Augsburg Confession II: Of Original Sin

I will begin by first repeating what Andrew Taylor said in the first post of this series: “The original unaltered Augsburg Confession is, without question, one of the great Confessions of the Church.” In fact, I will go further and state that the Augsburg Confession is central to being Lutheran, it is the heart of our confessional documents. In essence it is our answer to what it means to be Catholic, or rather what the Catholic faith is. 

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Augsburg Confession, Article II: Of Original Sin

Also they [our churches] teach that since the fall of Adam all men begotten in the natural way are born with sin, that is, without the fear of God, without trust in God, and with concupiscence; and that this disease, or vice of origin, is truly sin, even now condemning and bringing eternal death upon those not born again through Baptism and the Holy Ghost.

They condemn the Pelagians and others who deny that original depravity is sin, and who, to obscure the glory of Christ's merit and benefits, argue that man can be justified before God by his own strength and reason. 

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This article is of utmost importance in controversies surrounding a great many topics such as justification, predestination, grace, etc. If one does not confess, teach and believe properly concerning Original Sin there is no telling what further errors they will encounter. It is for this reason that it is the second article of this confession, and precedes the article concerning Christ. Melanchthon was concerned with addressing two groups in particular: the Pelagians and the Romanists. 

The former wrongly taught that man can by his own strength and reason can be justified before God. However, while the Romanists agree with some of what we teach they reject two important points. First, that all men are born without the fear of God and without the trust of God. Second, they deny that concupiscence [our inclination to sin] remains after Holy Baptism. It is important here to understand that a lack of fear of God and trust is indeed sin, as is concupiscence which were both inherited to us through Adam. Our Original Depravity (or Natural Depravity) is a result of this fall, on account of which corruption all men are born guilty, children of wrath, and unable to obey the law of God.

Rome and the Pelagians in some respect are different sides of the same coin on the topic of works. Both see justification in terms of human strength and reason, but the Romanist sees this in terms of the sacrament of penance. The Romanist requires penance for all mortal sins (actual sins) that flow out of concupiscence. Penance (or absolution) is only granted by the priest to the penitent (the truly sorrowful). It is here that the Lutheran and the Romanist differ: for the former absolution is received by faith in believing they are forgiven, while for the latter, it is through penance. 

As we discuss other articles of the Christian faith it is important for the reader to remember that Original Sin is very important to understanding the others. When engaging other Christians (especially Roman Catholics) studying the Augsburg and the Apology will be of utmost importance for understanding Tridentine [Trent] Roman Catholic doctrines.

The next post in this series will be addressing our confession of the Son of God

Note: When I state that Roman Catholics see justification in terms of human strength and reason this is post-baptismal justification within their theological framework and modern Roman Catholics would understand such works as flowing from grace, but still a cooperative effort especially in respect to the sacrament of penance. Lutherans understand grace as a declaritive gift received from the cross while Roman Catholics see it as infused (at Baptism) where Original Sin is cleansed and our nature is changed making us more able to do good and overcome evil.