From the high estimation in which Luther was held by the _Formula of
Concord_ it has falsely been inferred that this Confession accords
Luther the "highest authority" as Hase says, or considers him "the
regulative and almost infallible expounder" of the Bible, as Schaff
asserts. (_Creeds_ 1, 313.) But according to the _Formula_ the supreme
arbiter and only final rule in all matters of religion is the inspired
Word of God; and absolutely all human teachers and books, including
Luther and the Lutheran symbols, are subject to its verdict. When, after
Luther's death, God permitted doctrinal controversies to distract the
Church, His purpose, no doubt, being also to have her fully realize not
only that Luther's doctrine is in complete harmony with Scripture, but,
in addition, that in matters of faith and doctrine not Luther, not the
Church, not the symbols, nor any other human authority but His Word
alone is the sole rule and norm. The _Formula_ certainly learned this
lesson well. In its opening paragraph we read: "We believe, teach, and
confess that the sole rule and standard according to which both all
doctrines and all teachers should be estimated and judged are the
prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament
alone.... Other writings, however, of ancient or modern teachers,
whatever name they bear must not be regarded as equal to the Holy
Scriptures, but all of them together be subjected to them." (777, 1.)
And in this, too, the _Formula_ was conscious of being in agreement with
Luther. Luther himself, it declares, "has expressly drawn this
distinction namely, that the Word of God alone should be and remain the
only standard and rule of doctrine, to which the writings of no man
should be regarded as equal, but to which everything should be
subjected." (853, 9.) Scripture is, and always must remain, the only
_norma normans_, the standard that rules everything,--such was the
attitude of the _Formula of Concord_.
Accordingly, the proof proper for the truth of any doctrinal statement
is taken by the _Formula_ neither from the Lutheran symbols nor the
writings of Luther, but from the Word of God. And the only reason why
the promoters and framers of the _Formula_ were determined to restore
the unadulterated teaching of Luther was because, in the controversies
following his death, they had thoroughly convinced themselves that, on
the one hand, the doctrines proclaimed by Luther were nothing but the
purest gold mined from the shafts of God's Word, and that, on the other
hand, the various deviations from Luther's teaching, which had caused
the dissensions, were aberrations not only from the original Lutheran
Confessions, but also from Holy Scripture. The thirty years of
theological discussion had satisfied the Lutherans that to adhere to the
Bible was tantamount to adhering to the teaching of Luther, and _vice
versa_. Accordingly, the _Formula_ also declared it as its object to
prove that the doctrines it presented were in harmony with the Bible, as
well as with the teaching of Luther and the _Augsburg Confession_. (856,
19.) This agreement with the Word of God and the preceding Lutheran
symbols constitutes the _Formula_ a Lutheran confession, which no one
who is a true Lutheran can reject or, for doctrinal reasons, refuse to
accept.