The
Lutheran Confessions: What Are They?
The Spirit in
Which They Were Written
We use the word "confession"
in a variety of ways today. A young man confesses his love for
his fiancee. A criminal confesses to a felony. Christians confess
their sins to a fellow believer or at the appropriate time in
the church service. The Lutheran Confessions are something quite
different from all that. They are written, formal statements
with which a group of Christians, or an individual, declare
to the world their faith, their deepest and undaunted convictions.
The Lutheran Confessions
represent the result of more than 50 years of earnest endeavor
by Martin Luther and his followers to give Biblical and clear
expression to their religious convictions. The important word
in that definition is the word "convictions." This
word reveals the spirit in which the Lutheran Confessions were
written, not a spirit of hesitation or doubt, but of deepest
confidence that Lutherans, when they were writing and subscribing
the Concessions and creeds, because their content was all drawn
from the Word of God, Scripture, were affirming the truth, the
saving truth.
Listen to what the
Lutheran confessors say in the very last paragraph of the Book
of Concord (FC SD, XII, 40), a statement that describes their
assurance and their doctrinal certainty:
Therefore, it
is our intent to give witness before God and all Christendom,
among those who are alive today and those who will come
after us, that the explanation here set forth regarding
all the controversial articles of faith which we have addressed
and explained—and no other explanation—is our
teaching, faith, and confession. In it we shall appear before
the judgment throne of Jesus Christ, by God's grace, with
fearless hearts and thus give account of our faith, and
we will neither secretly nor publicly speak or write anything
contrary to it. Instead, on the strength of God's grace
we intend to abide by this confession.
Here we observe that
those who wrote and signed the Lutheran Confessions were not
merely settling controversies, or expressing opinions, or devising
new and clever doctrinal formulations. They were confessing
their faith and expressing their determination never to depart
from that confession. They take their stand as in the presence
of God and stake their very salvation on the doctrine they confess.
So confident are they of their position, so certain of their
doctrine, that they dare bind not only themselves but also their
posterity to it. And in another place they show their willingness
to submit themselves not only to the content but to the very
phrases of their confession: "We have determined not to depart
even a finger's breadth either from the subjects themselves,
or from the phrases which are found in [the Confessions]" (Preface
of the Book of Concord, quoted from Concordia Triglotta
[St. Louis: Concordia, 1921], p. 23).
I am sure that such
a profession seems like an impossible anachronism today, a mark
of inflexible pride which can no longer be respected or emulated
by enlightened people. But certainly with such expressions of
certainty the Confessions have captured the spirit of Christ
and the New Testament. Our Lord taught with authority and promised
His disciples that they would "know the truth." And how often
does the inspired apostle Paul dogmatically affirm, "I know,"
"I speak the truth ... .. I am persuaded"!
The Lutheran confessors
are convinced that Christians, basing their doctrine on Scripture
and the promises of God, can be certain of their salvation and
can formulate and confess true statements about God and all
the articles of the Christian faith. It is this spirit in which
all our Confessions were written and in which they so eloquently
give witness to the Gospel of Christ.
The Importance
of Doctrine
According to the
Lutheran Confessions, true doctrine, i. e., correct teaching
about God and His activity toward us, is not some remote possibility
but a marvelous fact, the result of God's grace; and this doctrine
is demonstrated in the Confessions themselves. Those who wrote
our Confessions were convinced of this (FC SD, Rule and Norm,
13); but more than that, they were persuaded that true doctrine,
theology (which means language about God), is of inestimable
importance to the church and to individual Christians. Why?
1. It is first and
foremost by pure doctrine that we honor God and hallow His name,
as we pray in the First Petition of the Small Catechism. "For,"
Luther says, "there is nothing he would rather hear than to
have his glory and praise exalted above everything and his Word
taught in its purity and cherished and treasured" (LC, 111,
48).
2. It is by agreement
in the pure doctrine that permanent concord and harmony can
be achieved in the church. "In order to preserve the pure doctrine
and to maintain a thorough, lasting, and God-pleasing concord
within the church, it is essential not only to present the true
and wholesome doctrine correctly, but also to accuse the adversaries
who teach otherwise (I Tim. 3:9; Titus 1:9; 11 Tim. 2:24; 3:16)"
(FC SD, Rule and Norm, 14).
3. Doctrine is important
to Lutherans because they believe that Christian doctrine is
not a human fabrication but originates in God. It is God's revealed
teaching about Himself and all He has done for us in Christ.
Therefore Luther says confidently and joyfully: "The doctrine
is not ours but God's" (WA, 17 11, 233). And he will risk everything
for the doctrine, for to compromise would do harm to God and
to all the world. Luther's spirit is echoed throughout our Confessions
as they affirm that their doctrine is "drawn from and conformed
to the Word of God" (FC SD, Rule and Norm, 5, 10).
4. Pure Christian
doctrine is important for our Lutheran Confessions because it
brings eternal salvation. It "alone is our guide to salvation"
(Preface to the Book of Concord, Concordia Triglotta, p. 11).
For this reason our Confessions call it "heavenly doctrine"
and they never fail to show and apply this saving aim of evangelical
doctrine.
This emphasis on
the importance of Christian doctrine is often not understood
or appreciated in our day of relativism and indifference.
How often do modem
church leaders declaim that the church will never achieve purity
of doctrine; nor is it necessary! Therefore we should concentrate
our efforts toward ministry to people in their needs. The longest
article in our Confessions deals with good works and ministry
to people in their needs (Ap, IV, 122-400) and insistently admonishes
the church to follow such an enterprise. But this does not make
doctrine less important! Today when people are leaving the church
in droves and abandoning the faith, we must keep our priorities
straight.
Luther says:
The great difference
between doctrine and life is obvious, even as the difference
between heaven and earth. Life may be unclean, sinful,
and inconsistent; but doctrine must be pure, holy, sound,
unchanging ... not a tittle or letter may be omitted,
however much life may fail to meet the requirements of
doctrine. This is so because doctrine is God's Word, and
God's truth alone, whereas life is partly our own doing....
God will have patience with man's moral failings and imperfections
and forgive them. But He cannot, will not, and shall not
tolerate a man's altering or abolishing doctrine itself.
For doctrine involves His exalted, divine Majesty itself
(WA, 30 111, 343 f.)
Strong words! But
this is the spirit of confessional Lutheranism.
Again theologians
remind us today that what matters for the Christian is his faith
relation to Christ: Faith is directed toward Christ and not
a body of doctrine. Of course! And how often do our Confessions
stress just this point! But the Christ in whom we believe and
live and hope is not a phantom or myth, but the very Son of
God who became a man, who really lived and suffered and died
as our Substitute, and who rose again for our justification.
In short, He is the Christ of whom we can speak meaningfully
and cognitively; and the minute we begin to speak about Him
and confess Him, we are speaking doctrine.
Again we are told
that we are saved by Christ, not by pure doctrine. True! But
does this make pure doctrine unimportant? We are not saved by
good works or social concern either. But does that make social
concern and works of love of no account? No, pure doctrine has
its function. It enables us to glorify God with our lips, to
teach and proclaim a pure and saving Gospel and not a false
gospel, to bring poor sinners to know their true condition and
to know God as He is, a wonderful and gracious Savior, and not
to flounder seeking and chasing phantoms.
Let us take our Confessions
seriously when they see pure doctrine as a wonderful gift and
instrument for glorifying God and building His church. This
was Paul's conviction: "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the
doctrine; continue in them; for in doing this thou shalt both
save thyself and them that hear thee" (1 Tim. 4:16). 14
Confessional Subscription,
an Evangelical Act
Lutherans have always
held that creeds and confessions are necessary for the well-being
of the church. Just as Christ's church and all Christians are
called upon to confess their faith (Matt. 10:32; Rom. 10:9;
1 Peter 3:15; 1 John 4:2), so the church, if it is to continue
to proclaim the pure Gospel in season and out of season, must
for many reasons construct formal and permanent symbols and
confessions and require pastors and teachers to subscribe these
confessions. It is impossible for the church to be a nonconfessional
church, just as impossible as to be a nonconfessing church.
And so today and ever since the Reformation Lutheran churches
over the world have required their pastors to subscribe the
Lutheran Confessions.
What does this mean?
With her confessions the church is speaking to the world, but
also to God, who has spoken to her in His Word-speaking to Him
in total commitment, speaking to Him by an unequivocal, unconditional
response in the spirit of, "We believe, teach, and confess"
(FC Ep, Rule and Norm, 1). This response is Scriptural, taken
from Scripture itself. How often do we read in our Confessions
that the teaching presented is "grounded in God's Word"! And
so the Confessions are no more than a kind of "comprehensive
summary, rule, and norm," grounded in the Word of God, "according
to which all doctrines should be judged and the errors which
intruded should be explained and decided in a Christian way"
(FC Ep, Heading). This would be an unbelievably arrogant position
to take, were it not for the fact that all the doctrine of our
Confessions is diligently and faithfully drawn from Scripture.
And so when the Lutheran
pastor subscribes the Lutheran Confessions (and the confirmand
or layman confesses his belief in the Catechism [LC, Preface,
19]), this is a primary way in which he willingly and joyfully
and without reservation or qualification confesses his faith
and proclaims to the world what his belief and doctrine and
confession really are. Dr. C. F. W. Walther, the father of the
Missouri Synod, long ago explained the meaning of confessional
subscription, and his words are as cogent today as when they
were first written:
An unconditional
subscription is the solemn declaration which the individual
who wants to serve the church makes under oath (1) that
he accepts the doctrinal content of our Symbolical Books,
because he recognizes the fact that it is in 15 full agreement
with Scripture and does not militate against Scripture
in any point, whether that point be of major or minor
importance; (2) that he therefore heartily believes in
this divine truth and is determined to preach this doctrine....
Whether the subject be dealt with expressly or only incidentally,
an unconditional subscription refers to the whole content
of the Symbols and does not allow the subscriber to make
any mental reservation in any point. Nor will he exclude
such doctrines as are discussed incidentally in support
of other doctrines, because the fact that they are so
stamps them as irrevocable articles of faith and demands
their joyful acceptance by everyone who subscribes the
Symbols.
This is precisely
how the Confessions themselves understand subscription (FC Ep,
Rule and Norm, 3, 5, 6; SD, Rule and Norm, 1, 2, 5).
Needless to say,
confessional subscription in the nature of the case is binding
and unconditional. A subscription with qualifications or reservations
is a contradiction in terms and dishonest.
Today many Lutherans
claim that such an unconditional subscription is legalistic.
Sometimes they assert that such a position is pompous and not
even honest.
We might respond:
What can possibly be wrong about confessing our faith freely
and taking our confession seriously? For it is the freest and
most joyful act in the world for those of us who have searched
these great confessional writings and found them to be Scriptural
and evangelical to subscribe them. Of course, to force or bribe
or wheedle a person into subscribing them would be an awful
sin and a denial of what our Confessions are, namely symbols,
standards around which Christians rally willingly and joyfully
in all their Christian freedom.
Confessions Are
the Voice of the Church
When I was a boy
my father told me a curious story about an occurrence in the
19th century. During the controversy among Lutherans concerning
predestination, the old Norwegian Synod sided with the Missouri
Synod. One member of the Norwegian Synod demurred vehemently
and in his consternation said, "I am the Norwegian Synod." That,
of course, was an absurdity, just as it would be absurd for
me to claim, "I am the church." The church, as we shall see,
16 according to our Confessions is the total of all believers
in Christ.
So it is, in a similar
sense, with the Confessions. They do not belong to Luther or
Melanchthon or those who, sometimes after great struggles, wrote
them. They belong to those for whom they were written, the church.
Princes subscribed the Augsburg Confession on behalf of their
churches. Luther's catechisms were finally subscribed because
the lay people had already accepted them. Thousands of clergy
subscribed the entire Book of Concord, and the only reason the
laity did not do so was the length of the book. All this suggests
two things.
First, that every
Lutheran ought to be concerned with what is rightfully his and
ought to agree with the doctrine of the Confessions. But it
suggests also that, if the Confessions really belong to the
entire church, then everyone in the church ought to be united
in the evangelical doctrine of the Confessions. That was the
case when the Book of Concord was compiled in 1580, and it ought
to be the case today.
Doctrinal Unanimity,
a Blessing to the Church
The Church of the
Reformation after the death of Luther in one respect resembled
the congregation at Corinth in the first century: It was a church
highly endowed with the gifts of the Spirit, but at the same
time tragically confused and divided. To the Corinthian congregation
Paul wrote: "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that
there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1 Cor.
1:10). Paul had no quarrel with the diversity of spiritual gifts
he found in that congregation; he rejoiced in all that, provided
it did not polarize the church. But there is only one Christ,
he says, who is undivided; one Gospel; and all Christians are
to be of the same mind and judgment, united in their faith and
doctrine.
The Church of the
Reformation took Paul's admonition seriously when after Luther's
death doctrinal controversies arose and threatened to destroy
its unity in the Gospel. The Lutheran churches recognized that
the unity of the Spirit which Paul stressed could only be manifested
when there was unanimity "in doctrine and in all its articles
and ... the right use of the holy sacraments" (FC SD, X, 31).
Their program for 17 unity and concord in a troubled church
went as follows: "The primary requirement for basic and permanent
concord within the church is a summary formula and pattern,
unanimously approved, in which the summarized doctrine commonly
confessed by the churches of the pure Christian religion is
drawn together out of the Word of God" (FC SD, Rule and Norm,
1).
What a remarkable
statement! Here is not the cynical despairing of the possibility
of doctrinal unity, so common to our relativistic age! not the
sneering rejection of doctrinal unanimity as something inimical
to man's freedom and autonomy. No, here is a statement of confidence
in the unifying power of the Word and Spirit of God. These old
Lutherans were convinced that doctrinal controversies were an
offense and doctrinal aberrations pernicious to believers and
unbelievers alike. "The opinions of the erring party cannot
be tolerated in the church of God," they said, "much less be
excused and defended" (FC SD, Intro., 9). But at the same time
they maintained with Paul-like optimism that unity in doctrine
and all its articles was not a remote possibility, not an impossible
goal at the end of a rainbow, but a wonderful blessing that
could be achieved by the church which would bow to the Word
of God and allow the Spirit to rule in all its life.
And so the Lutheran
confessors dare to produce a confession which all are asked
to sign and which represents the unanimous declaration of all.
They pledge themselves to the Book of Concord and confess: "We
have from our hearts and with our mouths declared in mutual
agreement that we shall neither prepare nor accept a different
or a new confession of our faith. Rather, we pledge ourselves
again to those public and well-known symbols or common confessions
which have at all times and in all places been accepted in all
the churches of the Augsburg Confession" (FC SD, Rule and Norm,
2). And they dare to maintain: "All doctrines should conform
to the standards [the Lutheran Confessions] set forth above.
Whatever is contrary to them should be rejected and condemned
as opposed to the unanimous declaration of our faith" (FC Ep,
Rule and Norm, 6). Do such statements reveal pride, cocksureness,
narrowness? Not at all! But Pauline, Spirit-led confidence and
optimism.
If only we could
recapture this spirit today! Openness is an in-word today. And
a "wholesome latitude" in doctrine is 18 considered by many
Lutherans to be a positive blessing to the church. Not many
years ago a Lutheran synod actually stated (but later modified,
thank goodness): "We are firmly convinced that it is neither
necessary nor possible to agree in all non-fundamental doctrines."
But where do the Scriptures or our Confessions say such a thing?
Where are we ever told that we Christians need not agree on
what Scripture affirms? Yes, let us be open to people's desires
and needs, to their diversity of gifts and opinions. But not
to error. Let us rather give heed to Paul's words and speak
the same thing and be perfectly joined together in the same
mind and judgment. Let us face up to doctrinal differences wherever
they arise and impinge upon our unity. And let us seek and treasure
the doctrinal unanimity of which our Confessions speak. Then
we may call ourselves Lutherans.
Source:
Getting into The
Theology of Concord by Robert D. Preus
(St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1977), pgs. 7-29.
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