Thursday, January 04, 2007

(#1) What implications or applications may be drawn...

Examples (or questions to get the ball rolling...) :

(1) What significance does the word "unanimous" have for church fellowship for us today, when AC I states that our churches unanimously hold and teach that God is "only one Divine Essence" in which "there are three persons"? Are those who wish to subscribe quia to this article (as part of a quia subscription to the entire Book of Concord) permitted to remain in a fellowship that is not unanimous in confessing the Most Blessed and Holy Trinity in the Undivided Unity?

(2) A related question: Is one who wishes to make a quia subscription to the Confessions bound only to attach himself to a fellowship that is unanimous in rejecting the heresies that are condemned in this article? (For example, should the churches in our fellowship likewise be unanimous in denying the statement of some that the god of the "Mahometans" is also the "true God"?)

(3) What application might be drawn from the teaching that is confessed in this article? Aside from the crassly pagan invocation of "the Mother (Earth), Daughter, and Wisdom" (which without doubt ought to be forbidden among Christians,) what other formulas of divine invocation ought to be censured among quia subscribers?

(4) How does our confession of what is taught about God in this article affect our prayers, either their manner or their words?

(5) Is there any significance to the fact that not one single Bible passage is cited in this article (although passages such as Nehemiah 9:6, Matthew 28:19, Titus 3:10-11 could certainly have been cited), yet an explicit nod is given to both the Council of Nicaea and the Fathers?

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