Under the duress of the Augsburg Interim, Melanchthon relapsed into his
old error. July 6, 1548, he (together with Caspar Cruciger, John
Pfeffinger, Daniel Gresser, George Major, and John Foerster) agreed to
the statement: "For this proposition is certainly true that no one can
be saved without love and good works. Yet we are not justified by love
and good works, but by grace for Christ's sake." (7, 22.) In the Leipzig
Interim, adopted several months later, the false teaching concerning the
necessity of good works to salvation was fully restored, as appears from
the quotations from this document cited in the chapter on the
Adiaphoristic Controversy. According to the _Formula of Concord_ this
renewal of the obnoxious formula at the time of the Interim furnished
the direct occasion for the Majoristic Controversy. For here we read:
"The aforesaid modes of speech and false expressions [concerning the
necessity of good works to salvation] were renewed by the Interim just
at a time when there was special need of a clear, correct confession
against all sorts of corruptions and adulterations of the article of
justification." (947, 29.) However, when the controversy on good works
began, and George Major zealously championed the restored formula,
Melanchthon, probably mindful of his former troubles in this matter,
signally failed to support and endorse his friend and colleague.
Moreover, he now advised Major and others to abstain from using the
phrase: Good works are necessary to salvation, "because," said he, "this
appendix [to salvation, _ad salutem_] is interpreted as merit, and
obscures the doctrine of grace."
In an opinion of December, 1553, Melanchthon explains: "New obedience is
necessary; ... but when it is said: New obedience is necessary to
salvation, the Papists understand that good works merit salvation. This
proposition is false, therefore I relinquish this mode of speech." (_C.
R._ 8, 194.) January 13, 1555, he wrote to the Senate of Nordhausen that
their ministers "should not preach, defend, and dispute the proposition
[Good works are necessary to salvation], because it would immediately be
interpreted to mean that good works merit salvation--_weil doch alsbald
diese Deutung angehaengt wird, als sollten gute Werke Verdienst sein der
Seligkeit._" (410.) September 5, 1556, he said in his letter to Flacius:
"I have always admonished George [Major] not only to explain his
sentence (which he did), but to abandon that form of speech. And he
promised that he would not use it. What more can I ask? The same I did
with others." (842.)
In the Frankfurt Recess of 1558, written by Melanchthon and signed by
the Lutheran princes, we read: "Although therefore this proposition,
'New obedience is necessary (_Nova obedientia est necessaria, nova
obedientia est debitum_),' must be retained, we nevertheless do not wish
to attach these words, '_ad salutem,_ to salvation,' because this
appendix is interpreted as referring to merit and obscures the doctrine
of grace, for this remains true that man is justified before God and is
an heir of eternal salvation by grace, for the sake of the Lord Christ,
by faith in Him only." (9, 497. 405.) In an opinion written November 13,
1559, Melanchthon (together with Paul Eber, Pfeffinger, and H. Salmut)
again declared: "I say clearly that I do not employ the phrase, 'Good
works are necessary to salvation.'" (969.) In his _Responsiones ad
Articulos Bavaricos_ of 1559 he wrote: "_Ego non utor his verbis: Bona
opera sunt necessaria ad salutem, quia hoc additione 'ad salutem'
intelligitur meritum._ I do not use these words: Good works are
necessary to salvation, because by the addition 'to salvation' a merit
is understood." In his lectures, too, Melanchthon frequently rejected
the appendix (to salvation), and warned his pupils not to use the
phrase. (4, 543; _Lehre und Wehre_ 1908, 78.)
Thus Melanchthon, time and again, disowned the proposition which he
himself had first introduced. Nowhere, however, did he reject it or
advise against its use because it was inherently erroneous and false as
such but always merely because it was subject to abuse and
misapprehension,--a qualified rejection which self-evidently could not
and did not satisfy his opponents. In an opinion, dated March 4, 1558,
Melanchthon refuses to reject flatly the controverted formula, and
endeavors to show that it is not in disagreement with the mode of speech
employed in the Bible. We read: "Illyricus and his compeers are not
satisfied when we say that the appendix [to salvation] is to be omitted
on account of the false interpretation given it, but demand that we
simply declare the proposition, 'Good works are necessary to salvation,'
to be wrong. Against this it must be considered what also Paul has said,
Rom. 10: Confession is made to salvation (_Confessio fit ad salutem_),
which Wigand maliciously alters thus: Confession is made concerning
salvation (_Confessio fit de salute_). Again, 2 Cor. 7: 'For godly
sorrow worketh repentance to salvation,' Likewise Phil. 2: 'Work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling.' Nor do these words sound
any differently: 'Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be
saved,' Acts 2, 21. But, they say, one must understand these expressions
correctly! That is what we say, too. This disputation however, would be
ended if we agreed to eliminate the appendix and rack our brains no
further--_dass wir den Anhang ausschliessen und nicht weiter
gruebelten._" (9, 474.)