Presentation of the Augsburg Confession, June 25

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION TO THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION

Against the gates of hell, with the grace and help of God.

—Layman Gregory Brück

On Saturday, June 25, 1530, at three o’clock in the afternoon, Dr. Christian Beyer stood, walked toward the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V, and began reading the Augsburg Confession in a loud and distinct voice. Through the open windows a hushed crowd outside in the courtyard hung on his every word, as did the two hundred or so people gathered in the hall. Beside Dr. Beyer stood Dr. Gregory Brück, holding a copy of the Augsburg Confession in Latin. The German princes around them stood up to indicate their support for the Confession. The emperor motioned for them to sit down.

When Dr. Beyer finished reading, Dr. Brück took the German copy of the Confession from him, handed both copies to the emperor, and said, “Most gracious Emperor, this is a Confession that will even prevail against the gates of hell, with the grace and help of God.” Thus was the Augsburg Confession presented as a unique Confession of the truth of God’s holy Word, distinct from Romanism on the one hand, and Reformed, Anabaptists, and radicals on the other. June 25, 1530, is a date every bit as important for Lutherans as is the more familiar date of October 31, 1517—the day on which Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses.

Events Leading to Augsburg

The presentation of the Augsburg Confession was a decisive moment, one long in coming. It is important to understand the history leading up to the Imperial Meeting at Augsburg. Nine years earlier, on April 18, 1521, at the Imperial Meeting in Worms, Charles had listened as Martin Luther refused to recant his teachings, saying, “I cannot and will not recant. I cannot do otherwise. Here I stand. God help me. Amen.” Now Charles was watching as the most important rulers in his German territories confessed their faith openly and courageously in spite of the threats to their lives from both the government and the Church.

Martin Luther had been declared a criminal and a heretic; he was excommunicated and sentenced to death in April of 1521. By 1526, the Reformation had spread to the point that during an Imperial Meeting at Speyer, the Lutheran princes forced through a resolution that gave each of them the right to arrange religious matters in their respective territories—in any way he felt was best—until the emperor was able to have the pope call a General Council of the Church. So from 1526 to 1529, little changed in the Holy Roman Empire. As a result, most of Northern Germany became Lutheran, along with many cities in Southern Germany. At the second Imperial Meeting in Speyer (1529), the princes loyal to Rome reversed the decision made three years earlier. The princes loyal to the Lutheran Reformation and other reforming movements fiercely protested this decision, issuing a formal Protestio. Thus the Lutherans, along with other reformers, were labeled Protestants. The name has stuck ever since.

Charles ordered all rulers within the Empire to go to Augsburg to attend the Imperial Meeting (also known as a Reichstag or a Diet). He wanted to settle, once and for all, the controversies in the churches throughout his Germany. The armies of the Turkish Empire were literally at the eastern gates of Charles’s Empire. He wanted unity so that the Turkish threat could be met. He hoped that a combination of kindness, cajoling, and finally, threats, would stop the Lutheran movement and restore Romanism throughout the Empire. But things did not go as Charles had hoped.

The Schwabach, Marburg, and Torgau Articles

Lutheranism was only tolerated where it could not be eliminated by military force. Lutherans had no protection in German territories that were loyal to Rome. After the 1529 Diet of Speyer, Philip of Hesse sought to create a political federation for the mutual defense of those who had protested the autocratic action of Charles V. Philip of Hesse and Jacob Sturm united Saxony and Hesse with certain Southern German evangelical cities (with Ulm, Strasbourg, and Nürnberg as the nucleus). The coalition was created on April 22, 1529, in a secret agreement at Speyer. To clear the way for possible inclusion of the Swiss in the federation, Philip of Hesse planned to settle the dispute between Luther and Ulrich Zwingli at a meeting at Philip’s castle in Marburg.

The Lutherans were concerned by Philip of Hesse’s desire to put political unity ahead of doctrinal unity. After the Diet of Speyer, Philip Melanchthon (who had kept silent regarding differences between the German Lutherans and the Swiss) had a change of heart and tried to thwart the federation. Luther also opposed a federation without confessional unity. The Schwabach Articles were prepared by Luther and others sometime between July 25 and September 14 of that year.

The Marburg Colloquy took place October 2–4, 1529. Ulrich Zwingli and Martin Luther faced each other across a table for most of the meeting. The two groups identified much that they agreed about, yet the talks broke down. The disagreement had to do with the Lord’s Supper. Zwingli was willing to settle for an “agreement to disagree” approach, but Luther insisted that Jesus’ words “This is My body” mean “This is My body.” In fact, he took a piece of chalk and wrote the words “This is My body” on the table itself (Hoc est Corpus Meum). Whenever Zwingli or the other Swiss Reformers tried to disagree with Luther about the reality of those words, Luther would lift the tablecloth and point to the words. The Marburg Articles therefore indicate “We are not agreed as to whether the true body and blood of Christ are bodily present in the bread and wine.”

The Marburg Articles, along with the Schwabach Articles, provided a firm foundation for the writing of the Augsburg Confession. The seventeen Schwabach Articles were first presented on October 16, 1529. They insisted on unity in doctrine as a prerequisite for any cooperation among the various Protestant groups in Germany.

Charles V persisted with his efforts to eliminate the religious controversies in his territories. He was facing pressure from the threat of a Turkish invasion from the East. He was also mindful that the pope might, at any time, strike an alliance with the ruler of France and attack his Empire from the West. The Empire was a coalition of relatively independent territories and free cities. The key rulers of the Empire were known as “electors,” for they actually elected the emperor. (See chart, p. 287.) Charles depended on them both militarily and politically. He could not afford to alienate them. Charles was very devout and felt strongly that it was his duty to protect the Roman Church from the threat posed by the Lutherans and other Protestant reformers. He hoped that the meeting at Augsburg would settle all disputes.

The elector of Saxony, John the Steadfast, at first refused to attend the meeting in Augsburg. But Charles urged him to do so. Since Charles invited everyone attending to share their “opinions, thoughts, and notions,” Elector John asked the Wittenberg theologians, led by Martin Luther, to prepare a statement of confession. Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Justas Jonas, and John Bugenhagen met in Torgau and went to work immediately. Their document was given to Elector John at the Torgau Castle in March of 1530, and is therefore known as the Torgau Articles.

Philip Melanchthon was asked by the Elector to write a comprehensive statement of faith. He did so without close consultation with Luther, but he relied heavily on the Schwabach, Marburg, and Torgau Articles—each of which was very much a product of Martin Luther. Luther indicated he approved of Melanchthon’s work, though he pointed out that he would never have been able “to tread as lightly” as Melanchthon did.

The Gathering at Augsburg

On April 4, Elector John left Torgau with Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Justas Jonas, and Veit Dietrich (a secretary to Luther). Ten days later, on Good Friday, they arrived at Coburg Castle. Luther and the Elector remained at Coburg while the others traveled on to Augsburg. There, Philip Melanchthon was given the responsibility of leading the Lutheran theologians. (However, the Elector had set up a special courier service to make sure letters between Luther and his colleagues would be sent and received quickly.) Elector John arrived in Augsburg on May 2.

The meeting began with a clear signal that the courageous Lutheran laymen were not about to concede to the emperor’s demands, nor compromise their convictions. As Charles’s royal procession approached Augsburg, it was met by a large delegation from the city, including the Lutheran princes. The pope’s ambassador stood to give the whole assembly a special blessing from the pope. When the crowd knelt, Elector John and his fellow Lutheran princes refused to kneel. Charles and those with him made their way into the city and arrived at the cathedral, where a special Mass was held. The crowd noticed that again Elector John and Philip of Hesse refused to kneel and remained standing, with their heads covered, during the blessing.

Charles V became Holy Roman Emperor on June 28, 1519, about two years after Martin Luther posted the Ninety-five Theses. For forty years Charles struggled against Lutheranism. This woodcut depicts him in Erlangen in 1532, two years after the Diet of Augsburg. In 1547 he captured Wittenberg. His knights wanted to desecrate Luther’s grave. Charles explained that he made war against the living, not the dead. He relinquished his throne in 1558, having failed to exterminate Lutheranism in his lands. He died in a monastery in Spain, a lonely, broken man who had suffered emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

Later that evening, Charles and his brother Ferdinand, the King of Austria, met privately with the Lutheran princes. They ordered them to forbid any Lutheran preaching in Augsburg during the meeting. They commanded them to attend the Corpus Christi festival the next day with the emperor. George, Margrave of Brandenburg, spoke boldly for the Lutherans. He refused to concede to Charles’s demands, saying, “Before I let anyone take from me the Word of God and ask me to deny my God, I will kneel and let them strike off my head.” The emperor, clearly taken aback by George’s boldness, sputtered in broken German, “Not cut off head, dear prince. Not cut off head.”

Writing the Augsburg Confession

The plan to present the Torgau Articles had to be scrapped when it was found out that a lengthy, slanderous attack on Luther had been prepared by John Eck—Luther’s old nemesis. At Leipzig in 1519, it was Eck who had tried to brand Luther as a heretic. Now, he had secretly written a lengthy attack on Luther and his followers in a book titled Four Hundred and Four Articles for the Diet in Augsburg. It included quotations from Martin Luther’s writings, as well as from other Protestant reformers.

The book was highly inaccurate and tried to equate the Lutherans with the teachings of Ulrich Zwingli and the most radical of all the reformers, known as the Anabaptists. Eck’s goal was to identify Lutheranism with the most extreme reformers, some of whom denied the most basic doctrines of historic Christianity. In light of this development, the Lutherans were forced to prepare a new statement of faith and specifically distance themselves from Zwinglians, Anabaptists, and others.

The Augsburg Confession was intentionally crafted to present a gentle and peaceful response to the emperor. It was intended only to speak for Saxony. However, as various German leaders read it they indicated that they, too, wanted to sign their names and make it their Confession.

So on June 25, 1530, courageous Lutheran laymen confessed their faith and told the emperor and the Roman Church what they believed, taught, and confessed. They relied on the promise of God’s Word, as contained in Psalm 119:46, “I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame.” The Augsburg Confession was presented as a statement of biblical truth and a proposal for true unity in the Christian faith. It has never been withdrawn.

Paul Timothy McCain, ed., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2005), 21–25.