The
Comprehensive Summary, Foundation, Rule and Norm
Whereby
All Dogmas should be Judged according to God's Word, and
the Controversies that have Occurred should be Explained
and Decided in a Christian Manner.
1]
Since for thorough, permanent unity in the Church it is,
above all things, necessary that we have a comprehensive,
unanimously approved summary and form wherein is brought
together from God's Word the common doctrine, reduced
to a brief compass, which the churches that are of the
true Christian religion confess, just as the ancient Church
always had for this use its fixed symbols; 2] moreover,
since this [comprehensive form of doctrine] should not
be based on private writings, but on such books as have
been composed, approved, and received in the name of the
churches which pledge themselves to one doctrine and religion,
we have declared to one another with heart and mouth that
we will not make or receive a separate or new confession
of our faith, but confess the public common writings which
always and everywhere were held and used as such symbols
or common confessions in all the churches of the Augsburg
Confession before the dissensions arose among those who
accept the Augsburg Confession, and as long as in all
articles there was on all sides a unanimous adherence
to [and maintenance and use of] the pure doctrine of the
divine Word, as the sainted Dr. Luther explained it.
3]
1. First [, then, we receive and embrace with our whole
heart] the Prophetic and Apostolic Scriptures of
the Old and New Testaments as the pure, clear fountain
of Israel, which is the only true standard by which all
teachers and doctrines are to be judged.
4]
2. And since of old the true Christian doctrine, in a
pure, sound sense, was collected from God's Word into
brief articles or chapters against the corruption of heretics,
we confess, in the second place, the three Ecumenical
Creeds, namely, the Apostles', the Nicene,
and the Athanasian, as glorious confessions of
the faith, brief, devout, and founded upon God's Word,
in which all the heresies which at that time had arisen
in the Christian Church are clearly and unanswerably refuted.
5]
3. In the third place, since in these last times God,
out of especial grace, has brought the truth of His Word
to light again from the darkness of the Papacy through
the faithful service of the precious man of God, Dr. Luther,
and since this doctrine has been collected from, and according
to, God's Word into the articles and chapters of the Augsburg
Confession against the corruptions of the Papacy and also
of other sects, we confess also the First, Unaltered
Augsburg Confession as our symbol for this time, not
because it was composed by our theologians, but because
it has been taken from God's Word and is founded firmly
and well therein, precisely in the form in which it was
committed to writing, in the year 1530, and presented
to the Emperor Charles V at Augsburg by some Christian
Electors, Princes, and Estates of the Roman Empire as
a common confession of the reformed churches, whereby
our reformed churches are distinguished from the Papists
and other repudiated and condemned sects and heresies,
after the custom and usage of the early Church, whereby
succeeding councils, Christian bishops and teachers appealed
to the Nicene Creed, and confessed it [publicly declared
that they embraced it].
6]
4. In the fourth place, as regards the proper and true
sense of the oft-quoted Augsburg Confession, an extensive
Apology was composed and published in print in 1531, after
the presentation of the Confession, in order that we might
explain ourselves at greater length and guard against
the [slanders of the] Papists, and that condemned errors
might not steal into the Church of God under the name
of the Augsburg Confession, or dare to seek cover under
the same. We unanimously confess this also, because not
only is the said Augsburg Confession explained as much
as is necessary and guarded [against the slanders of the
adversaries], hut also proven [confirmed] by clear, irrefutable
testimonies of Holy Scripture.
7]
5. In the fifth place, we also confess the Articles
composed, approved, and received at Smalcald in
the large assembly of theologians, in the year 1537, as
they were first framed and printed in order to be delivered
in the council at Mantua, or wherever it would be held,
in the name of the Estates, Electors, and Princes, as
an explanation of the above-mentioned Augsburg Confession,
wherein by God's grace they were resolved to abide. In
them the doctrine of the Augsburg Confession is repeated,
and some articles are explained at greater length from
God's Word, and, besides, the cause and grounds are indicated,
as far as necessary, why we have abandoned the papistical
errors and idolatries, and can have no fellowship with
them, and also why we know, and can think of, no way for
coming to any agreement with the Pope concerning them.
8]
6. And now, in the sixth place, because these highly important
matters [the business of religion] concern also the common
people and laymen [as they are called], who, inasmuch
as they are Christians, must for their salvation distinguish
between pure and false doctrine, we confess also the
Small and the Large Catechisms of Dr. Luther, as they
were written by him and incorporated in his works, because
they have been unanimously approved and received by all
churches adhering to the Augsburg Confession, and have
been publicly used in churches, schools, and in [private]
houses, and, moreover, because the Christian doctrine
from God's Word is comprised in them in the most correct
and simple way, and, in like manner, is explained, as
far as necessary [for simple laymen].
9]
In the pure churches and schools these public common writings
have been always regarded as the sum and model of the
doctrine which Dr. Luther, of blessed memory, has admirably
deduced from God's Word, and firmly established against
the Papacy and other sects; and to his full explanations
in his doctrinal and polemical writings we wish to appeal,
in the manner and as far as Dr. Luther himself in the
Latin preface to his published works has given necessary
and Christian admonition concerning his writings, and
has expressly drawn this distinction namely, that the
Word of God alone should be and remain the only standard
and rule of doctrine, to which the writings of no man
should be regarded as equal, but to which everything should
be subjected.
10]
But [this is not to be understood as if] hereby other
good, useful, pure books, expositions of the Holy Scriptures,
refutations of errors, explanations of doctrinal articles,
are not rejected; for as far as they are consistent with
the above-mentioned type of doctrine, these are regarded
as useful expositions and explanations, and can be used
with advantage. But what has thus far been said concerning
the summary of our Christian doctrine is intended to mean
only this, that we should have a unanimously accepted,
definite, common form of doctrine, which all our evangelical
churches together and in common confess, from and according
to which, because it has been derived from God's Word,
all other writings should be judged and adjusted as to
how far they are to be approved and accepted.
11]
For that we embodied the above-mentioned writing, namely,
the Augsburg Confession, Apology, Smalcald
Articles, Luther's Large and Small Catechisms,
in the oft-mentioned Sum of our Christian doctrine, was
done for the reason that these have always and everywhere
been regarded as the common, unanimously accepted meaning
of our churches, and, moreover, have been subscribed at
that time by the chief and most enlightened theologians,
and have held sway in all evangelical churches and schools.
12] So also, as before mentioned, they were all
written and sent forth before the divisions among the
theologians of the Augsburg Confession arose; therefore,
since they are held to be impartial, and neither can nor
should be rejected by either part of those who have entered
into controversy, and no one who without guile is an adherent
of the Augsburg Confession will complain of these writings,
but will cheerfully accept and tolerate them as witnesses
[of the truth], no one can think ill of [blame] us that
we derive from them an explanation and decision of the
articles in controversy, 13] and that, as we lay
down God's Word, the eternal truth, as the foundation,
so we introduce and quote also these writings as a witness
of the truth and as the unanimously received correct understanding
of our predecessors who have steadfastly held to the pure
doctrine.
Articles
in Controversy
with Respect to the Antithesis, or Opposite Doctrine.
14]
Moreover, since for the preservation of pure doctrine
and for thorough, permanent, godly unity in the Church
it is necessary, not only that the pure, wholesome doctrine
be rightly presented, but also that the opponents who
teach otherwise be reproved, 1 Tim. 3 (2 Tim. 3, 16);
Titus 1, 9,—for faithful shepherds, as Luther says,
should do both, namely, feed or nourish the lambs and
resist the wolves, so that the sheep may flee from strange
voices, John 10, 12, and may separate the precious from
the vile, Jer. 15, 19,—
15]
Therefore we have thoroughly and clearly declared ourselves
to one another, also regarding these matters, as follows:
that a distinction should and must by all means be observed
between unnecessary and useless wrangling, on the one
hand, whereby the Church ought not to be disturbed, since
it destroys more than it builds up, and necessary controversy,
on the other hand, as, when such a controversy occurs
as involves the articles of faith or the chief heads of
the Christian doctrine, where for the defense of the truth
the false opposite doctrine must be reproved.
16]
Now, although the aforesaid writings afford the Christian
reader, who delights in and has a love for the divine
truth, clear and correct information concerning each and
every controverted article of our Christian religion,
as to what he should regard and receive as right and true
according to God's Word of the Prophetic and Apostolic
Scriptures, and what he should reject, shun, and avoid
as false and wrong; yet, in order that the truth may be
preserved the more distinctly and clearly, and be distinguished
from all errors, and that nothing be hidden and concealed
under ordinary terms [rather general words and phrases],
we have clearly and expressly declared ourselves to one
another concerning the chief and most important articles
taken one by one, which at the present time have come
into controversy, so that there might be a, public, definite
testimony, not only for those now living, but also for
our posterity, what is and should remain the unanimous
understanding and judgment [decision] of our churches
in reference to the articles in controversy, namely:
17]
1. First, that we reject and condemn all heresies and
errors which were rejected and condemned in the primitive,
ancient, orthodox Church, upon the true, firm ground of
the holy divine Scriptures.
18]
2. Secondly, we reject and condemn all sects and heresies
which are rejected in the writings, just mentioned, of
the comprehensive summary of the Confession of our churches.
19]
3. Thirdly, since within thirty years some divisions arose
among some theologians of the Augsburg Confession on account
of the Interim and otherwise, it has been our purpose
to state and declare plainly [categorically], purely,
and clearly our faith and confession concerning each and
every one of these in thesis and antithesis, i. e.,
the true doctrine and its opposite, in order that the
foundation of divine truth might be manifest in all articles,
and that all unlawful, doubtful, auspicious, and condemned
doctrines, whereever and in whatever books they may be
found, and whoever may have written them, or even now
may be disposed to defend them, might be exposed [distinctly
repudiated], 20] so that every one may be faithfully
warned against the errors, which are spread here and there
in the writings of some theologians, and no one be misled
in this matter by the reputation [authority] of any man.
From this declaration the Christian reader will inform
himself in every emergency, and compare it with the writings
enumerated above, and he will find out exactly that what
was confessed in the beginning concerning each article
in the comprehensive summary of our religion and faith,
and what was afterward restated at various times, and
is repeated by us in this document, is in no way contradictory,
but the simple, immutable, permanent truth, and that we,
therefore, do not change from one doctrine to another,
as our adversaries falsely assert, but earnestly desire
to be found loyal to the once delivered Augsburg Confession
and its unanimously accepted Christian sense, and through
God's grace to abide thereby firmly and constantly in
opposition to all corruptions which have entered.
