In all of its articles the _Formula of Concord_ is but a reafflrmation
of the doctrines taught and defended by Luther. The fire of prolonged
and hot controversies through which these doctrines passed after his
death had but strengthened the Lutherans in their conviction that in
every point Luther's teaching was indeed nothing but the pure Word of
God itself. It had increased the consciousness that, in believing and
teaching as they did, they were not following mere human authorities,
such as Luther and the Lutheran Confessions, but the Holy Scriptures, by
which alone their consciences were bound. Articles VII and VIII of the
_Formula of Concord_, too, reassert Luther's doctrines on the Lord's
Supper and the person of Christ as being in every particular the clear
and unmistakable teaching of the divine Word,--two doctrines, by the
way, which perhaps more than any other serve as the acid test whether
the fundamental attitude of a church or a theologian is truly Scriptural
and fully free from every rationalistic and enthusiastic infection.
The Seventh Article teaches the real and substantial presence of the
true body and blood of Christ; their sacramental union in, with, and
under the elements of bread and wine; the oral manducation or eating and
drinking of both substances by unbelieving as well as believing
communicants. It maintains that this presence of the body and blood of
Christ, though real, is neither an impanation nor a companation, neither
a local inclusion nor a mixture of the two substances, but illocal and
transcendent. It holds that the eating of the body and the drinking of
the blood of Christ, though truly done with the mouth of the body, is
not Capernaitic, or natural, but supernatural. It affirms that this real
presence is effected, not by any human power, but by the omnipotent
power of Christ in accordance with the words of the institution of the
Sacrament.
The Eighth Article treats of the person of Christ, of the personal union
of His two natures, of the communication of these natures as well as of
their attributes, and, in particular, of the impartation of the truly
divine majesty to His human nature and the terminology resulting
therefrom. One particular object of Article VIII is also to show that
the doctrine of the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the
Holy Supper, as taught by the Lutheran Church, does not, as was
contended by her Zwinglian and Calvinistic adversaries, conflict in any
way with what the Scriptures teach concerning the person of Christ, His
human nature, His ascension, and His sitting at the right hand of God
the Father Almighty. The so-called Appendix, or Catalogus, a collection
of passages from the Bible and from the fathers of the ancient Church,
prepared by Andreae and Chemnitz was added to the _Formula of Concord_
(though not as an authoritative part of it) in further support of the
Lutheran doctrine particularly concerning the divine majesty of the
human nature of Christ.
Both articles, the seventh as well as the eighth, were incorporated in
the _Formula of Concord_ in order thoroughly to purify the Lutheran
Church from Reformed errors concerning the Lord's Supper and the person
of Christ, which after Luther's death had wormed their way into some of
her schools and churches, especially those of Electoral Saxony, and to
make her forever immune against the infection of Calvinism
(Crypto-Calvinism)--a term which, during the controversies preceding the
_Formula of Concord_ did not, as is generally the case to-day, refer to
Calvin's absolute decree of election and reprobation, but to his
doctrine concerning the Lord's Supper, as formulated by himself in the
_Consensus Tigurinus_ (Zurich Consensus), issued 1549. The subtitle of
this confession reads: "Consensio Mutua in Re Sacramentaria Ministrorum
Tigurinae Ecclesiae, et D. Iohannis Calvini Ministri Genevensis
Ecclesiae, iam nunc ab ipsis autoribus edita." In this confession,
therefore, Calvin declares his agreement with the teaching of Zwingli as
represented by his followers in Zurich, notably Bullinger. Strenuous
efforts were made by the Calvinists and Reformed everywhere to make the
_Consensus Tigurinus_ the basis of a pan-Protestant union, and at the
same time the banner under which to conquer all Protestant countries,
Lutheran Germany included, for what must be regarded as being
essentially Zwinglianism. The _Consensus_ was adopted in Switzerland,
England, France, and Holland. In Lutheran territories, too, its teaching
was rapidly gaining friends, notably in Southern Germany, where Bucer
had prepared the way for it, and in Electoral Saxony where the
Philippists offered no resistance. Garnished as it was with glittering
and seemingly orthodox phrases, the _Consensus Tigurinus_ lent itself
admirably for such Reformed propaganda. "The consequence was," says the
_Formula of Concord_, "that many great men were deceived by these fine,
plausible words--_splendidis et magnificis verbis_." (973, 6.) To
counteract this deception, to establish Luther's doctrine of the real
presence of the body and blood of Christ, and to defend it against the
sophistries of the Sacramentarians: Zwinglians, Calvinists, and
Crypto-Calvinists--such was the object of Articles VII and VIII of the
_Formula of Concord_.