The Place of the Brief Statement in the Confession of the Church

According to Lutheran understanding, a synod is not able to establish a new confession.  This only the church can do, the orthodox church as a whole, by receiving a definite text as her confession.  The Augsburg Confession and the Formula of Concord became confessions of the church in the act of reception (Rezeption), in which the churches and schools and the individual pastors made these texts their own by means of signature or other pledge.  In the doctrinal negotiation during the past two decades within the Missouri Synod itself and between this church and other churches a document of the year 1932 has played a large role: “A Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States.”

This document has been understood both in and outside the Missouri Synod as the official presentation of the doctrine for which she stands today.  Yet in spite of the importance of this document for the theological and ecclesiastical negotiations, it is not a confession of the church.  Even if it had been accepted by the pastors and congregations, this would not be the same as the reception of a symbol; if it were to be so understood this document would have to define its relation to the confessional writings and would have to show clearly why it contains statements (doctrine of the Scripture, of Justification, of the Church), which go beyond the statements of the Confessions.  The “Brief Statement” is, as it were, an epitome drawn up for practical purposes indicating how at the moment the chief doctrines of the Lutheran Confessions are understood by the Missouri Synod.

More than this it cannot and does not desire to be.  Necessary and useful as such a document is for practical use, it is nevertheless inevitable that also apart from the discussion for which it was intended it will be understood and treated as Confession of the Missouri Synod and that in the life and practice of the church it will for many actually take the place of the Confession of the church which it was meant to support.

Herman Sasse, “Confession (Confessionalsim) and Theology in the Missouri Synod (1951); Letters to Lutheran Pastors, No. 20.”  Scripture and the Church: Selected Essays of Hermann Sasse.  Ed. by Jeffrey Kloha and Ronald Feuerhahn.  Concordia Seminary Monograph Series, Number 2.  St. Louis: Concordia Seminary, 1995.