De Compendiaria Regula atque Norma
The Purpose of This Summary
This chapter sets forth the controversies among theologians of the Augsburg Confession and the standard by which they are to be examined and settled.
A summary of the articles over which controversies have arisen among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession: which, in the following review, have been faithfully set forth and reconciled according to the prescribed standard of God's Word. the standard by which all doctrines must be examined, and the disputes that have arisen must be faithfully explained and settled.
The One Rule and Norm of All Doctrine
The prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testament are the sole rule and norm for evaluating all doctrines, as testified by Psalm 119 and Galatians 1.
We believe, confess, and teach that there is only one rule and norm by which all doctrines and all teachers should be evaluated and judged—and it is none other than the prophetic and apostolic writings of both the Old and the New Testament—just as it is written: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths."✦ And Saint Paul says: Even if an angel from heaven should preach another gospel, let that one be accursed.✦
The Subjection of All Other Writings
The writings of the Fathers and later authors are to be subjected to sacred Scriptures and received only as witnesses to the apostolic teaching preserved across the ages.
As for the other writings, whether from the Church Fathers or from modern authors, whatever name they go by, they are in no way to be placed on the same level as sacred Scripture. Rather, all of them are to be subjected to Scripture in such a way that they are accepted on no other basis than as witnesses—witnesses who teach that even after the time of the Apostles, and in every part of the world, the teaching of the Prophets and Apostles has been preserved more purely.
The Creeds of the Early Church
Because false teachers arose even in apostolic times, the early church composed creeds — the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian — which we embrace and by which we reject all contrary heresies.
And because immediately after the apostles' time — indeed, even while they were still living — false teachers and heretics arose, against whom creeds were composed in the early church, that is, brief and categorical confessions that embraced the united consent and confession of the catholic Christian faith of the orthodox and of the true church (such as the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed), we publicly profess that we embrace those creeds, and we reject all heresies and all dogmas that have ever been brought into the church of God against their teaching.
The Augsburg Confession and Its Companion Writings
The unaltered Augsburg Confession of 1530, together with the Apology and the Smalcald Articles, is the principal confession of our faith against the papacy and other sects.
As for the divisions that have arisen in matters of faith in our own time, we hold that the unified consensus and declaration of our Christian faith and Confession—especially against the papacy, its false and idolatrous worship, its superstitions, and other sects—is the confession of our era: that first, unaltered Augsburg Confession presented to Emperor Charles V. at Augsburg in the year 1530. It was presented at the great imperial Diet. Likewise, the Apology and the Smalcald Articles of the year 1537. written and confirmed by the subscription of the leading theologians of that time.
Luther's Catechisms for the Laity
Luther's Small and Large Catechisms are embraced as a Bible for the laity, containing in brief form all that is necessary for a Christian's eternal salvation.
And because this matter of religious life also concerns the laity, as they call them, and their eternal salvation is at stake, we publicly profess that we too embrace the Smaller and Larger [Catechisms] of Doctor Luther. Luther's Catechisms, as they are inserted in those volumes of Luther's [works], because we regard them as a kind of Bible for the laity, in which all those things are briefly comprehended that are treated more fully in sacred Scripture, and the knowledge of which is necessary for a Christian person for eternal salvation.
All Teaching Must Conform to These Norms
All religious teaching must conform to the principles set forth above, and anything contrary must be rejected as conflicting with the unanimous declaration of our faith.
All teaching in matters of religion must conform to these principles shown a little earlier, and if anything contrary to them is discovered, it must be rejected and condemned, since it conflicts with the unanimous declaration of our faith.
Scripture Alone as Judge, the Creeds as Witness
Scripture alone is the judge and norm of all doctrine, tested as by the Lydian stone, while the creeds and other writings serve as faithful testimony showing how Scripture was understood and heresy condemned in every age.
This is how a clear distinction is kept between the sacred writings of the Old and New Testaments and all other writings: Scripture alone is acknowledged as the judge, norm, and rule against which—as against the Lydian stone—all doctrines must be examined and judged, whether they are pious or impious, whether they are true or false.1 The remaining creeds and other writings we mentioned a little earlier don't carry the authority of a Judge—that dignity belongs to the sacred writings alone. But they serve as testimony on behalf of our religion, and they explain it, showing how in each age the sacred writings were understood and interpreted by the teachers of that time, in the disputed articles within the Church of God, and by what reasoning doctrines that conflicted with sacred Scripture were rejected and condemned.
Read the original Latin
Epitome Articulorum, de quibus controversiae ortae sunt, inter theologos Augustanae Confessionis: qui in repetitione sequenti, secundum verbi Dei praescriptum, pie declarati sunt, et conciliati.
ad quam omnia dogmata exigenda, et quae inciderunt certamina, pie declaranda et componenda sunt.
Credimus, confitemur, et docemus, unicam regulam, et normam, secundum quam omnia dogmata, omnesque doctores aestimari et iudicari oporteat, nullam omnino aliam esse, quam Prophetica et Apostolica scripta cum Veteris, tum Novi Testamenti, sicut scriptum est: Lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum, et lumen semitis meis. Et Divus Paulus inquit: Etiamsi Angelus de coelo aliud praedicet Evangelium, anathema sit.
Reliqua vero sive Patrum sive Neotericorum scripta, quocunque veniant nomine, sacris literis nequaquam sunt aequiparanda, sed universa illis ita subiicienda sunt, ut alia ratione non recipiantur, nisi testium loco: qui doceant, quod etiam post Apostolorum tempora, et in quibus partibus orbis, doctrina illa Prophetarum et Apostolorum sincerior conservata sit.
Et quia statim post Apostolorum tempora, imo etiam cum adhuc superstites essent, falsi doctores et haeretici exorti sunt, contra quos in primitiva Ecclesia Symbola sunt composita, id est, breves et categoricae confessiones, quae unanimem Catholicae Christianae fidei Consensum et Confessionem Orthodoxorum et verae Ecclesiae complectebantur (ut sunt Symbolum Apostolicum, Nicenum, et Athanasianum) profitemur publice nos illa amplecti, et reiicimus omnes haereses, omniaque dogmata, quae contra illorum sententiam unquam in Ecclesiam Dei sunt invecta.
Quod vero ad schismata in negotiis fidei attinet, quae in nostra tempora inciderunt, iudicamus, unanimem consensum, et declarationem Christianae nostrae fidei et Confessionis, in primis contra Papatum, et huius falsos ac idololatricos cultus, et superstitiones, et alias sectas, esse nostri temporis Symbolum, Augustanam illam primam, et non mutatam Confessionem, quae Imperatori Carolo V. Augustae Anno 30. in magnis imperii Comitiis, exhibita est: Similiter et Apologiam, et Articulos Smalcaldicos Anno 37. conscriptos, et praecipuorum Theologorum illius temporis subscriptione comprobatos.
Et quia haec Religionis causa etiam ad Laicos, quos vocant, spectat, eorumque perpetua salus agitur: profitemur publice, nos etiam amplecti Minorem et Maiorem D. Lutheri Catechismos, ut ii Tomis Lutheri sunt inserti: quod eos quasi Laicorum Biblia esse censeamus, in quibus omnia illa breviter comprehenduntur, quae in sacra scriptura fusius tractantur, et quorum cognitio homini Christiano ad aeternam salutem est necessaria.
Ad has rationes, paulo ante monstratas, omnis doctrina in Religionis negotio conformanda est, et, si quid iis contrarium esse deprehenditur, id reiiciendum atque damnandum est: quippe quod cum unanimi fidei nostrae declaratione pugnet.
Hoc modo luculentum discrimen inter sacras veteris et novi Testamenti literas, et omnia aliorum scripta retinetur: et sola sacra scriptura, Iudex, norma et regula, agnoscitur, ad quam, ceu ad Lydium lapidem, omnia dogmata exigenda sunt et iudicanda, an pia, an impia, an vera, an vero falsa sint.
Caetera autem Symbola, et alia scripta, quorum paulo ante mentionem fecimus, non obtinent autoritatem Iudicis: haec enim dignitas solis sacris literis debetur: sed duntaxat pro Religione nostra testimonium dicunt, eamque explicant, ac ostendunt, quomodo singulis temporibus sacrae literae in articulis controversis in Ecclesia Dei a doctoribus, qui tum vixerunt, intellectae et explicatae fuerint, et quibus rationibus dogmata cum sacra scriptura pugnantia reiecta et condemnata sint.
Scripture echoes
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'an vera, an vero falsa sint' uses 'vero' as an intensifying particle ('or truly false') rather than an adversative conjunction. It is rendered simply as 'or false' to match the natural English correlative structure.
Formula of Concord / Book of Concord companion
Doctrine settles in daily doses, not weekend cramming
Chosen Portion pairs a short historic reading with prayer every day, including confessional texts like this one, free on iOS.
The Book of Concord was written to be read and confessed regularly in churches and courts, and Chosen Portion turns that regular confessional reading into a personal daily portion.
- A 3-minute daily reading from historic confessions and devotional works
- Cover one Concord article roughly each week alongside daily prayer
- Free iOS app plus a weekly email digging into one doctrine