The symbolical authority of Luther's Catechisms must be distinguished
from the practical use to which they were put in church, school, and
home. As to his doctrine, Luther knew it to be the pure truth of the
divine Word. Hence he could not but demand that every one acknowledge
it. Self-evidently this applies also to the doctrinal contents of the
Catechisms. Luther, however, did not insist that his Catechisms be made
the books of instruction in church, school, and home; he only desired
and counseled it. If for the purpose of instruction the form of his
Small Catechism did not suit any one, let him, said Luther, choose
another. In the Preface to the Small Catechism he declared: "Hence,
choose whatever form you think best, and adhere to it forever." Again,
"Take the form of these tables or some other short, fixed form of your
choice, and adhere to it without the change of a single syllable."
Self-evidently Luther is here not speaking of the doctrine of the
Catechism, but of the form to be used for instruction. And with respect
to the latter he makes no demands whatever. However, the contents of
these books and the name of the author sufficed to procure for them the
widest circulation and the most extensive use. Everywhere the doors of
churches, schools, and homes were opened to the writings of Luther.
The tables had hardly been published when catechism instruction already
generally was given according to Luther's Explanation. The church
regulations, first in Saxony, then also in other lands, provided that
Luther's Small Catechism be memorized word for word, and that preaching
be according to the Large Catechism. The Church Order of Henry the
Pious, 1539, declares: "There shall not be taught a different catechism
in every locality, but one and the same form, as presented by Dr. Martin
Luther at Wittenberg, shall be observed everywhere." In 1533 the
ministers of Allstaedt were ordered "to preach according to Luther's
Large Catechism." (Kolde, 63.) The authority of the Catechisms grew
during the controversies after Luther's death, when the faithful
Lutherans appealed to the Smalcald Articles and especially to Luther's
Catechisms. The Lueneburg Articles of 1561 designate them, together with
the Smalcald Articles, as the correct "explication and explanation" of
the true sense of the Augustana. The _Corpus Doctrinae Pomeranicum_ of
1564 declares that "the sum of Christian and evangelical doctrine is
purely and correctly contained in Luther's Catechisms." Their authority
as a genuinely Lutheran norm of doctrine increased when the Reformed of
Germany, in 1563, made the Heidelberg Catechism their particular
confession.
Like the Smalcald Articles, Luther's Catechisms achieved their
symbolical authority by themselves, without resolutions of princes
estates, and theologians. The Thorough Declaration of the Formula of
Concord is merely chronicling actual facts when it adopts the Catechisms
for this reason: "because they have been unanimously approved and
received by all churches adhering to the Augsburg Confession, and have
been publicly used in churches, schools, and homes, and, moreover,
because the Christian doctrine from God's Word is comprised in them in
the most correct and simple way, and, in like manner, is explained, as
far as necessary for simple laymen." (852, 8.) The Epitome adds: "And
because such matters concern also the laity and the salvation of their
souls, we also confess the Small and Large Catechisms of Dr. Luther as
they are included in Luther's works, as the Bible of the laity, wherein
everything is comprised which is treated at greater length in Holy
Scripture, and is necessary for a Christian man to know for his
salvation." (777, 5.)