The Augsburg Confession is the earliest of the Lutheran Confessions. All orthodox Lutheran church bodies base their teachings on this document because they believe it is faithful to the Word of God.
In 1530, Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, called together the Lutheran princes of his German territories to meet at Augsburg. He sought unity with them to fight against the attacks of Turkish armies in Eastern Austria. He called on the Lutheran nobility to explain their religious beliefs, hoping that the controversy concerning the Reformation might be resolved.
To help heal the religious breech, Philip Melanchthon, a close friend of Martin Luther and a Professor of New Testament at Wittenberg University, was called on to draft a common confession for the Lutheran Lords and Free Territories. The resulting document, the Augsburg Confession, was presented to the emperor on June 25, 1530.
To read the Augsburg Confession and the other documents in the Lutheran Confessions, click on one of the links below.
