# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1873_S12
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 12 —

for them alone" — that is, for the Apostles — "but also for those who will believe on me through their word. That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us." Accordingly it is indisputable that where the bond of faith in Christ is lacking, there can no longer be any talk of a Christian unity, of an inner fellowship of Christians, and therefore also of Lutherans with one another.

Now the objection might perhaps be raised that among Lutherans there is surely a further inner bond of fellowship beyond that which exists among all Christians in general. It is indeed true, it would be said, that justifying faith binds the believing Lutheran inwardly to the children of God in other church parties just as much as to other believing Lutherans; but with the latter he also has in common the dogmatic faith regarding the distinctive Lutheran doctrines. With the former he is bound by the common faith in the primary fundamental articles of Christian doctrine; with the latter, moreover, by agreement in all the other articles of faith. The common dogmatic faith, it is said, is nonetheless also something inner and is exactly what has brought us together in the Synodical Conference [*Synodal⸗Conferenz*]; and precisely because agreement in dogmatic faith between us and the General Council is lacking, we could not unite with it. If one now has, for example, three Lutherans and three Reformed before one, who all believe in Christ and each of whom, in regard to the distinctive doctrines, believes with his own particular church, then all six are indeed inwardly bound by justifying faith; but are they not also, at the same time, separated again from one another by the differences noted, and indeed inwardly? So Luther also said to Oecolampadius and others: "You have a different spirit." The word "spirit" denotes something inward, and so Luther surely did not mean to deny his opponents the state of grace. Apart from unity in justifying faith, there surely exists a distinction not merely in that Lutherans have a different objective faith than non-Lutherans, but also a different subjective faith. May one not here distinguish between justifying faith, which all true Christians have in common, and dogmatic faith, which not all have in common?

To these objections it is to be answered: One must go back to the doctrine of the Church, already treated so variously among us. The Lord has one Church, which He calls His own. This is the Church properly so called, which we designate as the invisible, and in the third article