Smalcald Articles
Written by Luther in 1536 when Pope Paul III called a general council at Mantua. Elector John Frederick of Saxony asked Luther to prepare a statement of what the Lutherans could and could not concede. Luther wrote these articles as a personal declaration — what he believed, what he would die defending, and what he would never surrender. Part I covers doctrine held in common with Rome. Part II covers the points of absolute non-negotiation. Part III covers matters that could be discussed at a council. They were signed by the Lutheran leaders and later included in the Book of Concord.
Part I — The Sublime Articles of the Divine Majesty
These are articles on which there is no controversy, as they are confessed by both sides.
God
That Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three distinct persons in one divine essence and nature, is one God, who has created heaven and earth.
On Redemption
That the Father is not become man, the Holy Ghost is not become man, but the Son is become man.
On Christ
That the Son became man in this manner: He was conceived, without the cooperation of man, by the Holy Ghost, and born of the clean, holy Virgin Mary. Afterwards He suffered, died, was buried, descended to hell, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of God, will come to judge the quick and the dead, etc., as the Apostles' Creed and the Catechism teach, in which I have treated these articles at greater length. (Gal. 4:4–5; Rom. 8:34)
On These Articles
Of these articles there is no contention or dispute, since we on both sides confess them. Therefore it is not necessary to treat them at greater length.
Part II — The Articles Which Pertain to the Office and Work of Jesus Christ, or Our Redemption
On Justification (The Chief Article)
That Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins, and was raised again for our justification. (Rom. 4:25)
And He alone is the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. (Isa. 53:6)
Likewise: All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood. (Rom. 3:23–25)
Now, since it is necessary to believe this, and it cannot be otherwise acquired or apprehended by any work, law, or merit, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us. As St. Paul says in Romans 3:28: "For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law." Likewise 3:26: "that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
Of this article nothing can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls. "For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved," says Peter, Acts 4:12. "And with his wounds we are healed," Isaiah 53:5.
And upon this article all things depend which we teach and practice in opposition to the pope, the devil, and the whole world. Therefore, we must be sure concerning this doctrine, and not doubt; for otherwise all is lost, and the pope and devil and all things gain the victory and suit over us.
On the Mass
That the Mass in the Papacy must be the greatest and most horrible abomination, as it directly and powerfully conflicts with this chief article. Yet above all other popish idolatries it has been the chief and most specious. For it has been held that this sacrifice or work of the Mass, even when offered by a wicked scoundrel, frees men from sins, both in this life and also in purgatory; while the only-begotten Son of God must give only this honor to his death, that his work should be a sacrifice or satisfaction for our sin. Thereupon has followed what an abomination of idols have been built up and established throughout the world upon this article, namely, perpetual masses, endowments for masses, brotherhoods, vigils, golden masses, etc.
All this is to be rejected and condemned, together with the procession, that walking about, which is still done in honor of this sacrament, as a ceremony instituted without the authority of the Word of God and Scripture.
On Chapters and Monasteries
Chapters and monasteries which have formerly been established with good intention for the education of learned men and chaste women, ought to be converted again for such use, so that we may have pastors, preachers, and other ministers in the Church, and other necessary persons for civil government in the cities and countries, and likewise well-trained girls for mothers and housekeepers, etc.
On Papacy
That the Pope is not the head of all Christendom by divine right or according to God's Word, since this belongs only to one, namely, to Jesus Christ. The Pope is only the Bishop or pastor of the Church at Rome and of those who voluntarily or through a human creature (that is, a secular authority) have attached themselves to him, in order to be Christians, not under him as a lord, but with him as a brother and comrade, as the ancient councils and the age of Cyprian demonstrate.
But at the present time no one wants to be subject to the Pope by brotherly love; rather, all must be subject to him as a lord and be compelled thereto, which is not right. Even if we should do this, it would accomplish nothing for him, since it is in his power to do with it as he will.
Part III — The Articles Which We May Discuss With Learned and Reasonable Men, or Even Among Ourselves
On Sin
Here we must confess, as Paul says in Romans 5, that sin originated from one man Adam, through whose disobedience all men were made sinners, subject to death and the devil. This is called original or capital sin. The fruits of this sin are afterwards the evil deeds which are forbidden in the Ten Commandments, such as unbelief, false faith, idolatry, to be without the fear of God, presumption, despair, blindness, and, in short, not to know or regard God; then to lie, to swear by God's name, not to pray, not to call upon God, to neglect God's Word, to be disobedient to parents, to murder, to be unchaste, to steal, to deceive, etc. (Rom. 5:12)
This hereditary sin is so deep a corruption of nature that no reason can understand it, but it must be believed from the revelation of Scripture. Ezek. 8 and Gen. 3 and following, and Rom. 5. Therefore the scholastic doctors were in error when they said that the natural powers of man have remained entire and incorrupt, and that man by nature has a right reason and a good will, as the philosophers teach. Likewise, when they said that man has a free will to do good and omit evil, and, again, to omit good and do evil; and, many more things of the kind that flow from the ignorance of this sin.
On the Law
The law was given by God, in the first place, to curb sin by threats and the dread of punishment, and by the promise and offer of grace and benefit. But all this miscarried owing to the wickedness which sin has wrought in man. For thereby his condition became worse than before; since, partly from contempt and partly from inability, he does not fulfil the Law, and sins more than before now that he has the Law, because the flesh is irritated and inflamed all the more against the Law, since it cannot and will not endure to be restrained by the Law from its desires. (Rom. 7:7–11)
Therefore the Law must always have its course with the Old Man (old nature). As St. Paul in Rom. 7 makes this complaint on his own behalf and says: "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." And again: "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh."
On Repentance
The New Testament maintains and urges this office of the law, so St. Paul says in Rom. 1: "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." Again: "All the world may be held accountable to God." And Christ says in John 16: "The Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin." This then is the thunderbolt of God by which He strikes in a heap both manifest sinners and false saints, and suffers no one to be in the right, but drives them all together to terror and despair.
This is the hammer, as Jeremiah calls it: "Is not my word like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" This is not activa contritio (manufactured repentance) but passiva contritio (true sorrow of heart, suffering, and sensation of death). This is what it means to begin truly to repent. Here man must hear such a sentence as this: You are all of no account, whether you be manifest sinners or saints (in your own opinion); you must all become different and do otherwise than you now are and are doing, whether you are as great, wise, powerful, and holy as you may. Here no one is godly, etc. (Jer. 23:29)
But to this office of the Law the New Testament immediately adds the consolatory promise of grace through the Gospel. This must be believed, and cannot be obtained or apprehended by any work, law, or merit. Therefore the two must be kept apart; and the one must not be confused with the other. Both must be retained and preached, but in their own proper time and place.
On the Gospel
We will now return to the Gospel, which not merely in one way gives us counsel and aid against sin; for God is surpassingly rich in His grace: First, through the spoken Word, by which the forgiveness of sins is preached in the whole world; which is the peculiar office of the Gospel. Secondly, through Baptism. Thirdly, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar. Fourthly, through the Power of the Keys. And fifthly, through the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren. Matt. 18:20: "Where two or three are gathered," etc. And indeed this is what St. Paul also calls Christ "speaking" in us. Col. 3:16: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another."
On the Need for the Church
We must firmly hold that God grants his Spirit or grace to no one, except through or with the preceding outward Word, in order that we may thus be protected against the enthusiasts, i.e., spirits who boast that they have the Spirit without and before the Word, and accordingly judge Scripture or the spoken Word, and explain and stretch it at their pleasure, as Münzer did, and many still do at the present day, who wish to be acute judges between the Spirit and the letter, and yet know not what they say or declare. For in his Letter to Galatians 3, St. Paul calls the Law a disciplinarian unto Christ, because the Holy Ghost can only operate where the Word is. We do not, therefore, reject the Word or Sacraments, as those enthusiasts imagine who despise the outward means, and wait for God to speak to them immediately without means.