The
Lutheran Confessions and the Gospel
The Lutheran Confessions
were not written in a vacuum or out of any party spirit. The
Lutheran Reformation was not a "revolt," as Roman Catholic
historians used to call it, much less a heresy. What motivated
the Reformation and the Confessions, which were its most significant
fruits and its permanent legacy to us who wish to be called Lutherans
today? What was the central backdrop for our Confessions, the
context for these different documents which were finally incorporated
in the Book of Concord? A reading of our Confessions will reveal
that they all sprang from an urgent need to give articulation
to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to teach and give witness to
this Gospel. And what is this Gospel which incited the most blessed
and significant spiritual awakening since the days of the apostles?
In our Confessions
(FC SD, V, 20) we read:
The Gospel, however,
is that doctrine which teaches what a man should believe in order
to obtain the forgiveness of sins from God, since man has failed
to keep the law of God and has transgressed it, his corrupted
nature, thoughts, words, and deeds war against the law, and he
is therefore subject to the wrath of God, to death, to temporal
miseries, and to the punishment of hell-fire. The content of
the Gospel is this, that the Son of God, Christ our Lord, himself
assumed and bore the curse of the law and expiated and paid for
all our sins, that through him alone we reenter the good graces
of God, obtain forgiveness of sins through faith, are freed from
death and all the punishments of sin, and are saved eternally.
This statement may
well be considered one of the most important and formative statements
in our Lutheran Confessions. Why? Because it is the most complete
and beautiful definition of the Gospel to be found in them. And
that is what our Confessions are all about-the Gospel! Our great
Lutheran Confessions were written for the sake of the Gospel.
The Augsburg Confession, Luther's catechisms, the Formula of
Concord were not written just to blast or correct abuses in the
Roman Church, or to defend Lutheran theology against the attacks
of papists, or to perpetuate party spirit. These Confessions
were all prompted by a faith in the Gospel, a love for it, and
a determination to teach and confess it according to the Scriptures.
In this respect
our Confessions resemble the New Testament itself. Paul and the
other apostles preach, admonish, and say everything for the sake
of the Gospel (1 Cor. 2:2; 9:16; John 20:31; 1 Peter 5:12; 1
John 5:13). That was their commission from Christ (Matt. 28:18-20;
Mark 16:15).
It is remarkable
how consistently our Confessions emphasize this central theme
of the Gospel, how all their discussions support and lead to
this theme of salvation by free grace through faith in Christ.
Melanchthon in the Augsburg Confession clusters all the articles
of faith around the redemptive work of Christ and justification
through faith in Him. When the writers of our Formula of Concord
at a later date try to settle certain controversies over original
sin, the spiritual powers of man's will before conversion, the
third use of the Law (as a pattern to regulate our lives), or
even church usages, they make it crystal clear that their concern
for the right doctrine on these matters is to enhance the Gospel
and its comfort to poor sinners. When Melanchthon speaks out
so strongly and at such length against the legalism and work-righteousness
of the Roman Church of his day, it is only because "the
Gospel (that is, the promise that sins are forgiven freely for
Christ's sake) must be retained in the church" (Ap, IV,
120). And when he insists so vehemently that a sinner is justified
by faith in Christ, it is because to deny or undermine this great
fact "completely destroys the Gospel" (ibid.).
Martin Luther in
the Smalcald Articles structures all of Christian doctrine around
the simple doctrine of the Gospel, the doctrine of Christ and
faith in Him. Here is what he says (SA, II, i):
The first and chief
article is this, that Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, "was
put to death for our trespasses and raised again for our justification"
(Rom. 4:25). He alone is "the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin of the world" (John 1:29).... Inasmuch as this must
be believed and cannot be obtained or apprehended by any work,
law, or merit, it is clear and certain that such faith alone
justifies us, as St. Paul says in Romans 3, "For we hold
that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law"
(Rom. 3:28), and again, "that he [God] himself is righteous
and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus" (Rom.
3:26). Nothing in this article can be given up or compromised,
even if heaven and earth and things temporal should be destroyed....
On this article rests all that we teach and practice against
the pope, the devil, and the world. Therefore we must be quite
certain and have no doubts about it....
This is the spirit
of Luther and the Lutheran Confessions. This is why our Confessions,
like Scripture itself, are always contemporary and useful. If
we share this Gospel spirit, we will see how helpful and exciting
our Confessions are and we will read them with eagerness and
profit.
From:
Getting
into The Theology of Concord
by Robert D. Preus
(St.
Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1977), pgs.7-10.
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