# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_April 1864_S108
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

108 Foundational Theses on the Question of Church Order and Church Governance.

law; whoever has it is subject to all laws. Faith, in turn, is subject to no
one on earth." Sermon on the 15th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.
Erlangen ed., vol. 19, 195.

XII.

A Christian should, where the benefit of his neighbor
and of the brethren requires it, willingly forgo the use of
his freedom, so far as this can happen without injury to
the faith.

On this Luther writes: "Between God and you alone, freedom is entirely
full and complete, so that before him you need hold to none of these
matters which he has not commanded; here heaven and earth are full of
your freedom, indeed heaven and earth cannot comprehend it. But between
you and your neighbor, or your authority, it extends no further than
insofar as it is harmless to your neighbor; indeed, where it can be useful
and helpful, it should not wish to be free, but should yield and serve."
Report on Both Kinds, etc. Walch XIX, 1671. The same: "Although it is
left to each one's own conscience how he makes use of such freedom, and
no one is to hinder or forbid it to him, yet one must see to it that freedom
is and should be the servant of love and of one's neighbor. Where it then
happens that people take offense and are led into error by such varied
practice, we are truly obligated to restrain our freedom and, as far as
possible, to arrange and refrain, so that people may be improved by us and
not offended. Since, then, nothing depends on this outward order as far
as our conscience before God is concerned, and yet it can be useful to our
neighbor, we ought, out of love, as St. Paul teaches, to strive to be of one
mind, and, as far as it can be done, to be alike in manner and bearing, just
as all Christians have one baptism, one sacrament, and none has been
given anything special by God." German Mass and Order of Divine
Service. Walch X, 268ff. The same: "We do not establish such an order
at all for the sake of those who are already Christians. For they need
none of these things, for the sake of which one does not even live; rather
they live for our sake, who are not yet Christians, so that they may make
us Christians; they have their divine service in the spirit. But for the sake
of those who are still to become Christians, or to become stronger, one
must have such an order; just as a Christian does not need baptism, the
Word, and the sacrament as a Christian, for he already has it all, but as a
sinner. But it happens mostly for the sake of the simple and of the young
people." Ibidem, p. 269. The same: "Although the outward forms or
ordinances are free and, reckoned according to faith, may with good
conscience be changed in all places, at all times, by all persons; yet you
are, reckoned according to love, not free to exercise such freedom, but
obligated to take care how it may be bearable and