The Augsburg Confession tells a Story
Here’s a simple way to think through and remember the whole Augsburg Confession. This statement of faith is more than a random list of disconnected doctrines. The Augsburg Confession tells a Story. And this Story does not start with us, or at Augsburg, or with Luther. This Story starts with…
AC I – God
God exists. He is the Creator. This means you are not God.
AC II – Original Sin
The Problem is you think you are God. That’s Sin.
AC III – The Son of God
The Answer to your Problem is Jesus and His work.
AC IV – Justification
The Answer is that God justifies us through faith on account of Jesus. This is Christianity—The Faith.
AC V – The Ministry
God sends out His Word so we can believe in Jesus—The Faith received.
AC VI – New Obedience
This Faith results in new life born from above—The Faith in action.
AC VII & VIII – The Church & What the Church Is
God’s saving work forms a new and holy community.
AC IX, X, & XI – Baptism, The Lord’s Supper, & Confession
Here’s what happens in the life of this holy community: sinners are baptized, repentant sinners eat and drink Christ’s true body and blood, and repentant sinners confess their sins and are absolved.
AC XII – Repentance
There are two parts to this holy life: knowledge of your sin and knowledge of your Savior.
AC XIII – The Use of the Sacraments
The Sacraments are for the benefit of this holy life that faith may increase, not for earning salvation by works.
AC XIV – Order in the Church
While we live this holy life, we live under God’s Orders of Church, Home, and Civil Government. So the Church works in a public, orderly way, and God calls His ministers through His Church.
AC XV – Church Ceremonies
This also means that the Church teaches the Gospel in an edifying and orderly way by using good ceremonies.
AC XVI – Civil Government
The Church also obeys the civil government as an earthly authority established by God for the ordering of this world.
AC XVII – Christ’s Return for Judgment
We live this holy life of repentance, faith, and good works, under God’s orders, until Christ returns—The End of the Story.
AC XVIII – Free Will
This Story is not ours. God is the Author. We are not the protagonists. God is.
AC XIX – The Cause of Sin
God is not the antagonist. We are, along with the devil and all unbelievers.
AC XX – Good Works
Here’s your part in the Story. And being justified by grace through faith enables you to cooperate with the Author.
AC XXI – Worship of the Saints
Here’s the saints’ part in the Story. Great Christians from previous chapters in the Story serve as our examples and teachers for the holy life. Rather than calling on earlier characters for help, we call on the Lord. God is God and we are not.
Abuses Corrected by the Lutheran Church
The last seven articles explain the ways that the Story has been distorted by the Roman Church.
Some Elements of the Story have been removed:
AC XXII – Both Kinds in the Sacrament
AC XXIII – The Marriage of Priests
Other Things have been added to the Story:
AC XXIV – The Mass
AC XXV – Confession
AC XXVI – The Distinction of Meats
AC XXVII – Monastic Vows
AC XXVIII – Church Authority
Conclusion to the Augsburg Confession
The outline of the Story that we have in the Augsburg Confession belongs to the whole Church: theologians and princes, preachers and hearers. You know the Story so you can also give an answer to anyone who asks about the Christian Faith. And the Augsburg Confession is not the end of the Story. We are always ready to go back to the Scriptures and tell the Story again.