Articles 1–13
Doctrine of God
God’s being, Scripture, the Trinity, creation, and providence.
Article 1
We all believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that there is a single and simple spiritual being, whom we call God- eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, infinite, almighty; completely wise, just,…
Article 2
We know God by two means: First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make…
Article 3
We confess that this Word of God was not sent nor delivered "by human will," but that "men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God," as Peter says. (2 Pet. 1:21) Afterward our God- with special care for us and …
Article 4
We include in the Holy Scripture the two volumes of the Old and New Testaments. They are canonical books with which there can be no quarrel at all. In the church of God the list is as follows: In the Old Testament, the f…
Article 5
We receive all these books and these only as holy and canonical, for the regulating, founding, and establishing of our faith. And we believe without a doubt all things contained in them- not so much because the church re…
Article 6
We distinguish between these holy books and the apocryphal ones, which are the third and fourth books of Esdras; the books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Jesus Sirach, Baruch; what was added to the Story of Esther; the Song o…
Article 7
We believe that this Holy Scripture contains the will of God completely and that everything one must believe to be saved is sufficiently taught in it. For since the entire manner of service which God requires of us is de…
Article 8
In keeping with this truth and Word of God we believe in one God, who is one single essence, in whom there are three persons, really, truly, and eternally distinct according to their incommunicable properties- namely, Fa…
Article 9
All these things we know from the testimonies of Holy Scripture as well as from the effects of the persons, especially from those we feel within ourselves. The testimonies of the Holy Scriptures, which teach us to believ…
Article 10
We believe that Jesus Christ, according to his divine nature, is the only Son of God- eternally begotten, not made or created, for then he would be a creature. He is one in essence with the Father; coeternal; the exact i…
Article 11
We believe and confess also that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son- neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but only proceeding from the two of them. In regard to order, the Spirit is the th…
Article 12
We believe that the Father, when it seemed good to him, created heaven and earth and all other creatures from nothing, by the Word- that is to say, by the Son. God has given all creatures their being, form, and appearanc…
Article 13
We believe that this good God, after creating all things, did not abandon them to chance or fortune but leads and governs them according to his holy will, in such a way that nothing happens in this world without God's or…