By Brady Finnern
A pastor once told me, “Interpreting the Bible through the Book of Concord is like the first time you put glasses on as a child: Oh, I didn’t see that before!” Lutherans affirm the Book of Concord because it is in accord with the Word of God. It helps us to see the fullness of God’s grace in Christ throughout Scripture with clarity.
The last document in the Book of Concord, the Formula of Concord, is a treasure for us as Lutherans. After Luther’s death in 1546, the Lutheran reformers began infighting about theological topics like conversion, the real presence in the Sacrament, the necessity of good works and the third use of the Law. Yet the Lord worked through these controversies, by His Word, to help the church bring clarity to God’s people.
We invite you to join us in reading through the Formula of Concord (and related writings) in the coming year — just a few pages a week! Each 2025 print issue of LW will include an introduction to that month’s readings.
Read the Formula of Concord with us in 2025!
Note on the readings: There are two parts to the Formula of Concord. We will be primarily reading the Epitome (“Ep”), the first and shorter part. Page numbers refer to the Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord (CPH 2006), but you can use the section and line numbers to follow along in any edition.
Is there an index or list of podcasts from Coffee Hour to correspond with the readings. Or will each week of Coffee Hour correspond to the suggested readins?
The pagination suggested for the readings from the Reader’s Edition don’t seem to match up with the actual pages in the volume. Am I missing something?
Hi Bob, what edition of the Book of Concord are you using? These pages track with the 2006 “Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord” from CPH (black cover with maroon spine). If you have a different edition, you can still use this plan: Just turn to the right document in the book (there is a key to the Abbreviations at the bottom of the reading plan) and use the section (Roman numeral) and paragraph numbers to find the right place.
For example, in January Week 1, you see:
Ep “Summary” 1–8 (p. 473–474)
Ep I 1 (p. 474)
Find the Epitome of the Formula of Concord in your Table of Contents, and read the section at the beginning titled “The Summary Content…” and the first paragraph of the section “I. Original Sin.”
Stacey,
Thank you for your response.
When I first read about this reading plan, I jumped right with the Confessions of week 2 for October—the Epitome X 1-2. I turned to page 496 and I see the affirmative statements for II Free Will, numbers 3 through 6 and then the negative statements begin.
What finally dawned on me was that this copy is defective and page 496 and 497 have nothing to do with each other! I hadn’t noticed this before as I typically use the Wengert edition for my reading. I’ll have to get a new copy. My edition is dated “2005” and that may explain the problem.
Oh no!! Sorry to hear that! Yes, it sounds like that one must have gotten fixed in the 2006 reprint.
I have been reading the BoC over the last 20 years. The Treasury of Daily Prayers includes a daily reading as part of the devotions and Rev. Finnern has sent a printable devotional guide the past two years that also included a daily reading from the BoC. I am looking forward to this plan as he will be commenting in each monthly issue of the LW. I always appreciate and look forward to any method of growing in the faith. Thank you Rev. Finnern for putting this together for us. In Christ.
RE: “Lutherans affirm the Book of Concord….”
When I became a communicant member of an LCMS congregation, I affirmed the teachings of Small Catechism but not the entire the entire Book of Concord. I think that my experience is typical.