Happy 480th Anniversary of the Augsburg Confession!


Emperor Charles V and his brother Ferdinand, the King of Austria, met privately with the Lutheran princes. They ordered them to forbid any Lutheran preaching in Augsburg during the meeting. They commanded them to attend the Corpus Christi festival the next day with the emperor. George Margrave of Brandenburg, spoke boldly for the Lutherans. He refused to concede to Charles’ demands, saying, “Before I let anyone take from me the Word of God and ask me to deny my God, I will kneel and let them strike off my head.”

The emperor, clearly taken aback by George’s boldness, sputtered in broken German, “Not cut off head, dear prince. Not cut off head.”

On June 25, 1530, courageous Lutheran laymen confessed their faith and told the emperor and the Roman Church what they believed, taught and confessed. They relied on the promise of God’s Word as contained in Psalm 119:46, “I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame.”

The Augsburg Confession was presented as a statement of biblical truth and a proposal for true unity in the Christian faith. It has never been withdrawn.


You can order your own copy of the contemporary translation of the Book of Concord with this link to Northwestern Publishing House.

Order the Book of Concord

Here is the video from the end of the Luther movie. It portrays the Lutheran princes willing to have their heads cut off before God’s Word would be taken from them. Then Melancthon presents the Augsburg Confession to Emperor Charles.

Happy 480th Anniversary of the Augsburg Confession!

By the way, my own personal study includes reading through the Book of Concord this summer. It is an ambitious plan, but extremely beneficial. Next year I am going to encourage all of you to join me in this devotional plan.

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