The Augsburg Confession
This we believe, teach, and confess. . . ..
The Augsburg Confession is the heart of the
Lutheran Confessions. These are various documents that were
drawn up due to differing historical circumstances for the purpose of
giving a confession of the Christian faith. Though written in
human words, this is a faithful restatement of the content of the Scriptures.
This description is taken from Project Wittenburg:
In 1530, Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, called together the princes and cities of his german territories in a Diet at Augsburg. He sought unity among them to fend of the attacks of Turkish armies in Eastern Austria. He called upon the Lutheran nobility to explain their religious convictions, with the hope that the controversy swirling around the challange of the Reformation might be resolved. To this end, Philip Melanchthon, a close friend of Martin Luther and a Professor of New Testament at Wittenberg University, was called upon to draft a common confession for the Lutheran Lords and Free Territories. The resulting document, the Augsburg Confession was presented to the emperor on June 25, 1530.
The Augsburg Confession is a profound and powerfully accurate statement of the Christian faith. It does not speak to every aspect of the Christian faith. And some of what it stresses is due to the particular controversies and needs of the time in which it was written. But the heart of the Christian faith flows through the words of this confession. This confession serves to keep us as Lutherans centered on the most important aspect of the faith: Jesus Christ is God, He gave Himself on the cross for our sins, and even though we do not deserve it, God loves us so much that He wants to forgive our sins and make us His children to have eternal life with Him.