Beza: Justification Through Faith Alone Is Shared By All The Lutherans And All The Reformed

by Heidelblog on August 7, 2023

If there is any head of Christian doctrine about which it is absolutely necessary to agree to obtain eternal life, it is that in which it is taught not only concerning the righteousness which is required of us before the judgment-seat of God, but also about the sure way of obtaining it, by the pure, unadulterated Word of God. Therefore, we owe great thanks to the Most High God, because in our times that jewel, so deeply buried in the extraordinary cunning of Satan and the sophists, I have dug up again, and it could not be brought back into the bright light even now without very great difficulties. And it has most uniformly wanted to be acknowledged in the greatest consensus of all the restored churches and asserted against all the attempts of the adversaries. But they make the faith of all theologians in this matter, that to which we owe the Christianity asserted by the tyranny of the Antichrist. The opinion in this head [of doctrine] is held in harmony, held publicly so many times not only in Germany, but also in Switzerland, and confirmed elsewhere in gatherings, and finally, clearly expressed in the published confessions of all nations. It could therefore rightly appear astonishing that several people dwelling in the very heart of the church are blind in such clear light, that not only do they not rejoice at the sight of it, but they also do not allow others to rejoice with peaceful consciences, if the Holy Spirit Himself long ago and the perpetual history of the church had not taught us about the false prophets to come, even at the last time. Such men appeared who had set out from the very school of Dr. Luther and of the great Philip Melanchthon, just as Cerinthus and Hebrion once did from the very company of the apostles. Wicelius, Staphylus, Osiander, Islebius, men whose memory must be contested, went out from us, since they were not from us. Such also is that anonymous man, a certain follower or perhaps a leader himself. Whichever of these he may be, there is blindness in these matters and audacity in asserting his allurements. I hope that all the learned and godly will come to know this from this response of ours. Read more»

Theodore Beza | A Defense of JustificationThrough The Righteousness of Christ Alone Freely Imputed, Obtained by Living Faith in R. Scott Clark and Casey Carmichael, eds., Justification By Faith Alone: Selected Writings From Theodore Beza, Amandus Polanus, and Francis Turretin, trans. Casey Carmichael (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2023), 9–10

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