Martin Luther on the Trinity
One substance, three persons, co-equal and co-eternal
That Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three distinct persons in one divine essence and nature, are one God, who has created heaven and earth.
THE POSITION
Luther opens the Smalcald Articles with the Trinity and treats it as settled ground he shares with Rome: three distinct persons in one divine essence, the Son begotten of the Father, the Spirit proceeding from Father and Son. He says explicitly that 'concerning these articles there is no contention or dispute, since we on both sides confess them,' and refers the reader to the Apostles' and Athanasian creeds rather than arguing the point.
17 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Augustinian friar whose protest over indulgences opened the Reformation, and the theologian for whom justification by faith and the bondage of the will are the whole of the gospel. This entry rests on his own writings only — The Bondage of the Will (1525), the Smalcald Articles (1537), the Large and Small Catechisms (1529), Concerning Christian Liberty (1520), the Heidelberg Disputation (1518), the Church Postil and his biblical prefaces — and deliberately excludes the Augsburg Confession and the Formula of Concord, which are not his.
Cite this page
"Martin Luther on the Trinity", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/luther/trinity (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/luther/trinity).