# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Mai 1855_S152
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

152 On the Original Form of the Small Catechism, etc.

Luther explains this only once, but briefly and excellently, in his exposition of the Sermon on the Mount from the year 1532; he says: “These are the true titles and names that belong to God alone; for he has reserved the three parts for himself that are called judging (kingdom), administering justice (power), and glorying (glory).

No one is to judge or govern and have supremacy except God alone, or those to whom he entrusts it, through whom he exercises government as his servants.

Likewise, no person is to administer justice toward another, or show anger and punish, except one who holds the office by God’s authority. — This he calls power, that is, the consequence of justice, executio, by which he can punish, cast down the wicked, and protect the godly.

Likewise, glory, or honor and praise, belongs to God alone, so that no one may boast of anything—of any wisdom, holiness, or ability—except through him and from him.

Therefore we also pray chiefly for his name, his kingdom, and his will, since these alone are to prevail, while all other names, kingdoms, powers, and wills are to perish; and thus we confess that he is the Most High in all these three parts, while the others are his instruments through which he carries out and accomplishes these things.” (W. VII, 748 etc.)

In the words concerning Baptism, no significant variations occur among the different editions of the Catechism; only in the Large Catechism, in the first question, it says: “teach all nations” (following the translation of Matthew 28:19), whereas throughout the Small Catechism it says: “all heathen.”

The section on the Office of the Keys appears in none of the editions of the Small Catechism prepared by Dr. Luther. It is found, however, as early as the Ansbach-Nuremberg Church Order of 1533, where it occurs among the sermons for children, or catechism sermons, appended to that order, specifically before the section on Holy Communion. It not only cites the same Bible passage as the later catechisms, namely John 20:22–23, but the explanation also reads almost word for word: “I believe that the called ministers,” etc.

The inclusion and retention of this section in Lutheran catechisms is probably due especially to Dr. Luther’s powerful testimonies concerning its great importance, for example in his writing on the Keys from the year 1530, in which, at the conclusion, he most earnestly urges the diligent practice of this doctrine; the Smalcald Articles III, 8, and the testimony in the Augsburg Confession, Article 25, also belong here.

The section “How Simple People Should Be Taught to Confess” was not included in the first edition of the Small Catechism, but was added only later, probably around the year 1531. Even in the second edition it read: “A Short Form of Confession for Simple People, to the Priest,”