Niels Hemmingsen, commenting on the clause “I believe in the forgiveness of sins” in the Apostles’ Creed, calls gracious forgiveness the “chief adornment of the church.”
Text and Translation
Remissio peccatorum est praecipuum ornamentum Ecclesiae, quo donatur a suo sponso Christo. Nam forma propria iustificationis Ecclesiae et singulorum membrorum in Ecclesia, hic exprimitur, quae est remissio peccatorum et imputatio iusticiae Christi, et acceptatio personae credentis gratis propter Christum.
The remission of sins is the chief adornment of the Church, which she receives as a gift from her bridegroom Christ. For the proper form of the justification of the Church and of the individual members in the Church is here expressed, which is the remission of sins and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, and the acceptance of the person of the believer freely on account of Christ.1
