The Holy Scriptures are set forth in The Book of Concord to be the sole, divine source and norm of all Christian doctrine.

[6] Following the preface written by Andreae and Chemnitz (1578–80)[7] the "Three Ecumenical Creeds" were placed at the beginning in order to show the identity of Lutheran teaching with that of the ancient Christian church.

They are the Augsburg Confession, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, both by Philipp Melanchthon, the Small and Large Catechisms of Martin Luther, his Smalcald Articles, Melanchthon's Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, and the Formula of Concord, which was composed shortly before the publishing of the Book of Concord and intended for the same purpose: the pacification and unification of the growing Lutheran movement.

'"[10]The Apology, the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise, and the Formula of Concord explain, defend, or serve as addenda to The Augsburg Confession.

The creeds and confessions that constitute the Book of Concord are not the private writings of their various authors:[clarification needed][14] Inasmuch, however, as they are in complete agreement with Holy Scripture, and in this respect differ from all other particular symbols (i.e., denominational creeds and credal statements), the Lutheran confessions are truly ecumenical and catholic in character.

This is also called a "quia" (because) subscription to the Lutheran confessions, i.e. one subscribes because the Book of Concord is a faithful exposition of the Scriptures.

which regard the Book of Concord as an important witness and guide to the historical teachings of the Lutheran Church although not necessarily doctrinally binding.

English translations of individual documents of The Book of Concord, notably The Augsburg Confession, were available since the 16th century.

The 1882 edition was accompanied by a companion volume that contained historical introductions and English translations of other documents illustrative of the history of The Book of Concord.

The third complete English translation was published in 1921 as a jubilee observance of the 400th anniversary of the Reformation (1917) along with the German and Latin texts as the Concordia Triglotta: The Symbolical Books of the Ev.

Justus Jonas, who had originally translated the Apology from Latin into German, made use of both the quarto and the octavo editions.

[22] This edition provided the translations of both German and Latin texts of the Augsburg Confession on alternating pages.

The translation team also included Eric Gritsch, Charles Arand, William Russell, James Schaaf, and Jane Strohl.

[23] Another notable feature of the Kolb-Wengert edition is the setting off of "the filioque" of the Nicene Creed in square brackets.