Christ Alone

Augsburg Confession Article X

Here is the link to Article X: https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/of-the-lords-supper/

This article is so short that I’ll reproduce the entire text here:

“Of the Supper of the Lord they teach that the Body and Blood of Christ are truly present, and are distributed to those who eat the Supper of the Lord; and they reject those that teach otherwise.”

In other words, the bread and wine of Holy Communion are not mere symbols. Jesus did not say “this symbolizes my body and blood.” He said “this is my body and blood.”

Further, we read in 1 Corinthians 10:16 that the “cup of thanksgiving” and the “bread” are a “participation” (koinonia) in the body and blood of Christ. Hence, we affirm that his true body and blood are present in, with, and under the bread and wine.

We believe that when the words of institution are joined to the physical elements, they become a sacrament — that is a vehicle for God’s grace — through which we receive forgiveness (Matthew 26:28).

We believe that all who receive the sacrament receive Christ’s true body and blood. However, a person who receives it “in an unworthy manner” does so to their own detriment (1 Corinthians 11:27-29).

It is important, then, that we only offer this sacrament to baptized believers. This custom goes back to the early church.

At our congregation, when baptized children begin to show interest in receiving communion, I first meet with them as a pastor to make sure that they have a basic understanding of their own sinfulness, their need for salvation through Jesus, and the meaning of Holy Communion.

Christ Alone

Augsburg Confession Article IX

Here’s the link to Article IX: https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/of-baptism/

“Baptism is necessary to salvation.” For many Protestants, this article will sound strange and contradictory — even offensive. After all, isn’t the core doctrine of the reformation justification by grace alone through faith alone? Isn’t baptism a work, and aren’t we justified by faith apart from works?

Before answering these questions, let us consider some of the key Biblical texts that teach about baptism:

Matthew 28:19-20: “19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV)

  • Here, Jesus gives the command to make disciples, and then explains the two essential ingredients of discipleship: baptism and teaching. These two go hand in hand.

John 3:5: “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (ESV)

  • Not all interpreters agree on the meaning of Jesus’ words, but historically, this has been understood to refer to baptism.

Acts 2:37-39: “37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.””

Acts 22:16: “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.'” (ESV)

  • In these verses, Baptism is described as washing sins away and it is attached to the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Titus 3:4-7: “4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (ESV)

  • Like John 3:5, there is debate over the meaning of this text. However, it seems most likely that the “washing of regeneration” is a reference to baptism.

1 Peter 3:21: “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (ESV)

  • Peter states that baptism saves you. He goes on to clarify that it is not the water itself that does so: rather, it is the “appeal to God for a good conscience.” There are a number of grammatical and linguistic difficulties with this phrase. If you don’t know Greek, it is well worth looking at a variety of different translations. However, I would suggest that if baptism saves, then it must be God’s work, not mine.

Romans 6:3-5: “3Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (ESV)

  • Here, baptism is described as union with Christ. Baptism unites us to Christ in his death and resurrection.

Returning to the original question: rather than being a work for us to do, baptism is a gift that God delivers through human agents. Baptism derives its efficacy from the Word of God, and it saves in the same way that preaching saves: through baptism, the Holy Spirit imparts faith.

At this point, I will add three further observations:

1) When Lutherans confess that baptism is necessary to salvation, they mean that it is the ordinary means by which God delivers the forgiveness that Christ won on our behalf. Lutheran theologians often point out that we are bound to the means of grace, but God is not. Therefore, they also state that baptism is necessary but not absolutely necessary to salvation.

For example, someone might hear the gospel, believe it, and desire to be baptized, but die before they have the chance. We believe that such a person is saved. Likewise, the thief on the cross and all the Old Testament saints were saved without baptism. Nonetheless, to deliberately reject baptism is a perilous thing indeed.

2) Not every baptized person will be saved. Faith in Christ is absolutely necessary. Indeed, the scripture is clear that those who do not believe in Christ will be condemned (e.g. John 3:18; Mark 16:16). A person could go through the motions of being baptized for hypocritical reasons. Likewise, a person could be a genuine believer and get baptized, but later abandon the faith.

3) We baptize infants because they need the gift as much as anyone. They are sinners in need of forgiveness (see Article II)! Furthermore, infants are capable of faith (Psalm 22:9) and Jesus holds them up as the example for all of us (Matthew 18:3). How, then, could we withhold this gift from them?

Christ Alone

Augsburg Confession Article VIII

Here is the link to Article VIII: https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/what-the-church-is/

This article makes reference to the Donatist controversy. The Donatists were a schismatic group in fourth-sixth century Carthage. They held that certain sins rendered the ministry of a priest ineffective (i.e. any sacraments he performed were invalid and his prayers were fruitless).

This position leads to a number of problems. Consider what happens when a priest is caught living in immorality. If the Donatists were correct, then everyone that he baptized has a problem: their baptisms are null and void. Hence, they must be rebaptized.

Against this, the orthodox Christian teaching is that the means of grace are not dependent on the character of the person who administers them. To be clear, when a pastor is caught in immorality, it is a great scandal and offense. Although he can repent, receive forgiveness, and be welcomed back into full fellowship with the church, certain sins disqualify him from holding the pastoral office.

However, the following is also true:

  • Even if the person who first shared the gospel with you was a hypocrite, the gospel is still true and the word that was preached was still effective because it was God’s word — not a human idea.
  • Even if the person who baptized you was a hypocrite, your baptism remains valid so long as it was done with water “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
  • Even if your pastor committed a grave sin on Sunday morning before church, the Lord’s Supper was still valid because of Christ’s institution and command.
Christ Alone

Augsburg Confession Article VII

Here’s the link to article VII: https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/of-the-church/

When read in conjunction with Article VIII, it becomes clear that the Augsburg Confession considers two different senses of “the Church.”

1) There is the Church Universal (or what we sometimes call “small c catholic”), which is comprised of all true believers in Christ.

2) There are local congregations, which consist of assemblies of believers in which “the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.

Technically, a person could be a member of the Church Universal without belonging to a local congregation. However, except in extreme situations where there are no other believers to fellowship with, it is abnormal for Christians to stay away from church. A person who refuses to be connected with a local body is in fact walking in disobedience to the Lord’s command and missing out on many blessings (Hebrews 10:25; Matthew 18:20; Colossians 3:16; Acts 2:42).

The second half of this article deals with the nature of unity and forms of worship in the church. Unity in the church comes from a common understanding of the Gospel and the means of grace. It is not necessary that rituals and traditions be identical.

Christ Alone

Augsburg Confession Article VI

This week, let’s take a look at Article VI: https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/of-new-obedience/

We saw in Article IV that our works cannot justify us before God. Good works cannot make us more righteous or holy in God’s sight. Instead, justification takes place through faith in Christ.

However, as Jesus clearly teaches us in Matthew 7:17-20, trees are identified by the fruit that they bear. People who have been justified by faith will quite naturally begin to do the good works that God commands. Indeed, it is necessary for Christians to do good works, not to merit any favor from him, but because it is his will:

Matthew 5:16 (ESV) “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Christ Alone

Augsburg Confession Article V

Here’s the link to the fifth article:

https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/of-the-ministry/

This article deals with how we obtain saving faith. People who have never heard the gospel don’t just wake up one day and suddenly believe in Jesus. Instead, God gives faith through the ministry of preaching and administering the sacraments.

1. Saving faith comes through hearing the gospel. Obviously, not everyone who hears the gospel believes in it. However, without preaching, people will never come to saving faith. Words are necessary. Admittedly, there may be exceptional cases where God speaks to people directly through dreams and visions. However, the church has a clear mandate to proclaim the good news of the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Apart from this proclamation, people will perish without ever hearing.

Romans 10:14-17 (ESV) – “14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

2. Baptism is given to strengthen, preserve, and impart faith. In baptism, we receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:38 (ESV) – “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

When Jesus gave the great commission, he commanded that the apostles make disciples by baptizing and teaching. These two always go hand in hand.

Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV) – “19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

3. The Lord’s Supper is given to believers to strengthen and preserve us in the faith, unite us with Christ and the church, and assure us that our sins are forgiven.

Matthew 26:27-28 (ESV) – “27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

1 Corinthians 10:16 (ESV) – “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”

Christ Alone

Augsburg Confession Article IV

Here is a link to the fourth article: https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/of-justification/

This is where we begin to see a significant difference between Lutheran and Roman Catholic teaching. Luther famously asserted that “justification is the doctrine on which the church stands or falls.”

To be clear, the Roman Catholic Church agrees that “men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works.” Like Protestants, Catholics believe that salvation can be found only through faith in Christ.

The Catholic theologians who responded to the Augsburg Confession agreed with the bulk of this article. However, they added the following caveat: “Nevertheless, all Catholics confess that our works of themselves have no merit, but that God’s grace makes them worthy of eternal life.” (Roman Confutation, Article IV). In other words, an unbeliever cannot be saved. However, a Christian, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is enabled and empowered to do good works that please God and merit salvation. This concept is known as “infused grace.”

The problem with infused grace is that it weakens (or may even destroy) the assurance of the believer: I still have to do my part to ensure I get to heaven. At the time of the reformation, a concern was that many people were expending a great deal of time and money on works such as pilgrimages and fasting for the sake of their own salvation, while neglecting the needs of their neighbor.

As Lutherans, we find insufficient Biblical evidence for the concept of infused grace.

To the contrary, we believe the scriptural teaching is that justification is entirely the work of God. Because of what Christ has done, his righteousness is credited to us the instant we believe. If we believe, this too is a gift. There’s nothing more that needs to be done. This teaching come through clearly in Romans 3 and 4.

Another good passage is Ephesians 2:8-9: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Of course, this doesn’t mean that believers will simply sit on our laurels! We will see in later articles that once a person is justified, they begin to do good works that please God. However, we hold that these works don’t earn us anything — rather, they are a response of gratitude — the fruit of a life transformed by grace.

Christ Alone

Augsburg Confession Article III

This week, let’s read the third article:

https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/son-of-god/

This article addresses the nature of the Son of God, also known as the Word (Logos).

Here is a summary of the key points:

  1. The Son of God assumed the human nature. This statement presupposes that the Son was not created, since he was with God in the beginning (for the Biblical basis of this statement, see John 1:1-18).
  2. Having been born of the Virgin Mary (Matthew 1:18; Luke 2:7) Jesus had two natures: one divine and one human, inseparably joined in one person. This is essentially a restatement of the Chalcedonian Creed (https://www.ccel.org/creeds/chalcedonian-creed.html).
  3. The article reaffirms that we believe everything taught in the Apostle’s Creed about Jesus — namely, that “he was born of the virgin Mary, truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, descended into hell, rose again, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.”
  4. The reason for Christ’s humiliation was that we might be reconciled to the Father (see 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Romans 5:8-11).
  5. The reason for his exaltation was that he might “forever reign, have dominion over all creatures, and sanctify them that believe in Him, by sending the Holy Ghost into their hearts, to rule, comfort, and quicken them, and to defend them against the devil and the power of sin.”
Christ Alone

Augsburg Confession Article II

Let’s take a look at the second article of the Augsburg Confession: https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/original-sin/

This article deals with the issue of original sin.

The first humans, Adam and Eve, were created without sin. However, they disobeyed God and brought death into the world. From that point on, they and all their descendants have had a propensity for doing wrong.

Note the careful wording of the article: “all men begotten in the natural way are born with sin.” Apart from Adam and Eve (who were created directly by God), there is only one person who was not “begotten in the natural way,” and that is Jesus (who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary). Being fully God as well as fully man, he was born without sin and lived a perfect life.

With the exception of Jesus, all of Adam’s descendants have been born into sin.

Psalm 51:5: “Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (NIV)

Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (NIV)

Romans 5:12: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—” (NIV)

Note, however that original sin is more than just a propensity to sin: it is sin, because it involves a lack of faith in God (see Romans 14:23). Hence, all people, even infants, need a saviour.

Christ Alone

Augsburg Confession Article I

This week, let’s read the first article of the Augsburg Confession. This one is short and sweet because it deals with controversies that were settled long before the reformation. Basically, this article says we agree with the council of Nicaea that God is Triune.

All Christian churches, whether they are Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or one of the many Protestant churches that later emerged, acknowledge that there is one God in three persons. Throughout history, heretical groups have tried to deny or subvert this doctrine. To our finite minds, it might not seem logical. However, this is how God has revealed himself. Non-Trinitarian churches are not Christian.

For a fuller, more in-depth explanation of the Trinity, the best place to start is the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds.

https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/of-god/