_Apology of the Augsburg Confession_
                             by Philip Melanchthon
                   Translated by F. Bente and  W. H. T. Dau
                                 Published in:
                   _Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books
                         of the Ev. Lutheran Church._
           (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921), pp. 97-451
                                    Part 3


                          _What Is Justifying Faith?_

 The adversaries feign that faith is only a knowledge of the history, and
 therefore teach that it can coexist with mortal sin. Hence they say nothing
 concerning faith, by which Paul so frequently says that men are justified,
 because those who are accounted righteous before God do not live in
 mortal sin. But that faith which justifies is not merely a knowledge of
 history, [not merely this, that I know the stories of Christ's birth,
 suffering, etc. (that even the devils know,)] but it is to assent to the
 promise of God, in which for Christ's sake, the remission of sins and
 justification are freely offered. [It is the certainty or the certain trust in
 the heart, when, with my whole heart, I regard the promises of God as
 certain and true, through which there are offered me, without my merit,
 the forgiveness of sins, grace, and all salvation, through Christ the
 Mediator.] And that no one may suppose that it is mere knowledge we will
 add further: it is to wish and to receive the offered promise of the
 remission of sins and of justification. [Faith is that my whole heart takes
 to itself this treasure. It is not my doing, not my presenting or giving, not
 my work or preparation, but that a heart comforts itself, and is perfectly
 confident with respect to this, namely, that God makes a present and gift
 to us, and not we to Him, that He sheds upon us every treasure of grace in
 Christ.] 
 
 And the difference between this faith and the righteousness of the Law
 can be easily discerned. Faith is the _latreia_ [divine service], which
 receives the benefits offered by God; the righteousness of the Law is the
 _latreia_ [divine service] which offers to God our merits. By faith God
 wishes to be worshiped in this way, that we receive from Him those
 things which He promises and offers. 
 
 Now, that faith signifies, not only a knowledge of the history, but such
 faith as assents to the promise, Paul plainly testifies when he says, Rom.
 4, 16: Therefore it is of faith, to the end the promise might be sure. For he
 judges that the promise cannot be received unless by faith. Wherefore he
 puts them together as things that belong to one another, and connects
 promise and faith. [There Paul fastens and binds together these two, thus:
 Wherever there is a promise faith is required and conversely, wherever
 faith is required there must be a promise.] Although it will be easy to
 decide what faith is if we consider the Creed where this article certainly
 stands: The forgiveness of sins. Therefore it is not enough to believe that
 Christ was born, suffered, was raised again, unless we add also this
 article, which is the purpose of the history: The forgiveness of sins. To
 this article the rest must be referred, namely, that for Christ's sake, and
 not for the sake of our merits, forgiveness of sins is given us. For what
 need was there that Christ was given for our sins if for our sins our
 merits can make satisfaction? 
 
 As often, therefore, as we speak of justifying faith, we must keep in mind
 that these three objects concur: the promise, and that, too, gratuitous, and
 the merits of Christ, as the price and propitiation. The promise is received
 by faith; the "gratuitous" excludes our merits, and signifies that the
 benefit is offered only through mercy; the merits of Christ are the price,
 because there must be a certain propitiation for our sins. Scripture
 frequently implores mercy, and the holy Fathers often say that we are
 saved by mercy. As often, therefore, as mention is made of mercy, we
 must keep in mind that faith is there required, which receives the promise
 of mercy. And, again, as often as we speak of faith, we wish an object to
 be understood, namely, the promised mercy. For faith justifies and saves,
 not on the ground that it is a work in itself worthy, but only because it
 receives the promised mercy. 
 
 And throughout the prophets and the psalms this worship, this _latreia_,
 is highly praised, although the Law does not teach the gratuitous
 remission of sins. But the Fathers knew the promise concerning Christ
 that God for Christ's sake wished to remit sins. Therefore, since they
 understood that Christ would be the price for our sins, they knew that our
 works are not a price for so great a matter [could not pay so great a debt].
 Accordingly, they received gratuitous mercy and remission of sins by
 faith, just as the saints in the New Testament. Here belong those frequent
 repetitions concerning mercy and faith, in the psalms and the prophets, as
 this, Ps. 130, 3 sq.: If Thou Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who
 shall stand? Here David confesses his sins and does not recount his
 merits. He adds; But there is forgiveness with Thee. Here he comforts
 himself by his trust in God's mercy, and he cites the promise: My soul doth
 wait and in His Word do I hope, i.e., because Thou hast promised the
 remission of sins, I am sustained by this Thy promise. Therefore the
 fathers also were justified, not by the Law but by the promise and faith.
 And it is amazing that the adversaries extenuate faith to such a degree,
 although they see that it is everywhere praised as an eminent service, as
 in Ps. 50, 15: Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee. Thus
 God wishes Himself to be known, thus He wishes Himself to be worshiped,
 that from Him we receive benefits, and receive them, too, because of His
 mercy, and not because of our merits. This is the richest consolation in all
 afflictions [physical or spiritual, in life or in death as all godly persons
 know]. And such consolations the adversaries abolish when they extenuate
 and disparage faith, and teach only that by means of works and merits men
 treat with God [that we treat with God, the great Majesty, by means of our
 miserable, beggarly works and merits].   

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