The Marburg Articles
Fifteen articles of faith signed at Marburg in October 1529 by Luther, Zwingli and eight other reformers. They record agreement on fourteen points and, in the fifteenth, disagreement on Christ’s bodily presence in the Lord’s Supper.
The articles were drawn up at the end of the colloquy that Philip of Hesse had called at Marburg. They cover the Trinity, the person of Christ, original sin, faith and justification, the preached word, baptism, good works, confession, civil government, tradition and infant baptism. The fifteenth, on the Lord’s Supper, states what both sides hold in common and then that they have not agreed whether the true body and blood of Christ are bodily present in the bread and wine.
The signatures are those of Martin Luther, Justus Jonas, Philip Melanchthon, Andreas Osiander, Stephan Agricola, Johannes Brenz, Johannes Oecolampadius, Huldrych Zwingli, Martin Bucer and Caspar Hedio. Both parties signed the same text, so it is evidence of what each was willing to say together with the other, not of the full teaching of either.
Cited in
- 21 January 1525, firm date
- 1 October 1529, firm date