The text of the first three chief parts, Luther considered a sacred
heirloom from the ancient Church. "For," says he in his Large Catechism,
"the holy Fathers or apostles have thus embraced in a summary the
doctrine life, wisdom, and art of Christians, of which they speak and
treat, and with which they are occupied." (579, 19.) Thus Luther, always
conservative, did not reject the traditional catechism, both bag and
baggage, but carefully distinguished between the good, which he
retained, and the worthless, which he discarded. In fact, he no more
dreamt of foisting a new doctrine or catechism on the Christian Church
than he ever thought of founding a new church. On the contrary, his sole
object was to restore the ancient Apostolic Church, and his catechetical
endeavors were bent on bringing to light once more, purifying,
explaining, and restoring, the old catechism of the fathers.
In his book _Wider Hans Worst,_ 1541, Luther says: "We have remained
faithful to the true and ancient Church; aye, we are the true and
ancient Church. You Papists, however, have apostatized from us, _i.e._,
from the ancient Church, and have set up a new church in opposition to
the ancient Church." In harmony with this view, Luther repeatedly and
emphatically asserted that in his Catechism he was merely protecting and
guarding an inheritance of the fathers, which he had preserved to the
Church by his correct explanation. In his _German Order of Worship_ we
read: "I know of no simpler nor better arrangement of this instruction
or doctrine than the arrangement which has existed since the beginning
of Christendom, _viz._, the three parts, Ten Commandments, Creed, and
the Lord's Prayer." (W. 19, 76.) In the ancient Church the original
parts for catechumens and sponsors were the _Symbolum_ and the
_Paternoster,_ the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer. To these the
Ten Commandments were added as a formal part of doctrine only since the
thirteenth century. (30, 1, 434.) The usual sequence of these parts was:
Lord's Prayer, Apostles' Creed, and, wherever it was not supplanted by
other matter, the Decalog. It was with deliberation then, that Luther
substituted his own objective, logical order.
In his _Short Form of the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's
Prayer,_ 1520 Luther speaks as follows of the three traditional parts,
which God preserved to the Church in spite of the Papacy: "It did not
come to pass without the special providence of God, that, with reference
to the common Christian, who cannot read the Scriptures, it was
commanded to teach and to know the Ten Commandments, Creed, and Lord's
Prayer which three parts indeed thoroughly and completely embrace all
that is contained in the Scripture and may ever be preached, all also
that a Christian needs to know, and this, too, in a form so brief and
simple that no one can complain or offer the excuse that it is too much,
and that it is too hard for him to remember what is essential to his
salvation. For in order to be saved, a man must know three things:
First, he must know what he is to do and leave undone. Secondly, when he
realizes that by his own strength he is unable to do it and leave it
undone, he must know where he may take, seek, and find that which will
enable him to do and to refrain. Thirdly, he must know how he may seek
and obtain it. Even as a sick man needs first of all to know what
disease he has, what he may or may not do, or leave undone. Thereupon he
needs to know where the medicine is which will help him, that he may do
and leave undone like a healthy person. Fourthly, he must desire it,
seek and get it, or have it brought to him. In like manner the
commandments teach a man to know his disease, that he may see and
perceive what he can do and not do, leave and not leave, and thus
perceive that he is a sinner and a wicked man. Thereupon the Creed holds
before his eyes and teaches him where to find the medicine, the grace
which will help him become pious, that he may keep the commandments, and
shows him God and His mercy as revealed and offered in Christ. Fifthly,
the Lord's Prayer teaches him how to ask for, get and obtain it, namely,
by proper, humble, and comforting prayer. These three things comprise
the entire Scriptures." (W. 7, 204.) It was things such as the chief
parts of the Catechism that Luther had in mind when he wrote against the
fanatics, 1528: "We confess that even under the Papacy there are many
Christian blessings aye, all Christian blessings, and thence they have
come to us: the true Holy Scriptures, true Baptism, the true Sacrament
of the Altar, true keys for the forgiveness of sins, the true office of
the ministry, the true catechism, such as the Lord's Prayer, the Ten
Commandments the Articles of Faith, etc." (26, 147.) Luther's meaning
is, that in the midst of antichristendom and despite the Pope, the text
of the three chief parts was, among other things, preserved to the
Church.