Alexander Gordon

“ Osiander, maintaining the infusion of Christ’s righteousness into the believer, impugned the Lutheran doctrine of imputation; Chemnitz defended it with striking ability. As Duke Albert sided with Osiander, Chemnitz resigned the librarianship. Returning (1553) to Wittenberg, he lectured on Melanchthon’s Loci Communes, his lectures forming the basis of his own Loci Theologici (published posthumously, 1591) , which constitute probably the best exposition of Lutheran theology as formulated and modified by Melanchthon. ”

“ CHEMNITZ (or Kemnitz) , MARTIN (1522–1586) , German Lutheran theologian, third son of Paul Kemnitz, a cloth-worker of noble extraction, was born at Treuenbrietzen, Brandenburg, on the 9th of November 1522. Left an orphan at the age of eleven, he worked for a time at his father’s trade. A relative at Magdeburg put him to school there (1539–1542) . Having made a little money by teaching, he went (1543) to the university of Frankfort-on-Oder; thence (1545) to that of Wittenberg. Here he heard Luther preach, but was more attracted by Melanchthon, who interested him in mathematics and astrology. ”

“ In conjunction with Andreä and Selnecker he induced the Lutherans of Saxony and Swabia to adopt the Formula Concordiae and so become one body. Against lax views of Socinian tendency he directed his able treatise De duabus naluris in Christo (1570) . Resigning office in infirm health (1584) he survived till the 8th of April 1586. ”