God and Christ I & III
Christians confess one God in three persons: Father, Son, and this third person.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
According to Christianity, humanity’s fallen condition begins with the sin of this first man.
Who is Adam?
Christians are saved because of the work of this person, not because their own works earn righteousness.
Who is Jesus Christ?
Christians gather together as the body of Christ under this common name.
What is the Church?
In Article I, one answers what God is; the other answers who Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are.
What are essence and person?
Article I teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons but share this one thing.
What is one divine essence?
Article II calls the inherited fallen condition present from conception by this name.
What is original sin?
Article IV teaches that sinners are justified for Christ’s sake through this.
What is faith?
Article VII says the Church is found where this is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.
What is the Gospel?
Human beings possess sufficient natural moral ability to turn themselves toward God.
What is Pelagianism?
Jesus Christ is not half God and half man. Article III confesses Him as one person possessing these two complete natures.
What are the divine and human natures?
Article II distinguishes original sin from particular sinful thoughts, desires, words, and deeds. What are these called?
What are actual sins?
Article V says the Holy Spirit creates faith through these external means instituted by God.
What are the Word and Sacraments?
Two Lutheran congregations use different hymnals, musical styles, and ceremonies. Article VII says these differences do not necessarily destroy this.
What is the unity of the Church?
Article II says the Fall corrupts the whole person without turning human nature itself into sin. Distinguish the thing that remains from the disorder affecting it.
What are human essence/nature and its corrupted state?
One Christological error divides Christ so strongly that He effectively becomes two acting persons; another blends His divinity and humanity into one confused nature. Name both.
What are Nestorianism and Monophysitism?
Fallen humans can genuinely deliberate, choose jobs, make laws, and perform civil actions, yet cannot by their own natural powers do this one thing necessary for salvation.
What is produce faith / convert themselves to God?
Article VI says good works are necessary, yet they contribute nothing to justification. Explain where good works belong instead.
What are the fruits of faith / new obedience?
Article VIII says hypocrites and wicked people may be visibly mixed into the Church. Why does their presence not make the Church itself cease to be holy?
What is that the Church properly consists of saints/true believers and receives its holiness from Christ, not from the visible purity of every member?
In Article IV, Christ and His satisfaction belong on one side of this distinction, while faith belongs on the other.
What are the ground of justification and the means of receiving?
Christians can truthfully say, “God was born,” “God suffered,” and “God died,” while simultaneously denying that the divine nature was born, suffered, or died. What Christological distinction makes all four claims consistent?
What is the distinction between the one person of Christ and His two natures / communicatio idiomatum?
If the Fall corrupts reason and will, why does Article II not imply either fatalism or the destruction of human nature? Give the distinction that preserves both total corruption and genuine human agency.
What is that human nature and its powers remain, while their state or operation is corrupted?
A man says, “Christ died for me, but God will justify me only after my faith and moral improvement become worthy enough.” Using Articles IV–VI, identify two different ways his claim reverses the Confession’s order of salvation.
What are making faith or works the ground of justification, and making the fruit of faith a condition or cause of justification?
Two congregations use identical ceremonies and church structures. One, however, denies part of the Gospel. A third congregation uses very different ceremonies but agrees in Gospel doctrine and rightly administers the Sacraments. According to Article VII, which difference actually bears upon true church unity, and why?
What is disagreement in Gospel doctrine/Sacramental administration, because unity requires agreement there rather than uniformity in human ceremonies?
A student argues: “If fallen man still genuinely reasons, deliberates, and chooses, then his will must contribute something to conversion.” Another replies: “If conversion is entirely God’s work, then fallen man cannot genuinely reason, deliberate, or choose at all.” What two distinctions taught in Articles II and V show why both conclusions are wrong.
What are (1) freedom in external/rational matters versus spiritual inability before God, and (2) the Holy Spirit as efficient cause versus Word and Sacraments as instruments?