Marburg Colloquy

Background

From the mid-1520s, Martin Luther in Wittenberg and Huldrych Zwingli in Zurich carried on a written controversy over how Christ is present in the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. Both men rejected the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, which holds that the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ. Luther, however, took the words "this is my body" (Matthew 26:26) literally and held that the body and blood of Christ are truly present in the Supper, a view known as the real presence. Zwingli interpreted the words to mean "this signifies my body" and regarded the Supper as a symbolic act of remembering Christ.

In April 1529 the Diet of Speyer passed resolutions unfavorable to the Reformation. In response, Landgrave Philip I of Hesse, fearing that the Catholic princes would launch an armed offensive, sought to form a Protestant political alliance. When the Lutherans demanded a common confession of faith as a precondition for the alliance, Philip summoned theologians from both sides to his castle at Marburg to resolve the question of the Supper.

Proceedings

The colloquy was held from October 1 to 4, 1529. Representing Wittenberg were Luther, Philip Melanchthon, and Justus Jonas. Representing Switzerland and southern Germany were Zwingli, Oecolampadius of Basel, and Martin Bucer and Caspar Hedio of Strasbourg, among others. Four sessions of debate are reported to have taken place before Philip and some sixty observers.

Neither side yielded on the question of whether the body of Christ is bodily present in the bread and wine. In the end Luther drew up fifteen articles setting out the points on which agreement was possible; these are known as the Marburg Articles. On October 3 (some accounts say October 4), ten theologians signed them. Articles 1 through 14 recorded agreement on the Trinity, the person of Christ, justification by faith, the Word of God, baptism and infant baptism, good works, civil authority, and other matters. In Article 15 the parties agreed on two points: that both the bread and the cup should be given to believers, and that the spiritual reception of the body and blood of Christ is necessary for every believer. The article stated, however, that they had not yet reached agreement on whether the true body and blood are bodily present in the bread and wine. Instead, they resolved to show one another Christian love. The colloquy ended early because of the threat of the English sweating sickness, an epidemic then spreading.

Outcome and Influence

The comprehensive Protestant alliance that Philip had hoped for did not materialize. At the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, the Lutherans and the Zwinglians submitted separate statements of faith. Parts of the Marburg Articles were incorporated into the Augsburg Confession. The Schmalkaldic League, formed in February 1531, was founded on Lutheran theology and excluded Zwinglianism. Zwingli was killed at the Battle of Kappel later that same year. Thereafter the Reformation movement developed along separate lines: the Lutheran churches of Germany and northern Europe, and the Reformed churches of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Scotland, and elsewhere. In South Korea, the Lutheran Church in Korea carries on the Lutheran tradition, while the Korean Presbyterian denominations carry on the Reformed tradition.

Assessment

The Marburg Articles are regarded as the only Reformation confession signed by both Luther and Zwingli. The document is also seen as evidence that the two camps agreed on most points of doctrine. Lutherans hold that Luther came to the colloquy not as a political negotiator but as a confessor of the Word of God, and they therefore commend his refusal to compromise on the text of Scripture. Reformed writers, for their part, sometimes emphasize that even in Article 15 the two sides agreed on the essential matter of Christ's spiritual presence, and that their disagreement was confined to the question of bodily presence. Some evangelical writers regard the colloquy as a regrettable instance of Protestants dividing over a question that Scripture does not clearly settle. According to one account, at the close of the colloquy Zwingli wept, saying that he desired nothing more than to be united with the Wittenbergers. It is also recorded that Luther refused to acknowledge Zwingli's party as Christian brothers.