Please Read
The Barmen Declaration
1. "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the
Father except through me." John 14:6
"Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold
through the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a
bandit. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved."
John 10:1,9
Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one
Word of God whom we have to hear, and whom we have to trust and
obey in life and in death.
We reject the false doctrine that the Church could and should
recognize as a source of its proclamation, beyond and besides this
one Word of God, yet other events, powers, historic figures and
truths as God's revelation.
2. "Jesus Christ has been made wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption for us by God." 1 Cor.
1:30
As Jesus Christ is God's comforting pronouncement of the
forgiveness of all our sins, so, with equal seriousness, he is also
God's vigorous announcement of his claim upon our whole life.
Through him there comes to us joyful liberation from the godless
ties of this world for free, grateful service to his creatures.
We reject the false doctrine that there could be areas of our life
in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ but to other lords,
areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification
through him.
3. "Let us, however, speak the truth in love, and in every
respect grow into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the
whole body is joined together." Eph. 4:15-16
The Christian Church is the community of brethren in which, in Word
and sacrament, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ acts in the
present as Lord. With both its faith and its obedience, with both
its message and its order, it has to testify in the midst of the
sinful world, as the Church of pardoned sinners, that it belongs to
him alone and lives and may live by his comfort and under his
direction alone, in expectation of his appearing.
We reject the false doctrine that the Church could have permission
to hand over the form of its message and of its order to whatever
it itself might wish or to the vicissitudes of the prevailing
ideological and political convictions of the day.
4. "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among
you; but whoever wishes to have authority over you must be your
servant." Matt. 20:25-26
The various offices in the Church do not provide a basis for some
to exercise authority over others but for the ministry [lit.,
"service"] with which the whole community has been entrusted and
charged to be carried out.
We reject the false doctrine that, apart from this ministry, the
Church could, and could have permission to, give itself or allow
itself to be given special leaders [
Führer] vested
with ruling authority.
5. "Fear God. Honor the Emperor." 1 Pet. 2:17
Scripture tells us that by divine appointment the State, in this
still unredeemed world in which also the Church is situated, has
the task of maintaining justice and peace, so far as human
discernment and human ability make this possible, by means of the
threat and use of force. The Church acknowledges with gratitude and
reverence toward God the benefit of this, his appointment. It draws
attention to God's Dominion [
Reich], God's commandment and
justice, and with these the responsibility of those who rule and
those who are ruled. It trusts and obeys the power of the Word, by
which God upholds all things.
We reject the false doctrine that beyond its special commission the
State should and could become the sole and total order of human
life and so fulfil the vocation of the Church as well.
We reject the false doctrine that beyond its special commission the
Church should and could take on the nature, tasks and dignity which
belong to the State and thus become itself an organ of the
State.
6. "See, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Matt. 28:20 "God's Word is not fettered." 2 Tim.
2:9
The Church's commission, which is the foundation of its freedom,
consists in this: in Christ's stead, and so in the service of his
own Word and work, to deliver all people, through preaching and
sacrament, the message of the free grace of God.
We reject the false doctrine that with human vainglory the Church
could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of self-
chosen desires, purposes and plans.