CONFESSION · 1577 AD · LUTHERAN

The Formula of Concord (Epitome)

WRITTEN

1577 AD

TRADITION

Lutheran

SECTIONS

13

PROOF-TEXTS

117

QUOTED IN THE BEREAN TEXT

24

24 quotations in this document are given in the Berean Standard Bible. 37 more are left in the document's own older wording, each marked where it stands.

CONTENTS

Preamble

FORMULA CONCORDIÆ. {Die Concordien-Formel.) The Formula of Concord. A.D. 1576 (1584). (THE EPITOME.) EPITOME OF THE ARTICLES touching which CONTROVERSIES have arisen among the divines of the Augsburg Confession, which in the following restatement have been in godly wise, according to the express word of God, set forth and reconciled. Of the Compendious Rule and Norm, according to which all dogmas ought to be judged, and all controversies which have arisen ought to be piously set forth and settled. I. We believe, confess, and teach that the only rule and norm, according to which all dogmas and all doctors ought to be esteemed and judged, is no other whatever than the prophetic and apostolic writings both of the Old and of the New Testament, as it is written (Psalm cxix. 105): 'Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.' And St. Paul saith (Gal. i. 8): 'Though an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you, let him be accursed.' But other writings, whether of the fathers or of the moderns, with whatever name they come, are in nowise to be equalled to the Holy Scriptures, but are all to be esteemed inferior to them, so that they be not otherwise received than in the rank of witnesses, to show what doctrine was taught after the Apostles' times also, and in what parts of the world that more sound doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles has been preserved. II. And inasmuch as immediately after the times of the Apostles, nay, even while they were yet alive, false teachers and heretics arose, against whom in the primitive Church symbols were composed, that is to say, brief and explicit confessions, which contained the unanimous consent of the Catholic Christian faith, and the confession of the orthodox and true Church (such as are the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds): we publicly profess that we embrace them, and reject all heresies and all dogmas which have ever been brought into the Church of God contrary to their decision. III. And as concerns the schisms in matters of faith, which have come to pass in our times, we judge the unanimous consent and declaration of our Christian faith, especially against the papacy and its idolatrous rites and superstitions, and against other sects, to be the Symbol of our own age, called The First, Unaltered Augsburg Confession, which in the year 1530 was exhibited to the Emperor Charles the Fifth at the Diet of the Empire; and likewise the Apology [of the Augsburg Confession]; and the Smalcald Articles drawn up in the year 1537, and approved by the subscription of the principal divines of that time. And inasmuch as this matter of religion appertains also to the laity, as they are called, and their eternal salvation is at stake, we publicly profess that we also receive Dr. Luther's Smaller and Larger Catechisms as they are included in Luther's works, because we judge them to be, as it were, the Bible of the laity, in which all those things are briefly comprehended which in the Holy Scripture are treated more at length, and the knowledge of which is necessary to a Christian man for his eternal salvation. To these principles, as set forth a little above, every religions doctrine ought to be conformed; and, if any thing is discovered to be contrary to them, that is to be rejected and condemned, as being at variance with the unanimous declaration of our faith. In this way a clear distinction is retained between the sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and all other writings; and Holy Scripture alone is acknowledged as the [only] judge, norm, and rule, according to which, as by the [only] touchstone, all doctrines are to be examined and judged, as to whether they be godly or ungodly, true or false. But the other symbols and other writings, of which we made mention a little while ago, do not possess the authority of a judge—for this dignity belongs to Holy Scripture alone; but merely give testimony to our religion, and set it forth to show in what manner from time to time the Holy Scriptures have been understood and explained in the Church of God by the doctors who then lived, as respects controverted articles, and by what arguments, dogmas at variance with the Holy Scriptures have been rejected and condemned.

Scripture quoted here is given in the Berean Standard Bible: Psalms 119:105.

Psalms 119:105

Galatians 1:8

THIS TEXT AND ITS SOURCES

  • Berean Standard Bible Public domain

The document's own wording is unchanged apart from the quoted verses described above. Its proof-text references were resolved against this site's own copy of the Berean Standard Bible; the references it does not carry would be shown as references with no verse words.

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