Martin Luther died in 1546. He had spent his life defending the \nScriptures, speaking boldly for justification by grace, through faith, \nfor the sake of Christ. As a strong and powerful leader people looked to\n him for guidance during the battles for the faith. But he was now dead,\n and the infant Lutheran Church foundered for the want of a leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Initially the church split into two groups, the Gnesio-Lutherans who \nclaimed to adhere to the original teachings of Luther, and the \nPhilippists who followed Melanchthon. Because of pressures from both \nRome and the Calvinists, the two groups of Lutherans tried repeatedly to\n come to agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Various controversies wreaked the church. What was commanded by God, \nand what was forbidden? What is the nature of the Lord\u2019s Supper? What \npart does free will play in salvation? What do we teach about the person\n of Christ? These and other questions threatened to kill the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A number of documents were written as the various theologians sought \nto reconcile the two sides. Finally, in 1577 the two groups were united \nwith the adoption of the Formula of Concord, written by Martin Chemnitz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Formula of Concord is divided into the \u201cEpitome\u201d and the \u201cSolid \nDeclaration.\u201d The Epitome summarizes briefly the condemnations and \nbeliefs of the Lutheran Church. The Solid Declaration provides much more\n detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Martin Chemnitz, and the assembled theologians, firmly stated the \nonly place from which a church can rightly draw doctrines. The opening \nof the Epitome sets the standards for this and all future documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We believe, teach, and confess that the prophetic and \napostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments are the only rule and \nnorm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be judged.\n \u2026 Other writings of ancient and modern teachers, whatever their names, \nshould not be put on par with Holy Scripture. Every single one of them \nshould be subordinated to the Scriptures and should be received in no \nother way and not further than as witnesses to the fashion in which the \ndoctrine of the prophets and apostles was preserved in post-apostolic \ntimes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
As we accept the Formula of Concord, we, too, confess that Scripture is the only rule and norm of faith. Therefore all our teachings must conform to Scripture, be drawn from Scripture, and point us back to Scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Text of the Formula of Concord \u2013 Epitome<\/a> and Formula of Concord \u2013 Solid Declaration<\/a> in a new window.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What we believe: Formula of Concord Martin Luther died in 1546. He had spent his life defending the Scriptures, speaking boldly for justification by grace, through faith, for the sake … Continue reading “Formula of Concord”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":91,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-136","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trinityslayton.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/trinityslayton.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/trinityslayton.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trinityslayton.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trinityslayton.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/trinityslayton.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329,"href":"http:\/\/trinityslayton.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136\/revisions\/329"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trinityslayton.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trinityslayton.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}