Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary

The churches among us teach with complete unanimity . . . .

So begins Article I of the Augsburg confession, and today we celebrate and commemorate the presentation of the Augsburg Confession to Emperor Charles V at the imperial Diet of Augsburg on 25 June 1530. On that day, the Augsburg Confession was submitted as a defense of what the “protesting” churches believed, taught, and confessed. And so, while it was submitted as a defense, it simultaneously declared that unity in the church is found not in popes or councils, but in Christ himself and what he has done for the salvation of the world, which places the doctrine of justification by grace through faith at the center of everything the church says and does. For this doctrine of who Christ is and what he has done runs through every doctrine as golden thread, uniting all who believe, teach, and confess it to the person of Christ and thereby to the Trinity and one another. And so it is that we celebrate and commemorate this day, not simply for what it did for our forefathers in the faith, but also for what it stands for and does for us even unto this day. It unites us in a faith, practice, and life focused on Christ, his salvific and life-giving cross, and the blessed assurance and confidence we have as those joined to Him.