2/22/18
Kolb, Robert. The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000.
Augsburg Confession XIV, “Concerning Church Government” p. 48.
Apology to the Augsburg Confession XIV, “Church Order” pp. 223-224.
The Augsburg Confession Article 14 is quite brief. “Concerning church government it is taught that no one should publicly teach, preach, or administer the sacraments without a proper [public] call” (Kolb 2000, 48). The Apology is also rather brief. The opponents accepted it, provided canonical ordination be used. At issue to Melanchthon was that the bishops, who were empowered to ordain pastors, either refused to do so or laid a barrier upon the priests, such as rejecting the teachings of the Augsburg confession (Kolb 2000, 223). This meant the Lutherans could not accept the authority of those bishops. “The church exists among those who rightly teach the Word of God and rightly administer the sacraments” (Kolb 2000, 223). If the bishops would uphold this and conduct themselves accordingly there would be no dispute on this matter.