Confessions

The Formula of ConcordEpitome and Solid Declaration

Written to settle the disputes that arose among Lutherans after Luther’s death. The Epitome is the short summary; the Solid Declaration is the full treatment of the same twelve articles. Jacobs calls the articles “chapters”; they are called articles here, as in the usual citations.

Epitome

  1. Epitome: Introduction
  2. Article I: Of Original Sin
  3. Article II: Of the Free Will
  4. Article III: Of the Righteousness of Faith before God
  5. Article IV: Of Good Works
  6. Article V: Of the Law and the Gospel
  7. Article VI: Of the Third Use of the Law
  8. Article VII: Of the Lord’s Supper
  9. Article VIII: Of the Person of Christ
  10. Article IX: Of the Descent of Christ to Hell
  11. Article X: Of Church Rites Called Adiaphora
  12. Article XI: Of God’s Eternal Foreknowledge and Election
  13. Article XII: Of Other Factions and Sects

Solid Declaration

  1. Solid Declaration: Preface
  2. Article I: Of Original Sin
  3. Article II: Of the Free Will
  4. Article III: Of the Righteousness of Faith before God
  5. Article IV: Of Good Works
  6. Article V: Of the Law and the Gospel
  7. Article VI: Of the Third Use of the Law
  8. Article VII: Of the Lord’s Supper
  9. Article VIII: Of the Person of Christ
  10. Article IX: Of the Descent of Christ to Hell
  11. Article X: Of Church Rites Called Adiaphora
  12. Article XI: Of God’s Eternal Foreknowledge and Election
  13. Article XII: Of Other Factions and Sects

Text: The Book of Concord, translated by Henry Eyster Jacobs (Philadelphia, 1911), public domain. The wording is Jacobs’s, not the modern Concordia text, so it will differ from the version you may know, and its section numbers are not printed here.