# What is the Article Upon Which the Church Stands or Falls?



## Puritanhead (Sep 4, 2006)

What is the _Article Upon Which the Church Stands or Falls_?

Martin Luther said it was _Justification by Faith Alone_.

Could it rather be the _Deity of Christ_?

Or perhaps both need to stand together?

I don't doubt that the Reformers professing _Justification by Faith Alone_ took the _Deity of Christ_ for granted by any means. I know at root, "the Article Upon Which the Church Stands or Falls," is a colloquial statement, but nonetheless one of profound significance.

Any thoughts?


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## Scott Bushey (Sep 4, 2006)

I believe it was Luther who said that the hinge of Christianity is Justification by faith alone.


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## Puritanhead (Sep 4, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Scott Bushey_
> I believe it was Luther who said that the hinge of Christianity is Justification by faith alone.


 Actually, I think the quote you're thinking about is attributable to Calvin. But I agree with it all the same. 



> Calvin referred to is as "the main hinge on which religion turns," and "the sum of all piety."


 (see A Puritan's Mind "Justification by Faith Alone," by W. Gary Crampton, Th.D. )


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## Scott Bushey (Sep 4, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Puritanhead_
> 
> 
> > _Originally posted by Scott Bushey_
> ...



Thank you, sir. Calvin it is! Did you Google?


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## Puritanhead (Sep 4, 2006)

Maybe I'm beating my head against a fencepost asking this question. I think everyone here agrees the church stands on both the Deity of Christ and Justification by Faith Alone. Maybe I should hang my hat up on this inquiry, and give it a rest.


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## Arch2k (Sep 4, 2006)

Quotes from the great Martin Luther

Sola Fide is...


> The article with and by which the church stand, without which it falls (articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae). 1
> _Sproul, R.C. Faith Alone, The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification. p. 67._





> The article of justification is the master and prince, the lord, the ruler, and the judge over all kinds of doctrines; it preserves and governs all church doctrine and raises up our conscience before God. Without this article the world is utter death and darkness. 2
> _Sproul, R.C. Faith Alone, The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification. p. 67._





> If the article of justification is lost all Christian doctrine is lost at the same time. 3
> _Sproul, R.C. Faith Alone, The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification. p. 68._



1. Martin Luther, _What Luther Says: An Anthology_, ed. Ewald M. Plass, 3 vols. (St. Louis: Concordia, 1959), 2:704 n.5.
2. Ibid., 2:703.
3. Ibid.


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## Arch2k (Sep 4, 2006)

Quote from the great Calvin:



> The doctrine of Justification...is the principal ground on which religion must be supported, so it requires greater care and attention. For unless you understand first of all what your position is before God, and what the judgment [is] which he passes upon you, you have no foundation on which your salvation can be laid, or on which piety towards God can be reared. 4
> _Sproul, R.C. Faith Alone, The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification. p. 68._



4. John Calvin, _Institutes of the Christian Religion_, 2 vols., trans. Henry Beveridge (1845; reprint, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1964), 2:37 (3.11.1).


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## R. Scott Clark (Sep 5, 2006)

J. H. ALSTED (1588"“1638), A REFORMED THEOLOGIAN said virtually the same thing. This is not a Lutheran distinctive. He said "articulus iustificationis dicitur articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae" (the article of justification is said to be the article of the standing or falling of the church) 

See McGrath, preface to Iustitia Dei (vol 1?), p. 7



> For the sense and origins of this celebrated phrase, see F. Loofs, "˜Der articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae´. It is necessary to challenge Loofs upon several points, particularly his suggestion that the phrase is first used in the eighteenth century by the Lutheran theologian Valentin LÂ¨oscher in his famous anti-Pietist diatribe VollstÂ¨andiger Timotheus Verinus oder Darlegung der Wahrheit und des Friedens in denen bisherigen Pietistischen Streitigkeiten (1718"“21), and is restricted to the Lutheran constituency within Protestantism. This is clearly incorrect. The Reformed theologian Johann Heinrich Alsted uses the phrase a century earlier, opening his discussion of the justification of humanity coram Deo as follows: "˜articulus iustificationis dicitur articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae´ (Theologia scholastica didacta (Hanover, 1618), 711). Precursors of the phrase may, of course, be found in the writings of Luther himself "“ e.g., WA 40/3.352.3: "˜quia isto articulo stante
> stat Ecclesia, ruente ruit Ecclesia´. For more recent reflection, see Schwarz, "˜Luthers Rechtfertigungslehre als Eckstein der christlichen Theologie und Kirche´.



rsc



> _Originally posted by Puritanhead_
> What is the _Article Upon Which the Church Stands or Falls_?
> 
> Martin Luther said it was _Justification by Faith Alone_.
> ...



[Edited on 9-5-2006 by R. Scott Clark]


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## lwadkins (Sep 5, 2006)

It has always seemed to me that many are the supports of Scriptural truth, that once removed can cause the entire structure to fall.


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## R. Scott Clark (Sep 5, 2006)

It's true that the truth stands on many supports, but the statement is concerns the _church_ as a visible institution.

It's really a reflection of the confessional Protestant conviction that the gospel is so of the essence of the church that when it is lost or corrupted there is no church present. In other words, this is the chief "mark" (_nota_) of the church. So Belgic Confession Art 29 lists three "marks" or "notes" of a true church: 



> ...If the pure doctrine of the gospel is preached therein; if it maintains the pure administration of the sacraments as instituted by Christ; if church discipline is exercised in punishing of sin



So the current controversy isn't some abstract doctrinal debate (not that you're suggesting this) but a struggle for the very existence of the church as such.

rsc



> _Originally posted by lwadkins_
> It has always seemed to me that many are the supports of Scriptural truth, that once removed can cause the entire structure to fall.


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