than 40 of the Lutheran ministers of Austria are said to have shared the
views of Flacius. (Preger 2, 393.) Only a few of them revealed symptoms
of fanaticism, which resulted in their dismissal. Among the latter was
Joachim Magdeburgius, then an exile at Efferding. He taught "that the
bodies of believing Christians after their death were still essential
original sin, and that God's wrath remained over them till the Day of
Judgment." (Joecher, _Lexicon_ 3, 32.) At the same time he branded as
errorists Spangenberg, Opitz, and Irenaeus, who declared their dissent.
In 1581 the Flacians in Austria issued a declaration against the
_Formula of Concord_, charging its teaching to be inconsistent with
Luther's doctrine on original sin. As late as 1604 there were numerous
Flacianists in German Austria.

174. Decision of Formula of Concord.

Seeberg remarks: "Flacius was not a heretic, but in the wrangle of his
day he was branded as such, and this has been frequently repeated." (4,
2, 495.) A similar verdict is passed by Gieseler and other historians.
But whatever may be said in extenuation of his error, it cannot be
disputed that the unfortunate phrases of Flacius produced, and were
bound to produce, most serious religious offense, as well as theological
strife, and hopeless doctrinal confusion. Even when viewed in the light
of his distinction between formal substance (man as endowed with the
image of God) and material substance (man as possessed of body and soul,
together with will and intellect), the odiousness of his terminology is
not entirely removed. It was and remained a form of doctrine and trope
or mode of teaching which the Lutherans were no more minded to tolerate
than the error of Strigel.

Accordingly, the first article of the _Formula of Concord_ rejects both
the synergistic as well as the Manichean aberrations in the doctrine of
original sin. In its Thorough Declaration we read: "Now this doctrine
[of original sin] must be so maintained and guarded that it may not
deflect either to the Pelagian or the Manichean side. For this reason
the contrary doctrine ... should also be briefly stated." (865, 16.)
Accordingly, in a series of arguments, the Flacian error is thoroughly
refuted and decidedly rejected. At the same time the _Formula of
Concord_ points out the offensiveness of the Flacian phraseology. It
refers to the controversy regarding this question as "scandalous and
very mischievous," and declares: "Therefore