Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope

Bible Translators Theologians The Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope (1537) (Latin: Tractatus de Potestate et Primatu Papae), The Tractate for short, is the seventh Lutheran credal document of the Book of Concord.

The Tractate was ratified and subscribed by this assembly as an appendix to the Augsburg Confession, which did not have a specific article dealing with the office of the papacy.

Melanchthon used much the same rhetorical style in The Tractate as he did in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession (1531): both were originally written in Latin.

Melanchthon used biblical and patristic material to present and support three main points: Melancthon himself held these views to be conditional.

Should the Pope renounce his claims to power by Divine Right, he could nevertheless maintain them for the sake of good order in the church by human right.