Our Confession
Our Confession is still under active review. This pre-publication draft is made available “as is”, but is subject to ongoing change while under review by our editorial team. We welcome feedback.
God is in a good mood with you!
And you see that when you look at Jesus.
For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
A) God’s Word alone
reveals God through Law and Gospel,
creating justifying faith
(John 15:1-8; 17:17)
Click here for more resources on this Core concept of our Confession.
1) God’s Word is completely trustworthy truth (John 17:17)
2) God’s Word is His message that He justifies us through faith alone (Rom 3:21-22)
3) God’s Word speaks in Law and Gospel, which must be clearly distinguished (2 Tim 2:15)
4) God’s Word in every place rests on the Law and is centred on the Gospel (Matt 22:37-40; Acts 10:43)
B) God’s Law commands all people to love God and neighbour,
revealing that all people are sinful,
so need to be justified through Christ alone
(Exod 20:1-21; John 8:34)
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5) God’s Law commands all people to trust God and love Him and neighbour (Deut 6:4-7; Rom 13:8-10)
6) God’s Law renders life for obedience, but curse, God’s wrath and Hell for disobedience (Exod 20:5-6)
7) God’s Law restrains evil, reveals sin and guides Christians in how to live (1 Tim 1:8-11)
8) God’s Law reveals sin as selfish distrust of God, which enslaves us to the world and devil (Eph 2:1–3)
C) God’s Gospel promises God has loved all people,
revealing that all people
have been justified by grace alone
(The Apostles’ Creed; John 3:16)
9) God is One in Three Persons, who love all people unconditionally (Deut 6:4; 1 Cor 8:6; 2 Cor 13:14)
10) God the Father created, sustains and guards all things out of pure love (Exod 20:11)
11) God the Father created all people to bring them to Himself through His Son and Spirit (Eph 1:9-10)
12) God the Son redeemed all people from sin, the world, and Satan by becoming man (Gal 4:4-5)
13) God the Son redeemed all people by dying to satisfy the Law and justify them (1 Pet 2:24)
14) God the Son redeemed all people by rising to defeat death and Satan (Rom 4:24-25)
15) God the Son will return to revive the dead and to judge the world (Acts 17:31)
16) God the Spirit sanctifies by making God’s Word effective to accomplish what it says (John 16:7-15)
D) God’s Church is where justification is received:
through faith alone,
given by the Spirit alone
through the Gospel alone,
bearing fruit in love for the glory of God alone
(Matt 16:13-20; John 20:22-23)
17) Justification is received by faith alone, given by the Spirit alone (Eph 1:13)
18) The Gospel is the Spirit’s Means of Grace in the Word in any form it comes to us (Rom 10:17)
19) The Gospel is the Spirit’s Means of Grace united to water in Baptism (1 Pet 3:21)
20) The Gospel is the Spirit’s Means of Grace united to bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper, in which Jesus really does give all who eat it His true body and blood (Matt 26:28)
21) God’s Church is gathered by the Spirit in faith around Word and Sacrament (Acts 2:36-47)
22) God’s Church is preserved by the Spirit in faith until the bodily resurrection of all people (Phil 1:6)
23) The Keys to retain and forgive sin were given by Christ to the Church (Matt 16:13-20; John 20:22-23)
24) The Keys are exercised privately by all Christians as priests proclaiming God’s Word (1 Pet 2:9)
25) The Keys are exercised publicly by called ministers of God’s Word (Tit 1:5; 1 Tim 5:17)
26) Repentance is contrition and faith, created by the Spirit through Law and Gospel (Matt 11:28)
27) Repentance bears fruit in prayer by asking God for things in faith (Matt 6:7-15; John 15:7)
28) Repentance bears fruit in good works of love in daily vocations (Eph 2:10; Gal 5:22-26)
Other Documents We Confess
The Confession of the Confessional Lutheran Church does not teach anything that has not already been part of the Church’s preaching of Scripture since the time of Christ. It summarises as succinctly as possible the teaching of many prior documents that already faithfully expound and defend the doctrine revealed in the Bible. A list of documents that we confess to be such faithful expositions of God’s Word are given in section 1.12 of our Confession.
Since the Reformation, Lutherans have traditionally described the three Creeds as “symbols” of our faith, the Augsburg Confession as our “confession”, and used other words for different documents that also play. Whatever language is used, our faith is revealed only in the God’s Word, the Bible. The Bible is perfect. In contrast, no human document can ever be perfect or exhaustive — but, they can be pure summaries of what the doctrine that the Bible teaches. All the documents below are such pure summaries of biblical doctrine. They are therefore useful to us as standards of biblical teaching to which we can appeal for help when confusion arises, and resources we can draw on for teaching and explaining the Bible. It is in this sense we may say of all these documents that we believe, teach and confess them.
The Three Ecumenical Creeds
The three ecumenical Creeds are ancient summaries of the Gospel. The Apostles’ Creed (4th c.) was a formalised version of the oldest instructions given to people being prepared for Baptism or Confirmation. The Nicene Creed (325, 381) was adopted by a church council to correct errors that had arisen in the church. The Athanasian Creed (5th-6th c.) was used to help train pastors in the essentials of the Gospel.
The Creeds have been recognised by Christians all over the world for many centuries as pure summaries of the Gospel revealed in the Bible.
The Book of Concord
The Book of Concord was compiled in 1580 as a compendium of documents. The Small and Large Catechisms (1529) are Martin Luther’s expositions of biblical passages that teach foundational doctrines for the Christian faith. The Augsburg Confession (1530), Apology (1531) and Treatise (1537) were composed by Philip Melanchthon in response to Roman Catholic errors. The Smalcald Articles (1537) were written by Luther for a council with the Catholic Church when he believed he was about to die, and so are in some ways his “last will and testament”. The Formula of Concord (1577) was largely composed and edited by Martin Chemnitz to correct various errors that had arisen after Luther’s death and the encroachment of Reformed theology within Lutheran churches.
The Book of Concord has been recognised by Lutherans all over the world since its publication as a pure exposition of the Bible’s doctrine in response to these errors.
- The Book of Concord
- The Augsburg Confession
- The Apology of the Augsburg Confession
- The Smalcald Articles
- The Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
- The Small Catechism
- The Large Catechism
- The Formula of Concord
The Saxon Visitation Articles
The Saxon Visitation Articles (1592), compiled under Johann Bugenhagen, guided pastors in checking doctrine and practice on Lutheran teaching and the Sacraments, to specifically counter Reformed errors that were creeping into the Lutheran church.
They were used widely as a practical doctrinal guide, to support orthodox Lutheran teaching.
Walther’s Theses
In response to a pastoral crisis in the immigrant German Lutheran Church in America, C.F.W. Walther wrote the Altenburg Theses (1841) to clarify what constitutes a true Church and emphasise the authority of Word and Sacraments against false teachings. He later expanded these into his theses on Church and Ministry (1848-1852), which explained the divine institution of the Church and the pastoral office. Later in his ministry, Walther gave a series of lectures expounding 28 theses on Law and Gospel, teaching pastors how to apply Scripture correctly in preaching and pastoral care.
Walther’s theses on Church and Ministry were formally adopted by the Lutheran Synod in Missouri, and his theses on Law and Gospel became a standard, authoritative guide for teaching and practice within the Missouri Synod and other churches.
The WELS This We Believe Statements
The This We Believe Statements (1967, 1980, 1999) were published and revised by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod to publicly confess the faith of the WELS and to serve as a basis for doctrinal discussions with other church bodies and informed individuals.
The Statements serve as an authoritative summary of WELS doctrine.
The CELC Ninety-Five Theses for the 21st Century
As part of the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation, the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference published the Ninety-Five Theses for the 21st Century as a summary of biblical teaching in light of issues faced in our era. They are organised according to the outline of Luther’s Small Catechism.
The document serves as a contemporary summary of Lutheran doctrine, reflecting the teachings of the Lutheran Confessions, and is actively used by many CELC churches today.