The Magdeburg Confession

On October 31, 1517, pent-up passions burst out into the open when an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther posted his “Ninety-Five Theses” on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. Germany. Thus began the Protestant Reformation.

In response to the continuing spread of the Protestant Reformation, in May, 1548, Emperor Charles V imposed the “Augsburg Interim.” This decree was intended to force Protestants to re-adopt traditional Roman Catholic beliefs, practices, and rule. The Interim demanded that the Lutherans restore the number of sacraments to seven, that their churches restore a number of Roman ceremonies, doctrines, and practices which had been discarded by the Reformers, including transubstantiation. It also called for the rejection of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, required that the Pope be acknowledged as the head of the Church by divine right and that the churches receive again the authority of the Roman bishops. In concession to the Lutherans, the Interim allowed for the marriage of clergy, and that the laity be given both elements (bread and wine) in communion.

To preserve their own well-being, nearly all of Christendom went along with the sanctions, with only one city standing in opposition to the Augsburg Interim - Magdeburg, Germany. Here the magistrates protected the people and stood against religious and political tyranny. They upheld God’s Law, The Word of God, and the Gospels. As tensions mounted, the pastors of Magdeburg wrote a defense of their position for standing in defiance of Charles V and his unjust Interim. In April, 1550, the nine pastors published “The Confession, Instruction, and Admonition of the Pastors and Preachers of the Christian Congregations of Magdeburg” or “The Magdeburg Confession” just prior to the city entering a 13-month military siege by Emperor Charles V.

The Confession explained why the leaders of the city refused to obey the imperial law and were prepared to resist its implementation with force if necessary. It called for resistance to political tyranny, and argued that the subordinate powers in a state, faced with the situation where the supreme power is working to destroy true religion, may go further than non-cooperation with the supreme power and assist the faithful to resist.

The Confession raised the question of how righteous men ought to respond to those in power and authority when such men make unjust or immoral laws or decrees. It is an important historical work because the men of Magdeburg were the first in the history of mankind to set forth in a doctrinal format what only later came to be known as “The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate.”

The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate parallels The Magdeburg Confession and declares that when the higher or superior authority makes an unjust or immoral law or decree, the lower or lesser magistrate has both a right and duty to refuse obedience to the superior authority. If need be, the lesser authorities even have the right and obligation to actively resist and oppose the superior authority.