The Six Theses of Barmen: Affirming Christ Against the German Christians

Rev. C•D•F• Warrington, M.Div.
By Rev. C•D•F• Warrington, M.Div.

Ordained Minister, M.Div.

May 23, 2026

3 min read

barmen
Oil painting of the six Barmen theses proclaimed against 1930s Germany with light of truth piercing the surrounding darkness

The Theological Declaration of Barmen is built around six theses. Each thesis quotes a biblical text, makes a positive affirmation, and then explicitly rejects a contrary position. The structure mirrors confessional documents from earlier centuries, but its targets are entirely specific to the crisis of 1934. Reading them in order reveals the full theological logic of the Confessing Church's protest.

Thesis One: Christ the One Word of God

The first and most fundamental thesis opens with John 14:6: 'I am the way, the truth, and the life.' It affirms: 'Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God whom we have to hear, and whom we have to trust and obey in life and in death.' Then the rejection: 'We repudiate the false teaching that the Church can and must recognise as a source of its proclamation, besides and apart from this one Word of God, yet other events, powers, historic figures, and truths as God's revelation.'

This is the anchor of the entire Declaration. If Christ is the one Word of God, then no Fuhrer, no national mythology, no racial ideology can claim to be a second word alongside Him. The German Christians had done exactly this - claiming that God spoke through the German Volk and through Hitler's rise. Barmen says: no other word. Christ alone.

Theses Two and Three: The Church's Freedom

Thesis Two addresses the whole of Christian life: the church's message of forgiveness is not a license for irresponsibility, and Christ's claim extends to every area of human existence. Thesis Three defines the church as 'the congregation of the brethren in which Jesus Christ acts presently as the Lord in Word and Sacrament through the Holy Spirit.' It rejects any fusion of the church with a state ideology or the transformation of the church's order by political purposes.

Theses Four Through Six: Office, State, and the Church's Commission

Thesis Four rejects the idea that the church can give special powers to particular leaders beyond what is given to the whole congregation. Thesis Five distinguishes the church from the state and assigns each its proper sphere - the state bears the sword; the church proclaims the Word. Thesis Six makes the church's mission clear: 'The Church's commission, upon which its freedom is founded, consists in delivering the message of the free grace of God to all people in Christ's stead.'

Taken together, the six theses constitute a comprehensive ecclesiology built on Christology. The church is what it is because of who Christ is. It has a specific commission because of what Christ has done. It resists political idolatry because Christ - not the state - is Lord.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the Six Theses of the Barmen Declaration?

Each of the six theses pairs a Scripture text with a positive affirmation and a rejection. Together they assert that Jesus Christ is the only Word of God the church must hear and obey, rejecting the German Christians' attempt to supplement Scripture with the ideology of National Socialism.

Who were the 'German Christians' that Barmen opposed?

The German Christians (Deutsche Christen) were a pro-Nazi movement within German Protestantism that sought to align the church with Hitler's ideology — supporting the 'Aryan paragraph' that would have expelled Jewish Christians from ministry and subordinating church governance to the Nazi state.

What does the First Barmen Thesis say?

The First Thesis quotes John 14:6 and proclaims: 'Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.' It rejects any other sources of church proclamation alongside this one Word.

Is the Barmen Declaration still relevant today?

Yes — Barmen's insistence that the church's allegiance belongs to Christ alone and not to any state, ideology, or cultural movement remains a live challenge. Its logic is invoked whenever the church faces pressure to baptize a political agenda or surrender its prophetic independence to temporal power.

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