Marburg Colloquy (1529)
The
meeting which attempted to resolve the differences between Lutherans and
Zwinglians over the Lord's Supper. These differences had been expressed in a
bitter pamphlet controversy between 1525 and 1528. While Luther and Zwingli believed that the words
"This is my body, this is my blood" must be interpreted literally as
teaching that Christ's body and blood were present in the sacrament "in,
with, and under" the elements of bread and wine. Furthermore, he viewed
the sacrament as a means of grace by which the participant's faith is
strengthened. Zwingli regarded Luther's position as a compromise with the
medieval doctrine of transubstantiation and maintained the words of institution
must be taken symbolically to mean this represents Christ's body. Although
Zwingli believed that Christ was present in and through the faith of the
participants, this presence was not tied to the elements and depended upon the
faith of the communicants. In contrast to Luther he interpreted the sacrament
as a commemoration of the death of Christ, in which the church responded to
grace already given, rather than a vehicle of grace.
After
three years of bitter polemics Philip of Hesse arranged the meeting at Marburg
in order to resolve the doctrinal differences that stood in the way of a united
political front. The major participants were Luther, Philip Melanchthon,
Zwingli, and John Oecolampadius.
The
public colloquy began on October 2 after preliminary private discussions had
been held the previous day which paired Luther with Oecolampadius and
Melanchthon with Zwingli. Luther based his arguments on the words of
institution. His opponents responded that since the body of Christ was "at
the right hand of the Father" in heaven, it could not be present
simultaneously at altars throughout the Christian world when the Lord's Supper
was celebrated. Although the debate became quite heated at times, it concluded
with both sides asking pardon for their harsh words. On October 4, at the
request of Philip of Hesse, Luther drew up fifteen articles of faith based on
the Schwabach Articles which had been formulated before the colloquy. To his
surprise his opponents accepted fourteen of them with only slight
modifications. Even the fifteenth article, on the Lord's Supper, expressed
agreement on five points and concluded with the conciliatory statement:
"Although we are not at this present time agreed, as to whether the true Body
and Blood of Christ are bodily present in the bread and wine.
Despite
this hopeful ending unity was not achieved. Shortly afterward both sides were
again making critical remarks about the other. Subsequent writings by Zwingli
convinced Luther that he had not been sincere in accepting the Marburg
Articles. At the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 Zwinglians and Lutherans presented
separate confessional statements which reflected the unresolved differences at
Marburg.