On ceremonies:
The
churches among us teach with complete unanimity...that one holy church
will remain forever. The church is the assembly of saints in which the
gospel is taught purely and the sacraments are administered rightly. And
it is enough for the true unity of the church to agree concerning the
teaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments. It is
not necessary that human traditions, rites, or ceremonies instituted by
human beings be alike everywhere. As Paul says [Eph. 4:5, 6]: “One
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all...” ...
Concerning
church rites they teach that those rites should be observed that can be
observed without sin and that contribute to peace and good order in the
church, for example, certain holy days, festivals, and the like.
However, people are reminded not to burden consciences, as if such
worship were necessary for salvation. (Augsburg Confession [Latin], I:1,
p. 37; VII:1-4, p. 43; XV:1-2, p. 49)
As
can be seen, there is nothing here that departs from the Scriptures or
the catholic church, or from the Roman church, insofar as we can tell
from its writers. ... For even the canons are not so severe as to demand
that rites should be the same everywhere, nor have the rites of all
churches ever been the same. Nevertheless, the ancient rites are, for
the most part, diligently observed among us. For the accusation is false
that all ceremonies and ancient ordinances are abolished in our
churches. Truth is, there has been a public outcry that certain abuses
have become fused to the common rites. Because such abuses could not be
approved with a good conscience, they have been corrected to some
extent.
...the
churches among us do not dissent from the catholic church in any
article of faith but only set aside a few abuses that are new and were
accepted because of corruption over time contrary to the intention of
the canons... However, it can easily be judged that nothing contributes
more to preserving the dignity of ceremonies and to cultivating
reverence and piety among the people than conducting ceremonies properly
in the churches. (Augsburg Confession [Latin], Conclusion of Part One:
1-5, p. 59; Introduction of Part Two: 1, 6, p. 61)
Our
churches are falsely accused of abolishing the Mass. In fact, the Mass
is retained among us and is celebrated with the greatest reverence.
Almost all the customary ceremonies are also retained, except that
German hymns, added for the instruction of the people, are interspersed
here and there among the Latin ones. For ceremonies are especially
needed in order to teach those who are ignorant. Paul advised [1 Cor.
14:2,9] that in church a language that is understood by the people
should be used. The people have grown accustomed to receiving the
sacrament together – all who are fit to do so. This also increases
reverence and respect for public ceremonies. ... The people are also
reminded about the dignity and use of the sacrament – how it offers
great consolation to anxious consciences – so that they may learn to
believe in God and expect and ask for all that is good from God. Such
worship pleases God, and such use of the sacrament cultivates piety
toward God. So it does not appear that the Mass is held with greater
devotion among our adversaries than among us. ...
Since
the Mass is such an imparting of the sacrament, among us one common
Mass is held on every holy day, and it is also administered on other
days if there are those who desire it. Nor is this custom new in the
church. For the ancient teachers before the time of Gregory...often
speak of the common Mass. ... Since, therefore, the Mass as we conduct
it has on its side the example of the church, from Scripture and the
Fathers, we are confident that it cannot be disapproved, especially
since the customary public ceremonies are for the most part retained.
(Augsburg Confession XXIV:1-5, 7-9, 34-35, 40 [Latin], pp. 69, 71, 73)
It
has been a general conviction, not only of the people but also of those
who teach in the churches, that distinction of foods and similar human
traditions are useful works for meriting grace and making satisfaction
for sins. That the world thought so is evident from the fact that daily
new ceremonies, new ordinances, new holy days, and new fasts were
instituted and that the teachers in places of worship exacted these
works as necessary worship for meriting grace and viciously terrified
consciences if people omitted any of them. Much misfortune has ensued in
the church from this conviction concerning traditions. ...these
traditions obscured the precepts of God because traditions were
preferred far more than the precepts of God. All Christianity was
thought to consist of the observance of certain holy days, rites, fasts,
and vestments. ...
Nevertheless,
many traditions are kept among us, such as the order of readings in the
Mass, holy days, etc., which are conducive to maintaining good order in
the church. But at the same time, people are warned that such acts of
worship do not justify before God and that no punishable sin is
committed if they are omitted without offense. Such freedom in human
rites was not unknown to the Fathers. For in the East, Easter was kept
at a different time than in Rome, and when the Romans accused the East
of schism because of this difference, they were admonished by others
that such customs need not be alike everywhere. (Augsburg Confession
XXVI:1-3, 8, 40-43 [Latin], pp. 75, 77, 81)
Moreover,
it is debated whether bishops or pastors have the right to institute
ceremonies in the church and make laws concerning food, holy days, ranks
or orders of ministers, etc. ...concerning this question, our people
teach...that bishops do not have the power to establish anything
contrary to the gospel. ...it is not lawful for bishops to institute
such acts of worship or require them as necessary, because ordinances
that are instituted as necessary or with the intention of meriting
justification conflict with the gospel. ... It is necessary to retain
the chief article of the gospel: that we obtain grace through faith in
Christ, not through certain observances or through acts of worship
instituted by human beings.
What,
therefore, should one think of Sunday and similar rites in places of
worship? To this our people reply that it is lawful for bishops or
pastors to establish ordinances so that things are done in the church in
an orderly fashion, not so that we may make satisfaction for our sins
through them or so that consciences may be obliged to regard them as
necessary acts of worship. ... It is fitting for the churches to comply
with such ordinances for the sake of love and tranquillity and to keep
them insofar as they do not offend others. Thus, everything may be done
in an orderly fashion in the churches without confusion, but in such a
way that consciences are not burdened by thinking such things are
necessary for salvation or that they sin when violating them without
offense. ... Such is the case with the observance of Sunday, Easter,
Pentecost, and similar festivals and rites. (Augsburg Confession
XXVIII:30, 34, 50, 52-53, 55-57 [Latin], pp. 95, 97, 99, 101)
Only those things have been recounted which seemed to
need saying. This was done in order that it may be understood that
nothing has been accepted among us, in teaching or ceremonies, that is
contrary to Scripture or the catholic church. For it is manifest that we
have most diligently been on guard so that no new or ungodly doctrines
creep into our churches. (Augsburg Confession, Conclusion: 4-5 [Latin],
p. 105)
...God’s
Word is the treasure that makes everything holy. ... At whatever time
God’s Word is taught, preached, heard, read, or pondered, there the
person, the day, and the work is hallowed, not on account of the
external work but on account of the Word that makes us all saints.
Accordingly, I constantly repeat that all our life and work must be
based on God’s Word if they are to be God-pleasing or holy. Where that
happens the [third] commandment is in force and is fulfilled.
Conversely, any conduct or work apart from God’s Word is unholy in the
sight of God, no matter how splendid and brilliant it may appear...
Note,
then, that the power and force of this commandment consists not in the
resting but in the hallowing, so that this day may have its special holy
function. ... Places, times, persons, and the entire outward order of
worship have therefore been instituted and appointed in order that God’s
Word may exert its power publicly. (Large Catechism I:91-94, p. 399)
...we
gladly keep the ancient traditions set up in the church because they
are useful and promote tranquillity, and we interpret them in the best
possible way, by excluding the opinion that they justify. But our
enemies falsely charge that we abolish good ordinances and church
discipline. We can claim that the public liturgy in the church is more
dignified among us than among the opponents. ... Among the opponents,
unwilling celebrants and hirelings celebrate the Mass, and very often
they do so only for the money. They chant psalms, not in order to learn
or pray, but for the sake of the rite, as if this work were a required
act of worship, or for the sake of financial reward. Many among us
celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Lord’s day after they are instructed,
examined, and absolved. The children chant the Psalms in order to learn
them; the people also sing in order either to learn or to pray. ...
Among
the opponents there are many regions where no sermons are delivered
during the entire year except during Lent. And yet the chief worship of
God is to preach the gospel. And when the opponents do preach, they talk
about human traditions, about the devotion to the saints and similar
trifles. This the people rightly loathe, and so they walk out on them
immediately after the reading of the gospel. A few of the better ones
have begun now to speak about good works, but they still say nothing
about the righteousness of faith, about faith in Christ, and about the
consolation of consciences. Indeed they rail against this most salutary
part of the gospel in their polemics. On the contrary, in our churches
all the sermons deal with topics like these: repentance, fear of God,
faith in Christ, the righteousness of faith, consolation of consciences
through faith, the exercise of faith, prayer (what it should be like and
that everyone may be completely certain that it is efficacious and is
heard), the cross, respect for the magistrates and all civil orders, the
distinction between the kingdom of Christ (the spiritual kingdom) and
political affairs, marriage, the education and instruction of children,
chastity, and all the works of love. From this description of the state
of our churches it is possible to determine that we diligently maintain
churchly discipline, godly ceremonies, and good ecclesiastical customs.
(Apology XV:38-40, 42-44, p. 229)
...it
is evident that many foolish opinions about traditions have crept into
the church. Some thought that human traditions were necessary acts of
worship for meriting justification. ... Likewise, some churches
excommunicated others on account of such traditions as the observance of
Easter, images, and similar things. From this the inexperienced have
concluded that faith or righteousness of the heart before God cannot
exist without these observances. ...
But
just as the different lengths of day and night do not undermine the
unity of the church, so we maintain that different rites instituted by
human beings do not undermine the true unity of the church, although it
pleases us when universal rites are kept for the sake of tranquillity.
Thus, in our churches we willingly observe the order of the Mass, the
Lord’s day, and other more important festival days. With a very grateful
spirit we cherish the useful and ancient ordinances, especially when
they contain a discipline by which it is profitable to educate and teach
[the] common folk and [the] ignorant. ...
The
opponents say that universal traditions ought to be observed because
they are thought to have been handed down from the apostles. ... They
ought to interpret these rites in just the same way as the apostles
themselves interpreted them in their writings. For the apostles did not
want us to think that through such rites we are justified or that such
rites are necessary for righteousness before God. ... They observed
certain days not as if that observance were necessary for justification,
but in order that the people might know at what time they should
assemble. Whenever they assembled, they also observed some other rites
and a sequence of lessons. Frequently, the people continued to observe
certain Old Testament customs, which the apostles adapted in modified
form to the gospel history, like Easter and Pentecost [cf. Acts 18:21;
20:16], so that by these examples as well as by instruction they might
transmit to posterity the memory of those important events. (Apology
VII/VIII:32-33, 38-40, pp. 179-81)
...we
do not abolish the Mass but religiously retain and defend it. Among us
the Mass is celebrated every Lord’s day and on other festivals, when the
sacrament is made available to those who wish to partake of it, after
they have been examined and absolved. We also keep traditional
liturgical forms, such as the order of readings, prayers, vestments, and
other similar things.
The
opponents include a long harangue about the use of Latin in the Mass,
in which they childishly quibble about how it benefits hearers who are
ignorant of the church’s faith to hear a Mass that they do not
understand. Apparently, they imagine that the mere act of hearing itself
is a useful act of worship even where there is no understanding. ... We
mention it only in passing in order to point out that our churches
retain the Latin readings and prayers.
Ceremonies
should be observed both so that people may learn the Scriptures and so
that, admonished by the Word, they might experience faith and fear and
finally even pray. For these are the purposes of the ceremonies. We keep
the Latin for the sake of those who learn and understand it. We also
use German hymns in order that the [common] people might have something
to learn, something that will arouse their faith and fear. ...
Consciences
were tormented by enumeration of sins and satisfactions. The opponents
never mentioned faith, by which we freely receive the forgiveness of
sins. All their books and sermons were silent about the exercise of
faith in its struggle with despair or about the free forgiveness of sins
on account of Christ. In addition, they horribly profaned the Mass and
introduced many other godless acts of worship into the churches. ...
By
contrast, due to God’s blessing, our priests attend to the ministry of
the Word. They teach the gospel about the blessings of Christ, and they
show that the forgiveness of sins takes place on account of Christ. This
teaching offers solid consolation to consciences. In addition they
teach about the good works that God commands, and they speak about the
value and use of the sacraments. ...among them [our opponents] the
priests use the sacrament to make money. Among us it is used more
frequently and more devoutly. For the people use it, but only after they
have been instructed and examined. They are taught about the proper use
of the sacrament, that it was instituted as a seal and testimony of the
gracious forgiveness of sins and therefore as an encouragement to
sensitive consciences in order that they may be completely convinced and
believe that their sins are freely forgiven. ...
Moreover,
if we must speak about outward appearances, attendance in our churches
is greater than among the opponents’. Practical and clear sermons hold
an audience. But neither the people nor the theologians have ever
understood the opponents’ teaching. The true adornment of the churches
is godly, useful, and clear doctrine, the devout use of the sacraments,
ardent prayer, and the like. Candles, golden vessels, and similar
adornments are appropriate, but they are not the distinctive adornment
of the church. ...
But
let us speak about the term “liturgy.” This word does not properly mean
a sacrifice but rather public service. Thus, it agrees quite well with
our position, namely, that the one minister who consecrates gives the
body and blood of the Lord to the rest of the people, just as a minister
who preaches sets forth the gospel to the people, as Paul says [1 Cor.
4:1], “Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of
God’s mysteries,” that is, of the gospel and the sacraments. And 2
Corinthians 5:20, “So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making
his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be
reconciled to God. ...” Thus the term “liturgy” fits well with the
ministry. (Apology XXIV:1-3, 46-51, 79-81, pp. 258, 267, 272)
We
should not regard as free and indifferent, but rather as things
forbidden by God that are to be avoided, the kind of things presented
under the name and appearance of external, indifferent things that are
nevertheless fundamentally opposed to God’s Word (even if they are
painted another color). Moreover, we must not include among the truly
free adiaphora or indifferent matters ceremonies that give the
appearance or (in order to avoid persecution) are designed to give the
impression that our religion does not differ greatly from the papist
religion or that their religion were not completely contrary to ours.
Nor are such ceremonies matters of indifference when they are intended
to create the illusion (or are demanded or accepted with that
intention), as if such action brought the two contradictory religions
into agreement and made them one body or as if a return to the papacy
and a deviation from the pure teaching of the gospel and from the true
religion had taken place or could gradually result from these actions.
...
In
the same way, useless, foolish spectacles, which are not beneficial for
good order, Christian discipline, or evangelical decorum in the church,
are not true adiaphora or indifferent things. ...
Therefore,
we believe, teach, and confess that the community of God in every time
and place has the right, power, and authority to change, reduce, or
expand such practices according to circumstances in an orderly and
appropriate manner, without frivolity or offense, as seems most useful,
beneficial, and best for good order, Christian discipline, evangelical
decorum, and the building up of the church. ...
We
also believe, teach, and confess that in a time when confession is
necessary, as when the enemies of God’s Word want to suppress the pure
teaching of the holy gospel, the entire community of God, indeed, every
Christian, especially servants of the Word as the leaders of the
community of God, are obligated according to God’s Word to confess true
teaching and everything that pertains to the whole of religion freely
and publicly. They are to do so not only with words but also in actions
and deeds. In such a time they shall not yield to the opponents even in
indifferent matters, nor shall they permit the imposition of such adiaphora
by opponents who use violence or chicanery in such a way that
undermines true worship of God or that introduces or confirms idolatry.
...the
churches are not to condemn one another because of differences in
ceremonies when in Christian freedom one has fewer or more than the
other, as long as these churches are otherwise united in teaching and in
all the articles of the faith as well as in the proper use of the holy
sacraments. (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration X:5,7,9-10, 31, pp.
636-37, 640)
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