Soteriology

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Soteriology describes the doctrine of the redemption of all people in the Christian context. It has been accentuated differently in the course of Christian history and generally relates sin , man or the respective image of man to Christology . As a rule, the pair of opposites of sinful man and man redeemed from sin comes into play, which, depending on the emphasis, is more characterized by an act of God, such as the vicarious atoning death of Jesus, or by human participation. With the Reformation there was a split in the Western Church on this issue , with the Catholic side more strongly emphasizing the role of people in the question of salvation, while this was largely excluded on the Protestant side of the Evangelical Church.

In the theological concepts of pluralistic theology of religion , for example around John Hick , it is above all the 'post-axial or post-axial religions' whose primary striving is directed towards redemption or liberation. Thus, according to Hick, the religious movements and systems of the Axial Age are broader and shaped by soteriological structures.

Concepts

The fish is a symbol of Jesus Christ. The letters of the Greek word ΙΧΘΥΣ Ichthýs (fish) are acrostic to form the creed of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior .
Leaded glass window by Wilhelm Schmitz-Steinkrüger in the Church of St. Johannes Baptist (Nideggen) , around 1952.
Eucharistic fish , wall painting from the Calixtus catacomb , 2nd / 3rd century. century

Soteriology is not an independent sub-area of dogmatics that can be distinguished from other areas , but a multitude of soteriological concepts have developed in the course of the history of Christianity . This resulted in close references to the doctrine of grace, including its theology of justification, as well as eschatology and the doctrine of sin . The large number is also a reason for the constant appearance of new studies on individual aspects of soteriology from historical perspectives.

In the event of redemption, Jesus re-establishes that relationship between people and God, which sin had destroyed: As a sinless person, he accepts sin through his death on the cross - it is buried with him and overcome with his resurrection ( Rom 8 : 3  EU ; Rom 4 , 25  EU ).

In this situation, however, Karl Lehmann emphasized five mandatory elements in a sketch published in 1982 to determine the content of a soteriological continuum:

  1. Starting point: slavery to sin
  2. Form of execution: God's work in the gift of life of Jesus Christ
  3. Mode of action: "Crucified for us"
  4. Goal: forgiveness and participation in God's life
  5. Reason: love and mercy of God.

In a similar way, Gustaf Aulén emphasized three motifs: Christ as the victor over death, as a vicarious victim and as an example of a new existence.

Gisbert Greshake finally creates a typology of soteriology with its two thousand year history in three epochs so far, each of which has these characteristics:

  1. In the patristic a Christian Paideia dominated with Jesus Christ as divine educator (Christ victor).
  2. The Middle Ages knew as a central perspective the idea of ​​redemption as the inner grace of the individual (Christ victima).
  3. The modern age , the last epoch for the time being, is shaped by the guiding principle of redemption as an inner moment of modern subjectivity (exemplar of Christ).

For the present, Dorothea Sattler therefore observes an increased effort to establish a connection between biography research and theology that considers the soteriological and eschatological dimensions of a life.

history

Antiquity

In the first centuries of the Christian era , the incarnation of God in Jesus was in the foreground of soteriological writings and also disputes, because the redemption of man, his liberation from the world and from the powers that rule it , his liberation especially from flesh , sin , law and death , he cannot do it on his own. Redemption - this is where early Christianity and Gnosis agree - can only be an event that takes place from the divine world and takes place in man. According to Christian belief, it happened in the mission of Jesus from Nazareth , in his death and resurrection .

Heresies

The term heresy (from ancient Greek αἵρεσις haíresis , "choice", "view", "school") denotes a principle or a philosophical way of life that one has "adopted" or "chosen" in ancient Greek philosophy . Hence a philosophical school opinion or a philosophical "school" or "party" can then also be called "haíresis". In this Hellenistic sense, Luke's Acts of the Apostles also speak of a "haíresis" of the Sadducees or Pharisees ( Acts 5.17  EU ; 15.5 EU ; 26.5 EU ). Finally, Luke can also speak in the same way of a "haíresis" of the Nazoreans or Jesus followers ( Acts 24.5 + 14  EU ; 28.22 EU ).

In contrast, Paul uses the term "haíresis" negatively in his letters, in the sense of "party formation" ( 1. Cor. 11.19  EU ; 5.20 EU ). In this tradition is 2. Petr. 2.1  EU , where "pseudo prophets" are said to introduce pernicious "haíresis" into the congregations of believers. It is possible that the term “haíresis” implies “false doctrine”. First of all, as with Paul, "pernicious parties" are addressed in the sense of divisions that divide the body of Christ and thus destroy the one and common salvation in the one body of Christ, which is the one church ( 1. Cor. 1: 10-17  EU ).

Ignatius of Antioch also uses the term "haíresis" (Ign Eph 6,2; Ign Tr 6,1 ) in the sense of "partitions" (Latin sectae, because the Latin translations use the term "sectae" for "haíresis") ) and denounces special doctrines that have been brought into the communities from outside. These separate an elite within the community by segregation from the other believers and thus lead them into a separation from "God Jesus Christ, from the bishop and from the orders of the apostles" (Ign Tr 7.1-2) and the loss of theirs Salvation.

Gnosis

The piety of the Gnostic circles is the mysticism of the Hellenistic world. Mysterious consecrations (influence of the mysteries ) convey the Gnosis ( ancient Greek γνῶσις ), the deeper insight into the divine mysteries. The church belief ( ψιλὴ πίστις psile pistis ) is regarded as a mere preliminary stage to the higher level of Gnosis (conversion of religion into philosophy ), which reveals the secrets of the origin and nature of the world, the origin of evil and redemption. The solution to these problems takes place in the form that profound thoughts of ancient myths and hypostatized philosophical terms such as nous ( νοῦς ), psyche ( ψυχή ), wisdom ( σοφία sophia ) are merged into complex systems that describe the great God-world process: the creation of the world and the return of its divine elements to their origins.

The most essential commonality of all Gnostic systems is a cosmic dualism (i.e. a bipolarity of the world), probably originating from Persian Zoroastrianism , according to which everything material, fleshly, corporeal, earthly is inferior and originates from the realm of darkness, everything spiritual, on the other hand, is good and luminous. Between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness there is a relentless cosmic battle, the outcome of which is the complete separation and thus the annihilation of the kingdom of darkness. Because the mixing of the two principles of light and darkness is the basic evil , the core of all suffering. It has arisen because the darkness holds light particles in painful captivity, which it was able to seize before the creation of the material world and with the help of which the demiurge (maker) of the earthly world enlivened his creation. Because the creator of the material world is not identical with the father of the universe, from whom all life and all good flowed out (= emanation ). The creator of the real world is rather an ultimately ignorant technocrat who is unable to recognize the spiritual depth of life and who will one day perish with the realm of darkness. The myth of creation, which is designed differently in detail, corresponds to an equally differently executed myth of redemption, the core of which is that the benevolent, omniscient Father of the universe sends out a "call" or "messenger" to the light particles trapped and sleeping in human souls wakes them up so that they remember their origins, their captivity and their task and make their way home on their own.

This way home is a way of detaching the spirit particles from the matter in the human soul and takes place in a gradual ascent, whereby influences of astrology in particular have taken shape. The external means of this ascent are - depending on the school - ascetic abstinence or contemptuous indifference to all social norms ( libertinism ). The gradual ascent to spiritual being corresponds to a gradual growing knowledge (gnosis). It is often reflected in the different degrees of consecration in the respective school and also in the rites. The number and characteristics of the individual levels of redemption are very different in the different gnostic systems. In general, a threefold division of the following can be established:

a) "Hyliker" (fabric people), d. H. People who are still completely addicted to the physical and cannot or cannot be redeemed.
b) "Psychics" (soul people), d. H. People who live according to the needs and desires of the soul and are therefore already accessible to the Gnostic message with some care.
c) "Pneumatics" (spirit people), d. H. People who only seek the ascent of the immaterial spirit in their soul and gain more and more insight into the secrets of teaching.

The Gnosticism in Christian communities has the "wake up call" or "messengers" of the All-Father consistently with the " Logos (word) of God identified" and therefore with Jesus Christ, whereby, however, often made it clear that this "Christ" not by birth had really become human, but rather only assumed a pseudo-body and therefore only apparently was crucified, which is why there could be no physical resurrection , neither in relation to Christ himself nor in relation to the believers at the judgment at the end of days . Docetism is called this denial of the body of Christ, his birth, his cross and his resurrection. Paul already had to deal with it ( 1. Cor. 15  EU ), Ignatius of Antioch fought it decisively. With docetism, the Gnostics believed they were tackling the primitive materialism of the church Christians, who in their eyes are mostly "hylics" because of their "clinging to the flesh".

Plato also has a strong effect in Christian Gnosis with his dualism of spirit and matter. The body is regarded as the seat of evil, the spirit as the seat of good. The Gnostic circles interpret flesh and spirit in the Platonic sense, as did later Enlightenment and idealism .

Marcion

Marcion (Μαρκίων), a rich shipowner from Sinope in Pontus , an educated man, is not actually to be assigned to Gnosticism . He wanted to reform what he believed to be the Judaizing Church by returning to the original gospel ( Jesus , Paul ). First in Sinope, then rejected by Papias and Polycarp (Papias did not allow himself to be bribed by the letters of recommendation from the Pontic brothers that Marcion had brought with him; Polycarp saw in him the "firstborn of Satan"), he went to Rome around 138/139; here, probably in July 144, after a negotiation with the presbyters , it was also expelled from the community. Thereupon Marcion created within a short time a great Marcionite counter-church with great organizational skill. Marcion's contact with Gnosticism is a touch in the tips, not in the basics. According to Irenaeus , Marcion was influenced by the Syrian Gnostic Kerdon; but that cannot have influenced the main points of Marcion's teaching. Marcion does not know the necessity of the Gnosis , the superiority of the Gnosis over the Pistis, the appeal to secret traditions, the magic of the mysteries, the speculation of aeons. Common to Gnosticism is the elimination of the Old Testament , the transferring of the problems into cosmology and the two-god system. The dualism , however, is somewhat softened by the fact that the demiurge is described as ponerós ( ancient Greek πονηρός , 'bad' ) and merely díkaios ( δίκαιος , 'good' ), but not as kakós ( κακός , ' bad' ) .

The basis of his view is an exaggerated Paulinism: Paul is the only apostle who understood the Lord, while the original apostles and the church fell back into Judaism ( Gal 2:11  EU ). From the Pauline opposition between law and gospel , Marcion arrives at the assumption of two gods. The creator of the world ( Δημιουργός Demiurgós , German 'craftsman, builder' ) and the god of the Jews, who created this disgusting world, who is righteous according to the phrase “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth ”, is confronted by the good God completely unknown before Christ who is love and mercy . This unknown, alien God has mercy on people who are actually none of his business, purely by grace, and sends Christ in a pseudo-body as world redeemer who descends in Capernaum in the 15th year of Tiberius , reveals the only true God of love, but from is brought to the cross of the Jewish god . This is the catastrophe of the Jewish God, who has become unjust through the apparent suffering of the highest God and, together with those who are devout to the law, doomed to ruin. Now that the law has been abolished, bliss is linked to faith alone . Marcion associates this with the strictest asceticism (prohibition of meat and wine consumption and marriage). The second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the flesh are rejected; the Jewish Messiah is yet to come, but will be an earthly Messiah. As a substitute for the Old Testament he rejected, which was a hideous book of revelation by the Jewish God, which Marcion interpreted literally, not in Christian allegorical terms, he created one for his communities, since the “good” God also had to have a holy book Canon , an edited Gospel ( ευανγέλιον 'good news' , i.e. he cleansed the Gospel of Luke from alleged Judaic falsifications) and also edited 10 Pauline letters ( Gal EU , 1 Cor EU , 2 Cor EU , Röm EU , 1 Thess EU , 2 Thess EU , Eph EU , Kol EU , Phil EU , Phlm EU ). He also wrote his own work, the Antitheses ( Ἀντιθέσεις 'opposites' ), in which he demonstrated the contrast between sayings of the Old Testament and those of the religion of love.                    

Patristic

Altar panel with the four Latin Fathers of the Church, Bordesholm Monastery

The patristic , which has a long tradition describes, explores and evaluates the literary and theological achievements of the Church Fathers .

Irenaeus

It was a central concern of Irenaeus (approx. 135 - approx. 200) to turn against those who “under the pretense of special knowledge ( gnosis ) dissuade from the creator and steward of the universe, as if they could present a higher and greater being than him God who made heaven and earth and everything in them «. Against them, he repeatedly emphasizes in his works the unity of God as Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer of the world . He illustrates this unity with regard to the creation of man through the image that God formed man through His two hands, namely the word and wisdom ( Son and Holy Spirit ). Thus the unity of Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer is determined at the same time as the unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit . And this unity is presented to him in the Epideixis as the “canon of our faith” and the “foundation of building” and “steadfastness of change” so that he can say: “God, Father, unconscious, incomprehensible, invisible, a God who Creator of everything; this is the very first point of our belief. But the second point is the Word of God, the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, who appeared to the prophets according to the form of their prophecy and according to the scope of the counsels of the Father; through Him everything came about; who also at the end of time, in order to bring everything to perfection and to summarize, man among men, became visible and palpable, in order to destroy death and to show life and to bring about a community of union between God and man. And the third point is the Holy Spirit, through whom the prophets prophesied and the Fathers learned the divine things and the righteous were led on the path of righteousness and who at the end of time affected humanity in a new way over the whole earth poured out while he renewed man for God «So here, in connection with the assertion of the unity of God as Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer in relation to Gnostic and Marcionite dualism, the Trinitarian baptismal confession has become the regula fidei , for Irenaeus as for the later Orthodox Fathers it is important that the Father, Son, and Spirit are equally God; even if the Father is more comprehensive and in that sense greater than the Son and Spirit, these are still no less than he. According to Irenaeus, not only the confession of the unity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is indispensable for the Christian faith, but also the confession of the unity of Christ as "true God and true man" .

Irenaeus describes the redemption that Jesus has achieved as recapitulation ( Latin recapitulatio , summary, repetition ), he has redeemed humanity by bringing it to a process of renewal and perfection. For Irenaeus, Christ's work of salvation is not simply the reconciliation of mankind with God, but the renewal and perfection of all creation, that is, of mankind and the nature created for its sake. Recapitulation is a process that was prepared in the old covenant by law and prophets , began with the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ , continues in the church , is consolidated in the kingdom of Christ , and finally comes to completion when the Son does all that Father has submitted. This process is not only a process of healing creation hurt by the sin of apostasy from God , but also a process of deliverance by the Holy Spirit , growing union with God, perfecting creation, seeing God, and glorifying " Deification " of man. Because man 's goal in life is to see God, to live in freely chosen voluntary unity with God .

Origen

The Greek church father Origen (approx. 185 - approx. 254) developed a so-called "ransom theory" about the atonement of Jesus ("payment for the sins of the world through his death on the cross"), which can be summarized as follows: death Christ was the ransom paid to Satan . 1. Satan crucified Jesus, but in reality it was nothing more than God "tricking" the devil into doing just that. 2. Satan had acquired certain rights over man through the fall ; hence all sinners because of their sin belong to Satan. 3. With the death of Christ, God paid the price of redeeming sinners. 4. Satan accepted Jesus as a ransom for sinners, but could not hold him. 5. On Easter Sunday, Jesus rose victorious from the dead , so that Satan eventually did not own his original captives or the ransom money paid for them.

Athanasius

Among the early church soteriologies, Athanasius (c. 298–373), one of the most important theologians of the early church , stands out as “On the Incarnation of the Logos and his bodily appearance among us” . It is the Eastern Greek-Greek parallel to the Latin version " Cur deus homo ", with which Anselm von Canterbury later became decisive for the soteriology of the Western Middle Ages .

His doctrine of atonement implied that by breaking communion with God through disobedience, man has cut himself off from the source of life and is subject to death. The eternal creator word of God ( Joh 1,1  EU ff.), Which is one with all creatures, became man in Christ and suffered death on behalf of mankind and thus broke the power of death in order to renew the dead through his resurrection To bring life to life. The new life also includes the forgiveness of guilt. People still have to die from now on, but death is no longer the punishment for sin and thus damnation and horror, but the way to resurrection. The teaching of Athanasius culminated in the statement: God became human so that we human beings may be deified.

During the Arian controversy , Athanasius stood up for the Trinity .

Augustine

According to the Latin church father Augustine of Hippo (354-430), God gives faith and God's grace creates good will. When a person decides to be good, this is the effect of grace and is based on God's inexplicable will, not on human dignity. God's grace in Christ frees man from evil and without this grace man cannot achieve anything, neither in thinking and acting, nor in willing and loving. Christ is the source of grace. Augustine refers to the election of Jacob in the womb ( Rom. 9 : 10-16  EU ) and, with Paul, also attributes the will, and not just the accomplishment ( Phil 2.13  EU ), to divine action ( 1 Cor 4.17  EU ). Faith and the associated opportunity to turn to God and to keep the commandments are therefore to be given credit to God alone. The doctrine of original sin ( peccatum originale ) is presupposed and so the nature created by God is changed, injured and perverted by the fall of Adam and consequently every person is ruled by self-love ( amor sui ). Because of this strong dependence of the will and the deeds of man through the gift of faith from God, the doctrine of predestination is made the criterion in Augustine's later works , whereby the doctrine of grace is absorbed in it. "God chooses some sinners for salvation (particular salvation will), the majority of sinners fall prey to his judgment ." The answer to the question why not all people are given the gift of saving grace is subject to the secret counsel of God.

The soteriology of Augustine can be summarized in "four stages of salvation history" of man: 1. Posse peccare - "able to sin" , this is man as he was created, his condition before the fall : he was created without sin , but had the possibility of sin. 2. Non posse non peccare, "incapable not to sin" , this is man after the fall: man was unable to do anything other than sin after sin began; a state into which all human beings were born. 3. Posse non peccare - "not having to sin" , this is the state of the saved person: through the power of the Holy Spirit, a person is able not to sin. 4. Non posse peccare - "not being able to sin" : this is the state of the glorified man ( Rom 8:30  EU ), because in heaven man will no longer be able to sin.

The path to rest and unity with God (from the 2nd level to the 3rd level) can be divided into seven further levels: On the first level, man's arrogance is broken by the fact that he is afraid ( »timor« ) to God for temporal and eternal death . On the second stage, the believer submits to the authority of Scripture and the Church, that is piety ( "pietas" ). On the third level one strives for knowledge ( "scientia" ) of the will of God and his commandments and thus arrives at repentance . On the fourth level one arrives at strength ( "fortitudo" ) where hunger and thirst for God's justice can no longer be driven away through earthly enjoyment . On the fifth level one purifies oneself through unselfish charity in the rate of mercy ( "consilium" ) until one is even capable of loving one's enemies . On the sixth level one advances to the knowledge of divine truth in the clarity of the intellect ( "claritas intellectus" ) and does not even prefer a loved one to the divine truth, not even oneself. On the seventh level one arrives at wisdom ( "Sapientia" ) and thus achieves the bliss of the "vision of God" ( "vita beata" ), because the union with God in perfect love can only be achieved by those who have given up their self-love , their stubbornness , including their addictions and dependencies and fully themselves Love ( 1 Cor 13:13  EU ).

middle Ages

The schism that divided the church into an Eastern ( Orthodox Church ) and a Western ( Roman Catholic Church ) church in the Middle Ages came about in connection with the unilateral western addition of the " filioque " ("and of the son") in the third article of ecumenical creed from 379/81 (the so-called Nicano -Constantinopolitanum ), which was and is named as the main cause of the church division between West and East, which was no longer overcome from 1054. In the East it is ultimately about the "deification" (" theosis ") of man, i.e. H. about his participation in the " doxa ", the glory, power, goodness and beauty of God in union with him, with the forgiveness of sins and justification , which in the West play a key role for the goal of the " vita beata " (blessed life) in step back on the series of necessary requirements and the Holy Spirit does not transform man without his yes-word. In this respect, the preservation of the " free will " of man, which is not to be equated with Pelagianism , in contrast to Augustinism (as a result of which Luther and Calvin also proceeded from " unfree will "), is one of the essential theological elements of the east-west differences. One of the prerequisites of the Eastern Church's self-understanding is hesychasm , whereby "rest in God" is experienced, which can lead to the vision of the uncreated light of divine energy. Hesychasm, which developed in Orthodox monasticism from the 5th to the 14th century, is among the hermits ( anachoretes ) in the 7th century through writings such as the »ladder« (»climax«) of John of Sinai, called Klimakos . and monastery rulers. Through Symeon the New Theologian , hesychasm became part of the typical Byzantine mysticism of the sacrament around the turn of the 10th to the 11th century .

Anselm of Canterbury

About a broad impact story that still continues, has doctrine of satisfaction Anselm of Canterbury (to 1033-1109), which he, in his work Cur Deus Homo ( Why was God-man? ) Has unfolded: God became man, so the only possible ( because the only way of redeeming the human race that is justifiable before reason can become reality, because human sins have resulted in a loss of eternal salvation . And this loss can only be reversed when God himself became man and in Jesus Christ, his Son, who suffers an atonement and thereby atones for human guilt. Anselm speaks of an external honor of God ( gloria dei externa ) and not of his personal honor: God's own honor cannot be touched by anything, especially not by human flaws.

Adam's disobedience to God is an insult to an infinite honor and majesty, and no finite doer can redress this infinite damage or insult. Nonetheless , if people are to be reconciled , it must be a person who heals the injury. Therefore God must act as a man ; because God's actions are of infinite worth or merit, they will atone for the infinite offense.

Anselm's doctrine of satisfaction can be summarized as follows: Sin, an infinite insult to God, required an equally infinite satisfaction (satisfaction, atonement, redemption). 1. No finite being, human or angel, could provide such satisfaction. 2. It was necessary for an infinite being, namely God himself, to take the place of man. 3. This was fulfilled through the death of the Godman on the cross. 4. Thus, through the death of Christ, divine righteousness was fully satisfied. 5. Hence, Christ's death was not a ransom paid to the devil, but a debt paid to the Father.

Peter Abelard

The »moral effect theory« was developed by the scholastic Peter Abelard (1079–1142) and is intended to explain how salvation can be achieved, namely through an inner transformation (repentance) that occurs through contemplation of God's love on the cross: death Christ had a profound effect on man. 1. We contemplate the love of God and are overwhelmed. 2. We are moved to repent and love him again. 3. So we are inwardly changed by the death of Christ.

Abelard insists that the cross of Christ shows the absolute love of God. There is nothing that God will not do or suffer to show His love, and the change that happens through the cross is a change in our hearts. Not the Father , but we must be convinced by Christ's death .

Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) presented a classic soteriological discussion of the effects of the death and resurrection of Christ in his Summa theologiae (III, 49 and 53), which deliberately uses a variety of metaphors . The goal of suffering and resurrection is clearly shown here as the exaltation of man destined to perfect communion with the glory of God .

At the heart of his theology, he is a teacher of grace in the Augustine lineage . Mere natural knowledge is not enough to justify man and so grace is not acquired through good works ( merita ), but given by God, yet he believes in free will . A movement of the human spirit ground as free self-determination ( liberum arbitrium ) is necessary to justify the sinner, but this spirit ground or the soul of man is moved by God by turning it to himself. The free will of man is necessary for the justification of man, but it is ultimately canceled out in the election of man . Justification is therefore not a cooperation between God and man, but an effect of God's grace.

reformation

Martin Luther

Characteristic of Martin Luther (1483-1546) doctrine of justification was the so-called "tower experience," in which he realized that the "righteous from faith will live" ( Rom 1.17  LU is a passive righteousness), and thus God's justice, so that the Justice is not human achievement, but grace of God . However, Luther research has difficulties to date this event, which is said to have taken place in the tower room of the Wittenberg monastery .

Luther's most detailed discussion of God who justifies and sinful man can be found in his interpretation of Psalm 51, "God, be gracious to me according to your goodness"  Ps 51.3  LU . According to Luther, this psalm contains the main parts of his religion, namely the truth about sin , repentance , grace and justification . This psalm is not only about David and his sinful relationship with Bathsheba , but rather about the "root of godlessness", about the understanding of sin and grace. Luther defends himself against the scholastic theologians who have not understood what is sin and what is grace; they would have taught a rational theology without the word of God . Because of this, they also believed that God was impressed by people's behavior and that it was only about finding a morally better lifestyle. According to Luther, true repentance requires two things. First, the knowledge of sin and the knowledge of grace; and, second, the fear of God and trust in his mercy . This has to be learned over and over again; for people enlightened by the Holy Spirit also remain dependent on the word of God. It is not the individual misconduct that is at issue, but the whole nature of sin, its source and origin. Sin is not only in thoughts, words and works, sin is the whole life that we have taken over from father and mother and on this basis the individual offenses arise. The natural constitution of man is not intact, neither in the civil nor in the spiritual realm. As a result of sin, people are turned away from God and seek their own glory. The believer feels the burden of God's wrath and just as sensually experiences God's grace when he finally realizes with joy: Although I cannot stand before myself, in Christ I am justified and just, justified through Christ, who is just and makes fair. That is why the central content and decisive criterion of Scripture is Christ, because if you take Christ out of Scripture, you can no longer find anything essential in it: "All of the Holy Scriptures speak of Christ everywhere." For Luther, as the theologian of the cross , belong the cross of Christ , the cross of individual Christians and that of the whole Church together. The cross is not an idea that can be visualized in the abstract. Only those who, according to Luther, get involved with the cross understand what the cross is all about. Therefore, in Christian theology, the cross is not just one theme alongside others, but the theme par excellence.

In summary he wrote in his Small Catechism in 1529 for the redemption of man from sin , death and the violence of the devil through Jesus Christ, God incarnate , which he acquired with his own blood :

“I believe that Jesus Christ, true God born of the Father in eternity and also true man born of the Virgin Mary, be my Lord, who redeemed me lost and damned people, acquired, won from all sins, from death and from the Violence of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death; so that I may be his own and live under him in his kingdom and serve him in eternal righteousness, innocence and happiness, just as he was risen from death, lives and rules forever. "

- Dr. Martin Luther : The Small Catechism, The second main part - Faith, The second article - Of salvation

Philipp Melanchthon

On the question of how this redemption, which Jesus Christ accomplished, is bestowed on man, how, then, man can obtain the forgiveness of sins and thus the righteousness that exists before God and thereby come to eternal life (also: justification alone from Called graces through faith ), acknowledged Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560) in the Augsburg Confession 1530:

“It is also taught that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God through our merit, work and satisfaction, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and are justified before God by grace for Christ's sake through faith (gratis iustificentur propter Christum per fidem), [namely] when we believe that Christ suffered for us and that for his sake we are forgiven, righteousness and eternal life are given. For God wants to see this faith as righteousness [which is valid] before him, and to attribute it, as St. Paul says to the Romans in the 3rd and 4th [chapters] ( Rom 3 : 21–28  LUT ; Rom 4,1–8  LUT ; Rom 4,23–25  LUT ) "

- Philipp Melanchthon : The Augsburg Confession - Article 4 - On justification

John Calvin

John Calvin (1509–1564) taught that Adam should not have sinned, but he fell into sin of his own will . Adam had the opportunity not to sin ( posse non peccare ). He had a free choice ( liberum arbitrium ) between good and bad, his mind was clear and his will was free to choose what was good. Adam passed this sin on to all of his descendants as original sin. This is defined as "hereditary viciousness and depravity of our nature", "penetrated into all parts of the soul, so that we succumb to the wrath of God and what the scriptures" Works of the flesh "( Gal 5 : 19-21  EU ) arise. is called".

He taught about Jesus Christ that his appearance is explained with the help of three different roles with which God ruled his people in the times of the old covenant , as priest , king and prophet :

1. The highest office is that of the priesthood . Calvin refers to the figure of Melchizedech and to the priesthood of Aaron , who were both called to reconcile the people, and so Calvin teaches reconciliation. Jesus Christ dies for us. God's love is the deepest reason for the sending of Christ, because nobody forces God to do it. On this path of God's free choice, Christ, as mediator, bears the punishment for the sin of men. The death of Christ is a vicarious expiatory death , a retribution that is proportionate to God's right. Christ bears the whole burden of God's wrath against sin and for this he has to sink into the greatest abandonment of God. In addition, there is an exchange between God and man. Christ appears at the same time as priest and sacrifice and thus opens up new access to the source of life. Christ is the place where the quickening and renewing power of the eternal God approaches and becomes available again. In the history of Christ we are dealing with a saving movement, with which God not only has mercy on His own Son, but in the person of the Son the Father embraces the entire Church (cf.Comm. Mt 12.18  EU ; Jn 5 , 20  EU ). We are received into Christ through the Spirit and life flows to man, which wells up from God the Father through Christ, our head and our King.

2. The second office is kingship . When people are reconciled to God through the work of Christ, space is created to recognize Christ as King. Calvin often refers to King David as an image or type of the kingship of Christ . The king must look after his people, administer justice and justice, act as a good father to his subjects and is endowed with power himself. He must provide the goods that make the people viable. This kingship, which is a source of good and welfare and which requires devout obedience, found its full realization in Jesus Christ. For Calvin, the ascension of Christ means that Christ has accepted his kingship and that already now, from the secrecy of heaven, he rules his church through word and spirit and is close to people. The incarnate Son who saves humanity is the one who rules the church already now and in whose hand the final judgment will be placed. And this reign and the judgment are not a threat, but a source of hope and relief for the children of God , who know they are beset and threatened by a thousand things in this world. The presence of the exalted Lord at the right hand of the Father ( Rom. 8.34  EU ; Col. 3.1  EU ) is the guarantee for the reality of the promises that are made to people who are still on a pilgrimage on earth. Jesus Christ is flesh of our flesh, and in this reality He is our King now.

3. The third office is that of prophet . In terms of form, there is a clear difference to the other two offices of priest and king. These have found their fulfillment and thus their conclusion in Jesus Christ. The office of the prophet has reached a climax and its identity in Jesus Christ, but not its conclusion. The proclamation of the word of God finds its continuation in the tasks of teachers of the church, in dealing with the word of God and in many forms in which God's truth receives a voice through the mouth of man and is publicly announced in the world.

In summary, Christ reforms human nature by serving the Father , loving him and obeying him in all situations, even on the cross where he suffers the pains of a damned soul, the feeling of a final separation from God ( Mk 15.34  EU ; Mt 27.46  EU ). Through union with the life of the risen Lord and in the trust that the Holy Spirit gives, man shares in the benefit of Christ's obedience: we are treated as if we were obedient and thus accepted into the sonship of Jesus .

In contrast to Martin Luther, in addition to Luther's justification of the person , Calvin also knows a justification of the works , so that the wicked works ("misdeeds") of the sinner are also covered by Christ's innocence and everything bad about them is buried by his purity and thus not counted .

Furthermore, in contrast to Luther, Calvin taught a double predestination , i.e. That is, that from the beginning of creation all human beings were predestined for either salvation or damnation.

Various reformers

After the death of Martin Luther in 1546 there were doctrinal disputes between the followers of Luther (" Gnesiolutherans ") and the followers of Melanchthon (" Philippists "). The "Gnesiolutherans" wanted to keep Luther's original teaching unchanged, while the "Philippists" were prepared to compromise on certain points with Calvinism and Catholicism , strengthened by the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and the Counter-Reformation . J. Andreä , M. Chemnitz , N. Selneccer and D. Chyträus were particularly involved in the two decades of unification talks . In 1577 there was a "formula of unity", the "Formula concordiae", also called " Concordia formula " in which the extreme positions of both parties were condemned. The following was taught about salvation or the attainment of eternal bliss and eternal life:

“ We attain the righteousness of Christ only through faith, which experiences Christ and trusts him.
3. We believe, teach and confess that faith alone is the means and instrument through which we Christ and so in Christ this righteousness which is before God applies, seize, for the sake of which this "faith is credited to us for righteousness", Rom 4. ( Rom 4,5  LUT )
4. We believe, teach and confess that this belief is not a mere knowledge of the histories of Christ, but one Such a gift of God through which we know Christ, our Redeemer, rightly in the word of the gospel and trust in him, that only for the sake of his obedience, by grace, we have the forgiveness of sins, are considered pious and just by God the Father and be forever happy. "

- Formula of the Agreement - Article 3 - Of righteousness of faith before God - Affirmativa

“ The gospel speaks for the sake of Christ, who suffered the punishment for sin as a substitute, the forgiveness to
4. But the gospel is actually a doctrine that teaches what man should believe who has not kept the law and who condemns it namely: that Christ has atoned for and paid for all sins, and that without all his merits he obtains forgiveness of sins, "righteousness that is valid before God" ( Rom 1,17  LUT ) and eternal life and has acquired. "

- Formula of the Agreement - Article 5 - Law and Gospel - Affirmativa

Modern times

August Hermann Francke

The call to repentance and conversion was the main theme of the numerous sermons and writings of August Hermann Francke (1663–1727). The existential starting point of theological thought was his own conversion : "I felt as if I had been dead and suddenly came alive". Francke particularly emphasized God's general will to salvation . Because God wants to save all people and Jesus Christ died for the sin of all people, every listener can be sure that he will be accepted by God. First, however, man must submit to God, recognize his sin and repent. Only by turning away from an ungodly life can man experience God's grace . Against this background, Francke found the doctrine of predestination incomprehensible and dangerous. By believing in God's election, some people may give up the search for God and repent of their own sin as hopeless. If God alone determines who will be saved, man is condemned to inaction and can only wait to see how God has decided. But God wants man to “give him a joyous word”. God does not depend on humans, but has decided to include his voluntary cooperation. God did not create man as a “lifeless block”, but as a rational being.

According to Francke, the order of salvation ("ordo salutis") consists of the following stages: advancing grace , divine emotion, penance , justification and sanctification .

The leading grace means that God searches the heart of man. He is ceaselessly trying to draw him to him by his "advancing grace". Just as a beggar takes off his hat to a traveler in order to be given a cent, so God treats people and asks them through his word to give him their hearts.

The event of divine emotion occurs when at some point, under very different conditions, often on the occasion of a special event, mostly in suffering, but also in the sermon, it can happen that a certain word of God that has long been known to man can, hits his heart with special power, frightens and calls to reflection. Francke compares this “train of the heavenly Father” with a “rope of love” that God lets down from heaven, that is then the gracious work of the Holy Spirit . The divine emotion can vary in strength. It is not always associated with a strong movement of the heart. Sometimes it is so delicate that you can hardly feel it in a thought or in a gentle movement of the soul. But it still fulfills its purpose if the person only gives space to such a delicate movement and he does not willfully resist the action of God.

The fight of penance occurs when the human being has given space to God's touch. Then there is a struggle between the new and the old forces. The three enemies of man, that is, the devil , the world and the lust of the flesh , which are closely linked to defend their property. If a person is serious about the call of God, the devil will "sit down even more on his hind legs", the world will gather its strength and the flesh will stir even more. When a person has awakened from their sinful sleep, they must find that sin has become so powerful that they cannot shake it off all at once. Becoming pious fails. His strength is insufficient to achieve the goal set. Yes, he sinks deeper and deeper into the "sin-mud". He then falls into severe depression and is exposed to terrible temptations. In the midst of the greatest humiliation, according to Francke, then comes the foundation of faith. Francke compares the fearful search of humans at this stage with " birth pains".

The justification is taken by people when at the stage of deepest depression, the psychological shock at the magnitude of his sin, not earlier, the consolation word of the Gospel shall enter into force when the appropriates what told him the merits of Christ and his infinite love becomes. Then comes the “outbreak and breakthrough” to the actual “birth” or the strengthening of faith. This then forms the conclusion of the conversion process. From now on man becomes certain in his heart of the grace of God, the righteousness of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of all his sins. The process of penitential struggle and the establishment of faith is now a thing of the past.

The Christian life is a process of constant growth. Again and again he must turn away from the earthly and towards the heavenly. Francke recalled that one should practice one's profession reliably and responsibly, but not lose sight of the eternal idea. Concentrating on the word of God and being filled with the Holy Spirit offer Francke the best prerequisites for Christian sanctification . Francke understood prayer as a union with God. The believer must concentrate his heart, mind and thoughts on God, then he can experience his presence. Regular eating of the Lord's Supper also serves spiritual growth, insofar as the Christian is aware of the presence of Jesus.

Johann Albrecht Bengel

In Johann Albrecht Bengel's (1687–1752) dogmatic statements about the salvation work of Jesus Christ, it is found that he is the mediator between God and man, through whom we can have faith and hope in God. He is the first and the last. We should know nothing before him and we cannot desire anything after him. We have everything about him. A person is converted when he, who had previously lived in blind self-love , turns to God and his good holy will, his honor and his own salvation . Man cannot contribute anything to it, at most destroy. Conversion is a work that God alone does and it takes place in great variety. Repentance is then the turning back from the path that has been since then. It is nothing terrible, but something lovely, not a punishment, but improvement, like when someone who is sick, lost or fallen is healed, rebuked and straightened up again, whereby the naturally cold heart of man is warmed by heavenly fire. Two sure signs of being born again are firstly a childlike address to God and secondly a heartfelt love for the brothers.

His doctrine of the blood of Christ is independent and, in addition to his understanding of the Bible and its interpretation of salvation history, forms a third essential contribution to pietistic theology and should be considered as a somewhat idiosyncratic contribution to the doctrine of justification or reconciliation for its overall understanding . Bengel wanted to keep this teaching from being evaporated by the Enlightenment . This teaching is a peculiar paraphrase of a passage from the Letter to the Hebrews ( Hebrews 12.24  EU ), where the "blood of sprinkles" is assigned a decisive role in Christ's work of salvation. Bengel recorded them in his "Gnomon". For him, Christ's blood exists, separated from his body, "in heaven as a reconciling power". By interceding for his own and by offering his blood "to the Father", the exalted Lord protects the faith and life of his own. Martin Brecht rightly asserts against Bengel's blood doctrine that the letter to the Hebrews speaks in a visual language that - similar to the numerical symbolism of the Revelation of John - must not be interpreted realistically. - Nonetheless, Bengel's thoughtful treatise, if only because of its Lutheran foundation, should not be missing from a villain anthology .

Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf

The theme of the theology of the cross or the suffering and death of Christ forms the decisive objective basis of Zinzendorf's (1700–1760) theology. His life is a constant struggle for a deeper understanding of the sacrificial death of Jesus from his youth.

The question of his own conversion arose for Zinzendorf since his visit to the education department in Halle . Since he could not show a penitential fight and breakthrough in the sense of Halle , he occasionally met inquiries from Francke's students such as B. von Pastor Mischke 1729. His answer that the penitential struggle through Christ's struggle in Gethsemane had been fought for the person who accepted it, became more and more certain from 1730 onwards. There were strong objections and reproaches on the part of Pietism against this Herrnhut "minute conversion" . Zinzendorf stuck to his view of the great, free offer of grace through Christ's reconciliation.

In contrast to Wesley, Zinzendorf rejected any kind of perfection. He considers sanctification to be legal and not evangelical. For him all justification and sanctification are there in the same instant; in the moment in which he is justified, man is also sanctified to the core. Christ alone is his perfection. All Christian perfection consists in trusting the blood of Christ . Consequently, he is neither more nor less holy until his death. According to Zinzendorf, all self-denial is something legal and contradicts the freedom of belief. For him the whole of Christian perfection is imputed (“imputed”), not inherent (“indwelling”). So the believer is only perfect in Christ, never in himself. He said: “We reject all self-denial, we trample on it. As believers, we do everything we want and nothing more. We all laugh at mortification. No purification precedes perfect love. "

John Wesley

John Wesley's (1703–1791) conversion can be dated to the evening of May 24, 1738, when he probably attended a circle of "A new religious society" in Nettleton Court, Aldersgate Street, which was led by James Hutton . It was probably William Holland (a founding member of the Fetter Lane Society) who read Luther's preface to Romans. Upon hearing a certain passage in Luther's preface to the Romans, John Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed, and then wrote about it: “while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. "

Wesley found it necessary to strive daily in repentance and in the pursuit of sanctification after justification , which was necessary for growth in the grace of God. Wesley did not understand the conversion statically, but process-like or dynamic. He saw the process of conversion in itself in the following sequence: grace, divine emotion, penitential struggle, justification, and sanctification . It is therefore a dynamic process of sanctification and lifelong growth in faith and love, which also include a socio-ethical dimension . He was thus close to Francke's view and his "ordo salutis". Wesley stood up for levels of faith, i.e. also for the reality of a small or weak faith and referred to Rom 14.1  EU and Mt 8.26  EU . He took the position of understanding faith in terms of organic development.

In contrast to Zinzendorf, Wesley believed in the doctrine of sanctification and Christian perfection as the goal and coronation of believers in this life. Christ's Spirit creates perfection in the right Christian. Wesley understands Christian perfection or sanctification to be the love of God and neighbor in order to become God's image . The believer who grows in love then also increases in sanctification. Wesley referred to a word from Paul that the inner man is renewed from day to day ( 2 Cor 4:16  EU ). Accordingly one has to grow in grace. Wesley sees believers die in the self-denial of the world and God live.

Modern

Søren Kierkegaard

The Danish philosopher, essayist, theologian and religious writer Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) took the position that 1. nobody should feel excluded from the invitation of Jesus Christ (also known as the call of the Savior ) in Mt 11 : 28-30  LUT , 2 . However, a deeper knowledge of the burden of sin and repentance is required to accept this invitation, 3. That everyone who finally comes will be promised rest for the soul, especially those who come in repentance, and 4. That it is the true one Is pastor and redeemer who invites the troubled and burdened to him. It becomes clear that the rest for the soul that can be found with him consists in the forgiveness of sins. The difference between Jesus as a doctor ( lat.Christ medicus ) and other doctors and helpers is that here the helper is at the same time the help and it aims at a physical and spiritual healing that also includes temporal suffering, mourning, May include compromised innocence and aberration. Jesus not only opens his arms to the sinner, but waits like the father of the prodigal son and searches like a shepherd for his lost sheep, with this Kierkegaard connects the two images of the parables of the prodigal son and the good shepherd . They are used to illustrate the mission of Jesus as the Son of God . The difference between Jesus Christ and the usual comforters, who want to comfort and be empathetic and yet cannot, is that the quality of compassion and consolation with Christ is different because with him the sufferer can experience that he is on has suffered most and can therefore put oneself in the patient's shoes and take his place. Human compassion would also like that, but in the end does not dare to do so, while divine compassion can stand at the side of the troubled and burdened and call them to itself. He, who was God, became man in order to take the place of the suffering and to call to him the troubled and burdened. There is, by virtue of Jesus' suffering and death, the "satisfaction of the Reconciler", which means stepping aside as a sinner and the Redeemer taking the place of sin. What God made to be sin ( 2 Cor 5,14 + 21  EU ) takes the place of sin so that the sinner can be founded in the power of the reconciler.

Adolf Schlatter

According to Adolf Schlatter (1852–1938), the work of salvation consists in the fact that Jesus Christ brought about the reconciliation of mankind with God through his death on the cross and thus the central importance of the concept of reconciliation in his dogmatics is not only shown in the chapter on the cross of Jesus, for the "reconciling work of Jesus" is the central content of his understanding of the work of Jesus. The prerequisite for reconciliation with God is overcoming all false images of God, because reconciliation is only possible with the true God. The reconciliation work of Jesus presupposes the unreconciled state, the enmity between man and God, which has arisen through the sin of man. According to Schlatter, reconciliation consists on the one hand (negative) in eliminating the guilt standing between God and man and on the other hand (positive) in God granting man his fellowship and thereby abolishing enmity with God. The means of reconciliation with God is the death of Jesus, because without the death of Jesus reconciliation with God is impossible, since sin and the sinner are under God's condemnation. Reconciliation with God is not only a restoration of the original condition that was destroyed by sin, but the consummation , which was not already at the beginning, because in the reconciliation not only the existing love proves itself, but because a new act of love occurs. The torn community is not only renewed, but deepened and a new gift takes the place of the previous gift, and the previous degree of grace is surpassed by the new grace. The work of Jesus shows that the love of God is more powerful than any malevolent opposition. Reconciliation does not happen, however, when man is automatically overwhelmed by grace, regardless of his personal consent, but the goal of divine reconciliation is that man gives up his resistance to God and wants the peace with God that is offered to him. Jesus' work of reconciliation therefore only reaches its goal when man can be reconciled by receiving and appropriating the reconciliation created by God on the cross through faith ; the reconciliation with God is then conveyed as justification through faith . The goal of the work of salvation is the reconciled person who lives in real communion with God through faith and who shapes his life in obedience to God. Through reconciliation with God, man achieves liberation from evil , redemption from his moral need, liberation from the power of sin, because Christ made all powers ineffective on the cross.

Karl Barth

According to Karl Barth's (1886–1968) modern theory of revelation, God revealed himself through the death of Jesus Christ and thus redeemed man from original sin . Through him, “the basic kerygma of redemption through Christ alone again became the pivotal point of theology in the struggle against the other sources of faith and salvation of New Protestantism and liberal theology . Thus, in his ' Church Dogmatics ', imperceptibly but inexorably, the replacement of the central term ' Word of God ' by the central term 'Jesus Christ, God and man'. “Word of God” is no longer the comprehensive designation for the essence and content of revelation , but it is the Son himself in whom God has decided to summarize everything in heaven and on earth. The first thesis of the 1934 Barmer Declaration, from K. Barth, avows itself against the false ways of salvation of the German Christians with Joh 14.6  EU and Joh 10.1.9  EU to Jesus Christ as the only 'way' to the 'Father' and the only ' Door to salvation. According to her, 'Jesus Christ is' 'the one word of God that we hear, which we have to trust and obey in life and death'. ”In his“ Dogmatics in outline ”he writes:

“The Christian's way comes from the forgiveness of sins and leads to the resurrection of the flesh and eternal life. This where from and where to of the Christian is real and substantial decided in a single place. This place is the middle of the second article : the suffering and actions of Jesus Christ. "

- Karl Barth : Dogmatics in the floor plan

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), member of the Confessing Church and as "conspirators" of 20 July 1944 on direct Führerbefehl Hitler on April 9, 1945 in the concentration camp Flossenburg executed taught in seminary Finkenwalde that completely before the justice of God sinful man Must share in the death of the Son of God, who gave his flesh on the cross , so that man may partake of God's righteousness. In this way, Christ relieves man of the guilt that he cannot bear alone. Three aspects are particularly important: first, the aspect of history, then, second , the aspect of sociality , and finally, as the third , the aspect of the border or the center. At first, , the story is to say that the belief in Jesus Christ access to the historical Jesus opened and not vice versa. Jesus is the present Christ as crucified and risen and his presence is to be understood temporally and spatially. This presence in the here and now is constitutive for the church and, secondly , leads to sociality and so the presence of Jesus Christ in the church is present as a word in the sacrament and as a community . And finally, thirdly , the present Christ "pro me" stands in my place where I should and cannot: at the limit of my existence, beyond my existence, he stands there for me. This “pro me” is then expanded to a “pro nobis” and this is how the moment of sociality comes into its own: representation not only for me, but for us. Jesus Christ is thus present as "pro me", as "pro nobis" in word and sacrament and congregation as the historical and shows himself in it as the center of history, of nature and as a mediator who stands in our place.

The central point (lat. Cardo rei) in Bonhoeffer's Christology leads to a Christology that has the concrete Christian life as its goal: Christology leads to the call to discipleship , to discipleship not in the sense of imitation, but real fellowship with Jesus Christ . And so the Archimedean point in Bonhoeffer's entire thinking is the point at which the vertical of the reality of God crosses the horizontal of the reality of the world: in the cross of the Nazarene . The reality of God becomes concrete in the man Jesus of Nazareth . From him we can see that and how God wants to be for us. Without this Jesus of Nazareth, the word God would remain just a word for Bonhoeffer; but through him it is filled with life, it becomes bodily and real. The arch of the incarnation of God stretches between the crib and the cross , but it is a God in incognito . It is a god without the attributes of the divine familiar to man. It is a redeemer who chose not the royal way but the lower way of salvation. It is a Savior who confuses the sacred orders and who, most ungodly and unsightly, also deals with the pariah of religion and society. After all, he dies in the most gruesome way. But just in him the love of God manifested, and this love is, in the words of the Song of the Hebrew Bible, "stronger than death" ( Song of Songs 8.6  EU ). She wants to be the center of life for people. The idea of ​​Jesus Christ as the center of reality, as a mediator between God and man and as a mediator between people, is so much at the center of Bonhoeffer's theological thought that all other elements emerge from it and crystallize into a whole. Bonhoeffer unfolds this in one of his densest and broadest texts, which is a key text for his thinking and his beliefs:

“ Ecce homo - see which person: in him the reconciliation of the world with God took place. The world is conquered not through destruction but through reconciliation. Not ideals, programs, conscience, duty, responsibility, virtue, but rather the perfect love of God alone is able to encounter reality and to overcome it. Again it is not a general idea of ​​love, but the really lived love of God in Jesus Christ that accomplishes this. This love of God for the world does not withdraw from reality into worldly noble souls, but it experiences and suffers the reality of the world in the hardest possible way. The world rages on in the body of Jesus Christ. But the martyred forgives the world its sin. This is how reconciliation happens. Ecce homo. "

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer : Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 6, Ethik, p. 69

See also

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Soteriology  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Hick : Religion. The human answers to the question of life and death. (Original: An Interpretation of Religion: Human Responses to the Transcendent. ) Diederichs, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-424-01311-0
  2. ↑ Thomas Roddey : The relationship of the church to the non-Christian religions: the declaration "Nostra aetate" of the Second Vatican Council and its reception by the church's teaching office. Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-506-71381-7 , p. 147; Footnote 416 [1]
  3. ↑ Dorothea Sattler: Redemption? Textbook of soteriology. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2011, p. 57f.
  4. ^ Gerhard Ludwig Müller: Soteriology. In: Wolfgang Beinert (Ed.): Lexicon of Catholic Dogmatics. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1997, p. 469.
  5. ↑ Karl Lehmann: "He was crucified for us." A sketch for reconsideration in soteriology. In: Theologische Viertelschrift Vol. 162 (1982), p. 303.
  6. ↑ Gustaf Aulén: The three main types of the Christian thought of reconciliation . In: Journal for Systematic Theology 8 (1931), pp. 501-538
  7. ↑ Gisbert Greshake: The change of ideas of salvation in theology. In: Gisbert Greshake: God's salvation - human happiness. Theological Perspectives. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1983, ISBN 3-451-19965-3 , pp. 52-78.
  8. ↑ a b Lothar Ullrich: Soteriological models. In: Wolfgang Beinert (Ed.): Lexicon of Catholic Dogmatics. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1997, p. 475
  9. ↑ Dorothea Sattler: Redemption? Textbook of soteriology. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2011, p. 55.
  10. ↑ a b Rudolf Bultmann : The early Christianity within the framework of the ancient religions . Ed .: Walter Rüegg. Artemis-Verlag, Zurich 1949, Fifth Chapter: Early Christianity - Redemption, p. 218 .
  11. ^ A b c Susanne Hausammann: Early Christian writers / "Apostolic Fathers" / Heresies / Apologists . tape 1 . Neukirchener, 2001, ISBN 3-7887-1806-4 , Chapter 2: The self-image of the early Christian church in its delimitations: On the heresies of the first three centuries and the church's defensive measures - 2.1 On the concept and meaning of heresy and some important ones anti-heretic writers - 2.1.1 What is heresy ?, p. 55-56 .
  12. ^ Karl Heussi : Compendium of Church History . 17th edition. tape 1 . JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen 1988, ISBN 3-16-145417-0 , I. The emergence of Christianity and its transformation into an early Catholic church (up to c. 160/180) - § 13. The great inner crisis of the Gentile Christian communities of the 2nd century: Gnosticism and the Reform Church of Marcion, p. 48-49 .
  13. ^ A b c Susanne Hausammann: Early Christian writers / "Apostolic Fathers" / Heresies / Apologists . tape 1 . Neukirchener, 2001, ISBN 3-7887-1806-4 , Chapter 2: The self-image of the early Christian church in its delimitations: On the heresies of the first three centuries and the church's defensive measures - 2.2 Gnosticism - 2.2.2 Characteristic similarities of gnostic systems, S. 62-64 .
  14. ↑ Armin Sierszyn : 2000 years of church history . 2nd Edition. tape 1 . Hansler Theologie, Holzgerlingen 1995, ISBN 3-7751-2294-X , I. The Church in the First Three Centuries - 6. The Gnostic Major Attack, p. 84 .
  15. ↑ Eusebius of Caesarea: Church history . 3. Edition. Kösel Verlag, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-534-13648-9 , IV.14.7, p. 207 : "When Marcion met the polycarp once and said to him: 'Recognize us!" He replied:' I know, I know the firstborn of Satan. "
  16. ^ A b Karl Heussi : Compendium of Church History . 17th edition. tape 1 . JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen 1988, ISBN 3-16-145417-0 , I. The emergence of Christianity and its transformation into an early Catholic church (up to c. 160/180) - § 13. The great inner crisis of the Gentile Christian communities of the 2nd century: Gnosticism and the Reform Church of Marcion - 5. The Reform Church of Marcion, p. 51-52 .
  17. ^ Susanne Hausammann: Early Christian writers / »Apostolic Fathers« / Heresies / Apologists . tape 1 . Neukirchener, 2001, ISBN 3-7887-1806-4 , Chapter 2: The self-image of the early Christian church in its delimitations: On the heresies of the first three centuries and the church's defensive measures - 2.3 The opposing church of Markion - 2.3.1 Person, work and Theology of Marcion, p. 80 .
  18. ↑ Hans von Campenhausen : Greek Church Fathers. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1955; 3rd edition 1961, p. 9.
  19. ^ Irenaeus of Lyons: Against the Heresies I. Preface. In: Contra Haereses. Library of the Church Fathers, April 4, 2018, accessed November 1, 2018 .
  20. ^ Irenaeus of Lyon: Proof of the apostolic preaching (Demonstratio apostolicae praedicationis) II.6. In: Epideixis. Library of the Church Fathers, April 4, 2018, accessed November 1, 2018 .
  21. ^ Karl Heussi : Compendium of Church History . 18th edition. tape 1 . JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen 1991, ISBN 3-16-145842-7 , I. The emergence of Christianity and its transformation into an early Catholic church (up to c. 160/180) - § 14. Overcoming the Gnostic Crisis: the Union of parishes to form the Catholic Church, p. 53 : “In the baptismal confession one had a short summary of the beliefs prevailing in the congregations. The baptismal profession was now raised to the apostolic truth rule or rule of faith (regula veritatis, regula fidei, κανὼν τῆς ἀληθείας, κανὼν τῆς πσίτεως) "
  22. ↑ Irenaeus of Lyon: Against the Heresies III.16.6. In: Contra Haereses. Library of the Church Fathers, April 4, 2018, accessed November 1, 2018 . “But in this they stray from the truth because their doctrine does not know the only true God, because they do not know that his inborn word, which always stands by the human race, is united and sown into his creature, according to the will of the flesh of the Father Jesus Christ is our Lord, who suffered for us and rose for our sake and will come again in the glory of the Father to raise all flesh and bring salvation and to show the law of righteous judgment to all who are subject to it are."
  23. ^ Susanne Hausammann: Early Christian writers / »Apostolic Fathers« / Heresies / Apologists . tape 1 . Neukirchener, 2001, ISBN 3-7887-1806-4 , 2nd chapter: The self-image of the early Christian church in its delimitations: On the heresies of the first three centuries and the church defense measures - 2.6 Church defense measures - 2.6.1 Irenäus von Lyon, a Example of an anti-heretical writer, p. 114-115 .
  24. ^ Irenaeus of Lyons: Against the Heresies III.22.3. In: Contra Haereses. Church Fathers Library, April 4, 2018, accessed November 5, 2018 . “This is why Luke points out that the genealogical register has seventy-two members from the birth of our Lord to Adam, and connects the end with the beginning to show that it is he, all the peoples and all tongues scattered since Adam and has recapitulated the gender of men including Adam in himself . "
  25. ↑ Irenaeus of Lyons: Against the Heresies, V.36.2. In: Contra Haereses. Church Fathers Library, April 4, 2018, accessed November 5, 2018 . “This is the distribution and order of those who are saved, say the presbyters, the disciples of the apostles, and on these steps they progress and come through the Spirit to the Son, but through the Son they ascend to the Father, through the Son then leaves his work to the father, as the apostle also says: “He must rule until he puts all enemies at his feet. But death will be destroyed as the last enemy ”( 1. Cor. 15,25 + 26  EU ). For in the times of the kingdom the righteous will already forget to die on earth. “But when he speaks,” it says, “everything is subject to him, then of course the one who has submitted everything to him is excluded. But if everything is subject to him, then the Son himself will also be subject to him, who has submitted everything to him so that God is all in all. "( 1. Cor. 15,27 + 28  EU )"
  26. ↑ Irenaeus of Lyon: Against the Heresies IV.20.7. In: Contra Haereses. Church Fathers Library, April 4, 2018, accessed November 5, 2018 . "For God's glory is the living man, but the life of man is the view of God ."
  27. ^ Susanne Hausammann: Early Christian writers / »Apostolic Fathers« / Heresies / Apologists . tape 1 . Neukirchener, 2001, ISBN 3-7887-1806-4 , 2nd chapter: The self-image of the early Christian church in its delimitations: On the heresies of the first three centuries and the church defense measures - 2.6 Church defense measures - 2.6.1 Irenäus von Lyon, a Example of an anti-heretical writer, p. 116-117 .
  28. ^ RT Kendall: Theology made easy . Hänssler Verlag, Holzgerlingen 2002, ISBN 3-7751-3693-2 , p. 196 .
  29. ^ RT Kendall: Theology made easy . Hänssler Verlag, Holzgerlingen 2002, ISBN 3-7751-3693-2 , A 1., p. 199 .
  30. ↑ Gunther Wenz : Soteriology - Soteriological case studies . In: Study Systematic Theology . tape 9 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-56713-5 , 5. The ancient church doctrines of theosis of Athanasios and Maximus Confessor - Athanasios on the Incarnation of the Logos, p. 102-103 .
  31. ↑ Gunther Wenz : Soteriology - Soteriological case studies . In: Study Systematic Theology . tape 9 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-56713-5 , 5. The ancient church doctrines of theosis of Athanasios and Maximus Confessor - death and resurrection in their factuality, p. 110 : "After it has been shown that the death of Jesus Christ suffered for us and in our place was necessary and appropriate to its factuality in its way, Athanasios allows reflections on the differentiated connection between death and resurrection and evidence of both facticity to follow."
  32. ↑ Gunther Wenz : Soteriology - Soteriological case studies . In: Study Systematic Theology . tape 9 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-56713-5 , 5. The ancient church doctrines of theosis of Athanasios and Maximus Confessor - death and resurrection in their factuality, p. 111 : “As for the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the real overcoming of the corrupting power of corruption through him, it will u. a. witnessed and vouched for by the contempt with which the martyrs of Jesus met death. They considered death to be nothing more than a dead person who cannot endanger their eternal life if they persisted in their faith. "
  33. ↑ Werner Jentsch, Hartmut Jetter, Manfred Kießig, Horst Reller - United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (ed.): Evangelical adult catechism . 2nd Edition. Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, Gütersloh 1975, ISBN 3-579-04900-3 , p. 396 .
  34. ↑ Dorothea Sattler: Redemption? Textbook of soteriology. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2011, p. 63.
  35. ↑ a b c d Ekkehard Mühlenberg : Augustin . 4th edition. JCB Mohr, Tübingen 1998, ISBN 3-16-146941-0 , II. Work 6., p. 965-966 .
  36. ↑ Rudolf Strauss: The new man within the theology of Augustine . EVZ-Verlag, Zurich 1967, VII. The Reality of the New Man, p. 115 .
  37. ^ Rochus Leonhardt , Basic Information Dogmatik, 4th edition, Göttingen 2009, p. 315.
  38. ↑ Rudolf Strauss: The new man within the theology of Augustine . EVZ-Verlag, Zurich 1967, VII. The Reality of the New Man, p. 114 .
  39. ↑ a b R. T. Kendall: Theology made easy . Hänssler Verlag, Holzgerlingen 2002, ISBN 3-7751-3693-2 , Man, sin and redemption, p. 196 .
  40. ↑ Susanne Hausammann: Old Church / God's Trinity - Human Freedom / On History and Theology in 4th / 5th Century / Doctrine of the Trinity Beginnings of Augustinian monasticism and Augustinism . tape 3 . Neukirchener, 2003, ISBN 3-7887-1922-2 , p. 383-384 .
  41. ↑ Susanne Hausammann: The other way of the Orthodox Churches in the East / attempts at union with Rome / teaching of the Holy Spirit / monasticism and vision of God - foreword . tape 5 . Neukirchener, 2005, ISBN 3-7887-2098-0 , p. VI .
  42. ↑ Susanne Hausammann: The other way of the Orthodox Churches in the East / attempts at union with Rome / teaching of the Holy Spirit / monasticism and vision of God - foreword . tape 5 . Neukirchener, 2005, ISBN 3-7887-2098-0 , p. VII .
  43. ↑ Dorothea Sattler: Redemption? Textbook of soteriology. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2011, pp. 132f.
  44. ↑ “The main question revolved around why God became man, to redeem people through his death, since he could apparently at least reach the same goal in another way. With regard to this you have now shown in your reply by means of many and compelling evidence that the restoration of human nature should not be omitted, but that it could not take place otherwise than by repaying the guilt of man to God; a debt that was of course so great that while only man was supposed to pay it off, only God could pay it off, which is why the payer had to be God and man at the same time. So it was essential that God assumed human nature and that this was connected with the divine and personal unity, so that while in the natures a contradiction emerged between the should and can, in the person this contradiction was balanced. " Anselm von Canterbury: Why God become man (Cur deus homo) - Second Book - Chapter XVII. In: Zeno.org - Philosophy. Contumax GmbH & Co. KG, 1902, accessed on March 28, 2016 .
  45. ^ Rowan Williams: Evangelical Church Lexicon (EKL). International Theological Encyclopedia . Ed .: Erwin Fahlbusch, Jan M Lochman, John Mbiti, Jaroslav Pelikan, Lukas Vischer. 3. Edition. tape 4 bedrooms Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1996, Soteriology, p. 294 .
  46. ↑ Footnote: "At the same time God and man in one person, meaning Jesus" RT Kendall: Theology made easy . Hänssler Verlag, Holzgerlingen 2002, ISBN 3-7751-3693-2 , p. 200 .
  47. ^ RT Kendall: Theology made easy . Hänssler Verlag, Holzgerlingen 2002, ISBN 3-7751-3693-2 , A 3., p. 200 .
  48. ^ RT Kendall: Theology made easy . Hänssler Verlag, Holzgerlingen 2002, ISBN 3-7751-3693-2 , A 2., p. 199 .
  49. ^ Rowan Williams: Evangelical Church Lexicon (EKL). International Theological Encyclopedia . Ed .: Erwin Fahlbusch, Jan M Lochman, John Mbiti, Jaroslav Pelikan, Lukas Vischer. 3. Edition. tape 4 bedrooms Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1996, Soteriology, p. 294 .
  50. ↑ Thomas Aquinas: Summa theologica / sum of theology - Tertia Pars - forty-ninth chapter. About the effects of Christ's passion. In: Library of the Church Fathers. Gregor Emmenegger - Greek Patristic and Oriental Languages ​​- Miséricorde - Av. Europe 20 - CH-1700 Friborg, August 1, 2012, accessed on April 6, 2016 .
  51. ↑ Thomas Aquinas: Summa theologica / Sum of theology - Tertia Pars - Fifty-third chapter. About the resurrection of Christ. In: Library of the Church Fathers. Gregor Emmenegger - Greek Patristic and Oriental Languages ​​- Miséricorde - Av. Europe 20 - CH-1700 Friborg, August 1, 2012, accessed on April 6, 2016 .
  52. ^ Rowan Williams: Evangelical Church Lexicon (EKL). International Theological Encyclopedia . Ed .: Erwin Fahlbusch, Jan M Lochman, John Mbiti, Jaroslav Pelikan, Lukas Vischer. 3. Edition. tape 4 bedrooms Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1996, Soteriology, p. 293 .
  53. ↑ lat. The merits
  54. ↑ lat. Free decision
  55. ↑ Armin Sierszyn : 2000 years of church history . 4th edition. tape 2 . hänssler Theologie, Holzgerlingen 2006, ISBN 3-7751-2711-9 , The Middle Ages - III. Church and culture - 17. Science: the flowering of scholasticism - 2. Higher scholasticism - Thomas Aquinas, p. 220-221 .
  56. ↑ a b c Mario Reinhardt: Tower experience. In: relilex - understanding religion. Comenius Institute - Work Area V Online Education / Distance Learning, accessed on April 6, 2018 .
  57. ↑ Martin Luther: Tower experience. In: Luther, preface to the 1st volume of the complete edition of his Latin works, Wittenberg 1545. Prof. a. D. Dr. Vinzenz Pfnür - University of Münster - Catholic Theological Faculty - Seminar for Middle and Modern Church History - Church History and its Didactics, 1545, accessed on April 6, 2018 : “Day and night I thought about it incessantly until God had mercy on me and I took up He respected the context of the words, namely: The righteousness of God is revealed in him, as it is written: 'The righteous lives by faith'. Then I began to understand God's righteousness as the righteousness through which the righteous live as through God's gift, namely by faith, and I understood that this is the meaning: Through the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, namely the passive, through which the merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written: 'The righteous lives by faith'. Then I felt that I was almost reborn and that I had entered paradise itself through the opened gates. "
  58. ↑ Peter Leusch: Reformation cross-thought - New facets in Luther research. Deutschlandfunk, October 12, 2017, accessed on April 6, 2018 : “In any case, recourse to Augustine's doctrine of grace and the links to mysticism help Luther achieve his Reformation breakthrough, as he described it in retrospect as a legendary tower experience. Incidentally, another event that the researchers still do not know in which year it should actually have taken place. "
  59. ↑ Hans-Martin Barth : The theology of Martin Luther . Güterloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2009, ISBN 978-3-579-08045-1 , B. Perceptions: Luther's theology as provocation - 1. Conflict between theology and philosophy - 1.3. Theology emancipated and emancipating - 1.3.1 The justifying God and the sinful man: object of theology, p. 117-118 .
  60. ^ Luther, Martin, works. Critical Complete Edition, Weimar 1883ff, 56, 414.15.
  61. ↑ Hans-Martin Barth : The theology of Martin Luther . Güterloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2009, ISBN 978-3-579-08045-1 , B. Perceptions: Luther's theology as provocation - 2. Rivalry between scriptures and human tradition - 2.3. God's Word and Holy Scripture - 2.3.3 The center of Scripture: Christ, p. 154 .
  62. ↑ Hans-Martin Barth : The theology of Martin Luther . Güterloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2009, ISBN 978-3-579-08045-1 , B. Perceptions: Luther's theology as provocation - 3rd alternative between the cross and self-determination - 3.4. Theologia crucis as an overall theological perspective, p. 180 .
  63. ↑ VELKD: Our faith - the confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church . 3. Edition. Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, Gütersloh 1986, ISBN 3-579-01289-4 , p. 544 .
  64. ↑ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Italy: Justification by grace alone through faith. In: Theology. Retrieved March 23, 2016 .
  65. ↑ VELKD: Our faith - the confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church . 3. Edition. Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, Gütersloh 1986, ISBN 3-579-01289-4 , p. 51 .
  66. ↑ VELKD: Our faith - the confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church . 3. Edition. Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, Gütersloh 1986, ISBN 3-579-01289-4 , p. 62 .
  67. ↑ Institutio March 11, 13, 1539
  68. ↑ Institutes I.15.8
  69. ^ Anthony NS Lane: Calvin Handbook . Ed .: Herman J. Selderhuis . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-16-149229-7 , C. Work - II: Topics - 6. Human - 6.2. Fall and Original Sin - 6.2.1. Adam's Sin, p. 271 .
  70. ↑ Institutio II.1.8.1539
  71. ^ Anthony NS Lane: Calvin Handbook . Ed .: Herman J. Selderhuis . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-16-149229-7 , C. Work - II: Topics - 6. Human - 6.2. Fall and Original Sin - 6.2.3. Original Sin, S. 273 .
  72. ↑ Institutio II.1.8.1539
  73. ↑ Cornelis van der Kooi: Calvin Handbook . Ed .: Herman J. Selderhuis . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-16-149229-7 , C. Work - II: Topics - 4. Christ - 4.5. The three offices of Christ, p. 255 .
  74. ↑ Institutio II.1.8.1539
  75. ↑ Cornelis van der Kooi: Calvin Handbook . Ed .: Herman J. Selderhuis . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-16-149229-7 , C. Work - II: Topics - 4. Christ - 4.5. The three offices of Christ - 4.5.1. Priesthood, p. 255-256 .
  76. ↑ Institutio II.1.8.1539
  77. ↑ Cornelis van der Kooi: Calvin Handbook . Ed .: Herman J. Selderhuis . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-16-149229-7 , C. Work - II: Topics - 4. Christ - 4.5. The three offices of Christ - 4.5.2. Königsamt, S. 256-257 .
  78. ↑ Cornelis van der Kooi: Calvin Handbook . Ed .: Herman J. Selderhuis . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-16-149229-7 , C. Work - II: Topics - 4. Christ - 4.5. The three offices of Christ - 4.5.3. Office of the Prophet, p. 257 .
  79. ^ Rowan Williams: Evangelical Church Lexicon (EKL). International Theological Encyclopedia . Ed .: Erwin Fahlbusch, Jan M Lochman, John Mbiti, Jaroslav Pelikan, Lukas Vischer. 3. Edition. tape 4 bedrooms Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1996, Soteriology, p. 295 .
  80. ↑ John Calvin: Our Justification According to the Judgment of Scripture. In: Institutio Christianae Religionis - teaching in the Christian religion, III, 11,16 - after the last edition trans. and edit by Otto Weber. Reformed Federation in Germany, 1955, accessed April 6, 2016 .
  81. ↑ Swiss Evangelical Church Federation SEK: Difference to Luther. In: Johannes Calvin. Retrieved March 23, 2016 .
  82. ^ Wilhelm H. Neuser: Calvin Handbook . Ed .: Herman J. Selderhuis . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-16-149229-7 , C. Work - II: Topics - 9. Predestination - 9.2. The doctrine of predestination in the catechism (1537/38), p. 309 : “The new approach does not take place in the Institutio of 1539, but in the Geneva Catechism one year after the first version of the Institutio in Basel. The doctrine of election now becomes the doctrine of double predestination. "
  83. ↑ Burkhard Weitz: Calvin and predestination - Did God predetermined everything? In: Calvin.de - Calvin works - systematic. Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), 2015, accessed on March 25, 2018 .
  84. ↑ VELKD: Our faith - the confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church . 3. Edition. Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, Gütersloh 1986, ISBN 3-579-01289-4 , p. 773 .
  85. ↑ VELKD: Our faith - the confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church . 3. Edition. Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, Gütersloh 1986, ISBN 3-579-01289-4 , p. 792 .
  86. ↑ VELKD: Our faith - the confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church . 3. Edition. Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, Gütersloh 1986, ISBN 3-579-01289-4 , p. 804 .
  87. ^ Michael Kotsch : August Hermann Francke pedagogue and reformer . tape I . Christliche Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Dillenburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-89436-834-0 , August 1st Hermann Francke - his life 1.36 Francke's theology, p. 139-140 .
  88. ↑ a b Latin order / order of salvation or salvation
  89. ↑ Erhard Peschke : Studies on theology of August Hermann Franckes . tape I . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1964, Part I. The order of God - §5. The degrees of God's order, p. 42 .
  90. ↑ Erhard Peschke : Studies on theology of August Hermann Franckes . tape I . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1964, Part I. The order of God - §5. The degrees of God's order, p. 43 .
  91. ↑ Erhard Peschke : Studies on theology of August Hermann Franckes . tape I . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1964, Part I. The order of God - §5. The degrees of God's order, p. 44 .
  92. ↑ Erhard Peschke : Studies on theology of August Hermann Franckes . tape I . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1964, Part I. The order of God - §5. The degrees of God's order, p. 46 + 47 .
  93. ^ Michael Kotsch : August Hermann Francke pedagogue and reformer . tape I . Christliche Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Dillenburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-89436-834-0 , August 1st Hermann Francke - his life 1.36 Francke's theology, p. 142 .
  94. ^ Lothar Bertsch: Johann Albrecht Bengel - His life story . hänssler, Holzgerlingen 2002, ISBN 3-7751-3897-8 , Bengel as theologian in questions and answers - a) Bengel's statement on questions of Christian faith ("dogmatic part") - Who is Jesus Christ ?, p. 145-146 .
  95. ^ Lothar Bertsch: Johann Albrecht Bengel - His life story . hänssler, Holzgerlingen 2002, ISBN 3-7751-3897-8 , Bengel as theologian in questions and answers - a) Bengel's statement on questions of Christian faith ("dogmatic part") - What does conversion mean ?, p. 150 .
  96. ^ Lothar Bertsch: Johann Albrecht Bengel - His life story . hänssler, Holzgerlingen 2002, ISBN 3-7751-3897-8 , Bengel as theologian in questions and answers - a) Bengel's statement on questions of Christian faith ("dogmatic part") - What does penance mean in the context mentioned ?, p. 151 .
  97. ^ Lothar Bertsch: Johann Albrecht Bengel - His life story . hänssler, Holzgerlingen 2002, ISBN 3-7751-3897-8 , Bengel as a theologian in question and answer - a) villain statement on matters of Christian faith ( "dogmatic part") - What is it about the rebirth ?, S. 152 .
  98. ↑ Johann Albrecht Bengel: The blood of Jesus Christ. In: Voice of Faith. 1742, Retrieved April 3, 2018 .
  99. ^ Lothar Bertsch: Johann Albrecht Bengel - His life story . hänssler, Holzgerlingen 2002, ISBN 3-7751-3897-8 , Bengel as theologian in questions and answers - a) Bengel's statement on questions of Christian faith ("dogmatic part") - What does Bengel's doctrine of the blood of Christ mean and what is it? S. 153 .
  100. ^ Johann Albrecht Bengel: Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament - Hebrews 12th In: Studylight.org. 1742, accessed April 3, 2018 .
  101. ^ Werner Hehl: Johann Albrecht Bengel - life and work . Quell Verlag, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-7918-2024-9 , excerpts from Bengel's writings and speeches - Bengel the interpreter of scripture - The doctrine of the blood of Christ, p. 137 .
  102. ↑ Dietrich Meyer (ed.): Nikolaus Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf - He the master, we the brothers . Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 2000, ISBN 3-7655-9605-1 , The suffering of Christ as the brotherly leitmotif, p. 230 .
  103. ↑ Dietrich Meyer (ed.): Nikolaus Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf - He the master, we the brothers . Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 2000, ISBN 3-7655-9605-1 , About conversion, p. 243 .
  104. ↑ a b Dietrich Meyer (ed.): Nikolaus Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf - He the master, we the brothers . Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 2000, ISBN 3-7655-9605-1 , John Wesley's conversation with Zinzendorf, p. 248-251 .
  105. ↑ a b Sung-Duk Lee: The German pietism and John Wesley . Ed .: Inaugural dissertation to obtain the dignity of a doctor of theology at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster in Westphalia - submitted by Sung-Duk Lee from Jecheon in Korea. Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 2003, ISBN 3-7655-9468-7 , 8. John Wesley's conversion and his conversion theology - 8.1 The background and the process of conversion - 8.1.1. The importance of Peter Böhler for John Wesley, p. 153 : "But true Faith is a divine Work within us, whereby we are Changed and born-a-new of God"
  106. ↑ Luther's original text reads: “Faith is a divine work in us, which walks us and gives birth to new things from God, and kills old Adam, makes us completely different people with heart, courage, mind and all strength and brings the Holy Spirit with us themselves. Oh, there is a living, busy, active, powerful thing about believing that it is impossible, that it should not do good ceaselessly. Nor does he ask whether there are good works to be done, but before one asks whether he has done them, he is always doing ”, M. Luther, WA. German Bible Vol. 7, p. 10. Cf. WA. German Bible Vol. 7, p. 2.
  107. ↑ Compare: Luke 24:32  EU
  108. ↑ Luther
  109. ^ John Wesley, Journal and Diaries IS 250
  110. ↑ Sung-Duk Lee: The German Pietism and John Wesley . Ed .: Inaugural dissertation to obtain the dignity of a doctor of theology at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster in Westphalia - submitted by Sung-Duk Lee from Jecheon in Korea. Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 2003, ISBN 3-7655-9468-7 , 8. John Wesley's conversion and his conversion theology - 8.1 The background and the process of conversion - 8.1.1. The importance of Peter Böhler for John Wesley, p. 154 .
  111. ↑ a b Sung-Duk Lee: The German pietism and John Wesley . Ed .: Inaugural dissertation to obtain the dignity of a doctor of theology at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster in Westphalia - submitted by Sung-Duk Lee from Jecheon in Korea. Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 2003, ISBN 3-7655-9468-7 , 8. John Wesley's conversion and his conversion theology - 8.2 John Wesley's conversion theology in comparison to AH Franckes - 8.2.1 The character and the church-historical context of conversion, p. 160 .
  112. ↑ a b Sung-Duk Lee: The German pietism and John Wesley . Ed .: Inaugural dissertation to obtain the dignity of a doctor of theology at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster in Westphalia - submitted by Sung-Duk Lee from Jecheon in Korea. Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 2003, ISBN 3-7655-9468-7 , 10. John Wesley's break with Herrnhutertum and with Zinzendorf and its theological background - 10.1. The antinomist dispute in the "Fetter Lane Society" and the theological conversation between Wesley and Zinzendorf - 10.1.1 The antinomist dispute between Wesley and Philipp Heinrich Molther, p. 183 .
  113. ↑ compare Lk 9.23  LUT
  114. ↑ in Danish stands frelser , which translates as redeemer
  115. ↑ Christian Möller, Michael Heymel: The risk to be an individual: Belief and thinking Sören Kierkegaard using the example of his speeches . Theological Verlag, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-290-17698-3 , The inviting Christ as the figure of the church (1848), p. 129 .
  116. ↑ Sören Kierkegaard: Practice in Christianity . In: Collected Works . 2nd Edition. GTB Siebenstern, Gütersloh 1986, ISBN 3-579-00621-5 , The Invitation, p. 19 : “I want to give you rest. [...] The helper is the help. "
  117. ↑ Christian Möller, Michael Heymel: The risk to be an individual: Belief and thinking Sören Kierkegaard using the example of his speeches . Theological Verlag, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-290-17698-3 , The inviting Christ as the figure of the church (1848), p. 131 + 132 .
  118. ↑ Christian Möller, Michael Heymel: The risk to be an individual: Belief and thinking Sören Kierkegaard using the example of his speeches . Theological Verlag, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-290-17698-3 , In Jesu Seelsorge (1849), p. 167 + 168 .
  119. ↑ a b Werner Neuer : The connection between dogmatics and ethics in Adolf Schlatter - An investigation into the foundations of Christian ethics . Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 1986, ISBN 3-7655-9320-6 , p. 198 .
  120. ↑ a b Werner Neuer : The connection between dogmatics and ethics in Adolf Schlatter - An investigation into the foundations of Christian ethics . Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 1986, ISBN 3-7655-9320-6 , p. 199 .
  121. ↑ a b c d Werner Neuer : The connection between dogmatics and ethics in Adolf Schlatter - An investigation into the foundations of Christian ethics . Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 1986, ISBN 3-7655-9320-6 , p. 200 .
  122. ↑ a b c d Werner Neuer : The connection between dogmatics and ethics in Adolf Schlatter - An investigation into the foundations of Christian ethics . Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 1986, ISBN 3-7655-9320-6 , p. 201 .
  123. ^ A b Hans Urs von Balthasar : Karl Barth - Presentation and interpretation of his theology . Verlag Jakob Hegner, Cologne 1951, Second Part Thinking and Form of Thought Karl Barths - The Full Shape of Analogy - 1. Christological Foundation, p. 124 .
  124. ^ HG Pöhlmann: Evangelical Lexicon for Theology and Congregation . Ed .: Helmut Burkhardt, Uwe Swarat. R. Brockhaus Verlag, Wuppertal, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-417-24674-1 , Redemption - c) systematic-theological, p. 524 .
  125. ↑ Karl Barth: Dogmatics in the Floor Plan - in connection with the Apostolic Creed . W. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1947, 23. The forgiveness of sins, p. 198 .
  126. ↑ Oliver Ohmann: 70th anniversary of death - Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Theologian and Hitler opponent. In: BZ Berlin Online. BZ Ullstein GmbH, April 10, 2015, accessed on April 10, 2016 .
  127. ↑ Prof. Dr. Claudia Lepp: Finkenwalde Preacher Seminar. In: Resistance ?! Evangelical Christians under National Socialism. Research Center for Contemporary Church History, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 Munich, April 10, 2015, accessed on April 10, 2016 .
  128. ↑ Michael Welker : Theological Profiles - Schleiermacher - Barth - Bonhoeffer - Moltmann . Hansisches Druck- und Verlagshaus GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-938704-99-8 , III. Bonhoeffer's groundbreaking early ecclesiology, p. 96 : "Bonhoeffer aptly sees that Christ relieves people of the guilt that they cannot bear alone, and that it is important not to refuse this act of love and this gift of God."
  129. ↑ a b Ernst Feil : Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Theology - Hermeneutics - Christology - Understanding of the World . 2nd Edition. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1971, Part II: Jesus Christ as Middle and Mediator I. The Significance of Christology for Bonhoeffer's Understanding of the World 3. Basic Lines of Early Christology b) The Christology Lecture, p. 173 .
  130. ↑ a b Ernst Feil : Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Theology - Hermeneutics - Christology - Understanding of the World . 2nd Edition. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1971, Part II: Jesus Christ as Middle and Mediator I. The Significance of Christology for Bonhoeffer's Understanding of the World 3. Basic Lines of Early Christology b) The Christology Lecture, p. 174 .
  131. ↑ Latin for me
  132. ↑ Latin for us
  133. ↑ Ernst Feil : Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Theology - Hermeneutics - Christology - Understanding of the World . 2nd Edition. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1971, Part II: Jesus Christ as Middle and Mediator I. The Significance of Christology for Bonhoeffer's Understanding of the World 3. Basic Lines of Early Christology b) The Christology Lecture, p. 175 .
  134. ↑ Ernst Feil : Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Theology - Hermeneutics - Christology - Understanding of the World . 2nd Edition. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1971, Part II: Jesus Christ as Middle and Mediator I. The Significance of Christology for Bonhoeffer's Understanding of the World 3. Basic Lines of Early Christology b) The Christology Lecture, p. 176 .
  135. ^ Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Succession . 2nd Edition. Chr. Kaiser / Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2005, ISBN 3-579-00455-7 , The call to successors, p. 30 + 31 : “What is said about the content of the discipleship? Follow me, run after me! That's all. [...] Again it is nothing else than the bond to Jesus Christ alone, i. H. precisely the complete breaking through of every program, every ideality, every legality. That is why no further content is possible, because Jesus is the only content. Besides Jesus there is no more content here. It is himself. The call to discipleship is therefore a bond with the person of Jesus Christ alone, breaking through all legalities through the grace of the one who calls. He is gracious call, gracious commandment. He is beyond the enmity of law and gospel. Christ calls, the disciple follows. That is grace and command in one. "
  136. ^ Karsten Lehmkühler: Bonhoeffer and Luther - Central themes of their theology . Office of the VELKD, Hanover 2007, ISBN 978-3-9810914-1-0 , Christology - 5th concluding remark, p. 78 .
  137. ↑ Sabine Dramm: Dietrich Bonhoeffer - An introduction to his thinking . Chr. Kaiser / Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2001, ISBN 3-579-05183-0 , p. 62-63 .
  138. ↑ a b Sabine Dramm: Dietrich Bonhoeffer - An introduction to his thinking . Chr. Kaiser / Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2001, ISBN 3-579-05183-0 , p. 118-119 .