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 ed-
ited 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.
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This text was translated by Rev. Theodore Mayes and is copyrighted
material, (c)1996, but is free for non-commercial use or distribu-
tion, 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) 452-2123 Fax: (260) 452-2126
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file: /pub/resources/text/wittenberg/baier: cpt-3-03.txt
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