Translating the Apology of the Augsburg Confession: (Art. III) De Dilectione et Impletione Legis (xliii)

Huc pertinet et sententia Christi Luc. 17, 10: Quum feceritis omnia, quae praecepta sunt vobis, dicite: Servi inutiles sumus. Haec verba clare dicunt, quod[1] Deus salvet per misericordiam et propter suam promissionem, non quod[2] debeat propter dignitatem operum nostrorum. Sed adversarii mirifice ludunt hic in verbis Christi. Primum faciunt αντιστρεφον[3] et in nos retorquent. Multo magis, inquiunt,[4] dici posse: Si credideritis omnia, dicite: Servi inutiles sumus. Deinde addunt[5] opera inutilia esse Deo, nobis vero non esse inutilia. Videte, quam[6] delectet adversarios puerile studium sophistices. Et quamquam hae ineptiae indignae sint, quae refutentur, tamen paucis respondebimus. ʼΑντιστρεφον est vitiosum.

Primum enim decipiuntur adversarii in vocabulo fidei, quodsi significaret nobis notitiam illam historiae, quae etiam in impiis et diabolis est, recte ratiocinarentur[7] adversarii fidem inutilem esse, quum dicunt: Quum credideritis omnia, dicite: Servi inutiles sumus. Sed nos non de notitia historiae, sed de fiducia promissionis et misericordiae Dei loquimur. Et haec fiducia promissionis fatetur[8] nos esse servos inutiles, imo haec confessio, quod[9] opera nostra sint indigna, est ipsa vox fidei, sicut apparet in hoc exemplo Danielis, 9, 18, quod paulo ante citavimus: Non in iustificationibus nostris prosternimus preces etc. Fides enim salvat, quia apprehendit misericordiam seu promissionem gratiae, etiamsi nostra opera sint indigna. Et in hanc sententiam nihil laedit nos αντιστρεφον: Quum credideritis omnia, dicite: Servi inutiles sumus, videlicet, quod opera nostra sint indigna; hoc enim eum tota ecclesia docemus, quod[10] per misericordiam salvemur.

Sed si ex simili ratiocinari volunt: Quum feceris omnia, noli confidere operibus tuis, ita: Quum credideris omnia, noli confidere promissione divina: haec non cohaerent. Sunt enim dissimillima. Dissimiles causae, dissimilia obiecta fiduciae sunt in priore[11] propositione et in posteriore. Fiducia in priore est fiducia nostrorum operum. Fiducia in posteriore est fiducia promissionis divinae. Christus autem damnat fiduciam nostrorum operum, non damnat fiduciam promissionis suae. Non vult nos de gratia et misericordia Dei desperare, arguit opera nostra tamquam indigna, non arguit promissionem, quae gratis offert misericordiam.

Et praeclare hic inquit Ambrosius: Agnoscenda est[12] gratia, sed non ignoranda natura.

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[1] A quod substantive clause

[2] A quod substantive clause

[3] Antistrophe: a rhetorical device in which the same words are repeated at the end of consecutive phrases, clauses, sentences or paragraphs

[4] Introduces an indirect statement where the accusative subject is an impersonal construction: it can be said

[5] Introduces an indirect statement

[6] Introduces an indirect question: See how…

[7] Introduces an indirect statement

[8] Introduces an indirect statement

[9] A quod substantive clause

[10] A quod substantive clause

[11] Priore and posterior can be taken as former and latter

[12] The passive periphrastic

Vocabulary
Cohaereo, ere, cohaesi, coehaesus- to be consistent, coherent; stick together	Refuto, are, avi, atus- to refute
Mirifice (adv.)- amazingly, wonderfully	Retorqueo, ere, retorsi, retortus- to twist; fling back
Puerilis, e- childish	Vocabulum, ī, n.- word; noun

From here the sentence of Christ in Luke 17:10 also pertains, “When you have done everything, which was commanded you, say, ‘We are worthless servants.’” These words clearly say that God saves through mercy on account of the promise not that it is owed on account of the worthiness of our works. But the adversaries amazingly play here with the words of Christ. First they make an antistrophe and twist it against us. Much more they say it can be said, “If you believe everything, say, ‘We are worthless servants.’” Then they add that works are useless for God but they truly are not useless for us. See how childish study delights our sophist adversaries. And, although these absurd statements, which are refuted, are unworthy, we will, nevertheless, respondwith a few words. The antistrophe is defective.

For first the adversaries are mislead in the noun faith: but if it means that knowledge of history, which is also in the impious and the devils, to us, the adversaries reckon rightly that faith is useless when they say, “When you have believed everything, say, ‘We are worthless servants.’” But we are not talking about a knowledge of history but about trust in the promise and in the mercy of God. And this trust in the promise confesses that we are worthless slaves, rather this confession, that our works are unworthy, is the very voice of faith as it appears in the example of Daniel 9:18 which we cited a little before, “We do not cast our prayers for our justification etc.” For faith saves because it grasps the mercy or promise of grace even if our works are unworthy. And in this teaching the antistrophe does not harm us: “When you have believed everything, say, ‘We are worthless servants because our works are unworthy.’” For we teach this in the whole church that we are saved through mercy.

But if they want to reason from something similar: “When you have done everything, do not trust in your works” thusly, “When you have believed everything, do not trust in the divine promise.” This is not consisten. For they are dissimilar. The causes are similar and the objects of trust are dissimilar in the former proposition and in the latter. Trust in the former is trust in our works. Trust in the latter is trust in the divine promise. Christ, moreover, condemns trust in our works, and He does not condemn trust in His promise. He does not want us to despair concerning grace and the mercy of God; He charges our works as unworthy; He does not charge the promise which offers mercy freely. And Ambrose clearly says here, “Grace must be acknowledged but nature must not be ignored.”

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