The Augsburg Confession

Summary

The Augsburg Confession is the founding statement of faith of the Lutheran churches. It was read aloud in German before Emperor Charles V at the Imperial Diet of Augsburg on 25 June 1530, on behalf of several German princes and two free cities that had accepted the Reformation. Its principal author was Philip Melanchthon, Martin Luther's colleague at Wittenberg; Luther, under the imperial ban, followed the proceedings from the fortress of Coburg and approved the text. The emperor had summoned the Diet partly to settle the religious dispute so that the empire could unite against the Ottoman advance. Melanchthon therefore wrote in a moderate tone, stressing that the reformers taught nothing contrary to Scripture, the ancient creeds or the catholic church as known from the fathers. The confession has two parts. The first twenty-one articles set out doctrine: the Trinity, original sin, the person of Christ, justification by faith, the ministry of word and sacrament, new obedience, the church, baptism, the Lord's Supper, confession, repentance, church order, civil government, the return of Christ, free will, the cause of sin, good works and the honouring of saints. Article IV, on justification, states the central Reformation claim that people are justified freely for Christ's sake through faith, not by their own merits. Article VII defines the church as the assembly of believers where the Gospel is rightly taught and the sacraments rightly administered. The second part, Articles XXII to XXVIII, explains abuses the reformers had corrected: giving the cup to the laity, allowing priests to marry, reforms of the Mass and of private confession, rules about foods, monastic vows, and the limits of bishops' power. Catholic theologians answered with the Confutation, and Melanchthon replied with the Apology of the Augsburg Confession. The Peace of Augsburg (1555) later gave legal recognition to rulers who adhered to the confession. It remains the chief confession of Lutheran churches worldwide and was included in the Book of Concord of 1580.

Top Lessons

• Faith and works

  The confession teaches that people are justified by faith, while insisting that faith must produce good works.

• Religion and the state

  Presented to an emperor, the confession distinguishes church authority from civil authority.

• Stating beliefs under pressure

  The confession was read before an emperor who could punish its signers.

• For the Christian reader

  The Augsburg Confession remains the chief confession of Lutheran churches worldwide. Its central article on justification by grace through faith (Romans 3:21–28; Ephesians 2:8–10) was offered to the emperor as the teaching of Scripture and the early church, not as something new. Students from any tradition can learn from its careful, peaceable tone and its insistence that good works follow from faith.

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