All Scripture, including the doctrine of election, is written for us, not to be driven to despair, but to have hope...

This eternal election or ordination of God to eternal life must not be considered in God's secret, mysterious counsel in a simple-minded way.  It is not as though election included nothing further, or nothing more belonged to it, or nothing more were to be considered in it, that that God foresaw who and how many were to be saved and who and how many were to be damned.  Nor should we think that He only held a sort of military muster, such as, "This one shall be saved, that one shall be damned; this one shall remain steadfast in faith to the end, that one shall not remain steadfast."

From this notion many get and imagine strange, dangerous, and deadly thoughts.  These cause and strengthen either self-confidence and lack of repentance or hopelessness and despair.  So people fall into troublesome thoughts, and say, "Before the foundation of the world was laid" (Ephesians 1:4), God has foreknown His elect to salvation.  And God's foreknowledge cannot fail or be hindered or changed by anyone.  In view of this, if I am elected to salvation, nothing can hurt me, even if I perform all sorts of shameful sins without repentance, have no regard for the Word and Sacraments, concern myself neither with repentance, faith, prayer, or godliness.  I will and must still be saved, because God's foreknowledge must come to pass. If, however, I am not foreknown, nothing helps me anyway, even though I busy myself with the Word, repent, believe, and so on.  For I cannot hinder or change God's foreknowledge."

In fact, even when godly hearts have repentance, faith, and good intentions to live by God's grace in a godly way, thoughts like these arise:  "If you are not foreknown from eternity to salvation, your every effort and entire labor is no help."  This happens especially when they see their weakness and the examples of those who have not persevered, but have fallen away again.

Against this false delusion and thought we should set up the following clear argument, which is sure and cannot fail:  All Scripture is inspired by God.  It is not for self-confidence and lack of repentance, but "for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16).  Also, everything in God's Word has been written for us, not so that we should be driven to despair by it, but so that "through the encouragement of Scriptures we might have hope" (Romans 15:4).  Therefore, there is no question that lack of repentance or despair should not in any way be caused or strengthened by the sound sense or right use of this teaching about God's eternal foreknowledge.  The Scriptures teach this doctrine only to direct us to the Word to encourage repentance and godliness, and to strengthen faith and assure us of our salvation.
~BOC, FSD, XI, 9-12

Election is a cause that gains, works, helps, and promotes our salvation and what belongs to it...

God's eternal election does not just foresee and foreknow the salvation of the elect.  From God's gracious will and pleasure in Christ Jesus, election is a cause that gains, works, helps, and promotes our salvation and what belongs to it.  Our salvation is so founded on it that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18), as is written in John 10:28, "No one shall snatch [My sheep] out of My hand,"  And again, "as many as were appointed to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48).
~BOC, FSD, XI, 8

The beginning and cause of evil is the wicked perverse will of the devil and of people, not God's foreknowledge...

God's foreknowledge foresees and foreknows what is evil, yet not in the sense that it is God's gracious will that evil should happen.  Everything that the perverse, wicked will of the devil and of people wants and desires to try and do, God sees and knows before it happens.  His foreknowledge sees its order also in wicked acts or works, since a time and measure is fixed by God for the evil that God does not will.  He limits how far it should go, how long it should last, and when and how He will hinder and punish it.  God the Lord rules over all of this so that it must flow to the glory of the divine name and to the salvation of His elect, and for that reason the godless must be astonished.

The beginning and cause of evil is not God's foreknowledge.  (For God does not create and do evil, neither does He help or promote it.)  The cause of this evil is the wicked, perverse will of the devil and of people, as it is written in Hosea 13:9, " He destroys you, O Israel, for you are against Me, against your helper."  Also, "For You are not a God who delights in wickedness" (Psalm 5:4).
~BOC, FSD, XI, 6-7

The distinction between God's eternal foreknowledge and the eternal election of His children to eternal salvation...

First, the distinction between God's eternal foreknowledge and the eternal election of His children to eternal salvation is to be made carefully.  Foreknowledge or prevision means that God sees and knows everything before it happens.  This is called God's foreknowledge, which extends over all creatures, good and bad.  In other words, He foresees and foreknows everything that is or will be, that is happening or will happen, whether it is good or bad.  For all things, whether they are past or future, are clear and present before God.  This is written in Matthew 10:29:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

You eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them. (Psalm 139:16)

I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against Me. (Isaiah 37:28)

God's eternal election, or predestination, means God's preordaining to salvation. It does not include both the godly and the wicked, but only God's children, who were elected and ordained to eternal life before the world's foundation was laid.  As Paul says in Ephesians 1:4-5, "He chose us in Him ... He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ."
~BOC, FSD, XI, 4-5

Adiaphora are not to deny Christian freedom, replace true worship, or interfere with the preservation of the pure doctrine...

The article about Christian freedom is at stake here. The Holy Spirit, through the holy apostle’s mouth, sincerely told His Church to preserve this article, as we have just heard. As soon as Christian freedom is weakened and human traditions are forced on the Church with coercion, as though it were wrong and a sin to omit them, the way is already prepared for idolatry. In this way, human traditions are multiplied and regarded as a divine worship, not only equal to God’s ordinances, but even placed above them.

Furthermore, idolaters are confirmed in their idolatry by such yielding and conforming in outward things, where there has not previously been Christian unity in doctrine. On the other hand, true believers are grieved, offended, and weakened in their faith. Every Christian, for the sake of his soul’s welfare and salvation, is bound to avoid both of these, as it is written:

Woe to the world for temptations to sin! (Matthew 18:7)

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matthew 18:6)

But what Christ says is to be especially remembered:

So everyone who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32)

However, this has always and everywhere been the faith and confession about such matters, by the chief teachers of the Augsburg Confession. We are following in their footsteps and we intend to persevere in their confession by God’s grace.

~BOC, FSD, X, 15-18

Adiaphora that is compelled or commanded obscures pure doctrine and true worship...

We also believe, teach, and confess that at a time of confession, when the enemies of God's Word want to suppress the pure doctrine of the Holy Gospel, God's entire church, indeed, every single Christian, but especially the ministers of the Word, as the directors of the community of God [Latin:  God's church], is bound by God's Word to confess the doctrine freely and openly.  They are bound to confess every aspect of pure religion, not only in word, but also in works and actions.  In this case, even in adiaphora, they must not yield to the adversaries or permit these adiaphora to be forced on them by their enemies, whether by violence or cunning, to the detriment of the true worship of God and the introduction and sanctions of idolatry.  For it is written:

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery—to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the Gospel might be preserved for you. (Galatians 2:4-5)

In this place Paul speaks about circumcision, which at that time had become an adiaphoron.  At other times circumcision was observed by Paul.  The false apostles pushed circumcision in order to establish their false doctrine that the works of the Law were necessary for righteousness and salvation.  They missed circumcision to confirm their error in people's minds.  Therefore, Paul says that he would not yield even for an hour, in order that the truth of the Gospel might continue unimpaired.

Paul yields and gives way to the weak concerning food and the observance of times or days.  But to the false apostles, who wanted to impose these on the conscience as necessary things, he will not yield even in matters that are adiaphora.  "Therefore let no one pass judgement on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath" (Colossians 2:16).  When Peter and Barnabas yielded somewhat in such an emergency, Paul openly rebuske them according to the truth of the Gospel as people who were not acting right in this matter.

This case is no longer a question about outward matters of indifference, which in their nature and essence are free. They cannot produce a command or prohibition that they must or must not be used.  The case presented by Paul is a question, in the first place, about the outstanding article of our Christian faith.  For the apostle testifies, "so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you" (Galatians 2:5).  The Gospel is obscured and perverted by such compulsion or command, because such adiaphora are publicly required for the approval of false doctrine, superstition, and idolatry, and for the suppression of pure doctrine and Christian liberty, or at least are abused for this purpose by the adversaries are and viewed this way.
~BOC, FSD, X, 10-14

Adiaphora are not worship of God, but can be used for good order, Christian discipline, and the Church's edification...

Regarding genuine adiaphora, or matters of indifference (as explained before), we believe, teach, and confess the following:  such ceremonies, in and of themselves, are not worship of God, nor any part of it.  They must be properly distinguished from ceremonies that are.  As it is written, "in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9).

We believe, teach, and confess that the community of God in every place and every time has, according to its circumstances, the good right, power, and authority to change and decrease or increase ceremonies that are truly adiaphora.  They should do this thoughtfully and without giving offense, in an orderly and appropriate way, whenever it is considered most profitable, most beneficial, and best for good order, Christian discipline, and the Church's edification.  Furthermore, we can yield and give in with a good conscience to the weak in faith in such outward adiaphora.  Paul teaches this in Romans 14 and proves it by his example.
~BOC, FSD, X, 8-9

Rest in the mystery of Christ's dual nature that you might have the constant consolation of truth rather than the doubt of crafty reasoning...

Since in the Holy Scriptures Christ is called a mystery upon which all heretics dash their heads, we admonish all Christians not to arrogantly indulge their reason in crafty investigations about such mysteries.  With the beloved apostles, they should simply believe.  They should close the eyes of their reason and bring their understanding into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and rejoice without ceasing in the fact that our flesh and blood is placed so high at the right hand of God's majesty and almighty power.  In this way we will certainly find constant consolation in every difficulty and remain well guarded against deadly error.
~BOC, FSD, VIII, 96

Christ, in both natures, is with us in all our troubles...

When such majesty is denied to Christ according to His humanity, we regard it as a deadly error.  For by this the very great consolation mentioned above is taken from Christians, which they have in the promise about the presence and dwelling with them of their Head, King, and High Priest.  He has promised them that not only His mere divinity would be with them (which to us poor sinners is like a consuming fire on dry stubble).  But Christ promised that He—He, the man who has spoken with them, who has experienced all tribulations in His received human nature, and who can therefore have sympathy with us, as with men and His brethren—He will be with us in all our troubles also according to the nature by which He is our brother and we are flesh of His flesh.
~BOC, FSD, VIII, 87

The assurance and confirmation found in the Lord's Supper...

The divine and the human nature have this personal union with each other in the person of Christ and have the communion resulting from it (in deed and truth).  For this reason, there is attributed to Christ (according to the flesh) what His flesh, according to its nature and essence, cannot be by itself.  Apart from this union, His flesh cannot have these attributes:  His flesh is a truly live-giving food and His blood a truly life-giving drink.  The two hundred Fathers of the Council of Ephesus have testified that Christ's flesh is a life-giving flesh.  Therefore, this man only, and no man besides, either in heaven or on earth, can say with truth, "Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them" (Matthew 18:20).  Also, "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).

We do not understand these testimonies to mean that only Christ's divinity is present with us in the Christian Church and Congregation, and that such presence does not apply to Christ according to His humanity in no way whatever.  For in that way Peter, Paul, and all the saints in heaven—since divinity, which is everywhere present, dwells in them—would also be with us on earth.  However, the Holy Scriptures say this only about Christ, and no other man.  We hold that by these words the majesty of the man Christ is declared.  Christ as receive this majesty, according to His humanity, at the right hand of God's majesty and power.  So also, according to His receive human nature and with the same, He can be, and also is, present where He wants to be.  He is present especially in His Church and congregation on earth as Mediator, Head, King, and High Priest.  This presence is not a part, or only one half of Him.  Christ's entire person is present, to which both natures along, the divine and the human—not only according to His divinity, but also according to, and with, His received human nature.  He is our Brother, and we are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone.  He has instituted His Holy Supper for the certain assurance and confirmation of this, so that He will be with us, and dwell, work, and be effective in us also according to that nature from which He has flesh and blood.
~BOC, FSD, VIII, 76-79

Christ fulfills His office in, according do, with, and through both natures...

In fulfilling Christ's office, the person does not act and work in, with, through, or according to only one nature.  It works in, according to, with, and through both natures.  As the Council of Chalcedon expresses it, one nature works in communion with the other what is a property of each.  Therefore, Christ is our Mediator, Redeemer, King, High Priest, Head, Shepherd, and so on, not according to one nature only (whether it be the divine or the human), but according to both natures.
~BOC, FSD, VIII, 46-47

Christ as our sole Mediator, Atoning Sacrifice, High Priest, and Intercessor...

Our churches teach that the history of saints may be set before us so that we may follow the example for their faith and good words, according to our calling.  For example, the emperor may follow the example of David in making war to drive away the Turk from his country.  For both are kings.  But the Scriptures do not teach that we are to call on the saints to to ask the saints for help.  Scripture sets before us the one Christ as the Mediator, Atoning Sacrifice, High Priest, and Intercessor.  He is to be prayed to. He has promised that He will hear our prayer.  This is the worship that He approves above all other worship, that He be called upon in all afflictions.  "If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father" (I John 2:1).
~BOC, AC, XXI, 1-4

The dual nature of Christ is such a grand, intimate, indescribable communion that the angels are astonished by and delighted in it...

The human nature, after the resurrection from the dead, is exalted above all creatures in heaven and on earth.  This is nothing other than that He entirely laid aside the form of a servant.  He did not lay aside His human nature, but retains it to eternity.  He has the full possession and use of the divine majesty according to His received human nature.  However, He had His majesty immediately at His conception, even in His mother's womb.  As the apostle testified, He laid it aside.  As Dr. Luther explains, He kept it concealed in the state of His humiliation and did not always use it, but only when He wanted to use it.

Now He has ascended to heaven, not merely as any other saint, but as the apostle testifies, above all heavens.  He also truly fills all things, being present everywhere, not only as God, but also as man.  He rules from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth, as the prophets predict and the apostles testify.  He did this everywhere with them and confirmed their word with signs.  This did not happen in an earthly way. As Dr. Luther explains, this happened according to the way things are done at God's right hand.  "God's right hand" is no set place in heaven, as the Sacramentarians assert without any ground in the Holy Scriptures.  It is nothing other than God's almighty power, which fills heaven and earth  Christ is installed according to His humanity (in deed and truth), without confusing or equalizing the two natures in their essence and essential properties.  By this communicated divine power, according to the words of His testament, He can be and is truly present with His body and blood in the Holy Supper.  He has pointed this out for us by His Word.  This is possible for no other man, because no man is united with the divine nature the way Jesus, the Son of Mary, is.  No man is installed in such divine almighty majesty and power through and in the personal union of the two natures in Christ.  For in Him the divine and the human nature are personally united with each other.  So in Christ "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 2:9).  In this personal union the two natures have such a grand, intimate, indescribable communion that even the angels are astonished by it.  As St. Peter testifies, they have their delight and joy in looking into it.
~BOC, FSD, VIII, 26-30

To Christ everything is possible and everything is known...

We believe, teach, and confess that the Son of Man really is exalted.  He is (in deed and truth) exalted according to His human nature to the right hand of God's almighty majesty and power.  For He was received into God when He was conceived of the Holy Spirit in His mother's womb, and His human nature was personally united with the Son of the Highest.

Christ always had this majesty according to the personal union.  Yet He abstained from using it in the state of His humiliation, and because of this He truly increased in all wisdom and favor with God and man.  Therefore, He did not always use the majesty, but only when it pleased Him.  Then, after His resurrection, He entirely laid aside the form of a servant, but not the human nature, and was established in the full use, manifestation, and declaration of the divine majesty.  In this way He entered into His glory.  So now not just as God, but also as man He knows all things and can do all things.  He is present with all creatures, and has under His feet and in His hands everything that is in heaven and on earth and under the earth, as He Himself testifies, in Matthew 28:18, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me."  And St. Paul says in Ephesians 4:10, "He ... ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things." Because He is present, He can exercise His power everywhere.  To Him everything is possible and everything is known.
~BOC, FSD, VIII, 15-16

Christ's divine and received human natures are and exist at the same time...

We believe, teach, and confess that now, since the incarnation, each nature in Christ does not exist by itself so that each is, or makes up, a separate person.  These two natures are so united that they make up one single person, in which the divine and the received human nature are and exists at the same time.  So now, since the incarnation, there belongs to the entire person of Christ personally not only His divine nature, but also His received human nature.  So without His divinity, and also without HIs humanity, the person of Christ or the incarnate Son of God is not complete.  We mean the Son of God who has received flesh and become man.  Therefore, Christ is not two distinct persons, but one single person, even though two distinct natures are found in Him, unconfused in their natural essence and properties.
~BOC, FSD, VIII, 11

The entire obedience of Christ's entire person is credited to us for righteousness...

Even if Christ had been conceived and born without sin by the Holy Spirit and had fulfilled all righteousness in His human nature alone, and yet had not been true and eternal God, this obedience and suffering of His human nature could not be credited to us for righteousness.  Also, if God's Son had not become man, the divine nature alone could not be our righteousness.  Therefore, we believe, teach, and confess that the entire obedience of Christ's entire person (which He has offered to the Father for us, even to His most humiliating death on the cross) is credited to us for righteousness.  For the human nature alone, without the divine, could not by obedience or suffering make satisfaction to eternal, almighty God for the sins of all the world.  However, the divinity alone, without the humanity, could not mediate between God and us.
~BOC, FSD, III, 56

Forgiveness comes through grace, without any work, merit, or worthiness of ours preceding, present, or following...

We believe, teach, and confess what our righteousness before God is this:  God forgives our sins out of pure grace, without any work, merit, or worthiness of ours preceding, present, or following.  He presents and credits to us the righteousness of Christ's obedience.  Because of this righteousness, we are received into grace by God and regarded as righteous.

We believe, teach, and confess that faith alone is the means and instrument through which we lay hold of Christ.  So in Christ we lay hold of that righteousness that benefits us before God, for whose sake this faith is credited to us for righteousness.

We believe, teach and confess that this faith is not a bare knowledge of Christ' history, but it is God's gift.  By this gift we come to the right knowledge of Christ as our Redeemer in the Word of the Gospel. And we trust in Him that for the sake of His obedience alone we have--by grace--the forgiveness of sins and are regarded as holy and righteous before God the Father and are eternally saved.
~BOC, FE, III, 4-6

We must always run back to the promise...

Paul knows that through faith he is counted righteous for Christ's sake, according to the passage "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven" (Psalm 32:1).  But this forgiveness is always received through faith.  Likewise, the credit for the righteousness of the Gospel comes from the promise.  Therefore, it is always received through faith.  It must always be regarded as certain that we are counted righteous through faith for Christ's sake.  If the regenerate afterward think that they will be accepted because of the the fulfilling of the Law, when would a conscience be certain that it pleased God?  We never satisfy the Law!  So we must always run back to the promise.  Our infirmity must be recognized in this manner.
~BOC, AP, V (III), 42-44

None is righteous, not one as all are lost apart from Christ...

Now some did not believe themselves guilty of actual sins in thought, word, and deeds.  I, and people like me in monasteries and religious communities, wanted to be monks and priests.  We fought against evil thought by doing such things as fasting, staying awake, praying, saying Mass, wearing coarse garments, and sleeping on hard beds.  In total sincerity and with great effort, we wanted to be holy.  Yet the heredity, inborn evil sometimes came out in sleep, as happens (St. Augustine and St. Jerome, among others, also confess this).  Still, each one held the other in high esteem.  According to our teaching, some monks were regarded as holy, without sin, and full of good works.  Also, since we had more good works that we needed to get to heaven, we could communicate and sell our good works to others.  This is actually true.  Seals, letters, and examples are at hand to prove that this happened.

These holy ones did not need repentance.  What would they repent of, since they had not indulged their wicked thoughts?  What would they confess about words they never said?  What should they render satisfaction for, since they were so guiltless that they could even sell their extra righteousness to poor sinners?  In the time of Christ, the Pharisees and scribes were these kinds of saints.

But here comes the fiery anger of St John, the true preacher of repentance.  With one bolt of lightning, he hurls together both those selling and those buying works.  He says:"Repent!" (Matthew 3:2).

John says, "Repent, both of you. You also penitents and false saints, both of you need the forgiveness of sins.  Neither of you know what sin really is.  Much less your duty to repent of it and shun it.  For no one of you is good.  You are full of unbelief, stupidity, and ignorance of God and God's will.  But He is present here, of whose "fullness we have all received, grace upon grace" (John 1:16).  Without Him, no one can be righteous before God.  Therefore, if you want to repent, repent rightly.  Your works of penance will accomplish nothing.  As for you hypocrites, who do not need repentance, you serpents' brood, who has assured you that you will escape the wrath to come and other judgments?" (Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7).

In the same way Paul also preaches, "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one" (Romans 3:10-12).  And God now "commands all people everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30).  "All people," He says. No one is an exception who is a human being.  This repentance teaches us to discern sin:  We are completely lost; there is nothing good in us from head to foot; and we must become absolutely new and different people.
~BOC, SA, III, III, 28-35

Faith means not merely knowledge of, but also belief in the purpose of history...

Faith means not only a knowledge of the history, but the kind of faith that believes in the promise.  Paul plainly testifies about this when he says in Romans 4:16, "That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed."  He judges that the promise cannot be received unless it come through faith. Therefore, he puts them together as things that belong to one another.  He connects the promise and faith.  It will be easy to decide what faith is if we consider the Creed, where this article certainly stands: the forgiveness of sins.  It is not enough to believe that Christ was born, suffered, was raised again, unless we add also this article, which is the purpose of the history: the forgiveness of sins. I mean that because of Christ, and not become of our merits, forgiveness of sins is given to us. For what need was there that Christ was given for our sins if our merits can make satisfaction for our sins?
~BOC, AP, IV (II), 50-52

The outward act of the Lord's Supper does not give grace...

We showed in our Confession our belief that the Lord's Supper does not give grace by the outward act (ex opera operato) and that, when applied on behalf of others, alive or dead, it does not merit for them the forgiveness of sins, guilt, or punishment by the outward act.  This position is supported by a clear and firm proof.  It is impossible to receive the forgiveness of our sins because of our own work by the outward act.  The terrors of sin and death must be overcome through faith when we comfort our hearts with the knowledge of Christ and believe that for His sake we are forgiven and that His merits and righteousness are granted to us, "since we have been justified by faith, we have peace" (Romans 5:1). These things are so sure and so firm that they can stand against the gates of hell.
~BOC, AP, XXIV (XII)11-12

Even the Prophets and the Psalms teach free mercy and forgiveness of sins by faith...

Throughout the Prophets and the Psalms this worship (this latreia) is highly praised, even though the Law does not teach the free forgiveness of sins.  The Old Testament Fathers knew the promise about Christ, that God for Christ's sake wanted to forgive sins.  They understood that Christ would be the price for our sins.  They knew that our works are not a price for so great a matter.  So they received free mercy and forgiveness of sins by faith, just as the saints in the New Testament.  To this point belong those frequent repetitions about free mercy and forgiveness of sins by faith that appear in the Psalms and the Prophets.  For example, Psalm 130:3 says, "If You, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?"  Here David confesses his sins and does not list his merits.  He adds, "But with You there is forgiveness" (v.4). Here he comforts himself by his trust in God's mercy, and he refers to the promise, "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I hope" (v. 5).  This means, "Because You have promised the forgiveness of sins, I am sustained by Your promise."  Therefore, the Fathers also were justified, not by the Law, but by the promise and faith.  It is amazing that the adversaries diminish faith to such a degree, even though they see that it is everywhere praised as a great service.  For example, Psalm 50:15 says, "Call upon Me in the day of troubles; I will deliver you."  God wants Himself to be known.  He wants Himself to be worshipped, so that we receive benefits from Him and receive them because of His mercy, not because of our merits.  This is the richest consolation in all afflictions.  The adversaries band such consolation when they diminish and disparage faith and teach only that by means of works and merits people interact with God.
~BOC, AP, IV (II), 57-60

Those who condemn the Word of Absolution in favor of their own words are enthusiasts...

All this is the old devil and old serpent, who also turned Adam and Even into enthusiasts.  He led them away from God's outward Word to spiritualizing and self-pride.  And yet, he did this through other outward words.  In the same way, our enthusiasts today condemn the outward Word.  Yet they themselves are not silent.  They fill the world with their babbling and writings, as if the Spirit could not come through the apostles's writings and spoken Word, but has to come through their writings and words.  Why don't they leave out their own sermons and writings and let the Spirit Himself come to people without their writings before them, as they boast that He has come into them without the preaching of the Scriptures?
~BOC, SA, III, VIII, 5-6

Preaching and faith are our daily sacrifice...

They also cite the daily sacrifice.  Just as there was a daily sacrifice in the Law,  so the Mass should be a daily sacrifice of the New Testament.  The adversaries have made out well if we allow ourselves to be overcome by allegories.  Clearly allegories do not produce firm proof.  We readily allow the Mass to be understood as a daily sacrifice, as long as that includes the entire Mass:  the ceremony with the preaching of the Gospel, faith, invocation, and thanksgiving.  Joined together, these are a daily sacrifice of the New Testament because the ceremony of the Mass, or the Lord's Supper, was set up because of these things.  The Mass is not to be separated from them.  So Paul says, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes" (I Corinthians 11:26).  But it cannot be shown from this Levitical type that a ceremony justifying by the outward work (ex opere operato) is necessary, or should be applied on behalf of others, that it may merit the forgiveness of sins for them.

The type represents appropriately not only the ceremony, but also the preaching of the Gospel.  In Numbers 28:4-8, three parts of that daily sacrifice are represented:  the burning of the lamb, the drink offering, and the offering of wheat flour.  The Law had pictures or shadows of future things.  So Christ and the entire worship of the New Testament are shown in this picture.  The burning of the lamb illustrates Christ's death.  The drink offering illustrates that everywhere in the entire world, by the preaching of the Gospel, believers are sprinkled with the blood of that Lamb, that is, sanctified.  Peter says, "In the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood" (I Peter 1:2).  The offering of wheat flour means faith, prayer, and thanksgiving in hearts.  Therefore, in the Old Testament, the shadow is discerned.  In the New, the thing illustrated should be sought, and not another type, as sufficient for a sacrifice.

Although a ceremony is a memorial of Christ's death, it alone is not the daily sacrifice.  The memory itself is the daily sacrifice, that is, preaching and faith.  Faith truly believes that, by Christ's death, God has been reconciled.  A drink offering is required, that is, the effect of preaching, in order that, being sprinkled by the Gospel with the blood of Christ, we may be sanctified, as those put to death and made alive.  Offerings are also required, that is, thanksgiving, confession, and troubles.
~BOC, AP, XXIV (XII), 35-38