The Article by Which the Church Stands or Falls

The importance of the doctrine of justification to the emerging Churches of the Reformation is generally recognised. 1 Luther assigned it a normative role in a Christian dogmatics, thus: articulus iustificationis est magister et princeps, dominus, rector et iudex super omnia genera doctrinarum, qui conservet et gubernat omnem doctrinam ecclesiasticam et erigit conscientiam nos tram coram DeO.2 For Luther, the articulus iustificationis was the Word of the Gospel, the starting point for the theology of the Church. Indeed, it seems clear that Luther's ecclesiology is a direct consequence of his conviction that the church of his day had abandoned the touchstone of the Gospel: even as late as 1532, Luther was prepared to grant the Pope his authority and power, provided he acknowledged the forgiveness of sins in Christ. 3 The importance of the doctrine of justification within a Lutheran dogmatics was emphasised by the Schmalkadic Articles of 1537: in hoc articulo sita sunt et consistunt omnia, quae contra papam, diabolum et mundum in vita nostra docemus, testamur