This was especially so within the Holy Roman Empire, roughly equivalent to the modern state of Germany. Charles V became the emperor in 1519. He understood himself to be a faithful “catholic” and believed that religious divisions within the empire would weaken and perhaps destroy it. He assumed that the pope and many of his bishops—who rejected Luther’s Theses—represented the true “catholic” faith. He therefore also assumed, without paying too much attention to what the issues really were, that Luther’s criticism of the hierarchy must be heretical. At first he thought that threats of excommunication and execution would bring the Lutheran “heretics” into line, but by 1530 he realized that this approach was not working. Several principalities within the Empire had formally implemented Lutheran reforms, and the Lutheran movement in other principalities was growing in influence. Also in 1530, Charles was worried about the Turkish military assault on Vienna that was then in progress. Charles understood the serious consequences for all of Europe if Vienna were to fall. The unity of the empire, for the sake of resisting the Turkish incursion, therefore became an even more pressing issue for him.

Those who had embraced Lutheran reforms were already functioning as a communion of churches distinct from the churches that still submitted to the authority and doctrine of the papacy. In 1529, for example, Luther had written in the Preface of his Small Catechism that those “who do not want to learn these things...should simply be sent back home to the pope and his officials.” But the Lutherans were still willing to dialogue, and share their testimony, with open-minded people in the Roman Church. A significant opportunity for such a dialogue and testimony was presented to them in 1530, when the emperor summoned the representatives of the various territories and estates of the empire to attend a “diet” or assembly in Augsburg later that year. The Preface to the Augsburg Confession notes that:

The summons indicated an earnest desire...to deliberate and diligently to consider how we may act concerning the dissension in the holy faith and Christian religion and to hear, understand, and consider with love and graciousness everyone’s judgment, opinion, and beliefs among us, to unite the same in agreement on one Christian truth, and to lay aside whatever may not have been rightly interpreted or treated by either side, so that all of us can accept and preserve a single, true religion. Inasmuch as we are all enlisted under one Christ, we are all to live together in one communion and in one church. (The Book of Concord, Kolb/Wengert, p. 30)

In response to this summons, the Lutherans prepared a document that explained and defended the reforms that had been instituted in their churches, which they intended to present at the diet. But when the Lutheran delegations arrived at Augsburg, they were confronted by a set of 404 slanderous theses prepared by the theologian John Eck, which accused the Lutherans of holding to numerous heresies, both old and new. The Lutherans concluded that it would be necessary to expand on what they originally had intended to present to the diet, in order to refute these accusations. So, the Augsburg Confession as we know it today was prepared.

The first part comprised 21 articles, which set forth the public doctrine of the Lutherans in a general way. The second part comprised seven articles, which dealt with the correction of abuses that had been carried out by the Lutherans. Philip Melanchthon, Luther’s colleague on the faculty of Wittenberg University, who was present at the diet, was chiefly responsible for the preparation of the document. He was, however, assisted by other theologians, and he drew on several previous writings, including some that had come from the hand of Luther (who was not present at Augsburg). A preface was written by the Saxon electoral chancellor Gregory Brueck. The Augsburg Confession was finally read publicly at the Diet of Augsburg on June 25, 1530. It was signed by the princes and officials of the territories and free cities of the empire that had embraced Lutheranism. In a final summary of the content and character of this important document, the Confession declares that “nothing has been accepted among us, in teaching or ceremonies, that is contrary to Scripture or the catholic church. For it is manifest that we have most diligently been on guard so that no new or ungodly doctrines creep into our churches” (p. 105).

In the Preface, Brueck echoes the emperor’s desire for a reconciliation among all those who profess to be Christians. But in his explanation of the basis on which the Lutherans had introduced reforms, and by which they were regulating their teaching, Brueck also points out the only valid basis on which such unity could really be attained. He writes that in this document “we offer and present a confession of our pastors’ and preachers’ teachings as well as of our faith, setting forth on the basis of the divine Holy Scripture what and in what manner they preach, teach, believe, and give instruction in our lands, principalities, dominions, cities, and territories” (p. 32, emphasis added).

The hope for religious unity within the empire, expressed at Augsburg, was not fulfilled. The Augsburg Confession nevertheless remains as a valid testimony of what orthodox Christians throughout the centuries have believed and taught concerning Christ and his Gospel, and as a testimony of what we today, as Confessional Lutherans, still believe and teach.

The Rev. David Jay Webber is Rector at St. Sophia Ukrainian Lutheran Theological Seminary in Ternopil', Ukraine.