System of Sacred Theology · §4.22.4 · Ludwig Crocius

Absolution and the word; Luther against seeking peace by experience alone

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

Let the one being absolved take every care not to doubt that his sins are remitted before God. He is bound to stand by another's judgment not because of the prelate but because of Christ's word: Whatever you loose on earth. Faith in that word will make peace of conscience.

Whoever seeks peace another way—say by inward experience—seems to tempt God. You will have as much peace as you believe the word. Luther: even if absolved a thousand times by the pope himself, one who does not believe the word will never be at rest.

Latin

Absolvendus omni studio caveat ne dubitet sibi remissa esse apud Deum peccata. Stare tenetur alterius iudicio non propter praelatum sed propter verbum Christi: Quodcunque solveris super terram. Fides huius verbi faciet pacem conscientiae. Qui pacem alia via quaerit, puta experientia intus, Deum tentare videtur. Tantum habebis pacis quantum credideris verbo. Lutherus resol. de virt. indulg.: etiamsi millies a papa absolvatur, qui verbo non credit nunquam erit quietus.

Report a mistake in this passage