The Lutheran Confessions
were not written in a vacuum or out of any party spirit. The
Lutheran Reformation was not a "revolt," as Roman Catholic historians
used to call it, much less a heresy. What motivated the Reformation
and the Confessions, which were its most significant fruits
and its permanent legacy to us who wish to be called Lutherans
today? What was the central backdrop for our Confessions, the
context for these different documents which were finally incorporated
in the Book of Concord? A reading of our Confessions will reveal
that they all sprang from an urgent need to give articulation
to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to teach and give witness
to this Gospel. And what is this Gospel which incited the most
blessed and significant spiritual awakening since the days of
the apostles?
In our Confessions
(FC SD, V, 20) we read:
The Gospel, however,
is that doctrine which teaches what a man should believe in
order to obtain the forgiveness of sins from God, since man
has failed to keep the law of God and has transgressed it,
his corrupted nature, thoughts, words, and deeds war against
the law, and he is therefore subject to the wrath of God,
to death, to temporal miseries, and to the punishment of hell-fire.
The content of the Gospel is this, that the Son of God, Christ
our Lord, himself assumed and bore the curse of the law and
expiated and paid for all our sins, that through him alone
we reenter the good graces of God, obtain forgiveness of sins
through faith, are freed from death and all the punishments
of sin, and are saved eternally.
This statement may
well be considered one of the most important and formative statements
in our Lutheran Confessions. Why? Because it is the most complete
and beautiful definition of the Gospel to be found in them.
And that is what our Confessions are all about-the Gospel! Our
great 24 Lutheran Confessions were written for the sake of the
Gospel. The Augsburg Confession, Luther's catechisms, the Formula
of Concord were not written just to blast or correct abuses
in the Roman Church, or to defend Lutheran theology against
the attacks of papists, or to perpetuate party spirit. These
Confessions were all prompted by a faith in the Gospel, a love
for it, and a determination to teach and confess it according
to the Scriptures.
In this respect our
Confessions resemble the New Testament itself. Paul and the
other apostles. Preach, admonish, and say everything for the
sake of the Gospel (1 Cor. 2:2; 9:16; John 20:31; 1 Peter 5:12;
1 John 5:13). That was their commission from Christ (Matt. 28:18-20;
Mark 16:15).
It is remarkable
how consistently our Confessions emphasize this central theme
of the Gospel, how all their discussions support and lead to
this theme of salvation by free grace through faith in Christ.
Melanchthon in the Augsburg Confession clusters all the articles
of faith around the redemptive work of Christ and justification
through faith in Him. When the writers of our Formula of Concord
at a later date try to settle certain controversies over original
sin, the spiritual powers of man's will before conversion, the
third use of the Law (as a pattern to regulate our lives), or
even church usages, they make it crystal clear that their concern
for the right doctrine on these matters is to enhance the Gospel
and its comfort to poor sinners. When Melanchthon speaks out
so strongly and at such length against the legalism and work-righteousness
of the Roman Church of his day, it is only because "the Gospel
(that is, the promise that sins are forgiven freely for Christ's
sake) must be retained in the church" (Ap, IV, 120). And when
he insists so vehemently that a sinner is justified by faith
in Christ, it is because to deny or undermine this great fact
"completely destroys the Gospel" (ibid.).
Martin Luther in
the Smalcald Articles structures all of Christian doctrine around
the simple doctrine of the Gospel, the doctrine of Christ and
faith in Him. Here is what he says (SA, II, i):
The first and chief
article is this, that Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, "was
put to death for our trespasses and raised again for our justification"
(Rom. 4:25). He alone is "the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin of the world" (John 1:29).... Inasmuch as this must
be believed and cannot be obtained or apprehended by any work,
law, or merit, it is clear and 25 certain that such faith
alone justifies us, as St. Paul says in Romans 3, "For we
hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of
law" (Rom. 3:28), and again, "that he [God] himself is righteous
and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26).
Nothing in this article can be given up or compromised, even
if heaven and earth and things temporal should be destroyed....
On this article rests all that we teach and practice against
the pope, the devil, and the world. Therefore we must be quite
certain and have no doubts about it....
This is the spirit
of Luther and the Lutheran Confessions. This is why our Confessions,
like Scripture itself, are always contemporary and useful. If
we share this Gospel spirit, we will see how helpful and exciting
our Confessions are and we will read them with avidity and profit.
Source:
Getting
into The Theology of Concord by Robert D. Preus
(St.
Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1977), pgs. 7-29.
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