1528–1577

Controversies in Lutheranism after Luther – Antinomian, Synergist, Majorist, Osiandrian – and the Formula of Concord

After Luther, Lutherans divided into "strict Lutherans" and "Philippists" – followers of Melanchthon, who in new editions of the Loci communes (from 1521) seemed to move away from original Lutheranism. Agricola denied the law a place in the preaching of the gospel; Melanchthon, and after him Pfeffinger (1555) and Strigel (1560), saw three causes in conversion – the Word, the Spirit and the human will, which opponents called "synergism"; Major asserted that good works are necessary for salvation, and Amsdorf that they are harmful to it; Osiander (1550) taught that it is the divinity of Christ dwelling in the believer that justifies. Luther himself had been called an "antinomian" by critics, since for him good works are the consequence, not the cause, of justification. The Formula of Concord (1577) rejected the extremes of all sides.