is essential must make a true Christian; but if it
does not make a true Christian, it cannot be essential; just as
it does not make me a true Christian to be at Wittenberg or to be
at Leipzig. Now it is clear that external fellowship with the
Roman communion[29] does not make men Christians, and so the lack
of that fellowship certainly does not make a man a heretic or an
apostate. Therefore it must also be false, that it is a divine
command to be in connection with the Roman Church.[28] For
whosoever keepeth one divine command, keepeth them all, and none
can be kept without keeping the others[30]. Therefore it is an
open and blasphemous lie against the Holy Ghost to say that the
external unity under Roman authority is the fulfilment of a
divine commandment, since there are so many in that unity who
neither regard nor fulfil any of the Divine commandments. Hence,
to be in this place or that, does not make a heretic: but to be
without true faith makes a man a heretic.

Again, it is clear that to be a member of the Roman communion[31]
does not mean to be in true faith, and to be outside of it does
not mean to be in unbelief; otherwise those within it would all
be believers and truly saved, for no one article of faith is
believed without all the other articles.

Therefore all those who make the Christian communion[32] a
material and outward thing, like other communities, are in
reality Jews (for the Jews likewise wait for their Messiah to
establish an external kingdom at a certain definite place,
namely, Jerusalem), and thus sacrifice the faith, which alone
makes the kingdom of Christ a thing spiritual and of the heart.

[Sidenote: The Head of the Church]

Again, if every temporal community is called after its head, and
we say of this city, it is Electoral, and of that, it is Ducal,
and of another, it is Frankish; then by right all Christendom
should be called Roman, or Petrine, or Papal. But why, then, is
it called Christendom? Why are we called Christians, if not from
our head, although we are still upon earth? Hereby it is shown
that for Christendom there is no other head, even upon earth,
than Christ, for it has no other name than the name of Christ For
this reason St. Luke tells us that the disciples were at first
called Antiochians, but soon this was changed and they were
called Christians. [Acts 11:26][33]

Furthermore, though a man consists of two natures, namely, body
and soul, yet he is not reckoned a mem