The Australian Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC) and all its members accept without reservation the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as a whole and in all their parts, as the very Word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit and recorded without error in the original manuscripts by the Prophets, Apostles, and Evangelists. These Holy Scriptures are the only inerrant, infallible, authoritative source, and final rule, norm, and standard for all matters of Christian doctrine, faith, and life.
The AELC subscribes to and confesses as correct expositions of Scripture, The Book of Concord of 1580, The Word Shall Stand (1990) and The AELC Statement of Faith, which address issues that have arisen throughout history by the Word of God.
The Confession of Our Faith: The Book of Concord (1580)
The AELC acknowledges and accepts as true expositions of the Word of God, and as its own confession, all the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church contained in the Book of Concord of 1580, namely the:
- Three Ecumenical Creeds: the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed;
- Unaltered Augsburg Confession;
- Apology of the Augsburg Confession;
- Smalcald Articles, including the Tract on the Power and Primacy of the Pope;
- Small Catechism of Luther;
- Large Catechism of Luther;
- Formula of Concord, both the Epitome, and the Thorough [Solid] Declaration.
To read the Book of Concord of 1580 online, please visit one of the following websites:
- https://bookofconcord.cph.org/ – The Book of Concord (through Concordia Publishing House)
- https://thebookofconcord.org/ – The Book of Concord
- https://bookofconcord.org/ – Book of Concord
To listen to the Book of Concord (Concordia Triglotta) on Spotify, please click this Spotify link.
To listen to the Book of Concord (by Bente and Dau) on YouTube, please click this YouTube link to do so. This YouTube link unfortunately has the altered Augsburg Confession, whereas the AELC confesses the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, so please be aware of this when listening to the Augsburg Confession from the YouTube link.
History and Outline of The Book of Concord
A helpful history and outline of the Book of Concord can be seen in the following video. All credit to Gabriel Sternberg for this video.