Several Lutheran states, as related above, declined to accept the
_Formula of Concord_, giving as their reason for such action that there
was no need of a new confession. The fact, however, that the _Formula_
was adopted by the great majority of Lutheran princes, professors,
preachers, and congregations proves conclusively that they were of a
different opinion. A new confession was necessary, not indeed because
new truths had been discovered which called for confessional coining or
formulation, but because the old doctrines, assailed by errorists, were
in need of vindication, and the Lutheran Church, distracted by prolonged
theological warfare, was sorely in need of being restored to unity,
peace, and stability. The question-marks suspended everywhere in Germany
after Luther's death were: Is Lutheranism to die or live? Are its old
standards and doctrines to be scrapped or vindicated? Is the Church of
Luther to remain, or to be transformed into a unionistic or Reformed
body? Is it to retain its unity, or will it become a house divided
against itself and infested with all manner of sects?
Evidently, then, if the Lutheran Church was not to go down ingloriously,
a new confession was needed which would not only clear the religious and
theological atmosphere, but restore confidence, hope, and normalcy. A
confession was needed which would bring out clearly the truths for which
Lutherans must firmly stand if they would be true to God, true to His
Word, true to their Church, true to themselves, and true to their
traditions. A confession was needed which would draw exactly, clearly,
and unmistakably the lines which separate Lutherans, not only from
Romanists, but also from Zwinglians, Calvinists, Crypto-Calvinists,
unionists, and the advocates of other errors and unsound tendencies.
Being essentially the Church of the pure Word and Sacrament, the only
way for the Lutheran Church to maintain her identity and independence
was to settle her controversies not by evading or compromising the
doctrinal issues involved, but by honestly facing and definitely
deciding them in accordance with her principles: the Word of God and the
old confessions. Particularly with respect to the doctrine of the Lord's
Supper, Melanchthon by constantly altering the _Augsburg Confession_,
had muddied the water to such an extent that the adoption of the
_Augustana_ was no longer a clear test of Lutheran orthodoxy and
loyalty. Even Calvin, and the German Reformed generally subscribed to
it, "in the sense," they said, "in which Melanchthon has explained it."
The result was a corruption of Lutheranism and a pernicious Calvinistic
propaganda in Lutheran territories. A new confession was the only means
of ending the confusion and checking the invasion.