Seeberg remarks: "Flacius was not a heretic, but in the wrangle of his
day he was branded as such, and this has been frequently repeated." (4,
2, 495.) A similar verdict is passed by Gieseler and other historians.
But whatever may be said in extenuation of his error, it cannot be
disputed that the unfortunate phrases of Flacius produced, and were
bound to produce, most serious religious offense, as well as theological
strife, and hopeless doctrinal confusion. Even when viewed in the light
of his distinction between formal substance (man as endowed with the
image of God) and material substance (man as possessed of body and soul,
together with will and intellect), the odiousness of his terminology is
not entirely removed. It was and remained a form of doctrine and trope
or mode of teaching which the Lutherans were no more minded to tolerate
than the error of Strigel.
Accordingly, the first article of the _Formula of Concord_ rejects both
the synergistic as well as the Manichean aberrations in the doctrine of
original sin. In its Thorough Declaration we read: "Now this doctrine
[of original sin] must be so maintained and guarded that it may not
deflect either to the Pelagian or the Manichean side. For this reason
the contrary doctrine ... should also be briefly stated." (865, 16.)
Accordingly, in a series of arguments, the Flacian error is thoroughly
refuted and decidedly rejected. At the same time the _Formula of
Concord_ points out the offensiveness of the Flacian phraseology. It
refers to the controversy regarding this question as "scandalous and
very mischievous," and declares: "Therefore it is unchristian and
horrible to hear that original sin is baptized in the name of the Holy
Trinity, sanctified, and saved, and other similar expressions found in
the writings of the recent Manicheans, with which we will not offend
simple-minded people." (873, 45. 59.)
On the other hand, the _Formula of Concord_ is just as determined in
opposing every effort at extenuating the corruption wrought by original
sin. It is solicitous to explain that in designating original sin as an
accident, its corruption is not minimized in the least, if the answer
concerning the nature of this accident is not derived from philosophy
or human reason, but from the Holy Scriptures. "For the Scriptures,"
says the _Formula_, "testify that original sin is an unspeakable evil
and such an entire corruption of human nature that in it and all its
internal and external powers nothing pure or good remains, but
everything is entirely corrupt, so that on account of original sin man
in God's sight is truly spiritually dead (_plane sit emortuus_), with
all his powers dead to that which is good." (879, 60.)
Accordingly, the _Formula of Concord_ rejects the errors of Strigel and
the Semi-Pelagians, "that original sin is only external, a slight,
insignificant spot sprinkled, or a stain dashed, upon the nature of man
... along with and beneath which the nature nevertheless possesses and
retains its integrity and power even in spiritual things. Or that
original sin is not a despoliation or deficiency, but only an external
impediment to these spiritual good powers.... They are rebuked and
rejected likewise who teach that the nature has indeed been greatly
weakened and corrupted through the Fall, but that nevertheless it has
not entirely lost all good with respect to divine, spiritual things,
and that what is sung in our churches, '_Through Adam's fall is all
corrupt, nature and essence human,_' is not true, but from natural
birth it still has something good, small, little, and inconsiderable
though it be, namely, capacity, skill, aptness, or ability to begin, to
effect, or to help effect something in spiritual things." (865, 21ff.)
While the _Formula of Concord_ does not deny the capacity of fallen man
for salvation, it is careful in defining that this is not an active, but
a passive capacity. That is to say: Man is utterly incapable of
qualifying himself for, or of contributing in the least toward, his own
spiritual restoration; but what is impossible for man is not impossible
with God who, indeed, is able to convert man, endow him with new
spiritual powers, and lead him to eternal salvation,--a goal for the
attainment of which, in contradistinction from inanimate and other
creatures, man, being a rational creature, endowed with intellect and
will, was created by God and redeemed by Christ. In the _Formula of
Concord_ we read: "And although God, according to His just, strict
sentence, has utterly cast away the fallen evil spirits forever, He has
nevertheless, out of special, pure mercy, willed that poor fallen human
nature might again become and be capable and participant of conversion,
the grace of God, and eternal life; not from its own natural, active [or
effective] skill, aptness, or capacity (for the nature of man is
obstinate enmity against God), but from pure grace, through the gracious
efficacious working of the Holy Ghost. And this Dr. Luther calls
_capacitatem_ (_non activam, sed passivam_), which he explains thus:
_Quando patres liberum arbitrium defendunt, capacitatem libertatis eius
praedicant, quod scilicet verti potest ad bonum per gratiam Dei et fieri
revera liberum, ad quod creatum est_. That is: When the Fathers defend
the free will, they are speaking of this, that it is capable of freedom
in this sense, that by God's grace it can be converted to good, and
become truly free, for which it was created in the beginning." (889,
20.)
This accords with Luther's words in _De Servo Arbitrio_: "It would be
correct if we should designate as the power of free will that [power] by
which man, who is created for life or eternal death, is apt to be moved
by the Spirit and imbued with the grace of God. For we, too, confess
this power, _i.e._, aptitude or, as the Sophists [Scholastic
theologians] say, disposition and passive aptitude. And who does not
know that trees and animals are not endowed with it? For, as the saying
goes, heaven is not created for geese. _Hanc enim vim, hoc est,
aptitudinem, seu, ut Sophistae loquuntur, dispositivam qualitatem et
passivam aptitudinem, et nos confitemur; quam non arboribus neque
bestiis inditam esse, quis est, qui nesciat? Neque enim pro anseribus,
ut dicitur, coelum creavit._" (E. v. a. 158: St. L. 18. 1720.)