The Four C’s of Doctrinal History – Part 8: The Lutheran Augsburg Confession

With Martin Luther, we really have the first major denominational split from Roman Catholicism in the Lutheran Church. It is not that the true gospel didn’t exist prior to Luther, but those who held to the true gospel were simply viewed as non-conformists, people with relative anonymity. That would not be the case during and after the Reformation.

With Marth Luther, his own followers who believed what he was teaching, also departed from the Roman Catholic Church. Luther’s views were espoused primarily in many of the Germanic areas and eventually northward into the Scandinavian countries, but his writings spread throughout the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1530, the reigning Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, wanted to bring a sense of unity amongst the various religious and political groups. He knew he was facing an impending war against the Turks who had attacked Vienna. So he called for the German Lutheran princes to prepare a statement of their faith and present it to the Diet in Augsburg. He desired to bring some kind of unity between the Lutherans and Roman Catholics so that they could fight together against the Turks.

In April, May, and June of that year, Martin Luther, with his good friend Philip Melancthon, crafted a statement of faith. Melanchthon was the primary author, smoothing out the thoughts and articulations of Luther, making the general tenor of the document a bit gentler and more conciliatory than Luther’s typical aggressive attacks of Rome. However, Luther gave his approval to everything his friend wrote.

The statement, known today as the Augsburg Confession, was formally presented to the Emperor and other Roman Catholic leaders on June 25, 1530 in Augsburg. There were two documents written, one in German, which was read out loud so that even those outside the building could hear, and one in Latin which was presented to the Emperor. Both the German and Latin original documents are no longer extant.

Here is the opening of the Preface,

“Most Invincible Emperor, Caesar Augustus, Most Clement Lord: Inasmuch as Your Imperial Majesty has summoned a Diet of the Empire here at Augsburg to deliberate concerning measures against the Turk, that most atrocious, hereditary, and ancient enemy of the Christian name and religion, in what way, namely, effectually to withstand his furor and assaults by strong and lasting military provision; and then also concerning dissensions in the matter of our holy religion and Christian Faith, that in this matter of religion the opinions and judgments of the parties might be heard in each other’s presence; and considered and weighed among ourselves in mutual charity, leniency, and kindness, in order that, after the removal and correction of such things as have been treated and understood in a different manner in the writings on either side, these matters may be settled and brought back to one simple truth and Christian concord, that for the future one pure and true religion may be embraced and maintained by us, that as we all are under one Christ and do battle under Him, so we may be able also to live in unity and concord in the one Christian Church.”

The Augsburg Confession contains a series of 28 articles defining various theological beliefs of the Lutheranism. Twenty-one of those articles were positive affirmations of the Lutheran faith, followed by seven articles describing differences between Lutheranism and the Roman Catholic Church.

The first part (Articles I – XXI) is essentially theological or doctrinal in nature. It is an attempt to articulate basic Lutheran theology. The Lutheran view was very similar to that of basic Catholic theology, that is, the theology flowing from the early creeds like the Apostle’s and Nicene creeds, etc. It also was meant to distinguish the Lutherans from the more reformed and Anabaptist persuasions.

In this part you will see affirmation of things like justification by faith apart from good works, paedobaptism, consubstantiation, and the free will of man in civil areas, but not spiritual.

The second part (Articles XXII-XXVIII) articulated the differences with Rome especially.

Here, the Confession argued that the priests should be able to marry, that the Mass does not take away sin, that there was no need for the practice of monastic vows, and other points of differences.

The Roman leaders who were present were surprised at how moderate the confession was. Their theologians present were ordered to produce a kind of rebuttal or refutation of what they had just heard, which they did. Melanchthon, then, responded with his own “Apology of the Augsburg Confession” but the diet refused to even receive it. Later that year they ordered the Lutheran Protestants to return to the Roman Catholic faith. Of course, the Lutherans refused.

Melanchthon continued to revise the Augsburg Confession after the Diet in Augsburg, and in 1540 an edition was produced that was called “The Altered Augsburg Confession.” This altered version leaned a bit more towards the more reformed views of people like Zwingli or Calvin.

The Augsburg Confession is significant for a few reasons:

1. It was the first major confessional document of the Reformation era;
2. It is still the primary confessional document of the Lutheran church, either in its original form or the altered form; and
3. It gave inspiration for other documents, such as the 39 Articles of the Anglican Church, and the 25 Articles of the Methodist Church.

Baptists can appreciate the Confession for what it is while at the same time disagree with many of its theological views regarding the Lord’s Supper, baptism, and so forth. It remains an important document in the progression of church history.

Previously in this series:

• The Four “Cs” of Doctrinal History – Part 1: Introduction
• The Four C’s of Doctrinal History – Part 2: The Origins, Division, and Authority of the Four Cs of Doctrinal History
• The Four C’s of Doctrinal History – Part 3: The Apostles’ Creed
• The Four Cs of Doctrinal History – Part 4: The Nicene Creed
• The Four C’s of Doctrinal History – Part 5: The Chalcedonian Definition
• The Four C’s of Doctrinal History – Part 6: The Athanasian Creed
• The Four C’s of Doctrinal History – Part 7: Luther and His Catechism

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Taigen Joos is the pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Dover, NH.

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