The Theological Declaration of Barmen was written by a group of

church leaders in Germany to help Christians withstand the challenges of

the Nazi party and of the so-called "German Christians," a popular movement

that saw no conflict between Christianity and the ideals of Hitler’s

National Socialism.

In January 1933, after frustrating years in which no government in

Germany was able to solve problems of economic depression and mass

unemployment, Adolph Hitler was named chancellor. By playing on people’s

fear of communism and Bolshevism, he was able to persuade the

Parliament to allow him to rule by edict. As he consolidated his power,

Hitler abolished all political rights and democratic processes: police

could detain persons in prison without a trial, search private dwellings

without a warrant, seize property, censor publications, tap telephones,

and forbid meetings. He soon outlawed all political parties except his

own, smashed labor unions, purged universities, replaced the judicial

system with his own "People’s Courts," initiated a systematic terrorizing

of Jews, and obtained the support of church leaders allied with or sympathetic

to the German Christians.

Most Germans took the union of Christianity, nationalism, and militarism

for granted, and patriotic sentiments were equated with Christian

truth. The German Christians exalted the racially pure nation and the rule

of Hitler as God’s will for the German people.

Nonetheless, some in the churches resisted. Among those few determined

church leaders who did oppose the church’s captivity to National

Socialism were pastors Hans Asmussen, Karl Koch, Karl Iraruer, and

Martin Niemoller, and theologian Karl Barth. Following a number of regional

meetings, these men assembled representatives of Lutheran, Reformed,

and United churches in Gemarke Church, Barmen, in the city of

Wupperthal, May 29–31, 1934. Among the one hundred thirty-nine delegates

were ordained ministers, fifty-three church members, and six university

professors.

The chief item of business was discussion of a declaration to appeal to

the Evangelical churches of Germany to stand firm against the German

Christian accommodation to National Socialism. The Theological Declaration

of Barmen contains six propositions, each quoting from Scripture,

stating its implications for the present day, and rejecting the false

doctrine of the German Christians. The declaration proclaims the

church’s freedom in Jesus Christ who is Lord of every area of life. The

church obeys him as God’s one and only Word who determines its order,

ministry, and relation to the state.

The declaration was debated and adopted without amendment, and the

Confessing Church, that part of the church that opposed the German

Christians, rallied around it.

The Confessional Synod of the German Evangelical Church met in

Barmen, May 29–31, 1934. Here representatives from all the German

Confessional churches met with one accord in a confession of the one

Lord of the one, holy, apostolic church. In fidelity to their Confession of

Faith, members of Lutheran, Reformed, and United Churches sought a

common message for the need and temptation of the church in our day.

With gratitude to God they are convinced that they have been given a

common word to utter. It was not their intention to found a new church

or to form a union. For nothing was farther from their minds than the abolition

of the confessional status of our churches. Their intention was,

rather, to withstand in faith and unanimity the destruction of the Confession

of Faith, and thus of the Evangelical Church in Germany. In opposition

to attempts to establish the unity of the German Evangelical

Church by means of false doctrine, by the use of force and insincere practices,

the Confessional Synod insists that the unity of the Evangelical

churches in Germany can come only from the Word of God in faith

through the Holy Spirit. Thus alone is the church renewed.

Therefore the Confessional Synod calls upon the congregations to

range themselves behind it in prayer, and steadfastly to gather around

those pastors and teachers who are loyal to the Confessions.

Be not deceived by loose talk, as if we meant to oppose the unity of the

German nation! Do not listen to the seducers who pervert our intentions,

as if we wanted to break up the unity of the German Evangelical Church

or to forsake the Confessions of the Fathers!

Try the spirits whether they are of God! Prove also the words of the

Confessional Synod of the German Evangelical Church to see whether

they agree with Holy Scripture and with the Confessions of the Fathers.

If you find that we are speaking contrary to Scripture, then do not listen

to us! But if you find that we are taking our stand upon Scripture,

then let no fear or temptation keep you from treading with us the path

of faith and obedience to the Word of God, in order that God’s people

be of one mind upon earth and that we in faith experience what he himself

has said: "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Therefore, "Fear

not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the

kingdom."

According to the opening words of its constitution of July 11, 1933,

the German Evangelical Church is a federation of Confessional churches

that grew out of the Reformation and that enjoy equal rights. The theological

basis for the unification of these churches is laid down in Article

1 and Article 2(1) of the constitution of the German Evangelical Church

that was recognized by the Reich Government on July 14, 1933:

Article 1. The inviolable foundation of the German Evangelical Church is the gospel of Jesus

Christ as it is attested for us in Holy Scripture and brought to light again in the Confessions of

the Reformation. The full powers that the Church needs for its mission are hereby determined

and limited.

We, the representatives of Lutheran, Reformed, and United Churches,

of free synods, church assemblies, and parish organizations united in the

Confessional Synod of the German Evangelical Church, declare that we

stand together on the ground of the German Evangelical Church as a federation

of German Confessional churches. We are bound together by the

confession of the one Lord of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic

church.

We publicly declare before all evangelical churches in Germany that

what they hold in common in this Confession is grievously imperiled, and

with it the unity of the German Evangelical Church. It is threatened by

the teaching methods and actions of the ruling church party of the "German

Christians" and of the church administration carried on by them.

These have become more and more apparent during the first year of the

existence of the German Evangelical Church. This threat consists in the

fact that the theological basis, in which the German Evangelical Church

is united, has been continually and systematically thwarted and rendered

ineffective by alien principles, on the part of the leaders and spokesmen

of the "German Christians" as well as on the part of the church administration.

When these principles are held to be valid, then, according to all

the Confessions in force among us, the church ceases to be the church and

the German Evangelical Church, as a federation of Confessional

churches, becomes intrinsically impossible.

As members of Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches, we may and

must speak with one voice in this matter today. Precisely because we

want to be and to remain faithful to our various Confessions, we may not

keep silent, since we believe that we have been given a common message

to utter in a time of common need and temptation. We commend to God

what this may mean for the interrelations of the Confessional churches.

In view of the errors of the "German Christians" of the present Reich

Church government which are devastating the church and are also

thereby breaking up the unity of the German Evangelical Church, we

confess the following evangelical truths:

1. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father,

but by me." (John 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." (John 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.

2. "Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and

sanctification and redemption." (I Cor. 1:30.)

As Jesus Christ is God’s assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins,

so in the same way and with the same seriousness is he also God’s mighty

claim upon our whole life. Through him befalls us a joyful deliverance

from the godless fetters of this world for a free, grateful service to his

creatures.

We reject the false doctrine, as though there were areas of our life in

which we would not belong to Jesus Christ, but to other lords—areas in

which we would not need justification and sanctification through him.

3. "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way

into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body [is]

joined and knit together." (Eph. 4:15–16.)

The Christian Church is the congregation of the brethren in which

Jesus Christ acts presently as the Lord in Word and Sacrament through

the Holy Spirit. As the church of pardoned sinners, it has to testify in the

midst of a sinful world, with its faith as with its obedience, with its message

as with its order, that it is solely his property, and that it lives and

wants to live solely from his comfort and from his direction in the expectation

of his appearance.

We reject the false doctrine, as though the church were permitted to

abandon the form of its message and order to its own pleasure or to

changes in prevailing ideological and political convictions.

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." (Matt. 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 to itself, or allow to be given to it,

special leaders vested with ruling powers.

5. "Fear God. Honor the emperor." (I Peter 2:17.)

Scripture tells us that, in the as yet unredeemed world in which the

church also exists, the State has by divine appointment the task of providing

for justice and peace. [It fulfills this task] by means of the threat

and exercise of force, according to the measure of human judgment and

human ability. The church acknowledges the benefit of this divine appointment

in gratitude and reverence before him. It calls to mind the

Kingdom of God, God’s commandment and righteousness, and thereby

the responsibility both of rulers and of the ruled. It trusts and obeys the

power of the Word by which God upholds all things.

We reject the false doctrine, as though the State, over and beyond its

special commission, should and could become the single and totalitarian

order of human life, thus fulfilling the church’s vocation as well.

We reject the false doctrine, as though the church, over and beyond its

special commission, should and could appropriate the characteristics, the

tasks, and the dignity of the State, thus itself becoming an organ of the

State.

6. "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matt. 28:20.)

"The word of God is not fettered." (II 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.

The Confessional Synod of the German Evangelical Church declares

that it sees in the acknowledgment of these truths and in the rejection of

these errors the indispensable theological basis of the German Evangelical

Church as a federation of Confessional churches. It invites all who are

able to accept its declaration to be mindful of these theological principles

in their decisions in church politics. It entreats all whom it concerns to return