We Alone are Not Wise: Key Insight for Being and Remaining Lutheran
Thanks to Rev. Matthew Harrison for this great post. Johann Kilian (1811-1884) was a Wendish Lutheran who opposed the Prussian Union (the force uniting of Lutheran and Reformed congregations into one church by the Prussian King in 1817). Kilian preached at the dedication of an independent Lutheran church building in Prussian Lusatia in 1848 on being Lutheran. He suffered constant harassment as a genuine Lutheran, and finally emigrated with 500 Wends to Texas in 1853. The congregation at Klitten, Germany, where this address was given, is still a member congregation of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany. He officiated with Pastor Gessner, who had been imprisoned for five years for his refusal to accept the union of Lutherans and Reformed. Kilian was a great Lutheran, and founder of confessional Lutheranism in Texas. LCMS Lutheranism in Texas can trace its history directly back to Kilian and others like him. Texas Lutherans do well to remember and follow the example of their father in the faith. Here is how Kilian explained why the Book of Concord is so important for Lutherans.
Our Evangelical Lutheran church has such a unique written rule in the Catechisms of Luther, the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles and in the Formula of Concord. These confessions further explain the faith against erring superstition and unbelief, against which it must be defended. These confessions teach us how those who are called Lutheran understand Biblical truth. They show us in which parts Lutheran doctrine agrees with other parts of the church and in which not. Now when we set our public confessions, and also Luther’s writings, over against not only Catholic and Reformed errors, but also other errors, in doing so we in no way place our Catechism and the other Lutheran writings above the Bible. We only place them over other human writings on the faith and explications of the Bible. The Lutheran writings are to us more thorough, more correct than other human written descriptions of the faith. Our intent is only to understand and explain the Bible as those have understood it and explained it, in unity with the ancient apostolic church, and with Luther, against all Catholic superstition, and the unbelief of the Reformed and others as a man publicly bore witness and through their certain and powerful confessions, regarding Catholic, Reformed and other errors, they have separated themselves as a strong and united army. We do not judge the Bible according to this witness and according to their writings. We only judge various human expositions of the Bible, indeed even our own thoughts. And so we desire to remain disciples of the thousands who have left for us in our confessions such a beautiful pattern of churchly and doctrinal unity. We simply desire to understand, teach and learn the Bible according to the Catechism of Luther, the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, and according to the Formula of Concord. Each teacher explains biblical passages according to something and someone, if not according to a certain ordained doctrine, then according to his own reason, and if not according to someone else, then according to himself. It is a great act of arrogance to teach only according to one’s own ideas. So we Lutherans have been given the humility to realize that we are not alone wise, as though we do not need the instruction of our old Lutheran fathers any more. So we interpret the Bible according to our Catechism and according to Luther and the Lutheran confessors. In doing so, we do not place their writings above the Scriptures. We only place the confessions over the self-proclaimed Meisters [selbstklugen Meister], who are of the opinion, that they do not err, and are more informed than Dr. Luther when they teach what pleases them, along with their favorite theories. (Trans. Matthew Harrison)
We have only been attending LCMS for about 1.5 years. So I am studying into the history. I have questions. Why was it that the Prussian Union was even possible was something I have wondered. Here is my understanding, which may or may not be accurate.
The Book of Concord, more specifically the meetings that produced it, seem to be centered on the geography in Germany around where Luther himself lived and worked. From what I have read it was not accepted by all “Lutherans” such as Denmark and Norway who never formally accepted it ( without actual rejection either ).
In trying to understand various things in the history of Germany/Europe/Lutheranism I have begun to consider the role of geography. For example in the Prussian Union why was it apparently so easy to unite Reformed and Lutheran. From what I have read about 3/4 of the churches/clergy had no resistance to it at all. The rest had limited opposition and there was a small core of firm believers who would not bend. From this core the LCMS came.
My theory, haven’t been able to confirm it, is that as one moved toward the south and west, toward the lands of the Swiss etc. one moved through a gradient of belief into regions nearer to Calvin/Zwingli’s historical sphere. There would have been a stronger mixing of reformed/lutheran ideas in this region by the time Concord events happened. Certain later events in Europe show the northern lutherans more likely to part with beliefs centered in Germany.
My sense on Concord is that it was an attempt to place Luther and his writings more firmly into the confessions. Previously it was heavily Melchanthon etc. The Smallclad articles, expressly not accepted by those compiling the confessions when the Augsburg confessions were made, were finally added to the confessions. Likewise the treatises on the papacy were added. Based on footnotes I read in Luthers Works at the LCMS parish I attend on his prefaces to Revelation say he added his views on Rome to his Revelation preface after his Smallclad articles were not accepted.
What I am wondering is how far off the mark I am for concluding there was even at the time of Luther and immediately later there was noticeable variation regarding how much and to what extant the views of Luther were accepted by each region and that geography played some role in the degree of adherence.
This ultimately seems to have fed into the core of believers that refused to compromise, from Saxony itself, who came to the US and became LCMS.
For example in the Prussian Union why was it apparently so easy to unite Reformed and Lutheran. From what I have read about 3/4 of the churches/clergy had no resistance to it at all. The rest had limited opposition and there was a small core of firm believers who would not bend. From this core the LCMS came.
I think it is difficult to understand in an American context the power the European ruling houses had to impose their religious views on the populace.
King Frederick William III began by revising the service book to make it acceptable to the Reformed and Lutherans. Some Lutherans paid for their resistance to the Union by being imprisoned and others left their homeland in order to practice their faith.
We owe them a great debt.
Christine