Apology of the Augsburg Confession

Apology of the Augsburg Confession, a defense and elaboration of the Augsburg Confession, one of the basic confessions of Lutheranism, written by the reformer Philipp Melanchthon in 1531. The first version of the Apology was hastily written and presented to Emperor Charles V on September 22, 1530, at the Diet of Augsburg in response to the emperor’s rejection of the Augsburg Confession, which was primarily penned by Melanchthon. The emperor had declared that the Confutation (August 3, 1530), prepared by Roman Catholic theologians to refute the Confession (June 25, 1530), properly presented his Catholic faith. Despite Melanchthon’s rapid counter-reply, the emperor refused to accept the Apology when it was presented to him and demanded that the reformers return to the Catholic church.

After Melanchthon returned to Wittenberg, he obtained a copy of the Confutation and decided that a more complete reply to the arguments of the Catholic theologians was necessary. He rewrote and expanded the Apology to more clearly and completely explain the faith of the reformers. The Latin edition was completed in April or May, and a German translation by Justus Jonas was published in the autumn of 1531. Martin Luther and others soon recognized the Apology as an excellent exposition of the Lutheran faith. It was cited at various meetings and conferences and was finally included in the Book of Concord (1580), a collection of doctrinal standards of Lutheranism.

Seven times longer than the Augsburg Confession, the Apology is considered one of the most brilliant of the Reformation theological works. Melanchthon’s broad knowledge of Scripture, theology, history, and linguistics is evident in it. About one-third of the work is concerned with the problem of justification, while other subjects treated include the church, human tradition, the invocation of saints, marriage of priests, the mass, monastic vows, penitence, and original sin.