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Why I’m A Book of Concord Fanatic (Free Pamphlet!)

August 28th, 2010 2 comments

A fanatic is a person who won’t change his mind, and can’t change the subject.” – Winston Churchill

Yes, that’s pretty much me when I get going on the Book of Concord, which is often. I have to begin this post with an apology, to my friend, Myrtle, a dear sister in Christ who sent this to me, longer ago than I care to admit. She has been very patient waiting for me to share this resource with you. But, finally, here you go. Pastor Fisk’s great video on the Book of Concord reminded me of my forgetfullness.

Please do check out her fine work at assembling a nice little pamphlet on whyt he Book of Concord is so great. It is nice to see I’m not the only one who is nuts for the Book of Concord. There are a lot of us BOC Fanatics out there. Why?

OK, to repeat: Well, watch Rev. Fisk’s video and read Myrtle’s great little pamphlet. You can get it here.

Told you I can’t change the subject!

Categories: Lutheran Confessions

Fisk’s Take on the Book of Concord

August 27th, 2010 No comments

The young Jedi YouTuber, Pastor Fisk, has a nicely done explanation of what makes the Book of Concord such a wonderful book. Check out his, as always, entertaining and unique take on it:

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Categories: Lutheran Confessions

Why are We Lutherans?

August 11th, 2010 6 comments

“It so happens that the people who lived in the Age of the Reformation knew and understood certain truths which were later forgotten and had to be learned from them again. The loyalty of the Evangelical Lutheran Church is accounted for by these experiences. We are faithful to this church, not because it is the church of our Fathers, but because it is the church of the Gospel; not because it is the church of Luther, but because it is the church of Jesus Christ. If it became something else, if its teaching were something other than a correct exposition of the plain Word of God, it would no longer be our church.

“It is not the Lutheran liturgy that matters. The church can get along without it if it must. It is not the Symbolic Books that count. If it should ever be demonstrated that they contain essential errors, we would be the first ones to cast them into the fire, for our norma normans, the standard by which we judge doctrines, is the Bible alone. Nor is it the Evangelical Lutheran Church, as a separate church in Christendom, that matters. The moment it becomes anything else than the stand on which is put the lamp which alone is a light upon our path, it becomes a sect and must disappear. We would not be Lutherans if we did not believe this!”

From Here We Stand, Nature & Character of the Lutheran Faith (E.T. Theodore Tappert, rights assigned to Lutheran Publishing House, Adelaide, 1979)

Life-Long Lutheran Discovers Really Big Book (and Loves It!)

August 9th, 2010 4 comments

I really enjoyed this blog post I bumped into the other day. I think you will too.

I was raised Lutheran. Baptized into the faith through water and the Word when I was 20 days old. Brought to Sunday School as a youth and after attending Confirmation class, I was confirmed in the Evangelical Lutheran Church when I was 4,866 days old.

During High School, I decided that I didn’t believe in Jesus or God His Father. I left the faith for a while, but by the grace of God, I was called back to saving faith by the Word in college. After again attending an LC–MS church for several years, I decided that I would attend seminary with the intention of serving God’s church as an under-shepherd (pastor).

Imagine my surprise when I discovered the Really Big Book (otherwise known as the Book of Concord of 1580). My surprise, by the way, was not that there was a really big book published 400+ years ago; no, my surprise was that there was a book which contains the official confession of the Lutheran Church. My surprise was that, in order to become a pastor in the Missouri Synod, I would have to read and agree with (subscribe unconditionally to ) everything in that book “because” it faithfully teaches what the Bible reveals.

Hmmm… interesting. How come I’ve never even heard of this?

And, wait a minute.

Everything? I have to agree with everything in that Really Big Book? You’re going to ask me at my ordination if I believe that the entirety of the Book of Concord of 1580 (that self-same Really Big Book) is a “true exposition of Holy Scripture and a correct exhibition of the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church?” (LC-MS Agenda). Not only that, but the answer I will be required to give is: “Yes, I make these Confessions my own because they are in accord with the Word of God”?

Wow. Here I don’t even know this book exists and now unconditional subscription to the content of that book is going to be a prerequisite to ordination? Not only that, but I need to be able to say openly, freely, and without reservation that what that book says is in fact my own confession— not the confession of those long-dead reforming saints, but MY OWN!

Truth be known, once I started to get over my shock, then I started to get angry. I was mad. “Don’t we just need the bible?!?”

Thanks be to God that I didn’t despair. I figured “it couldn’t hurt to read the stupid thing” and see what it says. After all, if this Book of Concord is the official confession of the Evangelical Lutheran Church… if it is norm by which the Lutheran Church believes, teaches, and confesses what we believe the Bible says… I might as well give it a shot. Right?

So I started to read. And boy was I shocked! This Really Big Book was a treasure trove! It wasn’t a bunch of debatable opinions by a bunch of really dead guys… it was a faithful teaching of what God reveals in Scripture. I began to realize just how silly my question of “Don’t we just need the Bible?” was. The Book of Concord wasn’t a replacement for the Bible. By no means! Rather, it was a faithful speaking of God’s Word back again. And it was awesome! With the Book of Concord by my side, my Bible reading became the exciting adventure I never knew it could be. Before the Book of Concord, I was an intermittent Bible reader, after… I was a voracious reader, for the Bible had become for me that most delightful of feasts.

I still had some hard work to overcome a few things —like understanding the Bible’s teaching on the doctrine of Election (which is HUGE!) and learning to value Baptism (which is also HUGE!)— but it’s no exaggeration to say that my study of the Book of Concord transformed me. It opened my eyes to so much of what the Bible teaches. I went from being a life-long Lutheran who would have been comfortable joining your friendly Community Church down the street… to being a convicted Christian who would give his right hand before he’d let go of the theology confessed in the Lutheran confessions.

In the end, it’s not about “being Lutheran.” It’s about “Christ and Him crucified” for you (1 Cor. 2:2). It’s about God working through real Words and tangible Sacraments FOR YOU! It’s about a radical grace that flies in the face of everything that world teaches. And I learned it all through the Book of Concord.

The Lord Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41–42). God bless you as you continue to sit at Jesus’ feet!

SDG.

n.b. this post was partly inspired by a blog comment of Rev. Jonathan Fisk, whose journey in part mirrors my own. I even shamelessly stole some of his phrases! :) Thanks, Jonathan!

Categories: Lutheran Confessions

The Lutheran Confessions: Pastoral, Practical and Personal — What Do You Think About Them?

July 14th, 2010 7 comments

The Lutheran Confessions are Pastoral

The constant drum beat throughout them is the goal of comforting and caring for souls. The Lutheran Confessions are not theological speculations or abstractions. The times in which it was written called for pastoral care on a scale that could only be compared to a national emergency. Souls bruised and bullied by legalisms and demands placed on them outside of and beyond the Sacred Scriptures were healed by the healing and life-giving Gospel. Persons who were not hearing the comforting promises of the Holy Gospel, the free and full forgiveness of all salvation through Christ, received the mercy of God as they heard of the Savior who loved them and died and rose for them. The Lutheran Confessions speak to us today because they speak of the most important issues any of us ever face in our life. Who am I? What is life’s meaning? Who do I know God? Am I loved? How can I be sure? What am I do to with my life?

The Lutheran Confessions are Practical

They go right to the heart of the key issues and, even in spite of the length of some articles in them, never wander off on side paths. It is a book on a mission and that is to deliver the Gospel: purely, cleanly, correctly and practically, again, for the care of souls. They are not journal articles indulging in scholarly pursuits, or the pet interests of their authors in the pursuit of credibility and respect in the academic community. The Confessions are practical resources for people’s faith and life, as they live and especially, as they die. Why? Because the golden thread running throughout them is the chief and most important teaching of the Christian faith: justification by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone, the teaching drawn from Scripture, alone: the Gospel.

The Lutheran Confessions are Personal

The Book of Concord was written by people who had deep and long first-hand experience with the various theological ills they are decrying and had first-hand knowledge of just how powerfully comforting and consoling the Gospel is. Therefore, for example, when you read about monasticism in this book, always behind these discussions stands the man who spent well over a decade of his life in this lifestyle, tortured and tormented no end by the lack of Gospel: Martin Luther. The book could almost be said to be a spiritual autobiography of all those who contributed to it. They are not dispassionate scientific essays. They are not mystical and obscure texts. They are personal statements of faith expressed on behalf of the Church, and for the Church, in order to gather more and more into the Church.

Those are three reasons why I am so passionate about the Book of Concord.

Reader, why do you like the Book of Concord? What have you found helpful in it? What do you keep coming back to in it that has been of particular help and meaning to you?

Categories: Lutheran Confessions

The Lutheran Confessions Are Not (Just) Lutheran

July 7th, 2010 3 comments

Book of Concord Title Page

There is a powerful little statement made by a Lutheran theologian, who, in signing his agreement to one of the documents in the Lutheran Confessions, captured the very essence of what, precisely, the Lutheran Confessions are. He wrote: “I judge that all these agree with Holy Scripture and with the belief of the true and genuine catholic Church.” — John Brentz, Minister of Halle, Smalcald, 1537. The true and genuine catholic Church — this is that the Lutheran Confessions represent. Nothing more, nothing less.

A little detail almost always is overlooked when we talk about the Book of Concord:the “Lutheran” confessions really aren’t (just) “Lutheran!” It is important to highlight this in our relativistic, subjectivistic culture where everybody seems to have their truth — and so, why shouldn’t (some in) the Lutheran church have their Lutheran confessions (so long as the Reformed get to have their confessions and the Catholics their Council of Trent — and non-denominational groups their bible)? But that understates the ecumenical claim of the “Lutheran” Confessions. The “Lutheran” confessions are not interested in formulating some particular truths (really then: “truths”); they’re interested in reasserting the catholic, universal, Christian truths of Scripture. In other words, on the one hand, it does make sense to call the Book of Concord the “Lutheran Confessions” to distinguish them from the, say, Anglican Confession or the Reformed Confessions. Yet that only touches on one aspect.

Even though it historically emerged out of inner-Lutheran arguments after Luther’s death in 1546, the 1580 Book of Concord was not originally entitled: Lutheran Book of Concord (then the Catholics would have won: “Ha! See? You Lutherans only run after Luther’s private opinions — the “ecumenical councils” are us!”).

It is entitled: Christian Book of Concord (as can be seen on the beautiful title page of the German Book of Concord: the German word “Christliche” (Christian) is the largest, most ornate word on that page — and that is so for a very good reason!). It gave an account of correct Christian, catholic, universal teaching of the Church precisely because it was drawn from the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures. Building on the three “ecumenical creeds,” the Book of Concord now formulates the standard of what is considered Christian in the Christian church. That is, at least, the assertion of the churches bearing Luther’s name. This claim is indeed controversial, as everybody can easily understand. But since we are now in the time of the church militant — which truth / interpretation of Scripture is really uncontroversial?

In fact, if there’s any reason for there being a distinct Lutheran church, then it can only be found in the catholicity of this church’s doctrine, once confessed in the Christian Book of Concord of 1580. So we’re really saying: even though it sounds very parochial and particular, this one confession defines what is Christian to this day because it correctly expounds Scripture, God’s word. Many, no doubt, will call this “sectarianism” (as opposed to the “ecumenical” denominationalism where every “denomination” is just a different, but equally valid denomination, kind of like different dollar bills in your wallet).

But in the church of the Crucified, truth is not found in generalizations and abstractions many can agree on “by their own reason or strength”. It is found in the in agreeing on what God’s word actually means.

How do we teach the faithful what it means to be a genuinely small-c “catholic” Christian who is pledged, at the very least, to Luther’s Small Catechism, and that their pastors and other church workers are pledged to the Book of Concord?

In what sense is the Book of Concord “Lutheran”? And in what sense is it “Christian”? What’s the difference? How do we avoid sectarianism while maintaining an unconditional subscription to the Lutheran Confessions?

Care to Listen to the Augsburg Confession Read?

June 25th, 2010 Comments off

I received this interesting message on Facebook, and am passing it along.

Greetings in Christ.I am a fellow LCMS pastor in the middle of Kansas (http://www.facebook.com/l/5651af2wgkm50czIjn1G7xOw-mg;stpaulsellsworth.info) Recently I posted on the LCMS Facebook group a video I made about the Augsburg Confession (http://www.facebook.com/l/5651a6ZW4ZiG-_qeP1Q59W6nW-Q;vimeo.com/12768698). One person in their comments said that they might listen to the confession if it was in an audio format they could take with them. Anyways, beginning with June 25th, I am going to post the Confession (triglotta text) in audio on my blog (http://www.facebook.com/l/5651aXzBRGMdYJpyL8ieR636Rxw;ihoppe.com/blog/), one article a day. With the preface and conclusion, it will last 30 days. The files will then be archived on the blog and at http://www.facebook.com/l/5651asBhpMXa09wUL4uDkSmuLqw;luthershare.com. I am writing to you because I know that you have a good following on the internet and am hoping you might direct your readers my way if you would value this effort. Again it will “go live” Friday morning.

Pastor Philip Hoppe

Categories: Lutheran Confessions

J.S. Bach’s Cantatas for the 200th Jubilee Anniversary Celebration of the Augsburg Confession

June 25th, 2010 Comments off

Bach composed Cantatas for the bicentennial anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession, which was celebrated in Leipzig in 1730, since it was one of the last bastions of Lutheran Orthodoxy, before the evils of Pietism overran nearly all of orthodox Lutheranism in Germany. Here are the texts from his Cantatas. Sadly, the music has been lost, which was what Bach composed, but here are the texts he chose to go along with the music he had written. Apparently, it was a three day festival, so Bach wrote at least three Cantatas, one for each day.

BWV 190a Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied!


The Bicentennial of the Augsburg Confession.

Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander), Ernst-Schertzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte, Teil III (Leipzig, 1732); Facs: Neumann T, p. 333; Reprint: Sicul, Annales Lipsienses, Sectio XXXVII (1731) and Das Jubilierende Leipzig (1731).

1. Ps. 149:1, 150:4 and 6; Martin Luther, beginning of the German Te Deum, 1529 (Wackernagel, III, #31); 2. Martin Luther, the same text with interpolated recitative; 7. Martin Luther, verse 3 of “Es woll uns Gott genädig sein,” 1524 (Wackernagel, I, #189).

25 June 1730, Leipzig; Parody: 1, 2, 3, 5 <— BWV 190.


1. Chorus (= BWV 190/1.)

2. Chorale and Recit.

Lord God, we give thee praise,
God, that thou both our shield
And our redeemer art.
Lord God, we give thee thanks.
Triumphant shall we go forth
And seek now, Lord, thy countenance,
For thy dear grace extends
As far as heaven’s breadth,
And thine own truth sheds light
As far as clouds are ranging.
Lord God, we give thee praise
That still thy brilliant light
Within our land doth shine.
O God, how great is this thy kindness,
Which doth such faith to all thy children show!
Forget that loving disposition,
My Zion, yea, forget it not!
Lord God, we give thee praise.

Read more…

Categories: Lutheran Confessions

Book of Concord FAQ

June 15th, 2010 1 comment

Title Page from 1580 Book of Concord

Soon, we will have the opportunity to celebrate the anniversary of the publication of Book of Concord on June 25, 1580, exactly 50 years after the presentation of the Augsburg Confession on June 25, 1530. Here is a resource that many people have found helpful, and I thought it might be a good idea to post this now, in case you want to share it with folks to honor the anniversary date.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Book of Concord

A poll was taken of over 2,000 Lutheran pastors, asking them to list the questions they most frequently are asked about the Lutheran Confessions as contained in the Book of Concord. The following are the questions pastors reported most commonly being asked.


What is the Book of Concord?
The Book of Concord is a book published in 1580 that contains the Lutheran Confessions.

What are the Lutheran Confessions?
The Lutheran Confessions are ten statements of faith that Lutherans use as official explanations and summaries of what they believe, teach, and confess. They remain to this day the definitive standard of what Lutheranism is.

What does Concord mean?
Concord means “harmony.” The word is derived from two Latin words and is translated literally as “with one heart.”

What does confession mean?
When used in this context, confession means “to say what you believe.” The Lutheran Confessions are statements of faith that Lutherans use to say to the world, “This is what we believe, teach and confess. ”

What is in the Book of Concord?
The Book of Concord contains the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, the Augsburg Confession, the Apology [Defense] of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, the Small Catechism, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord.

What are the Ecumenical Creeds?
Creed is from the Latin word credere, which means “to believe.” The three creeds in the Book of Concord are the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed. They are described as “ecumenical,” meaning “universal,” because they are accepted by the majority of 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 Holy Roman Emperor in Augsburg, Germany. The Augsburg Confession was publicly presented on June 25, 1530. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession was written to defend the Augsburg Confession. Apology means “defense” when used in this way.

What are the Small and Large Catechisms?
Martin Luther wrote two handbooks in 1529 to help families and pastors teach the basics of the Christian 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. The catechisms were so universally accepted that they were included as part of the Book of Concord in 1580.

What are the Smalcald Articles and the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope?
Martin Luther wrote a set of doctrinal articles in 1537 for an alliance of Lutheran princes and territories, known as the Smalcaldic League. Luther’s articles were widely respected and were eventually included in the Book of Concord. At the same meeting that considered Luther’s articles, Philip Melanchthon was asked to expand on the subject of the Roman papacy and did so in his treatise, which was also later included in the Book of Concord.

What is the Formula of Concord?
After Luther’s death in 1546, various controversies arose in the Lutheran Church in Germany. After much debate and struggle, the Formula of Concord was adopted in 1577 by over eight thousand princes, political rulers, theologians, and pastors, effectively ending the controversy.

Who wrote the Book of Concord?
The ancient creeds in the Book of Concord were prepared by early church pastors and theologians. Philip Melanchthon, a layman, was a professor of Greek and theology at the University of Wittenberg. He was chiefly responsible for writing the Augsburg Confession, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, and the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope. Martin Luther wrote the Small and Large Catechisms and the Smalcald Articles. A group of Lutheran theologians prepared the Formula of Concord. They were Jacob Andreae, Martin Chemnitz, Nicholas Selnecker, David Chytraeus, Andrew Musculus, and Christopher Koerner.

Since we have the Bible, why do we have the Book of Concord?
The Lutheran Confessions are a summary and explanation of the Bible. They are not placed over the Bible. They do not take the place of the Bible. The Book of Concord is how Lutherans are able to say, together, as a church, “This is what we believe. This is what we teach. This is what we confess.” The reason we have the Book of Concord is because of how highly we value correct teaching and preaching of God’s Word.

A friend of mine says it is wrong to use creeds or confessions. How do I respond?
The Bible itself not only contains numerous confessions and statements of faith by believers, but it also urges us to confess the faith. If a confession is completely in accord with Scripture, we can hardly claim that the content of the confession is merely “man-made” (1 Corinthians 12:1-3).

Are the Lutheran Confessions just for pastors and theologians?
No. They are for all people: pastors, theologians, and laypersons alike. They are important statements of faith. They are not necessarily easy to understand, but they are so important that everyone who is a Lutheran should be aware of what the Book of Concord is and should have a copy of the Lutheran Confessions. There is an edition of the Book of Concord prepared specifically for laypeople to read, filled with notes, annotations, illustrations, and many other useful materials to aid reading and understanding. It is titled Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions: A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord and is available from Concordia Publishing House. You may order a copy at http://cph.org/concordia or by calling 800-325-3040.

What documents should a layperson read first in the Book of Concord?
The Small Catechism is called “The Layman’s Bible” by the Formula of Concord because it does such a good job of summarizing the most important teachings of the Bible. The Large Catechism would be the next document to read carefully. The Augsburg Confession is the primary Lutheran Confession and should be read by every layperson. The Smalcald Articles are lively, bold, and powerful and capture readers’ interest. The time and attention needed to read the longer documents in the Book of Concord are well worth the effort since they are filled with such powerfully comforting and instructive biblical truth.

What is a confessional Lutheran?
A confessional Lutheran is a person who uses the documents contained in the Book of Concord to declare his faith to the world. The contents of the Book of Concord are cherished by such a person precisely because they are powerful means by which the correct teachings of Holy Scripture can be taught and shared with other people. The spirit of confessional Lutheranism is reflected well in the last words written in the Book of Concord: “In the sight of God and of all Christendom, we want to testify to those now living and those who will come after us. This declaration presented here about all the controverted articles mentioned and explained above-and no other-is our faith, doctrine, and confession. By God’s grace, with intrepid hearts, we are willing to appear before the judgment seat of Christ with this Confession and give an account of it (1 Peter 4:5). We will not speak or write anything contrary to this Confession, either publicly or privately. By the strength of God’s grace we intend to abide by it.” (FC SD XII 40).

What is an “unconditional subscription” to the Confessions?
Confessional Lutheran pastors are required to “subscribe,” that is, to pledge their agreement unconditionally with the Lutheran Confessions precisely because they are a pure exposition of the Word of God. This is the way our pastors, and all laypeople who confess belief in the Small Catechism, are able with great joy and without reservation or qualification to say what it is that they believe to be the truth of God’s Word.

Why is an unconditional subscription to the Lutheran Confessions so important?
Authentically Lutheran churches insist on a subscription to the Confessions because they agree with the Bible, not merely in so far as they agree with Scripture. Otherwise, there would be no objective way to make sure that there is faithful teaching and preaching of God’s Word. Everything would depend on each pastor’s private opinions, subjective interpretations, and personal feelings, rather than on objective truth as set forth in the Lutheran Confessions.

Do all Lutheran churches have the same view of the Book of Concord?
No. Many Lutheran churches in the world today have been thoroughly influenced by the liberal theology that has taken over most so-called “mainline” Protestant denominations in North America and the large Protestant state churches in Europe, Scandinavia, and elsewhere. The foundation of much of modern theology is the view that the words of the Bible are not actually God’s words but merely human opinions and reflections of the personal feelings of those who wrote the words. Consequently, confessions that claim to be true explanations of God’s Word are now regarded more as historically conditioned human opinions, rather than as objective statements of truth. This would explain why some Lutheran churches enter into fellowship arrangements with non-Lutheran churches teaching things in direct conflict with the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions.

Do other churches have confessions like the Lutheran Church?
Yes, they do. Most other churches have confessions scattered throughout various books. The Book of Concord is unique among all churches in the world, since it gathers together the Lutheran Church’s most normative expressions of the Christian faith into a single book that has been used for nearly five hundred years as a fixed point of reference for the Lutheran Church. Other churches have various catechisms and confessions they can point to, but few have as complete a collection of confessions that has received as much widespread use and support, for so long a time, as the Lutheran Confessions contained in the Book of Concord of 1580.

Summing things up…
To be a 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 Corinthians 1:10; 2 Corinthians 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, statements, or books that so clearly, accurately, and comfortingly presents the truths 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, an 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, “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believed, and so I spoke,’ we also believe, and so we also speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13). This is what it means to be, and to remain, a genuine confessional Lutheran.

by
Rev. Paul T. McCain

Copyright (c) 2008. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy and use this FAQ for non-commercial purpose with the provision that the content of the FAQ not be changed and that it be reproduced in its entirety, with this copyright notice.

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Categories: Lutheran Confessions

When Does Faith Begin? Lutheranism’s “Lonely Way” on Baptism

April 25th, 2010 10 comments

When would you say that faith begins, on the basis of which we should venture to baptize? Perhaps at the present age of confirmation? Or in little children when they can confess with the mouth, as Thomas Muenzer of old would have it? Why, it would be the equivalent of turning the miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit into a psychologically perceptible fact, if any attempt were made here to fix a time-limit for the working of the Spirit.  Here, too, Luther goes his lonely way between Rome with its hierarchical, and the enthusiasts with their psychological sanctions—the lonely way of the Reformer who heeds only the Word and God and trusts that this Word can do all things, even the humanly impossible. In this way, and only in this way, has Luther and the Lutheran Church after him been able to hold both the objectivity of the sacrament and the sola fide, not forgetting that justifying faith is not a matter of a single moment but the content of an entire human life. For this faith certainly is not the individual act of surrender to God, consciously felt and experienced at certain moments of our life, but it is the continuing trust—though overshadowed again and again—in the Gospel promise of grace; just as repentance according to the evangelical conception is not a single act but something that goes on continually throughout our life. So too our baptism is not a finished act, but it goes with us throughout our life. To be a Christian does not mean simply to have been baptized sometime in the past, but it means to live in the power of Baptism and to return to it again and again. As is well known, the Small Catechism answers the question: “What does such baptizing with water signify?” by saying:

It signifies that the old Adam in us, by daily contrition and repentance should be drowned and die, with all sins and evil lusts, and that a new man daily come forth and arise, who shall live in righteousness and purity before God forever.

Just as we who are sinners and righteous at the same time live by daily contrition and repentance and by daily forgiveness of sins, so too our dying and rising again with Christ, that real though incomprehensible anticipation of an eschatological event which takes place in Baptism, is something that determines our entire life. This, over against Rome and against the enthusiasts, was Luther’s understanding of Baptism and of the faith that accepts Baptism. We embrace it not only at one given moment, whether it be at the moment we are baptized, or at the moment of confirmation, or any other given moment of our life that might be named, but we embrace it or should embrace it throughout our entire life, every day anew. This is the reason why Luther recognized no additional sacrament to supplement Baptism, whether it be confirmation or repentance, which would be anything else but a return to Baptism.

Sasse, Letters to Lutheran Pastors, IV

“The Book of Concord should be in every Lutheran home.” Do we still believe this? And if so, what are we doing to make it happen?

March 12th, 2010 13 comments

The Book of Concord should be in every Lutheran home. For that reason our church should provide a good, inexpensive copy, and pastors should see to it that every home has one. If a person isn’t familiar with this book, he’ll think, “That old book is just for pastors. I don’t have to preach. After working all day, I can’t sit down and study in the evening. If I read my morning and evening devotions, that’s enough.” No, that is not enough! The Lord doesn’t want us to remain children, who are blown to and fro by every wind of doctrine; instead of that, He wants us to grow in knowledge so that we can teach others. (C.F.W. Walther, Essays for the Church, Vol. II, pg. 51).

Concordia Publishing House prepared and published Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions to make available a “good, inexpensive copy” of the Book of Concord available to all Lutheran homes. With over 85,000 copies in print, it has become, far and away, the most popular edition of the Book of Concord ever published. But there are still many Lutheran homes that do not have a copy of the Book of Concord and many Lutherans who still have not heard of it, and have never had a chance to understand it. There is no legitimate excuse for this. Let’s work at getting the Book of Concord in every Lutheran home. Yes, Dr. Walther was right: the Book of Concord should be in every Lutheran home.

The Preparation and Printing of the First Edition of the Book of Concord

February 24th, 2010 3 comments

My colleagues here at Concordia Publishing House, Rev. Dr. Benjamin Mayes and Rev. Charles Schaum, prepared a translation of several pages from the Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, the critical edition of the Lutheran Confessions, which deal with the preparation and printing of the first edition of the Book of Concord. I thought you might enjoy reading it, assuming you are a BOC geek like us.

The Text History of the First Edition of the Book of Concord

Translated by Rev. Dr. Benjamin Mayes and Rev. Charles Schaum from the Introduction to the Formula of Concord in the BSLK

The German Book of Concord (Konkordienbuch; abbreviated Konk.) was typeset probably starting in the summer of 1578 in the Dresden printing works of Matthes Stöckel and Gimel Bergen in the extent determined by the introduction to the FC [Formula of Concord].[i] They began with the FC. Andreae had the chief supervision and committed the proof-reading to Master Peter Glaser and Caspar Fuger from the Ministerium of Holy Cross Church [in Dresden] (Kreuzkirche). Glaser also prepared the index.[ii] On April 12, 1579 the printing was completed except for the title page, Preface, Catalog of Testimonies, and the list of signatories. A copy was immediately furnished for Chemnitz. On August 19, Secretary Elias Vogel permitted three copies to be bound by Jakob Krause, probably for the Electors.

Andreae had pushed on May 22 for an expedited printing of the Preface[iii] together with the title page, but only after the Heidelberg Recess[iv] did [Chancellor] Haubold von Einsiedel give the command for them to be typeset (August 9) and order 140 copies from Vögelin,[v] i.e., in Leipzig (August 13). Presumably the order was adhered to, since on August 23 the Elector commanded the printing of twenty copies that were to be sent with the same number of manuscript copies for the purposes of subscribing to them. This was carried out on September 26.

The list of signatories was not yet completed toward the end of March 1580. “Through the mercy of God” Andreae pleaded for the submission of subscriptions from Wolfenbüttel.[vi] Already in April incomplete copies (according to Andreae) were brought to the book fair in Leipzig. According to others, they were without the title and perhaps sold in small quantity. They were then subsequently withdrawn from circulation, but a Magdeburg paper salesman, Thomas Frantz, had already initiated a private reprint at the beginning of May.

After Elector Ludwig of the Palatinate made his final decision to join (June 13, 1580), the title page (see below), Preface, and Catalog of Testimonies[vii] had to be reprinted. The same occurred during the printing of at least two other signatures[viii] at the instigation of Chemnitz and Andreae. Nevertheless the printer reintroduced in haphazard[ix] fashion the signatures that had been excluded, and even the old title page, which was first noticed by Elector Ludwig. Aside from other aberrations, even in the list of the signatories, this was also observed with embarrassment (and the printer was fined 200 Gulden) when the three originalia, that is, the “authentica,” [the authoritative copies] were set aside in the electoral chanceries according to a suggestion of Elector Ludwig on June 13, 1580.

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A Hymn Paraphrase of the Augsburg Confession

February 23rd, 2010 8 comments

Matt Carver, Lutheran hymn translator-extraordinaire, posted on his blog site a fascinating translation of a hymn offering a paraphrase of the entire Augsburg Confession.

Here is my translation of Gott Vater, Sohn, und Geist (J. [Jakob] Fabricius, †1654) a paraphrase of the Augsburg Confession which Rev. B. Mayes found in said author’s Predigten über die Augspurgische Confession (Nur.: W. Endter, 1652) and kindly brought to my attention. The poetic quality is a bit more detectable in the German, though in that version as in this, the odd lines are not rhymed. Especially if the artful Verzage nicht, du Häuflein klein [O Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe] is the work of the same author, you will see that it is not a lack of poetic feeling, but a commitment to deliver the confessional language accurately and succinctly, that has directed the tenor of this paraphrase. The lyric may be sung, as Rev. Mayes points out, to Nun danket alle Gott. Please advise of corrections to the sense, or improvements on the theological implications of my English translation where it deviates unhappily from the meaning of the German (or from the Augsburg Confession itself).

THREE PERSONS, yet one God,
Are Father, Son, and Spirit,
Who dwell in Light divine,
And as one Godhead share it,
Co-mighty, co-eterne,
Co-glorious, fully wise;
All teachings here opposed
Are heresies and lies.

2. By nature, we are born
Poor slaves to our transgression,
Since Adam’s grievous fall,
And we are death’s possession,
Till in baptismal floods
God gives us life again:
What lies Pelagius taught
On this we must disdain.

3. God, of true God begot,
And ever God remaining,
True Man of man was born,
Yet never thereby staining
His mother’s virgin state,
And by His death doth save
Us wretches from our sins,
From torment, and the grave.

4. No human since the fall,
Thus dead in sin unsightly,
Can trust his worthless works.
By faith he must cling tightly
To what Christ Jesus did,
Who reconciled our race
To God, and by His death
Earned us both life and grace.

5. God ever by His Word
To living faith doth win us,
And by His Sacraments
Sustains that faith within us.
By these to work in us
God’s Spirit is resigned;
The Anabaptists make
But idols of their mind.

6. As trees adorned with fruit,
And vines their clusters giving,
So are good works produced
By faith divine and living,
Such works are dear to God.
So see His pleasures through,
Yet be it all by grace,
And not by works we do.

7. One church there is alone,
yet many congregations,
One body, many limbs,
Throughout all generations,
As long as sun doth shine.
Though customs may abound,
Where the one truth is taught,
The church is ever found.

8. Not every soul is saved
Which in the church is sitting,
For often are her doors
Deceitful wolves admitting.
Nor are her Sacraments
Negated, in despite
Of what the priest believes,
Who fills his task aright.

9. The washing with the Word
Is needed to deliver
Salvation to the soul,
And join to God forever
By covenantal bond
All persons, young and old,
Both infant and adult,
In heaven’s holy fold.

10. Christ’s very Body_and Blood
Are in the Supper taken,
Which on the cross He gave
And shed, by God forsaken,
His Body with the bread,
And His Blood with the wine:
All doctrines otherwise
Deny the Word divine.

11. Confession of our sins
Is also kept among us,
Yet not that doubts and griefs
May burden, hound, or throng us.
But rather to release
Those sins that we feel most
For we can scarcely know
Nor number all their host.

12. If one who is baptized,
And, sin anew committing,
Yet afterwards repents,
His former sins regretting
With penitence and faith—
Then let him not despair
Of God’s free gift of grace,
But fruits of sorrow share.

13. The Sacraments are not
Mere tokens of profession,
But are the pledge whereby
God makes us His possession:
So let those who partake
This promise rightly own.
Salvation comes by faith,
And not by use alone.

14. None ever shall presume
To fill the pastor’s station
Unless he first be called
By orderly vocation,
He who would serve the church
Must rightly be ordained,
By Him who hath the right,
From Whom all rights are gained.

15. We justly do retain
Those feasts and observations
By which the ancient church
Enriches our traditions,
Those only we reject
Which hinder true belief,
Or load the conscience down
With human laws and grief.

16. All due authority
Should be respected ever;
From God it hath the pow’r,
Just verdicts to deliver,
And, waging righteous war,
To keep the common peace;
It is our earthly rule,
Until the earth shall cease.

17. When Jesus shall return
And this world meets destruction,
The dead shall all be raised
In one great resurrection:
One part to heav’nly joy,
And one to agony
No temp’ral reign of Christ
Shall earthly kingdoms see.

18. Although we grant mankind
Use of his free volition
For judgment in the things
Of reason and cognition,
Despite his fall in sin:
Yet that which serves the soul,
To save it, is not found
In nature as a whole.

19. All things in heav’n and earth
And everything created,
And which conceived can be,
In God originated:
The devil and man’s will
Are yet the cause of sin
(which is the lack of good)
And so it long hath been.

20. Although no merit can
To works be reckoned ever,
Yet neither is it good
That man pursue them never,
Yet not those works devised
By what man’s feeling saith,
But those from God’s own Word,—
These are the fruits of faith.

21. We honor all the saints,
Their deeds, and their confession,
Esteeming them as good,
Yet not for intercession:
No saints can we invoke
To help us in our need
For only God our Lord
True help and aid can speed.

22. Since Christ did so ordain,
And Paul this word defended,
That in the Sacrament
Both Kinds should be extended,—
Nor did the priests withhold
The Blood from laity,
In early Christendom—
So let it ever be.

23. God willed that men should be
From lust by marriage turning,
For in their weak’ning state,
They often heeds its burning.
So pastors, too, should use
This ordinance divine,
Since they no less belong
To Adam’s fallen line.

24. The Mass we have retained,
Yet one thing is not suffered:
That it be wrongly thought
Christ’s sacrifice re-offered,
In truth, and without blood,
And have that force within,
As that which once for all
Did blot out all our sin.

25. Who goes his sins to own
And to the priest confesses,
Receives God’s kindly Word,—
Forgiveness he possesses:
And Christ’s true body_and blood
Are given in the Meal,
Though he recount alone
Those sins which he doth feel.

26. To chasten our own flesh
By fast and self-demotion,
If for God’s glory done,
With heart of true devotion,—
Then it is done aright;
But if one seek aught else,
Self-merit, grace, or fame,
Then it is vain and false.

27. Monastic lives and vows
Are but a useless prison,
For in them great abuse
Has woefully arisen:
Men join their ranks by force,
Unthinking, and deceived,
To merit righteousness,
And work but villainy

28. The Spirit’s pow’r God gave
The priesthood of the Spirit,
Wherefore they must not seek
Earth’s kingdoms to inherit,
Or, like a prince, to rule
In judgment-seats mundane:
Not for the priest did God
The civil rule ordain.

(29.) Still many things there are
That need examination
Which, due to such abuse,
Cannot have validation:
Yet, let this do for now:
All those desiring more,
For their request shall find
Of answers, ample store.

Translation © Matthew Carver, 2010.

The German original follows in the extended entry.

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Categories: Lutheran Confessions

Why are some saved, and not others?

January 23rd, 2010 5 comments

The other day, my son asked me, “Dad, why are some people saved, and others are not.” I said, “Aha! You are taking Latin, so tell me what this means. You are asking about the crux theologorum.” He thought for a moment and said, “The cross of theologians?” “Correct you are, sir,” I said, “What you are asking is the old question that has proven the downfall of many theologians through the ages, ‘Why some, not others?’ ” And from there we proceeded into an interesting conversation about a feature of Lutheranism that makes both Calvinists “God predestines some to hell, others to heaven”, on the one hand, and Arminians “I have chosen to follow Jesus!” folks, on the other, frustrated with us. Lutheranism, as does Sacred Scripture, simply does not answer the question why some are saved, and not others. Here’s a great Q/A on this that succinctly states why this is the teaching of the Bible, and, consequently, historic Lutheranism.

Question:

I understand that God chose those for salvation before the very foundation of the world. The Bible does not say that there are those who are chosen and that there are those who are not. So, does that mean then that God chose everyone to be saved before the foundation of the world and therefore it is man’s choice whether he will accept God’s saving grace or not? However, one cannot come into God’s grace by himself, but by the Holy Spirit “leading” him unto salvation. Is that the correct interpretation? I am confused by the fact that we were chosen by God before the foundation of the world, yet the very action of choosing can mean that there were those who were not chosen. I know that God wishes everyone to be saved. Can you help me?

Answer:

The question you are wrestling with is really the question, “Why are some saved and not others?” Theologians throughout history have referred to this question as the “crux theologorum” (“the cross of the theologians”) because of the difficulty (and from the Lutheran perspective, the impossibility) of giving an answer to this question which is satisfactory to our human reason.

Some answer this question by pointing to man’s “free will”–only those are saved who “choose” to be saved. Lutherans reject this answer as unscriptural because according to the Bible even man’s will is “dead” and powerless to “choose” God and his grace in Christ. We are saved not because we “choose” to be saved but because the Holy Spirit works faith in our heart through the Gospel (even faith is a gift!). Others answer this question by pointing to God’s sovereign will: God himself predestines from eternity some to be saved and others to be damned. Lutherans reject this answer as unscriptural because according to the Bible God sincerely desires all to be saved and has predestined no one to damnation.

So how do Lutherans answer this question? The answer is that Lutherans do not try to answer it, because (we believe) the Bible itself does not provide an answer to this question that is comprehensible to human reason. Lutherans affirm, with Scripture, that whoever is saved is saved by God’s grace alone, a grace so sure that it excludes all human “action” and “choice” but rather rests on the foundation of God’s action in Christ and his “choice” (predestination) from before the beginning of time. Lutherans also affirm, with Scripture, that those who are damned are damned not by God’s “choice” but on account of their own human sin and rebellion and unbelief. From a human perspective, there is no “rational” or “logical” way to put these two truths together. Lutherans believe and confess them not because they are “rational” and “logical,” but because this is what we find taught in Scripture.

For a further discussion of this issue, you may want to read Articles II and XI in the Formula of Concord (contained in the Book of Concord, the Lutheran Confessions).

Source: LCMS.ORG

We Alone are Not Wise: Key Insight for Being and Remaining Lutheran

January 9th, 2010 2 comments

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)