In Cynicism, adiaphora represents indifference to the vicissitudes of life through ascetic practices which help one become free from influences – such as wealth, fame, and power – that have no value in nature.
In 1548, two years after the death of Martin Luther, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V tried to unite Catholics and Protestants in his realm with a law called the Augsburg Interim.
Later he was persuaded to accept a compromise known as the Leipzig Interim, deciding that doctrinal differences not related to justification by faith were adiaphora or matters not essential for salvation.
Melanchthon's compromise was vehemently opposed by Matthias Flacius and his followers in Magdeburg, who went to the opposite extreme by claiming that adiaphora cease to be such in a case of scandal and confession.
In 1577, the Formula of Concord was crafted to settle the question of the nature of genuine adiaphora, which it defined as church rites that are “neither commanded nor forbidden in the Word of God.”[6] However, the Formula added believers should not yield even in matters of adiaphora[example needed] when these are being forced upon them by the “enemies of God's Word.”[7] The Lutheran Augsburg Confession states that true unity of the Church is enough to allow for agreement, concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and administration of the Sacraments.
Presbyterians who have subscribed to the Westminster Confession, for instance, sometimes considered the questions of musical instruments and of the singing of hymns (as opposed to exclusive psalmody) not drawn directly from the Bible as related to the elements of worship, as not optional circumstances.