Adiaphoron, pl. -a (Ancient Greek αδιάφορα "indifferent things"; German "Mitteldinge" "middle matters") refers to matters not regarded as essential to faith, and which might therefore be allowed in the church, such as having pictures, lighting candles, wearing surplices, and singing certain hymns in worship.
Such matters were already present among Christians during New Testament times. Part of the apostle Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians is believed to have been written in response to a question that the Corinthian Christians asked him about whether it was permissible for a Christian to eat food offered to idols. In response, Paul replied
- ... food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. (1 Corinthians 8:8-9, quoting from the New International Version)
The issue of what constituted adiaphora became a major dispute during the Protestant Reformation. In 1548, two years after the death of Martin Luther, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V tried to unite Catholics and Protestants in his realm with a law called the Augsburg Interim . This law was rejected by Philipp Melanchthon, on the account that it did not ensure justification by faith as a fundamental doctrine. Later he was persuaded to accept a compromise known as the Leipzig Interim , deciding that doctrinal differences not related to justification by faith were adiaphora or matters of indiference. Melanchthon's compromise, however, was rejected by the majority of Lutherans led by Matthias Flacius.
In 1577, the Formula of Concord was crafted to settle the question of the nature of genuine adiaphora, which it defined as "church rites which are neither commanded nor forbidden in the Word of God." However, the Concord added believers should not yield even in matters of adiaphora when these are being forced upon them by the "enemies of God's Word".
The Lutheran Confessio Augustana (Augsburg Confession) states that
- the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. Nor is it necessary that human traditions, that is, rites or ceremonies, instituted by men, should be everywhere alike.
The sixteenth century English Nonconformist Richard Baxter is believed to have said regarding adiophora: "In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity."
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