and invisible things. [4] What is understood by the word “person” is not a part nor a quality in another but that which exists by itself, as the Fathers once used the word concerning this issue.
AC I
[1] Furthermore, it is taught among us that since the fall of Adam, all human beings who are born in the natural way are conceived and born in sin. This means that from birth they are full of evil lust and inclination and cannot by nature possess true fear of God and true faith in God. [2] Moreover, this same innate disease and original sin is truly sin and condemns to God’s eternal wrath all who are not in turn born anew through baptism and the Holy Spirit.
AC II
[1] Likewise, it is taught that God the Son became a human being, born of the pure Virgin Mary, [2] and that the two natures, the divine and the human, are so inseparably united in one person that there is one Christ. He is true God and true human being who truly [3] “was born, suffered, was crucified, died, and was buried” in order both to be a sacrifice not only for original sin but also for all other sins and to conciliate God’s wrath.
AC III
[1] Furthermore, it is taught that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God through our merit, work, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God out of grace for Christ’s sake through faith [2] when we believe that Christ has suffered for us and that for his sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us. [3] For God will regard and reckon this faith as righteousness in his sight, as St. Paul says in Romans 3[:21–26*] and 4[:5*].
AC IV
[1] To obtain such faith God instituted the office of preaching, giving the gospel and the sacraments. [2] Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit who produces faith, where and when he wills, in those who hear the gospel. [3] It teaches that we have a gracious God, not through our merit but through Christ’s merit, when we so believe.
[4] Condemned are the Anabaptists and others who teach that we obtain the Holy Spirit without the external49 word of the gospel through our own preparation, thoughts, and works.
AC V
[1] It is also taught that such faith should yield good fruit and good works and that a person must do such good works as God has commanded for God’s sake but not place trust in them as if thereby to earn grace before God.
AC VI
