1. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the
Father, but by me.” (Jn 14.6) “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does
not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that
man is a thief and a robber… I am the door; if anyone enters by me,
he will be saved.” (Jn 10.1, 9)

Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in holy scripture, is the one
Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey
in life and in death.

We reject the false doctrine, as though the church
could and would have to acknowledge as a source of its proclamation,
apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other events and
powers, figures and truths, as God’s revelation.

This past weekend marked the 75th anniversary of the meeting of the Free Synod of Barmen that produced the 1934 Theological Declaration of Barmen.  This has to stand as one of the great moments of the Church speaking truth to power in the 20th century.

I have to admit that this anniversary was not really on my mind as I was tracking two simultaneous General Assemblies, the reverberations from one just finished, and the preliminaries to a few more about to start.  But a good friend of mine reminded me of this occasion and over the last 24 hours the Spirit kept nudging me until I realized that I really should comment on this theological statement.

I personally hold the Theological Declaration of Barmen in very high regard both for its words as well as for its context.  There was a great audacity, chutzpah if you will, in these 138 representatives from Lutheran, Reformed and United churches that came together as the Confessing Church.  At their meeting in Barmen from May 29-31, 1934, they produced a statement that clearly, succinctly and forcefully tells the National Socialist government of Germany that the true church belongs to God, and is not an instrument of the state.  There are subtleties that are lost in the Declaration by reading it in English, or probably any language other than the original German.  Note section 4 in the German:

IV. Jesus Christus spricht: Ihr wisst, dass die Herrscher ihre
Völker niederhalten und die Mächtigen ihnen Gewalt antun. So soll es
nicht sein unter euch; sondern wer unter euch groß sein will, der sei
euer Diener. (Mt 20, 25.26)

Die verschiedenen Ämter in der Kirche begründen keine
Herrschaft der einen über die anderen, sondern die Ausübung des der
ganzen Gemeinde anvertrauten und befohlenen Dienstes.

Wir verwerfen die falsche Lehre, als könne und dürfe sich die Kirche
abseits von diesem Dienst besondere, mit Herrschaftsbefugnissen
ausgestattete Führer geben und geben lassen.

The English translation:

4. “You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and
their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among
you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant.” (Mt
20.25,26)

The various offices in the church do not establish a dominion of
some over the others; on the contrary, they are for the exercise of the
ministry entrusted to and enjoined upon the whole congregation.

We reject the false doctrine, as though the church,
apart from this ministry, could and were permitted to give itself, or
allow to be given to it, special leaders vested with ruling powers.

I would call your attention to the fifth word from the end of the German version. What in English is translated “special leaders” is ausgestattete Führer in the original. I understand that there is nothing that of itself that would raise eyebrows in this language. But when the title “leader” or Führer is the title chosen by the head of state, this is a pretty direct confrontation in my opinion.

And standing by this statement was not without consequences.  While Karl Barth was Swiss and left Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed in a prison camp and Martin Niemöller was also imprisoned in concentration camps and narrowly escaped execution himself.  Wikipedia tells us that of the 18,000 Protestant pastors in Germany in 1935, 3000 were strongly adhering to the Confessing Church and of those 700, about one-quarter, were imprisoned at that time.

This is a confessional statement that is very closely tied to its context as much as its content.  It is not a “teaching confession” like the Scots Confession or the Westminster Standards.  And it is not really a snapshot of where the church was at that time like the Confession of 1967 or the Brief Statement of Faith from the PC(USA).  But it’s theological forcefulness at a time of moral crisis has earned it a place in the faith statements of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, the Book of Confessions of the PC(USA), and the Evangelical Church in Germany, among others.

The German Confessing Church and the Theological Declaration of Barmen have also produced a modern concept that some consider their theological descendents (one example).  While the concept of speaking truth to power is Biblical there is also a sense in which the co-opting of the spirit Barmen Declaration for a range of modern controversies does not honor the original imperative and weight of the situation in 1934 Germany.  None the less, there are now several groups that have adopted the “confessing” label and aligned themselves with the tradition of speaking Biblical truth, such as the Confessing Church Movement, The Fellowship of Confessing Churches, the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.  Likewise the genre of the “we declare/we reject” confessional statement had a revival a few years ago.  (Although I may not be old enough to know if there truly was a lull in the interim.)  The World Alliance of Reformed Churches’ Accra Confession is written in this form as are a lot of other theological documents you will find if you do a Google search.  (Update:  There is a good article from Associated Baptist Press that looks into the modern implications and how nicely Barman has “aged.”)

But the interesting twist on this is that in the “we declare”/”we reject” structure the exclusiveness that is implicit in most confessions becomes explicit.  The Theological Declaration of Barmen tells us forcefully that if you say “Yes” to something you have to say “No” to something else.  What do we say yes and no to in our lives?

6. “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Mt 28.20) “The word of God is not fettered.” (2 Tim 2.9)

The church’s commission, upon which its freedom is founded, consists
in delivering the message of the free grace of God to all people in
Christ’s stead, and therefore in the ministry of his own Word and work
through sermon and sacrament.

We reject the false doctrine, as though the church
in human arrogance could place the word and work of the Lord in the
service of any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes, and plans.