Why Bible-Believing Lutherans Subscribe to the Book of Concord Without Reservation

Abstract

There are several problems concerning subscription to the Lutheran Confessions that are currently issues in the Lutheran church. 1. Some refuse subscription because they do not believe the basic teachings of the Bible. 2. Some evade subscription with the claim “all we need is the Bible.” 3. Some continue a “paper subscription” which honors the Confessions as a tradition but has no binding force in the church. 4. Some subscribe to an altered Augsburg Confession or to the Augsburg Confession alone. 5. Some advocate a qualified or limited (quatenus) subscription. 6. There is the rather new danger of “over-subscription,” which seeks to extend subscription beyond the doctrinal content of the confessions.