While there
are a variety of ways one could answer this question, one very
important answer is simply this, "A Lutheran is a person
who believes, teaches and confesses the truths of God's Word
as they are summarized and confessed in the Book of Concord."
The Book of Concord contains the Lutheran confessions of faith.
Perhaps you have attended an ordination of a pastor and heard
him promise that he will perform the duties of his office in
accord with the Lutheran Confessions. When people are received
into membership into a Lutheran congretation through confirmation
they are asked if they confess the doctrine of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church, as they have learned to know it from the Small
Catechism, to be faithful and true.
These solemn promises indicate to us just how important the
Lutheran Confessions are for our church. Let's take a look at
the various items contained in the Book of Concord and then
we will talk about why the Lutheran Confessions are so important
for being a Lutheran.
What
are the Ecumenical
Creeds?
The three ecumenical creeds in the Book of Concord are the Apostles'
Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed. They are described
as "ecumenical" [universal] because they are accepted
by Christians worldwide as correct expressions of what God's
Word teaches.
What
is the Augsburg
Confession and Apology
of the Augsburg Confession?
In the year 1530, the Lutherans were required to present their
confession of faith before the emperor in Augsburg, Germany.
Philip Melanchthon wrote the Augsburg Confession and it was
read before the imperial court on June 30, 1530. One year later,
the Lutherans presented their defense of the Augsburg Confession,
which is what "apology" here means. It too was written
by Philip Melanchthon. The largest document in the Book of Concord,
its longest chapter, is devoted to the most important truth
of the Christian faith: the doctrine of justification by grace
alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
What
are the Small
and Large
Catechisms?
Martin Luther realized early on how desperately ignorant the
laity and clergy of his day were when it came to even the most
basic truths of the Christian faith. Around 1530, he produced
two small handbooks to help pastors and the heads of families
teach the faith.
The Small Catechism and the Large Catechism are organized around
six topics: the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's
Prayer, Holy Baptism, Confession, and the Sacrament of the Altar.
So universally accepted were these magnificent doctrinal summaries
by Luther, that they were included as part of the Book of Concord.
What
are the Smalcald
Articles and the Treatise
on the Power and Primacy of the Pope?
In 1537, Martin Luther was asked to prepare a statement of Lutheran
belief for use at a church council, if it was called. Luther's
bold and vigorous confession of faith was later incorporated
into the Book of Concord. It was presented to a group of Lutheran
rulers meeting in the town of Smalcald. Philip Melanchthon was
asked to expand on the subject of the Roman pope and did so
in his treatise, which also was included in the Book of Concord.
What
is the Formula
of Concord?
After Luther's death in 1546, significant controversies broke
out in the Lutheran Church. After much debate and struggle,
the Formula of Concord in 1577 put an end to these doctrinal
controversies and the Lutheran Church was able to move ahead
united in what it believed, taught and confessed. In 1580, all
the confessional writings mentioned here were gathered into
a single volume, the Book of Concord. Concord is a word that
means, "harmony." The Formula of Concord was summarized
in a version known as the "Epitome"
of the Formula of Concord. This document too is included in
the Book of Concord.
What
is the connection between the Bible and the Confessions?
We confess that, "The Word of God is and should remain
the sole rule and norm of all doctrine" (FC SD, Rule and
Norm, 9). What the Bible asserts, God asserts. What the Bible
commands, God commands. The authority of the Scriptures is complete,
certain and final. The Scriptures are accepted by the Lutheran
Confessions as the actual Word of God. The Lutheran Confessions
urge us to believe the Scriptures for "they will not lie
to you" (LC, V, 76) and cannot be "false and deceitful"
(FC SD, VII, 96). The Bible is God's "pure, infallible,
and unalterable Word" (Preface to the BOC).
The Lutheran Confessions are the "basis, rule, and norm
indicating how all doctrines should be judged in conformity
with the Word of God" (FC SD RN). Because the Confessions
are in complete doctrinal agreement with the written Word of
God, they serve as the standard in the Lutheran Church to determine
what is faithful Biblical teaching, insofar as that teaching
is addressed in the Confessions.
What
is the main point of the Lutheran Confessions?
The Lutheran Reformation was not a "revolt," but rather
began as a sincere expression of concern with the false and
misleading teachings, which, unfortunately, even to this very
day, obscure the glory and merit of Jesus Christ. What motivated
Luther was a zealous concern about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Here is how the Lutheran Confessions explain what the Gospel
is all about:
Human
beings have not kept the law of God but have transgressed
it. Their corrupted human nature, thoughts, words, and deeds
battle against the law. For this reason they are subject
to God's wrath, to death and all temporal afflictions, and
to the punishment of the fires of hell. As a result, the
Gospel, in its strict sense, teaches what people should
believe, namely, that they receive from God the forgiveness
of sins; that is, that the Son of God, our Lord Christ,
has taken upon Himself the curse of the law and borne it,
atoned and paid for all our sins; that through Him alone
we are restored to God's grace, obtain the forgiveness of
sins through faith and are delivered from death and all
the punishments of our sins and are saved eternally. . .
. It is good news, joyous news, that God does not want to
punish sin but to forgive it for Christ's sake (FC SD, V,
20).
What
is a "confessional" Lutheran?
The word "confession" is used in a variety of ways,
but when we speak of a "confessional" Lutheran we
mean a Lutheran who declares to the world his faith and most
deeply held belief and conviction, in harmony with the documents
contained in the Book of Concord. You will catch the spirit
of confessional Lutheranism in these, the last words written
in the Book of Concord:
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 (FC SD, XII, 40).
What
is an "unconditional subscription" to the Confessions?
Confessional Lutheran pastors are required to "subscribe"
unconditionally to the Lutheran Confessions because they are
a pure exposition of the Word of God. This is the way our pastors,
and every layman who confesses his belief in the Small Catechism,
is able with great joy and without reservation or qualification
to say what it is that he believes to be the truth of God's
Word.
Dr. C. F. W. Walther, the Missouri Synod's first president,
explained the meaning of an unconditional confessional subscription
in words as clear and poignant today as they were then:
An
unconditional subscription is the solemn declaration which
the individual who wants to serve the church makes under
oath that he accepts the doctrinal content of our Lutheran
Confessions, because he recognizes the fact that they are
in full agreement with Scripture and do not militate against
Scripture in any point, whether the point be of major or
minor importance; and that he therefore heartily believes
in this divine truth and is determined to preach this doctrine.
So
what is it to be a Lutheran?
Being a Lutheran is being a person who believes the truths of
God's Word, the Holy Bible, as they are correctly explained
and taught in the Book of Concord. To do so is to confess the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. Genuine Lutherans, confessional Lutherans,
dare to insist that "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. RN,
6).
Such a statement may strike some as boastful. But it is not;
rather, it is an expression of the Spirit-led confidence that
moves us to speak of our faith before the world.
To be a confessional Lutheran is to be one who honors the Word
of God. That word makes it clear that it is God's desire for
His church to be in agreement about doctrine, and to be of one
mind, living at peace with one another (1 Cor. 1:10; 2 Cor.
13:11). It is for that reason that we so treasure the precious
confession of Christian truth that we have in the Book of Concord.
For Confessional Lutherans, there is no other collection of
documents, or statements or books that so clearly, accurately
and comfortingly presents the teachings of God's Word and reveals
the Biblical Gospel as does our Book of Concord.
Hand-in-hand with our commitment to pure teaching and confession
of the faith, is, and always must be, our equally strong commitment
to reaching out boldly with the Gospel and speaking God's truth
to the world. That is what "confession" of the faith
is all about, in the final analysis. Indeed, "It is written:
ÎI believed; therefore I have spoken.' With that same spirit
of faith we also believe and therefore speak" (2 Cor. 4:13).
This is what it means to be a Lutheran.
For Further Study:
Robert
Preus, Getting into the Theology of Concord: A Study of the
Book of Concord (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,
1977).
David Scaer, Getting into the Story of Concord: A History
of the Book of Concord (St. Louis, Concordia Publishing
House, 1977).
Where
can you purchase a copy of the Book of Concord?
