View source for Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope

{{Short description|1537 work by Philip Melanchthon}}
{{italic title}}
{{lutheranism|expanded=Concord}}
{{Papal primacy and infallibility|expanded=objections}}
The '''''Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope''''' (1537) ({{Langx|la|Tractatus de Potestate et Primatu Papae}}), '''''The Tractate''''' for short, is the seventh [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] [[creed|credal]] document of the [[Book of Concord]]. [[Philip Melanchthon]], its author, completed it on 17 February 1537 during the assembly of princes and theologians in [[Schmalkalden|Smalcald]].

The ''Tractate'' was ratified and subscribed by this assembly as an appendix to the [[Augsburg Confession]], which did not have a specific article dealing with the office of the [[papacy]]. Defining their stance on the papacy was deemed important by the Lutherans as they faced the impending [[ecumenical council|church council]] that would ultimately meet as the [[Council of Trent]]. The ''Tractate'' historically was considered part of Luther's [[Smalcald Articles]] because both documents came out of the Smalcald assembly and the ''Tractate'' was placed after the [[Smalcald Articles]] in the [[Book of Concord]].
 
== Contents ==
[[Philipp Melanchthon|Melanchthon]] used much the same rhetorical style in ''The Tractate'' as he did in the [[Apology of the Augsburg Confession]] (1531): both were originally written in [[Latin]]. [[Philipp Melanchthon|Melanchthon]] used biblical and patristic material to present and support three main points: 
* 1) The [[Pope]] is not head of the Christian Church and superior to all other bishops by divine right (''de iure divino'').

* 2) The [[Pope]] and bishops do not hold civil authority by divine right. 

* 3) The claim of the Bull ''[[Unam sanctam]]'' (1302) that obedience to the Pope is necessary for salvation is invalid since it contradicts the doctrine of [[Sola fide|justification by faith]]. 

Melancthon himself held these views to be conditional. Should the Pope renounce his claims to power by Divine Right, he could nevertheless maintain them for the sake of good order in the church by human right.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=njXIJaDZhV4C&q=Treatise+on+the+Power+and+Primacy+of+the+Pope+conditional&pg=PA96 |title = The divine right of the papacy in recent ecumenical theology|isbn = 9788876521898|last1 = Michael Miller|first1 = J.|year = 1980| publisher=Univ. Gregoriana Ed. }}</ref> [[Martin Luther|Luther's]] position that the claims of the papacy undermine the Gospel is set forth in this treatise as the position of the Lutheran [[laity]] and clergy, and it achieved "confessional" or "symbolic" status rather quickly: the authoritative teaching of what would become the evangelical Lutheran Church.

==Bibliography==
*Bente, Friedrich. ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26909/26909.txt Historical Introductions to the Book of Concord.]'' (1921) New reprint edition. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1995. {{ISBN|0-570-03262-8}}  [http://www.cph.org/pdf/531142.pdf View excerpt here].
*Fagerberg, Holsten.  ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928041539/http://www.cph.org/cphstore/product.asp?category=&part_no=123112&find_category=&find_description=&find_part_desc=A+new+look+at+the+Lutheran+Confessions A New Look at the Lutheran Confessions (1529-1537).]''  Gene Lund, trans.  Paperback Edition.  St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1988.  {{ISBN|0-570-04499-5}}
*[[George Forell|Forell, George W.]]  ''The Augsburg Confession: A Contemporary Commentary.''  Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1968.  LOC 68-25798
*Grane, Lief,  ''The Augsburg Confession: A Commentary.'' translated by John H. Rasmussen. Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1986.  {{ISBN|0-8066-2252-0}}
*Kolb, Robert and James A. Nestingen, eds.  ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PS3nYNLtdLMC Sources and Contexts of the Book of Concord]''.  Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001.  {{ISBN|0-8006-3290-7}}
*Preus, Jacob A.O. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928041747/http://www.cph.org/cphstore/product.asp?category=&part_no=533227&find_category=&find_description=&find_part_desc=lutheran+confessions The Second Martin: The Life and Theology of Martin Chemnitz.]'' St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004.
*Preus, Robert D. and Wilbert H. Rosin, eds.  ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928041452/http://www.cph.org/cphstore/product.asp?category=&part_no=155055&find_category=&find_description=&find_part_desc=A+contemporary+look A Contemporary Look at the Formula of Concord.]''  St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1978.  {{ISBN|0-570-03271-7}}
*Preus, Robert D. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928041610/http://www.cph.org/cphstore/product.asp?category=&part_no=122702&find_category=&find_description=&find_part_desc=getting+into+the+theology+of+concord Getting Into the Theology of Concord.]" Reprint. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004.
*Preus, Robert D.  ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928041439/http://www.cph.org/cphstore/product.asp?category=&part_no=123161&find_category=&find_description=&find_part_desc=theology+of+reformation  Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism: Volume I.]''  St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1972.  {{ISBN|0-570-04545-2}}
* Reu, Johann Michael. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928041555/http://www.cph.org/cphstore/product.asp?category=80174&part_no=155078&find_category=80174&find_description=Lutheran+Theology+and+History&find_part_desc= The Augsburg Confession.]'' Reprint. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1995.
* Schlink, Edmund. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928041729/http://www.cph.org/cphstore/product.asp?category=&part_no=155058&find_category=&find_description=&find_part_desc=lutheran+confessions  Theology of the Lutheran Confessions.]'' Translated by P. Koehneke and H. Bouman. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, Reprint 2004.
* Schmauk, Theodore. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928041355/http://www.cph.org/cphstore/product.asp?category=&part_no=531146&find_category=&find_description=&find_part_desc=lutheran+confessions The Confessional Principle and the Confessions of the Lutheran Church.]'' Translated by C. Theodore Benze. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, Reprint 2005.
* Wengert, Timothy J. ''A Formula for Parish Practice: Using the Formula of Concord in Congregations''.  Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2006.  {{ISBN|0-8028-3026-9}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Wikisource}}
==External links==
*[[wikisource:Treatise_on_the_Power_and_Primacy_of_the_Pope|Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope]]

{{Book of Concord}}
[[Category:1537 works]]
[[Category:Book of Concord]]
[[Category:Treatises]]