The Reformation Colloquies
The Marburg Articles
Marburger Artikel · Marburg, October 1529
When they met face to face at Marburg,—once, and only once, in this life,—they came to agree in fourteen out of fifteen articles, and even in the fifteenth article they agreed in the principal part, namely, the spiritual presence and fruition of Christ’s body and blood, differing only in regard to the corporal presence and oral manducation, which the one denied, the other asserted.
—Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 8, § 27
Landgrave Philip of Hesse gathered the leading reformers of Germany and Switzerland in his castle at Marburg in October 1529, hoping to forge a single Protestant front; a common confession might have secured a defensive alliance against the emperor. Luther and Melanchthon came from Wittenberg, Zwingli from Zurich, Oecolampadius from Basel, and Bucer and Hedio from Strasbourg. The fourteen articles they signed range from the Trinity and the person of Christ to justification by faith alone and baptism, and a Reformed reader will recognize in them the common evangelical inheritance that the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards would later confess at greater length. The fifteenth, on the Lord’s Supper, is the breakpoint, taken up below.
Occasion: The Marburg Colloquy, convened by Philip of Hesse
Date: October 1 to 3, 1529
Drafted by: Martin Luther, with the assembled reformers
Signatories: Ten reformers, Lutheran and Reformed (listed below)
Outcome: Agreement on Articles 1 to 14; an acknowledged division on bodily presence in Article 15
Text: Luther’s Works, vol. 38, trans. Martin E. Lehmann
The undersigned have agreed to the articles given below at Marburg on October 3, 1529.
First, that we on both sides unanimously believe and hold that there is only one true, natural God, Maker of all creatures, and that this same God is one in essence and nature and triune as to persons, namely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, exactly as was decided in the Council of Nicaea and as is sung and read in the Nicene Creed by the entire Christian church throughout the world.
Second, we believe that neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit, but the Son of God the Father, true and natural God himself, became man through the working of the Holy Spirit without the agency of male seed, was born of the pure Virgin Mary, was altogether human with body and soul, like another man, but without sin.
Third, that this same Son of God and of Mary, undivided in person, Jesus Christ, was crucified for us, died and was buried, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God, Lord over all creatures, and will come to judge the living and the dead, etc.
Fourth, we believe that original sin is innate and inherited by us from Adam and is the kind of sin which condemns all men. And if Jesus Christ had not come to our aid by his death and life, we would have had to die eternally as a result of it and could not have received God’s kingdom and salvation.
Fifth, we believe that we are saved from such sin and all other sins as well as from eternal death, if we believe in the same Son of God, Jesus Christ, who died for us, etc., and that apart from such faith we cannot free ourselves of any sin through any kind of works, station in life, or [religious] order, etc.
Sixth, that such faith is a gift of God which we cannot earn with any works or merit that precede, nor can we achieve it by our own strength, but the Holy Spirit gives and creates this faith in our hearts as it pleases him, when we hear the gospel or the word of Christ.
Seventh, that such faith is our righteousness before God, for the sake of which God reckons and regards us as righteous, godly, and holy apart from all works and merit, and through which he delivers us from sin, death, and hell, receives us by grace and saves us, for the sake of his Son, in whom we thus believe, and thereby we enjoy and partake of his Son’s righteousness, life, and all blessings. [Therefore, all monastic life and vows, when regarded as an aid to salvation, are altogether condemned.]3
Concerning the External Word
Eighth, that the Holy Spirit, ordinarily, gives such faith or his gift to no one without preaching or the oral word or the gospel of Christ preceding, but that through and by means of such oral word he effects and creates faith where and in whom it pleases him (Romans 10 [:14 ff.]).
Concerning Baptism
Ninth, that holy baptism is a sacrament which has been instituted by God as an aid to such a faith, and because God’s command, “Go, baptize” [cf. Matt. 28:19], and God’s promise, “He who believes” [Mark 16:16], are connected with it, it is therefore not merely an empty sign or watchword among Christians but, rather, a sign and work of God by which our faith grows and through which we are regenerated to [eternal] life.4
Concerning Good Works
Tenth, that such faith, through the working of the Holy Spirit, and by which we are reckoned and have become righteous and holy, performs good works through us, namely, love toward the neighbor, prayer to God, and the suffering of persecution of every kind.
Concerning Confession
Eleventh, that confession or the seeking of counsel from one’s pastor or neighbor should indeed be without constraint and free. Nevertheless, it is very helpful to consciences that are afflicted, troubled, or burdened with sins, or have fallen into error, most especially on account of the absolution or consolation afforded by the gospel, which is the true absolution.
Concerning Governing Authorities
Twelfth, that all governing authorities and secular laws, courts, and ordinances, wherever they exist, are a truly good estate and are not forbidden, as some papists and Anabaptists teach and hold. On the contrary, [we believe] that a Christian, called or born thereto, can indeed be saved through faith in Christ, just as in the estate of father or mother, husband or wife, etc.
Concerning Tradition
Thirteenth, that what is called tradition or human ordinances in spiritual or ecclesiastical matters, provided they do not plainly contradict the word of God, may be freely kept or abolished in accordance with the needs of the people with whom we are dealing, in order to avoid unnecessary offense in every way and to serve the weak and the peace of all, etc. [Also, that the doctrine forbidding clerical marriage is a teaching of the devil.]5
Fourteenth, that baptism of infants is right, and that they are thereby received into God’s grace and into Christendom.
Concerning the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ
Fifteenth, we all believe and hold concerning the Supper of our dear Lord Jesus Christ that both kinds should be used according to the institution by Christ; [also that the mass is not a work with which one can secure grace for someone else, whether he is dead or alive;]6 also that the Sacrament of the Altar is a sacrament of the true body and blood of Jesus Christ and that the spiritual partaking of the same body and blood is especially necessary for every Christian. Similarly, that the use of the sacrament, like the word, has been given and ordained by God Almighty in order that weak consciences may thereby be excited to faith by the Holy Spirit. And although at this time, we have not reached an agreement as to whether the true body and blood of Christ are bodily present in the bread and wine, nevertheless, each side should show Christian love to the other side insofar as conscience will permit, and both sides should diligently pray to Almighty God that through his Spirit he might confirm us in the right understanding. Amen.
The Breakpoint: Article Fifteen
Read the fifteenth article slowly and you’ll notice how much the two sides held in common. Both confessed the cup for the laity as well as the bread; both denied that the mass is a meritorious work that can buy grace for the living or the dead; both called the Supper a true sacrament of the body and blood of Christ; both insisted that the spiritual eating of that body and blood is necessary for every Christian; and both received the sacrament, like the preached word, as a means the Spirit uses to strengthen weak faith. The single sentence they could not sign together is the one that names the question: whether the true body and blood of Christ are bodily present in the bread and wine.
That sentence had been pressed home the day before in a famous exchange. Luther had chalked the words of institution, hoc est corpus meum, on the table and would not move from them. Oecolampadius and Zwingli answered from the ascension and the finite, located humanity of Christ’s risen body.
From the colloquy, October 1529
LutherChrist’s body is in the Lord’s Supper, but not as though in a place.
ZwingliSince Christ’s body is acknowledged as being finite by you, dear Doctor, and since everything which is finite is in one place, and since Christ’s body is not there as in a place, therefore, it is not there.2
This is the fault line, and it’s worth naming plainly rather than smoothing over. Luther held that the true body and blood of Christ are corporally present in, with, and under the bread and wine, received with the mouth by believer and unbeliever alike. The Reformed denied any local, bodily presence in the elements. Christ’s body is a real human body, and a real human body is in one place, namely at the right hand of the Father in heaven, until he comes again. What the believer truly receives in the Supper is the body and blood of Christ, but received spiritually, by the Holy Spirit, through faith, as the soul is lifted up to feed on the Christ who is in heaven.
The confessions of the Reformed churches would later set this down with care. The Heidelberg Catechism teaches that we are united to Christ’s body by the same Spirit who dwells in him and in us, even while he is in heaven and we are on earth (Q&A 76 to 78); the Belgic Confession says we receive Christ spiritually by faith (Art. 35); and the Westminster Confession denies any corporal presence of Christ’s flesh and blood in, with, or under the bread and wine while affirming that worthy receivers really and truly feed upon Christ crucified (29.7). Calvin would sharpen Zwingli’s earlier emphasis, insisting that the Supper is no bare sign but a true communion with the living Christ by the secret working of the Spirit. The divergence at Marburg, in other words, was not finally settled in 1529; it became one of the lasting marks distinguishing the Lutheran and Reformed confessions.
The Signatories
Ten reformers signed the articles, in this order:7
Martin Luther
Justus Jonas
Philip Melanchthon
Andreas Osiander
Stephan Agricola
John Brenz
John Oecolampadius
Huldrych Zwingli
Martin Bucer
Caspar Hedio
Footnotes
- The text of the fifteen articles printed above is taken verbatim from Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, vol. 38: Word and Sacrament IV, ed. Helmut T. Lehmann, trans. Martin E. Lehmann (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971), 85 to 89. Spelling and bracketed editorial insertions follow that edition.
- Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, vol. 38, 85. The exchange is recorded among the proceedings of the colloquy that preceded the articles.
- The closing sentence of the seventh article, on monastic life and vows, appears only in the Zurich manuscript of the articles. See Luther’s Works, vol. 38, 86, and the underlying critical text at WA 30/III, 164.
- A textual variant stands behind the ninth article: the manuscripts read gefordert or gefoddert, which can mean either “promoted, made to grow” or “required.” See Luther’s Works, vol. 38, 87, and WA 30/III, 165f.
- The bracketed sentence on clerical marriage in the thirteenth article is a manuscript variant. See Luther’s Works, vol. 38, 88.
- The bracketed sentence on the mass in the fifteenth article appears in the Zurich manuscript. See Luther’s Works, vol. 38, 88, and WA 30/III, 169.
- Signatories as printed in Luther’s Works, vol. 38, 89.
The fifteen articles are quoted verbatim from Luther’s Works, vol. 38 (Fortress Press), translated by Martin E. Lehmann. Historical and theological framing prepared and set for the web by Reformed Dogmatika.
