Matthias Flacius Illyricus, one of the most learned and capable
theologians of his day and the most faithful, devoted, staunch, zealous,
and able exponent and defender of genuine Lutheranism, was the author of
the malignant controversy which bears his name. Flacius was born March
3, 1520, in Illyria hence called Illyricus. He studied in Basel,
Tuebingen, and Wittenberg. At Wittenberg he was convinced that the
doctrine of the Lutheran Church is in complete agreement with the Word
of God. Here, too, he was appointed Professor of Hebrew in 1544. In
April, 1549, he left the city on account of the Interim. He removed to
Magdeburg where he became the energetic and successful leader of the
opponents of the Interimists and Adiaphorists. He was appointed
professor at the University of Jena, founded 1547, partly in opposition
to Philippism. In December 1561, he and his adherents were banished from
Jena. When the latter returned in 1567, he was not recalled. Persecuted
by his enemies (especially Elector August of Saxony) and forsaken by his
friends, he now moved from one place to another: from Jena to
Regensburg, thence to Antwerp, to Frankfort-on-the-Main, to Strassburg
(from where he was expelled in the spring of 1573), and again to
Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he found a last asylum for himself and his
family (wife and eight children), and where he also died in a hospital,
March 11, 1575.
In the Adiaphoristic Controversy Flacius had time and again urged the
Lutherans to die rather than deny and surrender the truth. And when in
the controversy about original sin all shunned him and turned against
him he gave ample proof of the fact that he himself was imbued with the
spirit he had endeavored to kindle in others, being willing to suffer
and to be banished and persecuted rather than sacrifice what he believed
to be the truth.--The most important of his numerous books are:
_Catalogus Testium Veritatis_, qui ante nostram aetatem reclamarunt
Papae, 1556; _Ecclesiastica Historia_, or the so-called Magdeburg
Centuries (_Centuriones_), comprising the history of the first thirteen
centuries, and published 1559-1574; _Clavis Scripturae_, of 1567; and
_Glossa Novi Testamenti_. Walther remarks: "It was a great pity that
Flacius, who had hitherto been such a faithful champion of the pure
doctrine, exposed himself to the enemies in such a manner. Henceforth
the errorists were accustomed to brand all those as Flacianists who were
zealous in defending the pure doctrine of Luther." (_Kern und Stern_,
34.)
The Flacian Controversy sprang from, and must be regarded as an episode
of, the Synergistic Controversy, in which also some champions of
Luther's theology (Amsdorf, Wigand, Hesshusius, and others) had
occasionally employed unguarded, extreme, and inadequate expressions.
Following are some of the immoderate and extravagant statements made by
Flacius: God alone converts man, the Adamic free will not only not
cooperating, "but also raging and roaring against it (_sed etiam contra
furente ac fremente_)." (Preger 2, 212.) The malice of our free will is
a "diabolical malice (_nostra diabolica malitia carnis aut liberi
arbitrii_)." By original sin man is "transformed into the image of Satan
(_ad imaginem Satanae transformatus, eiusque charactere [foeda Satanae
imagine] signatus_)." (Gieseler 3, 2, 245.) By original sin "the
substance of man is destroyed (_substantiam hominis ablatam esse_);"
after the Fall original sin is the substance of man; man's nature is
identical with sin; in conversion a new substance is created by God. In
particular, the assertions concerning the substantiality of original sin
gave rise to the so-called Flacian Controversy. After Strigel, at the
second session of the disputation in Weimar, had dilated on the
philosophical definitions of the terms "substance" and "accident"
("_accidens, quod adest vel abest praeter subiecti corruptionem_"), and
had declared that original sin was an accident which merely impeded free
will in its activity, Flacius, in the heat of the controversy,
exclaimed: "_Originale peccatum non est accidens_. Original sin is not
an accident, for the Scriptures call it flesh, the evil heart," etc.
Thus he fell into the pitfall which the wily Strigel had adroitly laid
for him. Though Flacius seemed to be loath to enter upon the matter any
further, and protested against the use of philosophical definitions in
theology, Strigel now was eager to entangle him still further, plying
him with the question: "_An negas peccatum originis esse accidens?_ Do
you deny that original sin is an accident?" Flacius answered: "_Lutherus
diserte negat esse accidens_. Luther expressly denies that it is an
accident." Strigel: "_Visne negare peccatum esse accidens?_ Do you mean
to deny that sin is an accident?" Flacius: "_Quod sit substantia, dixi
Scripturam et Lutherum affirmare._ I have said that Scripture and Luther
affirm that it is a substance." (Luthardt, 213. 216.)
After the session in which the fatal phrase had fallen from his lips,
Wigand and Musaeus expostulated with Flacius, designating (according to
later reports of theirs) his statement as "this new, perilous, and
blasphemous proposition of the ancient Manicheans (_haec nova,
periculosa et blasphema veterum Manichaeorum propositio_)." (Planck 4,
611.) Flacius declared that, "in the sudden and pressing exigency, in
the interest of truth, and against Pelagian enthusiasm, he had taken
this expression [concerning the substantiality of original sin] from
Luther's doctrine and books." (Preger 2, 324.) In the following (third)
session, however, he repeated his error, declaring: I must stand by my
statement that original sin is not an accident, but a substance,
"because the testimonies of the Holy Scriptures which employ terms
denoting substance (_quae verbis substantialibus utuntur_) are so
numerous." (Planck 4, 610; Luthardt, 216.) Also later on Flacius always
maintained that his doctrine was nothing but the teaching of the Bible
and of Luther. As to Scripture-proofs, he referred to passages in which
the Scriptures designate sin as "flesh," "stony heart," etc. Regarding
the teaching of Luther, he quoted statements in which he describes
original sin as "man's nature," "essence," "substantial sin," "all that
is born of father and mother," etc. (Preger 2, 318.)
However, the palpable mistake of Flacius was that he took the
substantial terms on which he based his theory in their original and
proper sense, while the Bible and Luther employ them in a figurative
meaning, as the _Formula of Concord_ carefully explains in its first
article, which decided and settled this controversy. (874, 50.) Here we
read: "Also to avoid strife about words, _aequivocationes vocabulorum_,
that is, words and expressions which are applied and used in various
meanings, should be carefully and distinctly explained, as when it is
said: God creates the nature of men, there by the term _nature_ the
essence, body, and soul of men are understood. But often the disposition
or vicious quality of a thing is called its nature, as when it is said:
It is the nature of the serpent to bite and poison. Thus Luther says
that sin and sinning are the disposition and nature of corrupt man.
Therefore original sin properly signifies the deep corruption of our
nature as it is described in the _Smalcald Articles_. But sometimes the
concrete person or the subject that is, man himself with body and soul
in which sin is and inheres, is also comprised under this term, for the
reason that man is corrupted by sin, poisoned and sinful, as when Luther
says: 'Thy birth, thy nature, and thy entire essence is sin,' that is,
sinful and unclean. Luther himself explains that by nature-sin,
person-sin, essential sin he means that not only the words, thoughts,
and works are sin, but that the entire nature, person and essence of man
are altogether corrupted from the root by original sin." (875, 51f.)