ST. CATHARINES CONCORDIA - Brock University

AUGSBURG CONFESSION IV AND V:
JUSTIFICATION, MEANS OF GRACE,
OFFICE OF THE HOLY MINISTRY
INTRODUcrl'ION:
THE STRUCTURE OF THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION
The contemporary debate on the Office of the Ministry has Socussed a lot of
attention on the SiSth arlicle of the Augsburg Confession [AC]. While thcsc discussions
have looked at this articlc's relatiomhip to both the fourth and fourteenth articles, we
are concerned here with the fosmer. It is often noted [hat AC V is concerned with how
one oblains the justification described in AC IV; but the mcrc juxtaposition of AC V
with AC IV does not yet explain its purpose or content. We need to discover the
unifying theme which holds both articles together and foims the hcart of each. In this
way AC V will not only be cxplained by IV, but also the reverse--that is to say that
our understanding of the article of justification itsell' is tied to the meaning of AC V!
There are lour clues which suggest that articles four and five arc intimately mated
with cach other. (l) The standard introductory foi-mula "It is further taught" [Weiter
wird gelehrt; Item docent], present in one form or another at the start of most articles,
1
is lacking in AC V. This suggests that AC IV & V together are considered as a single
articlc of faith, needing only the one introduction found at the start OS AC TV. Tn the
doctrinal section (AC I-XXI) this omission occurs only twice morc. The two articles
on the church (V11 & VIII) arc joined simply by "Item [likewise]". The church is
defined in AC VII, yet the apparently contradictory definition of the church as thc
"assernbl y of saints" and as the place of Word and Sacrament needs further explication.
"Thc purpose of this article [VIII] is to make it in~possible for anyone to accuse the
evangelicals of Donatism. The negotiators at the diet were well awarc that fcars of
such an attack were not without grounds. . . ."2 Thus AC V111 serves as a sort of added
3
note to AC VII. The third instance of this omission deals with a real accusntioil
levelled against them. AC XX "Of Faith and Good Works" begins: "Our [teachers]
are falsely accuscd that they forbid good works". This, too, is a sort of added note, to
1 All cilaliu~is oC 11ic Augsbuig Confession are based on the best critical edition: Die Bekeizntiz~ssclirft~iz clrr
e~~i~~~grli.v~h-l~itI~t!~'i~rche~i
KII.C/IE (BKS), 10th ed. (Gottingen: Vandcnhocck & Ruprecht, 1986). English translations
are by the present author.
2 Leif Grane, The Airgsbzrrg Coi;fessioii. A (loininmtory, tram .lnlin H . Rasmussen (h'hneapolis: Aupburg,
1987) 99- 100.
1 This is conf~rmed by the fact that in all the ea~ly sources ol the AC here ia only one article on the church. See
LiKS h1 -62. Schwabach Article XI1 (1529) un Lhe chu~ch leflecrs only AC VII, and is tracedby BK,S to Luther's
"G~eat Confessioii" (1528), which also I-eflects only AC VII. AC V111 must have been a. late addition to thc AC,
fui even Ihr early draft of the AC identified as "Na" in BKS contains but onc articlc on thc church (see helnw
for a discussion of all of these documents).