The 475 th Anniversary of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession’

2006 marks the 475th anniversary of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession written by Phillip Melanchthon in 1531. Using many Bible passages, the Apology “defends” what the Lutherans confessed in the Augsburg Confession. This series of twelve articles in the Lutheran Sentinel presents the issue of how we interpret the Bible and confess its truths.

The Interpretation of Scripture:

The Use of Reason

“Believe nothing that goes against reason.” This has been the operating principle of many theologians, so that they accepted only the interpretations that passed the test of human reason. On the basis of Scripture, Lutheran theology makes a distinction between the “magisterial” use of reason and the “ministerial” use of reason. Reason is not to be a “master” in how we interpret the Bible, but a “servant.” For God declares, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8). God gave us our reason and with our minds we are able to receive and process God’s sacred communications in the Bible so that in faith we can know what God is telling us.

The distinction between these two ways of using reason is reflected in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, especially in its criticisms of how the assumptions of human reason had clouded the Biblical interpretations of the Lutherans’ theological opponents. In reference to the disrespectful way in which the popes of Luther’s time had treated Scripture, the Apology asks: “how many of them care about the gospel or judge that it is worth reading? Many even publicly ridicule all religions, or if they approve anything, they approve only those things that agree with human reason” (Ap VII/VIII:27, Kolb/Wengert translation). This kind of rationalism had manifested itself also in the confusion of law and Gospel among the theologians of the Roman Church. The Apology notes that “Of these two topics, the opponents single out the law (because to some extent human reason naturally understands it...), and through the law they seek the forgiveness of sins and justification” (Ap IV:7). But God’s Word does not teach this. Hence the Apology concludes that “The opponents err because...they pay attention to nothing but the law. For human reason is unable to reach any other conclusion than that righteousness must be sought from the law... But the gospel calls us back from the law to the promises, and it teaches that we are...regarded as righteous for the very reason that reconciliation is given us on account of Christ, and we receive this reconciliation only by faith” (Ap, IV). Those who filter the teaching of Scripture through human reason will not see this or grasp it, “because human reason does not understand or consider faith. Therefore it foolishly dreams that...works merit the forgiveness of sins. This opinion naturally clings to the human mind and cannot be shaken off except when we are taught by God” (Ap IV).

Here is where the “ministerial” use of reason comes into play. We are indeed able to be taught by God. By His grace our minds can be enlightened with the wonderful message of His mercy and forgiveness for the sake of Christ. Our reason does not have the right or the ability to sit in judgment on this proclamation, but with our reason we may and should, with God’s help, embrace this proclamation in faith, ponder it, and meditate on it.

The scholastic theologians of the Middle Ages did not follow this approach. With their rationalistic theological method they tended to “improperly mingle philosophical or social ethics with the gospel” (Ap II:43). Likewise, they “mingled Christian teaching with philosophical views about the perfection of nature... As a result they failed to see the inner impurity of human nature. For this cannot be diagnosed except by the Word of God—something the scholastics do not often use in their discussions” (Ap II:12-13). The depth of humanity’s profound sinfulness cannot be grasped by human reason, especially since that reason is itself infected by sin. It is only when the human mind is in submission to the mysteries of divine revelation that it becomes capable of believing things, through the working of the Holy Spirit, that it would otherwise never be willing or able to accept.

Through the Holy Scriptures the Holy Spirit instructs us in our need for salvation, and in God’s provision of what we need. The Biblical passages that teach these things certainly are incompatible with the assumptions and expectations of human reason. But in themselves, according to their plain meaning, these passages “are so clear that, to use the words of Augustine..., they do not require an acute intellect, only attentive listening” (Ap IV:33). In our reading of Sacred Scripture we are not to judge, criticize, or twist what God has plainly said, even when He is telling us things that seem to be logically impossible. “That’s not reasonable” is never a legitimate excuse to reject the plain sense of a Biblical passage, whether it is addressing the mystery of the Trinity, the incarnation of God’s Son, baptismal regeneration, or the Real Presence of Christ’s body and blood in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. Instead, we are simply to listen to the voice of God humbly and carefully, and to accept as true everything that God declares to be true. We remember the admonition of St. Paul: “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?” (Romans 9:20a).

David Jay Webber is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Scottsdale, Arizona and Sun of Righteousness Lutheran Mission in Queen Creek, Arizona.