“1. We believe, teach and confess, that the only rule and standard, according to which all doctrines and teachers alike ought to be tried and judged, are the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments alone, as it is written, Psalm 119:105: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” And St. Paul, Gal. 1:8, says: “Though an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Other writings, however, of ancient and modern teachers, whatever their reputation may be, shall not be held to be of equal authority with the holy Scripture, but to be subordinate to it, and shall not be received otherwise or further than as witnesses respecting the manner in which such doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles, was held in certain places, after the age of the Apostles.

2. And as, immediately after the time of the Apostles, and even while they were yet living, false teachers and heretics arose, against whom Symbols, that is, short, plain confessions, were drawn up in the first churches, which were unanimously held as the universal Christian faith and confession of the orthodox and true churches, namely, the Apostolic Symbol, the Nicene Symbol, and the Athanasian Symbol; we publicly acknowledge these, and hereby reject all heresies and doctrines, which, in opposition to these, have been introduced into the church of God” (Formula of Concord, Epitome, Rule and Standard, Henkel p. 553-554).

“…just as our Papist adversaries at present exult on account of the dissensions which have arisen among us, cherishing a hope by no means pious, indeed a false hope, that the utter ruin and extinction of our sound doctrine must follow from our internal controversies. In the meantime, weak persons are exceedingly offended and disturbed; some doubt whether, in the midst of these serious dissensions, the true doctrine can be found among us; some cannot decide to which party they ought to adhere in these controverted articles. For these controversies are not mere misunderstandings or vain and unnecessary disputes concerning words, such as often arise when one party has not fully understood the opinion of another, as perhaps in these religious transactions it may appear to be the case to some, who imagine that these disputes refer only to a few words which can surely be of no great importance. But these are very important subjects and are of such a nature, that the opinion of that party which departs from the truth, neither can be nor ought to be tolerated in the church of God—much less be excused or defended.

Wherefore necessity requires that these controverted articles should be distinctly explained from the Word of God, and from approved writings, so that all pious and intelligent persons may perceive whose opinion, in these controversies is conformable to the Word of God, and the orthodox Augsburg Confession, and what opinion is opposed to these approved writings; that good and pious minds, to whom truth is dear, may avoid and escape the corruptions and errors which have arisen” (Formula of Concord, Full Declaration, Preface, Henkel p.594).

“But though the pious doctrine of this Confession, in general has met with no opposition, except that which proceeded from the Papists, it must be confessed that some theologians, in several articles of chief importance, have departed from it, and either have not arrived at its true sense, or have certainly failed to adhere to it uniformly; while some also have endeavored to affix to it a sense really foreign to it, who nevertheless professed that they embraced the Augsburg Confession, and pretended to glory in the profession of it.

But from this circumstance very grievous and pernicious controversies arose in the reformed churches; as also formerly, while the Apostles were still living, shocking errors arose among those who desired to be esteemed Christians and who gloried in the doctrine of Christ. For some sought for justification and salvation through the works of the law, Acts 5:1–29; others denied the resurrection of the dead, others did not believe that Christ is the true and eternal God. These men the Apostles zealously opposed in their discourses and their writings; although they were not ignorant that those errors and violent controversies on such important subjects, caused great offence among unbelievers as well as among those who were weak in the faith” (Formula of Concord, Full Declaration, Preface, Henkel p.593-594).

“In this they distinctly and unreservedly declared the points which were believed and publicly taught in the evangelical and reformed churches, in respect to the principal articles; (especially in respect to those articles which had become subjects of dispute between themselves and the Papists). Our adversaries received this Confession with great displeasure, indeed, but to this day they have not been able either to refute or to overthrow it.

Embracing with our whole heart this pious Augsburg Confession, built as it is upon the unshaken foundation of the Word of God, we now again publicly and solemnly profess it; and we adhere to that simple, pure, and perspicuous doctrine which its own expressions exhibit. We conceive it to be the pious symbol of our day, which devout minds ought to adopt next to the invincible authority of the Word of God. In the same manner very serious religious controversies formerly arose in the church of God, and confessions and pious symbols were written, which sincere teachers and hearers embraced with their whole soul, and publicly professed. And indeed, assisted by the grace of Almighty God, we shall firmly persevere to the latest breath in the doctrine of this pious Confession, as it was exhibited to the emperor Charles V., A. D. 1530. Nor do we design in this or any other writing, to depart an hair-breadth from said Confession, or to frame a different or a new Confession” (Formula of Concord, Full Declaration, Preface, Henkel p.593-594).

“A Full Declaration:  A complete, clear, correct, and final repetition and declaration of certain articles of the Augsburg Confession, concerning which, for some time, disputes had been maintained among some theologians attached to that confession; in which these disputes are determined and reconciled according to the authority of the Word of God, and to the summary contents of our Christian doctrine.

PREFACE.  By the inestimable goodness and mercy of Almighty God, the doctrine concerning the principal articles of our Christian religion, which had been shamefully obscured during the Papacy by the opinions and traditions of men, has now again been clearly unfolded and purified, according to the rule and analogy of the Word of God, by the labors of Dr. Luther, of blessed memory, while Papistical errors, abuses, and idolatry have been seriously rebuked. By this pious reformation, our adversaries supposed that new doctrines were introduced into the church of God; and as if this reformation were repugnant to the Word of God, and entirely subversive of all pious institutions, they assailed it with violence, but without truth, and loaded it with almost infinite calumnies, on grounds which were not even plausible. Influenced by this consideration, those electors, princes, and estates of the empire, who were distinguished by their piety, and who had at that time embraced the pure doctrine of the Gospel, and had reformed their own churches according to the rule of the Word of God, at the numerous and celebrated Diet of Augsburg, held A. D. 1530, carefully provided that a pious Confession, derived from the holy Scriptures, should be drawn up in writing; and they exhibited that confession to the emperor Charles V” (Formula of Concord, Full Declaration, Preface, Henkel p.593).

“If we wish to stand upon the councils and counsels of men, we lose the Scriptures altogether and remain in the devil’s possession body and soul.  He is Satan, and Satan is his name, i.e. an adversary.  He must obstruct and cause misfortune; he cannot do otherwise. Moreover, he is the prince and god of this world, so that he has sufficient power to do so. Since he is able and determined to do all this, we must not imagine that we shall have peace from him. He takes no vacation and he does not sleep. Choose, then, whether you prefer to wrestle with the devil or whether you prefer to belong to him. If you consent to be his, you will receive his guarantee to leave you in peace with the Scriptures. If you refuse to be his, defend yourself, go at him! He will not pass you by; he will create such dissension and sectarianism over the Scriptures that you will not know where Scriptures, faith, Christ, and you yourself stand.

Woe betide all our teachers and authors, who go their merry way and spew forth whatever is uppermost in their minds, and do not first turn a thought over ten times to be sure it is right in the sight of God! These think the devil is away for a while in Babylon, or asleep at their side like a dog on a cushion. They do not consider that he is round about them with all his venomous flaming darts which he puts into them, such superlatively beautiful thoughts adorned with Scripture that they are unaware of what is happening. Here no admonition, no warnings, no threats are of any avail. The devil is master of a thousand arts. If God does not defend and help us, all our actions and counsels are nothing. No matter which way you look at it, the devil is the prince of this world. He who does not know this, let him try and see. I have had some experience in this matter. But no one will believe me until he experiences it also” (Luther’s Works, vol. 37, p.17-18).

“However, he does not leave the matter there, but quick as a flash goes to work on the sacraments, although in this respect he has already torn at least ten rips and loopholes in the Scriptures. I have never read of a more shameful heresy, which from the outset has gathered to itself so many heads, so many factions and dissensions, although on the main point, the persecution of Christ, they are united. But he will keep on and attack still other articles of faith, as he already declares with flashing eyes that baptism, original sin, and Christ are nothing.  Once more there will arise a brawl over the Scriptures, and such dissension and so many factions that we may well say with St. Paul, ‘The mystery of lawlessness is already at work’ [II Thess. 2:7], just as he also saw that many more factions would arise after him.

If the world lasts much longer, men will, as the ancients did, once more turn to human schemes on account of this dissension, and again issue laws and regulations to keep the people in the unity of the faith. Their success will be the same as it was in the past.

In short, the devil is too clever and too mighty for us. He resists and hinders us at every point. When we wish to deal with Scripture, he stirs up so much dissension and quarreling over it that we lose our interest in it and become reluctant to trust it. We must forever be scuffling and wrestling with him” (Luther’s Works, vol. 37, p.16-17).

“This is the way the plot worked out for the fathers: Since they contrived to have the Scriptures without quarreling and dissension, they thereby became the cause of men’s turning wholly and completely away from the Scriptures to mere human drivel. Then, of course, dissension and contention over the Scriptures necessarily ceased, which is a divine quarrel wherein God contends with the devil, as St. Paul says in Ephesians 6[:12], ‘We have to contend not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in the air.’ But in place of this, there has broken out human dissension over temporal honor and goods on earth, yet there remain a united blindness and ignorance of the Scriptures and a loss of the true Christian faith, i.e. a united obedience to the glosses of the fathers and to the holy see at Rome. Isn’t this also a piece of devilish craftiness? No matter what play we make, he is a master and an expert at the game.

Now in our day, having seen that Scripture was utterly neglected and the devil was making captives and fools of us by the mere straw and hay of man-made laws, we have tried by God’s grace to offer some help in the matter. With immense and bitter effort indeed we have brought the Scriptures to the fore again and released the people from man-made laws, freed ourselves and escaped the devil, although he stubbornly resisted and still continues to do so. However, even though he has had to let us go, he does not forget his tricks. He has secretly sown his seed among us so that they may take hold of our teachings and words, not to aid and assist us in fostering the Scriptures, but, while we were leading in the fight against human drivel, to fall upon our host from the rear, incite rebellion and raise an uproar against us, in order that caught between two enemies, we may be more easily destroyed. This is what I call throwing quicksilver into the pond!” (Luther’s Works, vol. 37, p.15-16).

“When the devil saw this he jeered and thought: now I have won! Scripture lies prostrate, the fortress is destroyed, the weapons are beaten down. In their place they now weave walls of straw and make weapons of hay, i.e. they intend now to array themselves against me with man-made laws.  Ah, this is serious! What shall I do? I shall not fight against this, but pitch in and help them build so that they remain nicely united, and help them gather enough straw and hay. It serves my purpose well that they should neglect the Word and not dispute over the Scriptures, but that at this very point they should be at peace and believe what the councils and the fathers say. But within this peace and unity I shall stir up many another controversy and quarrel, so that the pope will contend against emperor and kings, bishops against princes and lords, scholars against scholars, clerics against clerics, and everyone against the other, for the sake of temporal honor, possessions, and pleasure, yet leaving untouched their unity of belief in the holy fathers. The fools! What can they expect to accomplish with quarrels over the Scriptures and the things of God they do not understand? It is better for them to quarrel over honor, kingdoms, principalities, property, pleasure, and bodily needs, which they do understand, and meanwhile remain faithful Christians united in the glossed faith of the fathers, i.e. a flimsy faith” (Luther’s Works, vol. 37, p.14-15).