THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
indifference in its bearing on the kingdom of God
(Rom. xiv. 17; I Cor. vi. 12, viii. 8; Gal. v. 6;
Col. ii. 20). He recognizes, with the exception of
the Lord's Supper, no forms for Chris-
3. Paul's tian worship, but merely counsels Usage. that " all things be done decently and in older " (I Cor. xiv. 40). From the fact that the Christian belongs to God, the Lord of the world, Paul deduces the authority (Gk. exousia) of Christians over all things (I Cor. iii. 21-23), especially the right freely to make use of the free gifts of God (I Cor. x. 23, 26; Rom. xiv 14, 20). Ability to return thanks for them is made the subjective criterion of their purity (Rom. xiv. 6; I Cor. x. 30). Those things also are permissible which are left free by implication in the ordinances of the Church, or are expressly allowed. But action in the domain of the permissible is restricted for the individual by ethical principles according to which he must be bound (Rom. xiv. 2 sqq.; I Cor. vi. 12, viii. 9, x. 23). Concrete action in all such cases he regards as not at the pleasure of the individual, but as bidden or forbidden for the sake of God.
In place of this view of freedom, combining obligation with unconstraint, there soon arose one of a more legal cast. At the time of Tertullian there was in connection with concrete questions a conflict between the two principles (1) that what is not expressly permitted by Scripture is forbidden; and (2) that what is not expressly forbidden is permitted. The restriction of the idea of duty by that of the permissible, and the recognition of an adiaphoristic sphere were further confirmed by the distinction between prcecepta and consilia and by the doctrine of supererogatory merits. The question of adiaphora was argued by the schoolmen. Thomas Aquinas and his followers held that 4. Patris- there were certain actions which, so tic and far as being intrinsically capable of
Medieval subserving a good or an ill purpose, Usage. were matters of indifference ; but they recognized no act proceeding from conscious consideration which was not either disposed toward a fitting end or not so disposed, and hence good or bad. Duns Scotus and his adherents recognized actions indifferent in individuo, i.e., those not to be deemed wrong though without reference, actual or virtual, to God. The early Church at first appropriated the Cynic and Stoic opposition to culture, holding that it interfered with the contemplation of God and divine things. But with large heathen accessions, this attitude was no longer maintained. The primitive Christian ideal was, to be sure, preserved; but its complete fulfilment was required of only those bound thereto by the nature of their calling.
Luther based his position on that of Paul. He appears, indeed, to determine the idea of adiaphora (the expression does not occur in his works) according to a legalizing criterion when he distinguishes between things or works which are clearly bidden or forbidden by God in the New Testament and those which are left free — to neglect which is no wrong; to observe, no piety. But he further says in the same connection that under the rule of faith the conscience is free, and Christians are
superior to all things, particularly externals and precepts in connection therewith. In accordance with this view he considers that an 5. Luther's external form of divine worship is Usage. nowhere enjoined (the Lord's Supper is a beneficium, not an officium); and he distinguishes between the necessary and the free in churchly forms by their effects. Prayer, the Lord's Supper, and preaching are necessary to edification; but the time, place, and mode have no part in edification, and are free. His standpoint, then, was not simply that there were certain things left free, but that the assertion of freedom (or adiaphorism) applied to the whole realm of externals. In individual cases, however, a limitation was imposed by ethical aims and rules. Christians were to take part in the external worship of God to fulfil the duty of public confession and that they might " communicate " (Heb.xiii. 16). Ceremonial forms served to perpetuate certain effective modes of observance; but they were not to be idolatrous, superstitious, or pompous. Luther, in opposition to Carlstadt, urged that in the forms of worship for the sake of avoiding offense to some, whatever was not positively objectionable should be suffered to remain. He was ready to concede the episcopal form of church government and other matters, if urged not as necessary to salvation, but as conducive to order and peace. He wished, also, to maintain Christian freedom against stubborn adherents of the Law.
The churchly adiaphora formed the subject of the first adiaphoristic controversy. The Wittenberg theologians believed that the 6. First concessions on the basis of which Adiapho- the Leipsic interim was concluded ristic Con- could be justified by the principles troversy. enunciated and exemplified at the outset of the Reformation. They held that, despite formal modifications, they had surrendered only traditional points of church government and worship, and even then only such as were unopposed by Scripture, had been so recognized in the primitive Church, and had seemed to themselves excellent arrangements, conducive to order and discipline. Further, they maintained that every idolatrous usage had been discountenanced, and that from what was retained idolatrous significance had been excluded. It may be mentioned, by way of example, that the Latin liturgy of the mass was admitted, with lights, canonicals, etc., though with communion and some German hymns; also confirmation, Corpus Christi day, extreme unction, fasting, and the jurisdiction of bishops.
Before the interim had been authentically published there arose a controversy in which the attack was led by Flacius. In his De veris et falsis adiaphoris (1549), he raised the question by not only maintaining that preaching, baptism, the Lord's Supper, and absolution had been commanded by God, but even by concluding from I Cor. xiv. 40 that the ceremonial usages connected therewith had been divinely ordained in genere. He also sought to limit the Lutheran indifference to detail by insisting on what he deemed seriousness and