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INTRODUCTION TO THE LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS
Chapter one;
INTRODUCTION TO THE LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS
Creeds and Confessions are very important in the life of the Church. The foundation of the faith of the Church isthe prophetic and apostolic witness about Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of the the Church. They are based on theBible, but not replace the Bible. There are many different confessions in different denominations. The LutheranConfession is one of them.
What are Creeds and Confessions?
Creeds are summaries of the basic of the Bible about who the Triune God: the Father, God the Son, and God theHoly Spirit is. It is about what He has done in His great work of creation and redemption to save human beings. Confessions are summaries of the basic teachings of the Bible which the church believes, teaches and confessesconcerning God, human beings and salvation to make believers understand clearly what the church stands for. Both Creeds and Confessions are written down and memorized in the Church to make known to everyone how themessage of the Bible is understood and accepted be the Christian church. The difference scripture and Creeds-confessions is that scriptures are written by inspiration whereas Creeds and Confessions are the summaries of thescripture to defend heretical teachings, to teach and to declare our faith together.
The functions of Creeds and Confessions
Creeds and Confessions have many functions and purposes in the worship life of the Church. They three functionsand purposes, such as;1.
Doxological function
- it helps to declare the praise of the glory of God constantly in the worship services.This activity of Christian is the main issue they called for according to the Word of God (1Pet. 2:9). 2.
Unifying function
- helps to express our unity of faith by founding on the common confession which weconfess together in different geographical and historical context. The believers who are living in differentgeographical areas, speak different language and found on different age confess their faith that unify them.3.
Definitive function
- creeds and confessions define the basis on which Christians unified themselves.Boldly they say “we are Christians who believe in Jesus Christ, God the Father and the Holy Spirit” in a precise way as the genuine Christians did in past, do at the present and will do in the future.
The Lutheran Confessions and their significance
The Lutheran churches have confessions with which they confess their unity of faith. They believe theScripture alone (
Sola Scriptura)
is the only basis for their teaching and practices. These certify that theLutheran Churches have the significance in their lives that help to read the Bible with the right presupposition. They helps us where to put more emphasis when we read and interpret the Bible. Thatmeans they guide us where to put more emphasis when read and interpret the Bible. They help us tounderstand that as the roadmap to the scripture. And they help to put pieces of Scripture together.
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An overview of the confessions of the evangelical Lutheran church
The Evangelical Lutheran church has a book called
The book of Concord; the book which
contains:1.
The three Ecumenical Creeds
; the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed and Athanasian Creed, concentratemostly on the person of Jesus Christ. It is used on the Sunday worship to be confessed before God and before human beings and to teach Christians in the confirmation class so that they can confess when theyconfirm their faith and when they will be baptized. The Nicene Creed is often confessed publicly atcelebrations of the Lord’s Supper and at other feasts of the church year. The Athanasian Cred is often readon Holy Trinity Sunday. 2.
The unaltered Augsburg Confession
:- is another well-known statement of faith was written by PhillipMelanchthon and read before Emperor Charles V at Augsburg, Germany in 1530. 3.
The Apology of the Augsburg Confession
:- it was written in 1531 by Melanchthon as a defense of theAugsburg Confession. It answers the criticisms of the Augsburg confession in great detail. 4.
The Smalcald Articles:-
they were written by Martin Luther in 1536 and signed of Luther’s main points of disagreement with the Roman Catholic Church. 5.
The Treatise on the power & primacy of the Pope
:- it is a criticism against the pope who put himself inthe place of Christ. 6.
Martin Luther’s small Catechism
:- is the best known and most widely used confessional document for teaching the Word of God to children and adults by a form of the family in the home. 7.
Martin Luther’s large Catechism
:- its original intention was to help the pastors as teaching manual. It presents the basic Christian teaching in the form of sermon. 8.
The Formula of Concord
:- was the exposition and defense of the previously adopted writings. Alldenominations of the Christian church have creeds and confessions, but they do not have in written form. Chapter two:
THE THREE ECUMENICAL CREEDS
What makes a Creed ecumenical? Creeds are guidelines to read and study the Scripture. The word “ecumenical” comes from a Greek word “
oikomene”
meaning that entirely inhabited. All the different creeds and confessions are equally authoritative in the sense that they are equally biblical. The form and theological content of the Apostles Creed is Trintarian and presents the summary of the message of the Bible about who our Triune God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
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Historical & theological Dev’t & emphasis of the three ecumenical creeds.
ECHistorical developmentTheological developmentEmphasis
APOSTOLICCR EED
-used mostly in Evangelical churches, but not in EOTC.-used in the western church, not easternchurch for they have the Nicene Creedw/c is used by both east and west.- developed gradually and get the present form in 6
th
c, AD,a. 1
st
called “Old Roman Symbol” w/comitted some parts of the present form. b. since about 200/220 AD in Greek &400 AD in Latin.- from the beginning it follows the Trinitarian formulawith three articles (Mat.28:19).- describes the work of each person of the Trinity &significance of the work of each person for salvation.Used biblical language.- teaches who God is & what He has done for our salvation in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.- makes us understand what meant when the church baptizes in the name of Triune God.- used for reciting publicly, to instruct members, ticonfess before God & human beings & to excludewrong views & doctrines.On the 2
nd
person of theTrinity
NICE NECR EED
-used mostly in eastern part of theChristendom, & EOTC.-not the work of an individual.- It developed in 3 main stages,a. “Oriental Symbol” based on 1 Cor.8z:6 heart and core of Cxn message. b. “Oriental Symbol Creed” – N 325AD. to repudiate Arianism & to preserve the unity if the Church &Roman Empire.c. Nicen-Constantinoplitan Creed- NC(381, 451 AD) – a revision of theOriginal Nicene Creed with someadditions.- Eastern churches emphasize on the unity of God-to repudiate Arianism w/c made Christ hslf-God &half creature.-used by ministers in reaching & teaching.- to preserve the unity of the church & the RomanEmpire.-to emphasize of the Son with the Father in substance. -to emphasize of the person (divinity) and work of theHoly Spirit & His procession from the Father and theSon.- Also mentions the purpose of the Son become man.- uses theological & philosophical language of theday.More focuseon the 2
nd
and3
rd
persons of the Trinity ascompared tothe ApostlesCreed.
ATHA NASIA NC
- Not a product of a theologicalcooperation but composed by a singleauthor about 500 AD.- tradition says this creed was ascribedto Bishop Athanasius of the 4
th
c. AD.-recent research proved that BishopAthanasius could not be the author.- for the 1
st
time appeared at a churchsynod in the French town of Autun in670 AD.It was called “the faith of st.- compared in a rhythm and prose from with its 40verses.- divided into two: Trinity and Incarnation. Esp. thetwo natures of Jesus Christ.- uses very clear &concise language w/cunderstandable by ordinary readers/ hearers.- composed to instruct & teach the dogmatic truths of the church in prayer of song form.- used to test the correctness of their faith/ belief andto remind the importance of the two doctrines: Trinity& Incarnation for salvation.On the twonatures of Jesus Christ,how they existin one person,& on the HolyTrinity(Three-in-oneness of God)
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R EE
D
Athanasius”.
Chapter Three:
UNALTERED AUGSBURG CONFESSION
The Augsburg Confession is a confession of the Lutherans that was written by Philip Melanchthon in the consentof Martin Luther. The unaltered Augsburg Confession of the 16
th
c. is the confession document that makes allLutheran church. it has close connection with the Three ecumenical Creeds of Christian church from ancient times.The three significance of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession; 1)As a defense of the Gospel- 2)As an instrument of teaching- give attention to its doctrinal character.3)As a political document- The unaltered Augsburg Confession also follows the order of the creed;1)Moving from God and creation which is equivalent to the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, (
CA
I-II.2)To Chris which is equivalent to the second article of Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds (
CA
III-IV).3)Moves to the discussion on the Holy Spirit, (
CA
V-VI) and finally about the church, sacraments andresurrection (
CA
VII-XV, XVII) which is equivalent to the third article of Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds.The content of the Augsburg Confession is divided into two parts. A)The first deals with doctrine and embrace articles I-XXI and B) The second part reviews the abuses in the worship and life of the church and includes Articles XXII-XXVIII. Chapter Four:
MARTIN LUTHER’S SMALL CATECHISM- PART I
The meaning of a catechism and the need for it;Catechism is derived from the Greek word
katecho
which means “to sound again” or “to sound fromabove.” Catechism is a teaching material that is produced for clear communication to the ordinary laymanor children so that the complexities of faith and doctrine could be reduced into brief statements that anyonecould easily retain in mind and heart.Luther often showed his deep concern for the training of young people. He urged people to provide andsupport Christian schools for their children. When Luther found that many pastors and parents did notknow how to instruct children in the main teaching of the Bible, he wrote the small catechism. His chief purpose in writing the small catechism was to lead children to know and believe that the only way of salvation is by faith in Jesus.