Melanchthon and Servet

1 Melanchthon between 1521 and 1530

Let me make a remark at the outset: to say that it is better to adore the Trinity than to investigate it need not mean an objection of the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity. It does not even mean an objection to any doctrine of the Trinity. Strictly speaking, one cannot adore something without knowing it in any way. „Adoring“ is in this notorious sentence of 1521 the counterpart of „investigating“. And Melanchthon wants the doctrines of sin, the law, and grace to be investigated. These doctrines taken together form the complex of the doctrine of justification: How is man justified and liberated from sin? He is accused for his sin by the divine law and justified by grace because of the death of Jesus Christ.^[3] For Melanchthon the term, „investigating“, does not imply exploring an object with a distant mind, but rather a way of knowing in which the subject surrenders to that which he recognizes: „to know Christ means to know his benefits“,^[4] that is, what he has done for mankind through his atoning death, which is the justification and liberation from sin.

Melanchthon does not reject a knowledge of the Trinity, and he shows that he maintains the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity in aspects that become crucial in his controversy with Servet. The opportunity to speak of such matters is provided in his exegesis of the prologue of John’s gospel, the classical biblical text in an argument for the Trinity. In his „Annotationes in Evangelium Ioannis“ from 1523, Melanchthon says: „The Father [God the Father] sketches, in contemplating himself, his image, which is called the Word, and as it is a perfect image, the whole substance of the Father shines in it, so that the image, in which the Father shines, is in its nature no less God than the Father himself.“^[5]

Melanchthon has probably received this concept of the Trinity from Hilary of Poitiers.^[6] In his exegesis of Colossians 3:9, „Scholia in Epistulam Pauli ad Colossenses“ from 1527, Melanchthon also follows Augustine’s doctrine of the Trinity.^[7]

Thus Melanchthon had already shown himself to be a Trinitarian, a Nicene Trinitarian, when he first came across Antitrinitarism, that is, the rejection of the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity. The first Antitrinitarian he met was not Servet, but a Dutch, Johannes Campanus (about 1500 – after 1574), who visited Wittenberg in 1528 and 1529.^[8] In a letter to Friedrich Myconius dating to the end of February 1530, Melanchthon writes that Campanus has sent a „horribile disputation against the Trinity“.^[9] In explaining what he finds so horrible in Campanus, Melanchthon already states what he will reject in Servet.^[10] Christ is not God, the Holy Spirit also is not God, original sin is an empty expression. There is nothing, says Melanchthon, which is not transformed into philosophy.^[11]

Melanchthon’s critique is illuminating as it connects the two hemispheres of theology, which he has distinghished in his „Loci communes“ from 1521: sin, and also justification, imply a recognition of the Deity of Christ and of the Holy Spirit. One cannot have a cogent doctrine of justification without a cogent doctrine of the Trinity. Melanchthon’s critique of Servet will demonstrate what he meant.

In the „Confessio Augustana“, which Melanchthon writes a few months later in 1530, he puts the confession of the Trinity in article 1. He does not mention Campanus there, but he mentions Paul of Samosata, a bishop of Antiochia, who was deposed by a synod in 286 because of his false doctrine of the Trinity.^[12] Paul of Samosata is a model for the kind of teaching that he encounters in Campanus, and soon thereafter in Servet. Melanchthon speaks of „the Samosatenes, old and new, who, contending that there is but one Person, sophistically and impiously argue that the Word and the Holy Ghost are not distinct Persons, but that ‚Word‘ signifies a spoken word, and ‚Spirit‘ signifies motion created in things.“^[13]

Only one year later, a new proponent of this teaching, which is called by modern historians „modalism“, appears, and this is Miguel Servet (1509/11–1553).

2 Servet’s doctrine of the Trinity

Servet publishes his „De trinitatis erroribus libri septem“ in 1531 in Hagenau in the Alsace, and in 1532 his „Dialogorum de trinitate libri duo“.^[14] Servet advocates a Trinity of Father, Son (or Word) and Holy Spirit, but he does not construe them in the same way as the council of Nicea does. He claims to prove his understanding with the Bible, but also with the teaching of the early church fathers before the council of Nicea. This council was, in his perception of church history, the turning point when things became worse in the church. In Servet’s opinion, Irenaeus of Lyons, writing in the 2nd century, and Tertullian, writing during the turn from the 2nd to the 3rd century, display the understanding of the Trinity that is correct.^[15]

Servet defines the central concept in the doctrine of the Trinity, the concept of „person“ in this way: „As for what they say of Person, it is a great misuse of the term to say that one Person is an aggregate of two beings, or of two Natures united into one mass. But properly speaking, one being is called the person of another, as Job’s friends, assuming the person of God, wished to speak and to judge as though they were themselves Gods; and the false apostles speak in the person of the apostles, and Satan speaks in the person of a good angel, when he fashions himself to an angel of light. And wisdom speaks in the person of CHRIST, David and the Prophets often speak in the person of CHRIST, and CHRIST in the person of the Church … For in a way altogether similar we say that the Word in the Person of CHRIST was once the Son, and that CHRIST was with the Father from the beginning in the Person of the Word; and CHRIST is the Person of the Word, and the Word is the Person of CHRIST, and there is but one Person and one aspect, because the very thing that shone forth in the Word is CHRIST himself.“^[16]

One may distinguish several concepts of „person“ that Servet is using. First, „person“ can be something like the speaking part of an actor.^[17] This concept is unilateral: A is the person of B means: A is the form or the figure in which B is speaking. A shows himself as B. Second, „person“ means a representation, and this concept is bilateral. Not only can A represent B, but also B can represent A. „The word is in the human person of Christ the son“ means: Christ is the representation of the Word. „Christ is in the person of the Word in the beginning at the Father“ means: the Word is the representation of Christ.^[18] Both are „persons“, through which God is speaking. The meaning of „person“ that is excluded in this understanding is that „person“ means a distinct being, a being that can be distinguished as a being from other beings, that which in Latin is expressed by the word „res“.^[19]

In his exegesis of the commandment of baptism in Matth. 28:29, Servet says that the Father „is the prime, true and original source of every gift“, the Son is present „because through him we have reconciliation of this gift“, and the Spirit is present, „because all that are baptized in his name, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit“.^[20] Servet conceives the relationship between the three as follows: „the Father is the whole substance and the one God from whom these degrees and personations proceed. And they are three, not by virtue of some distinction of beings in God, but through an οἰκονομία of God in various forms of Deity; for the same divinity which is in the Father is communicated to the Son, JESUS CHRIST, and to our spirits, which are the temples of the living God; for the Son and our sanctified spirits are sharers with us in the Substance of the Father, are its members, pledges, and instruments; although the kind of deity in them is varying, and this is why they are called distinct person, that is, manifolds aspects, divers forms and kinds, of deity.“^[21] God shows himself in different ways during the course of the history of salvation. Servet now employs the concept oikonomia or dispositio used by Irenaeus and Tertullian: „the older tradition of the Apostles understands by the mystery of the Word a kind of disposition or dispensation in God, by which it pleased him to reveal to us the secret of his will. And Tertullian very often calls οἰκονομίαν, and Irenaeus calls it dispositio. And just as the speech was God, so also according to Irenaeus the Father himself when he speaks is said to be a logos; and they may be distinguished from each other just as a being and the disposition of the being; as though the being itself were unseen, but were made evident through the sound of words.“^[22]

So when Father, Son and Spirit are invoked, three distinct beings are not invoked, but three admirable dispositions of God.^[23] The Trinity is also for Servet a mystery. However, this mystery does not consist in the question of how three distinct but homogenous beings called „persons“ can be one being, one God. It is the mystery, the secret, of God’s will, the „arcanum voluntatis suae“.^[24] To believe in Christ is to acknowledge God’s will who is revealed in Christ as his person“. This faith leads to the activities of love, by which God’s will is fullfilled. The Lutheran concept of faith, however, leads to sleepiness.^[25] Now we have gained the perspective in which the connection between the Trinity and justification becomes apparent.

3 Melanchthon’s response to Servet

Melanchthon rather quickly noticed Servet’s writings. In a letter to Joachim Camerarius in Nuremberg dated February 9, 1533, he mentions Servet for the first time. He responds to a question by Camerarius regarding what he thinks about Servet. He writes: Servet is very clever and sharp-witted in the discussion, but he does not have gravity. He has confused imaginations. It is obvious that he has crazy thoughts on justification. Camerarius knows, that he, Melanchthon, has always feared, there would erupt something concerning the Trinity. „Which tragedies will this question rise, if the Word is a hypostasis, if the Spirit is a hypostasis …“.^[26] Melanchthon’s fear was to be confirmed.

Only weeks later, on March 15, 1533, Melanchthon writes again to Camerarius. He reports that he is reading a lot of Servet. His attention is now drawn to Servet’s presentation of the early church fathers Tertullian and Irenaeus. Apparently, Melanchthon had not read, or carefully read, them regarding the theology of the Trinity. The sources of his understanding of the Trinity had thus far been the Holy Scripture and the Creed of the council of Nicea, along with Augustine as an influence regarding how to understand Scripture. As Melanchthon was convinced there was continuity in doctrine from the Scriptures to the great councils of the early church, it was important for him to find support for this continuity in the pre-Nicene church fathers.^[27] Melanchthon asserts that Servet has completely misunderstood Tertullian; Irenaeus is less clear, and Melanchthon is still studying him.^[28]

The next letter concerning Servet, almost completely dedicated to him, is to Johannes Brenz in Schwäbisch Hall, July 1533. Melanchthon writes that in Servet many features of a fanatic spirit are found. He again criticizes his doctrine of justification and his doctrine of the Trinity and claims for himself Tertullian, and now, with some reservation, also Irenaeus. He expects that there will soon be a great controversy on the doctrine of the Trinity. Melanchthon then turns to the question whether Christ is the natural and real son of God, calling this the center of the controversy. Melanchton finishes by reporting that he is reading his „Loci“ now in a revised version.^[29] This new version of the „Loci“, which first appeared in the form of a lecture which he had started on May 23, 1533, and was printed in 1535, begins with the doctrine of God and covers all topics that he had declared in the „Loci communes“ of 1521 to be mysteries, topics that are not to be investigated.^[30] Melanchthon held to this presentation of the doctrine of the Trinity until the last version of this work, which he published in 1559, one year before his death.^[31]

With regard to the antitrinitarism in Italy at the time, another letter of Melanchthon is of great interest, written at the begining of January 1539 to Venice; it is addressed in the first printing „ad Senatum Venetum“.^[32] Doubts have been raised whether the letter was written by Melanchthon, because the Venetian embassador, Francesco Contarini, reported that Melanchthon denied he had written the letter in a conversation they had in 1541, but Melanchthon probably only wanted to conceal the recipients of the letter from the ambassador.^[33]

In Venice the works of Luther, Melanchthon, and other reformers had been distributed since 1518.^[34] Luther had written a letter to Gabriel Zwilling in Torgau dated March 7, 1528, in which he stated that he was happy the Word of God was received in Venice.^[35] In 1530 an Italian translation of the New Testament was published in Venice by a Florentinian, Antonio Brucioli.^[36] In the same year, an Italian translation of Melanchthon’s „Loci“ was published in Venice under the title „I principii de la theologia“; Melanchthon had received the name „Ippofilo da Terra negra“ for this translation.^[37] In Melanchthon’s letter addressed to Venice, a man whom he calls „Braccietus“, this is Michele Brachiolus / Brucioli and perhaps a brother of the bible translator Antonio Brucioli,^[38] had studied with Melanchthon in Wittenberg in 1538,^[39] and this relationship prompted Melanchthon to present his reformation thought to an auditorium of persons who had responsibility in Venice. It is revealing that the second part of this long letter, almost half the letter, is dedicated to a refutation of Servet’s doctrine of the Trinity and of Christ. The reason is, as Melanchthon says, that Servet’s „libellum“ is carried around in Venice.^[40]

This letter demonstrates that at that time there were supporters of the Wittenberg reformation in Venice, that Servet’s books were spread in the city, and that Melanchthon saw the necessity to clarify the position of the Wittenberg reformation.

In the first part of the letter Melanchthon states that in his area of influence the doctrine of penitence was repudiated and human satisfactions rejected so that the benefits of Christ could be seen more clearly and the doctrine of faith by which the forgiveness of sins is received could be highlighted.^[41] In the second part of the letter, Melanchthon repeats the arguments that he presented in his letter to Camerarius in 1533, and points to his new version of the loci.^[42]

Melanchthon’s argumentation has two parts which are interlocking. On the one side, he shows that the Word, the Logos, is not the Father, insofar as he is thinking or creating something,^[43] but is a „hypostasis“ or „persona“ a distinct being. The proof is that John 1:14 asserts the Word became flesh, and that he therefore has to be something or someone and not only the Father insofar as he is thinking.^[44] Also the verse, „he was in the world and the world was made by him“, John 1:10, shows that the Word cannot be the human nature of Christ, as Servet thinks.^[45]

The other side of Melanchthon’s argument is the practice of the adoration of Christ, which is testified by Paul and other places in the Bible.^[46] To adore someone, however, means to give him the honour of divinity.^[47]

So there are three different divine beings, called „persons“, but only one God, a mystery, which as Melanchthon says, not even the angels are able to understand.^[48] But where the investigating intellect hits a boundary, the practical consequences are clear, and here we see how the two hemispheres of theology, which Melanchthon had spoken about in his „Loci“ of 1521, are connected. Differentiated as distinct persons, Father and Son are vis-à-vis, which they cannot be in Servet’s theology. There is one God, who as the Father, sends the Son.^[49] This Son is the promised branch of David, whose name is „The Lord our justifier“ (Jer. 33,16), the servant of God of whom Isa. 53:11 says, „To know him will justify many.“^[50] Therefore we can ask the Father to have mercy on us because of the Son. Likewise the Holy Spirit is vis-à-vis God the Father and God the Son, when in prayer he moves us to trust in the mercy that the Father has promised because of the Son.^[51] There cannot be justification, in the sense Melanchthon has believed and taught already in 1521, if there is no Triune god. In the „Loci“ of 1521 Melanchthon focused on the process of justification, which involved an action on the part of man, the supplication for mercy. But in this doctrine of justification, the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity was already inherent. Melanchthon was not a Nicodemite in 1521, but already the theologian who would stand up to contradict Servet.