New BoC quiz for your review!

One of the things that we try to do is update our BoC quiz periodically; we are pleased to announce that a new one is available!

Click on “Take the confessions self-test” in the sidebar of our homepage, or click here to take the quiz for yourself. Remember — this is a “closed book” quiz; don’t open that book (that’s hopefully right next to your computer or reading area) or check out the Book of Concord online site while you are taking the quiz! Thanks to Pastor Stephen Schumacher of Bethany Lutheran Church in Naperville IL for writing this quiz!

A few results from our last quiz:

700 people took it; 4% got a perfect score, while 30% got 5 or more questions right (of 7 questions on that quiz)! Only 1% (6 people) completely failed it. That’s not bad, people; we would encourage you to be in a Confessions Reading Group (email us if you know of a group that isn’t on our counter!), or make use of several of the online resources for reading the Book of Concord.

  • The Book of Concord online site has the daily readings available by email or twitter; start off each day right by reading a section of the confessions while reading through the entire BoC in one year!
  • Wittenberg Trail has a Confessions Reading Group that is currently going through each article of the AC/Confutation/SD.
  • Pastor Doug May publishes a Weekly Reading from the BoC that is tied to the readings of the day ideal for insertion into your church bulletin
  • Several people we know use the daily reading guide to read their Concordia Edition of the Book of Concord. The Daily Reading Guide is available above, or can be found at the front of your BoC. It is found on page IX of my Pocket Edition of Concordia, The Lutheran Confessions, a Reader’s Edition.

For our last quiz (Version 2), here is a run-down of each question and how you answered it:

1. The false teachings of what group precipitated the writing of the Formula of Concord?

  1. The Jesuits
  2. The Gnesio-Lutherans
  3. The Crypto-Calvinists
  4. The Zwinglians

49% correctly answered “crypo-calvinists”. After Luther’s death, many in the Lutheran Church developed a favorable attitude towards Calvin’s view of the Lord’s Supper. They were changing the doctrine of the Lutheran Church from the inside. They were found out and true doctrine was restored. The Formula of Concord reflects the true teaching of the Lord’s Supper. The Gnesio-Lutherans were those who opposed the Crypto-Calvinists.

2. Luther’s harshest criticisms of the papacy occur in the Treatise on the Power and the Primacy of the Pope.

59% correctly said this statement is false. Though associated with the Smalcald Articles, which were written by Luther, the Treatis was written by Melanchthon.

3. The Confessions clearly list Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar as our only Sacraments

69% correctly said this statement is false. Apology XIII, paragraph 4 lists absolution as a genuine sacrament. Also Large Catechism: Baptism, 74 lists penance as the third sacrament.

4. Where does the Large Catechism place Confession?

  1. Between baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar
  2. At the end of the Sacrament of the Altar
    Before Baptism, after the Lord’s Prayer

  3. It does not take up Confession just as the Small
  4. Catechism did not originally take up Confession

only 18% correctly said answer 2, “At the end of the Sacrament of the Altar”. The Large Catechism takes up Confession at the end of the teaching on the Lord’s Supper. The first edition of the Small Catechism had no teaching on Confession and Absolution. The second edition in 1529 did have the Short Form of how to Confess.

5. The Formula of Concord takes up the controversy over the Lord’s Supper before Person of Christ.

34% correctly said this statement is true. The Lord’s Supper is Article VII of the Formula of Concord. The Person of Christ is Article VIII. There is a theological issue here but we will save that for a future quiz.

6. The Confessions do explicitly reject Transubstantiation.

73% correctly said this statement is true. Smalcald Articles Part III: Article VI: 5 specifically rejects transubstantiation. Also, Formula of Concord, Article VII in both Epitome and Solid Declaration.

7. The Augsburg Confession has two distinct sections

70% said this statement is true. The first 21 articles are the Chief Articles of Faith. Articles 22-28 are “Articles in Which an Account is given of the Abuses Which have been Corrected.”

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