attachment that is not restricted to the initial acknowledgement and
confession but continues to serve as the basis of Christian personality.
In the disputation, Luther teaches that the so-called acquired faith
says of its object that‘this does not concern me’(ista nihil ad me).^177
Such misguided faith is merely holding something as true, an attitude
that even demons may have and can be acquired with human
powers.^178 The ‘true faith’is thefides apprehensiva.^179 This faith
says about the Creed that it is all done for me (hoc totum pro
me).^180 Luther concludes that the justifying faith is that which says
‘for me, or for our sake’(pro me, seu pro nobis).^181 To understand
Luther’s point properly, one needs to see that this appropriation does
not highlight subjective activity. On the contrary, such activity is
disregarded as‘acquired faith’; the proper and true appropriation
means that faith is given from an external source as a gift to human
hearts.^182 Luther’s concept of apprehensive faith thus emerges as a
counterpart to Pauline soteriology according to which Christ was
given‘for us’(e.g. Romans 8:31–2, Gal. 1:4).
Historically, Luther here takes a stance on the classical problem of
oikeiosisor appropriative ownership. He refutes the view that such
attachment emerges through a subjective activity that employs the
free consent of the will, developing acquired habits, virtues, and
merits. This refusal leads his critics to think that, for Lutherans, no
ownership at all can take place in the human heart, or that justifica-
tion is‘only by the good will of God’.^183 However, Luther here pleads
for another kind of attachment, one that emerges in the heart as a
result of the divine gift. For him, true faith entails an acknowledge-
ment that expresses a deeper attachment to Christian doctrine than
anything acquired by human powers. Luther’s concept of apprehen-
sive faith thus continues the reception history ofcommendatio. While
Luther leaves the feudal framework behind, he nevertheless empha-
sizes the heteronomy of true allegiance. The feudalcommendatiomay
thus have contributed something to Luther’s conceptual construal of
a peculiar religious attachment that is not‘acquired’but‘given as a
gift’and believed to be‘for me’.
(^177) Defide, WA 39/1, 46, 2. (^178) WA 39/1, 45, 14–15, 30.
(^179) WA 39/1, 46, 3. (^180) WA 39/1, 45, 34.
(^181) WA 39/1, 46, 7. (^182) WA 39/1, 45, 27–30.
(^183) Decrees, 679 (Trent,De iust. canon 11).
The Latin Traditions 95