Who Said That?

"We believe a man to be not simply justified through faith alone, but through faith which works through love, that is to say, through faith and works. But [the idea] that faith can fulfill the function of a hand that lays hold on the righteousness which is in Christ, and can then apply it unto us for salvation, we know to be far from all Orthodoxy. For faith so understood would be possible in all, and so none could miss salvation, which is obviously false. But on the contrary, we rather believe that it is not the correlative of faith, but the faith which is in us, justifies through works, with Christ. But we regard works not as witnesses certifying our calling, but as being fruits in themselves, through which faith becomes efficacious, and as in themselves meriting, through the Divine promises (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:10) that each of the Faithful may receive what is done through his own body, whether it be good or bad."

Leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please no google searches or cheating!  Answer to follow next week.

Update on Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 03:19PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This comes from the Confession of Dositheus in 1672.  It may be found here in its entirety.  http://www.crivoice.org/creeddositheus.html.

According to Dennis Bratcher, here's the background to the document.  "A Synod of Eastern Orthodox Churches was called in Jerusalem in 1672 to refute the position of Cyril Lucaris, Patriarch of Constantinople, who had published a Confession in which he attempted to express Orthodox beliefs in terms of the predestination beliefs of Calvinism.  From a Reformation perspective, he had also challenged some of the important religious practices of the Eastern churches, such as the veneration of icons and prayers to the saints. Orthodox leaders contended that the Confession of Cyril was a forgery perpetrated by Calvinists to spread their influence among Eastern churches. They presented quotations from known writings of Cyril to show that he had not held the positions expressed in the Confession.  In addition, they argued that the Confession was not an official pronouncement by an Orthodox Patriarch."

Comments

[reg]

Sounds very RC.Pope Benedict?

[Paul L.]

Council of Trent

[Andrew]

Is this the Confession of Dosethius? Sounds a lot like the decrees from the Eastern Orthodox "Council of Jerusalem."

[Brian]

John Wesley

[Sola Fide]

John Mac Arthur?

[acroamaticus]

At first I thought it was Osiander or similar, but I then realised that "Orthodox" with a capital O really gives it away, plus the language is obviously creedal. So, it's an Eastern Orthodox anti-Reformation creed, which means it is probably that of Dositheos of Jerusalem, which was written in response to a previous patriarch, Cyril Lucaris, who had Calvinist leanings .

[Nairbel]

This comment was made by the great 20th century Dutch Reformed theologian Malthius von Hoopwooven. MvH was a South African theologian that is not very well known in the United States. He was extremely influential on what in the Westminster tradition has come to be known as "systematic biblical theology".