31 Articles on the Primacy of Doctrine

  1. To abide in and trust God’s unadulterated word is to have Him as your Father and Christ as your savior (John 8:31-32; 39-47; 1 John 1:9).

  1. The pure word of Christ is what creates and sustains spiritual life and faith (Jeremiah 15:16; Ezekiel 37:1-10; Romans 10:17; 1 Corinthians 1:21; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Hebrews 1:3; 4:12-14; 1 Peter 2:2).

 

  1. The preservation of such life-giving doctrine must be paramount lest the new man within us should wither and die under God’s judgement for our unhindered carnality (Deuteronomy 4:1-8; 2 Chronicles 39:15-16; Jeremiah 23:18-20; Isaiah 5:24;  1 Corinthians 4:6-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12; 2 Timothy 2:18).

 

  1. The toleration of heretical teachings and beliefs, qualified as being contradictory to the clear revelation and commands of God, to any degree within or without the Church of which there is no distinction for the Christian since the commandments are an extension of God who is above all, is repugnant to God, His words, and contrary to the plain readings of Scripture; for the smallest dash of leaven causes the whole lump to rise (1 Corinthians 5:6-8; Galatians 5:9; Matthew 16:5-12).

 

  1. The temple of God is rightly defined as the invisible body of believers discerned by true, living faith alone (1 Peter 2:4-6).
  1. God’s temple is defined by the location and dwelling place of His presence (Exodus 25:8). During the Isaraelites’ wandering, God’s presence was upon the Ark in a meek, nomadic temple-tent (Exodus 33:7-9).

  1. Christ is the ultimate fulfillment as the seat of Divinity’s entire dwelling (Colossians 2:9).

  1. We are joined to Christ so intimately through faith (1 Corinthians 6:17; Ephesians 2:18) that we, together, become this dwelling place for God.

  1. Therefore, any language referring to God’s temple as anything other than Christ and those joined to Him by faith in His word should be utterly rejected.

  1. On these grounds, the opposing claim that Christians continued to worship at the Jewish temple despite it being run by heretics, and therefore the congregations of heretics are still the temple of God, is easily refuted by the fact that God dwelled in that temple only because He had so declared it. He now dwells in His faithful and in their gathering (Matthew 18:20; John 4:21).

  1. There are tumbleweeds who pose as stones, or wolves dressed like sheep, who are not part of the living temple of God because they have no place for His word to abide (Matthew 7:15; 1 John 2:19; Jude 1:12).

  1. God desires unity through the truth of His Word (John 17:17-19).

  1. All those who hold to the one true Christian faith are aligned together, as brothers, against the Devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh (1 Corinthians 1:10).

  1. Those who resist and reject the clear words of God as revealed in the Scriptures are doing the will of their father, the Devil (John 8:44-47).

  1. We are to give no semblance of unity with heretics, false teachers, or even those who denounce evil just to wink at it when they think no one is looking, for professing unity with any such persons (2 Corinthians 6:14), and thereby the larger institutions they confess and are a representative of, is taking part in theirs and the collective institution’s wicked works (1 Corinthians 5:11; Ephesians 5:6-15; 2 John 1:9-11).

  1. Gathering in Christ’s name to receive Him as Savior, look to Him as Lord, and be confident together in our adoption of sons is an expression of unity since there is “one body and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).

  1. Gathering in Christ’s name to respond in Eucharistic praise is an expression of unity since we “address one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with our (your) hearts, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭19‬-‭21‬).

  1. “No one must either pray, or sing psalms with heretics; and whosoever shall communicate with those who are cut off from the communion of the Church, whether clergyman or layman, let him be excommunicated”  (From the Fourth Council of Carthage, 398).

  1. We cannot, in truth and good conscience, display a unity that professes the false belief that those in active, conscious rebellion against God’s Word are truly receiving the grace of Christ in the Divine Service they proclaim to have been given. Not that it is not present and meant for them, but in the sense that there is no faith to receive it (Ephesians 2:8). Neither can we address them as ones in a state of God’s grace alongside us when they are refusing to repent (James 4:6). To do any of these things is to lie about His wrath upon their sin (Exodus 20:16).

  1. The Christian gathering is two-fold: for the reception of divine mercy, grace, and help; and Eucharistic praise for the reception of these gifts through faith (Psalm 50:17; 106:47; 1 Peter 1:3-6). Therefore, we are not to view Christian gatherings, or the times between, as an outlet for “missionary work” to subvert and convert the congregations to orthodoxy. To do so is to abuse the gift of worship we have been given.

  1. The Church, founded on the rock of Christ, shall stand unwavering, even in times of turmoil and decline (Matthew 16:18).

  1. God does not confine His presence to temples "made with human hands". His dwelling surpasses all earthly structures (Acts 17:24-25).

  1. God is present everywhere, but He is present superabundantly through the spoken Word by which the forgiveness of sins is preached, through Baptism, through the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins, and also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren (Matt. 18:20, cf. Smalcald Articles).

  1. In order to preserve the faith, life, and unity of Christ’s living temple, His Church, we must first distance ourselves from those who despise the purity of God’s word and refuse to teach it in its entirety.
  1. In the case of the lay’s straying from Christ, it is not within the fellow lay’s vocation to enact discipline such as ex-communication and formal catechesis, but rather it is the responsibility of the properly ordained minister of God (Ezekiel 34:10; Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 3:4-5; 2 Timothy 4:2; Hebrews 13:17; Titus 5:8-9).

  1. In the case of the pastor’s apostasy, the sheep are without a shepherd and have become a scattered flock (Ezekiel 34:5-6). The pastor must be dealt with by parallel authorities and, ultimately, God.

  1. The pastor’s error extends beyond his own doctrinal failings, but also includes the failure to discipline and correct with true teaching the doctrinal lapses among the congregation which is against his ordination vows; thus rendering him unqualified to teach and a hazard to leadership .

  1. In order to preserve the faith, life, and unity of Christ’s living temple, His Church, we must, second, keep ourselves spotless through the process of calling them and their institutions to repent from outside the participation of their worship as the prophets did amidst Israel’s corruption. It is not man’s strength that wrestles their souls away from unbelief, but the Spirit of God through the word  (Acts 11:18; 2 Corinthians 7:10).
  1. Repentance of both the individual and corporate entity as a whole should be the foremost goal of our strivings, not the reclaiming of their institutions and churches. To have these ideals out of their proper order by any degree is against the mind of God (Ezekiel 33:11; Luke 15:10; 1 Timothy 2:4).

  1. Because God’s word sympathizes with the sheep scattered due to muddied doctrine and trodden truths (Ezekiel 34:18-19), we are in no way to antagonize them by calling them what God does not:  “cowards”or “retreatist” - for it is a breaking of the commandment “thou shalt not bear false witness”.
  1. To use such rhetoric and insist that one remains in a congregation that has disqualified themselves from abiding in Christ’s words is manipulative and hostile against their faith.

  1. Christians are given the command to distance themselves from false teachers and itching-eared congregations for the well-being of their souls numerous times (Matthew 7:15; Romans 16:17; 1 Timothy 4:6-7 & 16; 2 Peter 3:17) . However, the method of distancing is not prescribed in definite terms, but rather that they should be cast out from the Church. Where there is no law, there is no sin (Romans 4:15).
  1. It is ideal that the individual(s) be cast out in judgement from among the body of right believers (1 Corinthians 5:5: 1 Timothy 1:20), but as the number of wolves and apostates increase in our time, those who leave the God-forsaking majority have still rightly fulfilled the commands to beware of false teachers.

  1. If such preservation of doctrine requires the abandonment of historic, objectively beautiful, and ornate churches, then so be it. The commands of Christ triumph over the need for these things (Galatians 1:10).
  1. If Arianism had taken Christianity captive in the fourth century and Athanasius were expelled from the monolithic beauty of the Christian churches of his time, he alone would have been the church, where God dwelled, and the formerly Christian buildings would be nothing more than white-washed tombs (Matthew 23:27-28).

  1. It was Samuel who told Saul that God desires obedience over sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). Therefore, our offerings of retaken liberal churches and their institutions for His glory are abominable if by doing so we have transgressed the command of God.

  1. The word of God and the severity of its truth alone, although humble, is the most objectively beautiful thing we can take hold of because it carries the embodiment of truth, goodness, and beauty to their fullest degree: Christ through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-16), sanctifying all it touches (Ephesians 5:26-27).

  1. The manifestation of God’s favor and indication of the Church’s victory over the gates of hell is not found in a theology of glory by its holding onto dense networks of social institutions or erecting mighty cathedrals, but in a theology of the cross by His preserving the word which sends forth the Spirit to bear in His children the repentance that lays hold to Christ (John 16:4-15; 17:14-21).

  1. The essence of Christian faith lies not in the historicity or material possessions of institutions, but in the unwavering adherence to sound doctrine and moral teachings of Scripture. Likewise, the Scriptures confess “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ (Jeremiah 7:3-10; Revelation 18:2-4).

  1. Likewise, it must be upheld that believers not be unequally yoked in the name of "re-hijacking" mainline churches. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

  1. The physical characteristics of churches and their institutions do not hold any inherent significance unless the congregation confesses and worships "in spirit and truth" in like manner to how historic buildings confess the true Christian faith. (John 4:21-24).

  1. The acceptance and value of aesthetically beautiful churches that not only confess the faith but also inspire reverence, awe, and a sense of the sacred in the hearts of worshipers must be retained (Psalm 96:9).

  1. Therefore, to retain God’s favor and His blessing, all attention, vigor, zeal, and funds should be directed towards pre-existing churches, institutions, and their constructions that have not abandoned the word of God- all for the sake of preserving sound doctrine and, thus, the Christian soul; for creations of men erode and come to an end (Isaiah 40:6-7), but the word of the Lord endures forever (Isaiah 40:8).

  1. Why are we to bolster the apostates' influence by flocking to them over a theological pipe dream to reconquer them via infiltration when we should be spending each and every moment catechizing with such fervent extremity that has never been seen before in the life of the church? The dissemination of true life in a growing age of death in sin is of dire need in the present church’s time; we cannot afford to be negligent of sound doctrine and accommodative of anything other than the word of God in purity, for in them carry the person and work of Christ.

  1. We are to place our trust in nothing but the revealed promises of God (Romans 4:20-21) of which there is none to assure us towards the success and operation of conservative infiltrations of liberalized, apostate churches. However, there is the promise of blessing for those who delight in God’s words and His commands by not assembling with and outwardly confessing unity with the wicked who pervert God’s pure doctrine (Psalm 1:1-2).

  1. Therefore, efforts should be directed towards building up the brethren, the catechesis of congregants, and the strengthening communities of believers who remain steadfast in the true teachings of the Scriptures and their institutions alone (Acts 2:42; Ephesians 4:11-14; Titus 2:1).

These articles are true for they are built on nothing but the words of Christ, the Prophets, and the Apostles. Let the contestant writhe against God.

Luke 7:46-49: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

In Christ,

Jessiah H. A. Swales (@halfway_papist),  Jess B. (@jessb.theology), & Jaden B. Casteel; (@the.catacomb_)

Andrew Livera

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