Quotes

"Newborn infants should also be baptized since they too are carriers of original sin, even though they have committed no sin and must be cleansed by Baptism in order to partake of eternal life. From the faith handed down from the Apostles, even infants who could not as yet commit any sin of themselves are for this reason truly baptized for the remission of sins, in order that in them what they contracted by generation may be washed away by regeneration." - pg. 48

"It does me no good to believe that Christ died for sinners, if I do not believe that he died for me." - pg. 60

"The point is that the right relationship with God which has been ruined by original sin consists in giving up one's self-mastery and abandoning oneself completely to God's mercy. . . . 'This is how God wants to be known and worshiped,' says Melanchthon, 'that we accept his blessings and receive them because of his mercy rather than because of our own merits.' Since humanity's relationship with God has been ruined by original sin, his mercy must take the form of forgiveness. What is decisive, however, is that it is precisely God's will that one live completely by his mercy. This is what happens in the faith that abandons itself to Christ. In faith, therefore, a person is restored to a right relationship with the Creator." - pg. 61

"The life of love demanded by the law and for which humans were created can only begin, according to Luther, when humans give up every last vestige of self-sufficiency, living entirely upon what they receive from God." - pg. 67

All quotes come from The Augsburg Confession: A Commentary by Leif Grane.