Creeds and Heresies (AC 1)

Guys, we are going to get into the Augsburg Confession proper.

Now we have Article 1.

We're going to see if we can do Article 1 in 20 minutes.

This is Article 1 of God.

So, you know, we're going to talk about God, which is a good place to start.

I think I will just read this entire thing.

It's not very long.

Our churches with common consent do teach... that the decrees of the Council of Nicaea concerning the unity of the divine essence and concerning the three persons is true and to be believed without any doubting.

That is to say, there is one divine essence which is called and which is God, eternal, without body, without parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the maker and preserver of all things visible and invisible." And yet there are three persons of the same essence and power who sit co-eternal, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

And the term person they use as the fathers have used it to signify not a part or a quality in another, but that which subsists in itself.

They condemn all heresies which have sprung up against this article, such as the Manichaeans, who assume two principles, one good and the other evil, also the Valentinians, the Arians, the Eunomians, the Mohammedans, and all such.

They condemn also the Samosatines, old and new, who contending that there is but one person, sophistically and impiously argue that the Word and the Holy Ghost are not distinct persons, but that the word signifies a word spoken and a spirit signifies motion created in things.