Flacius, who himself did not deny the universality of grace, declared at
the colloquy in Weimar, 1560, that, when taken in their context,
Luther's statements in _De Servo Arbitrio_ contained no inapt
expressions (_nihil incommodi_). He added: "I do not want to be the
reformer of Luther, but let us leave the judgment and discussion
concerning this book to the Church of sound doctrine. _Nolo reformator
esse Lutheri, sed iudicium et discussionem istius libri permittamus
sanae ecclesiae_." (Planck 4, 704, Frank 4, 255.) In Article II of the
_Formula of Concord_ the Church passed on Luther's book on the bondage
of the will together with his declarations in his _Commentary on
Genesis_. In referring to this matter the _Formula_ gives utterance to
the following thoughts: 1. that in _De Servo Arbitrio_ Luther
"elucidated and supported this position [on free will, occupied also by
the _Formula of Corcord_] well and thoroughly, _egregie et solide_"; 2.
that "afterwards he repeated and explained it in his glorious exposition
of the Book of Genesis, especially of chapter 26;" 3. that in this
exposition also "his meaning and understanding of some other peculiar
disputations, introduced incidentally by Erasmus, as of absolute
necessity, etc., have been secured by him in the best and most careful
way against all misunderstanding and perversion;" 4. that the _Formula
of Concord_ "appeals and refers others" to these deliverances of Luther.
(CONC. TRIGL. 896, 44.)
The _Formula of Concord_, therefore, endorsed Luther's _De Servo
Arbitrio_ without expressing any strictures or reservations whatever,
and, particularly in Articles I, II and XI, also embodied its essential
thoughts though not all of its phrases statements, and arguments. The
said articles contain a guarded reproduction and affirmation of Luther's
doctrine of grace, according to which God alone is the cause of man's
salvation while man alone is the cause of his damnation. In particular
they reaffirm Luther's teaching concerning man's depravity and the
inability of his will to cooperate in conversion; the divine monergism
in man's salvation; the universality of grace and of the efficaciousness
of the means of grace; man's responsibility for the rejection of grace
and for his damnation; God's unsearchable judgments and mysterious ways;
the mystery why some are lost while others are saved, though all are
equally guilty and equally loved by God; the solution of this problem in
the light of glory where it will be made apparent that there never were
contradictory wills in God. In its doctrine of predestination as well as
of free will, therefore, the _Formula of Concord_ is not a compromise
between synergism and monergism, but signifies a victory of Luther over
the later Melanchthon.