1934 — Barmen Synod
Reformed Tradition
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The Theological Declaration of Barmen was adopted on May 31, 1934 by the Confessional Synod of the German Evangelical Church. Written primarily by Reformed theologian Karl Barth, with contributions from Hans Asmussen and Thomas Breit, it consists of six theses — each grounded in Scripture — affirming the lordship of Jesus Christ and rejecting the encroachment of National Socialist ideology into the German church.
According to the opening words of its constitution of July 11th 1933, the German Evangelical Church is a federation of confessional churches that have grown out of the Reformation and stand side by side on an equal footing. The theological requirement for the unification of these churches is laid down in Article 1 and Article 2.1 of the constitution of the German Evangelical Church recognized by the Reich government on July 14th 1933:
The inviolable foundation of the German Evangelical Church is the gospel of Jesus Christ as testified to us in Holy Scripture and brought to light again in the confessions of the Reformation. In this way, the full powers that the church needs for her mission are determined and limited.
The German Evangelical Church is divided into regional churches (Landeskirchen).
We, the representatives of Lutheran, Reformed, and United Churches, free synods, church assemblies, and church ministries united in the Confessional Synod of the German Evangelical Church, declare that we stand together on the ground of the German Evangelical Church as a federation of German confessional churches. We are united by the confession of the one Lord of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.
We publicly declare before all evangelical churches in Germany that what they hold in common in this confession, and thus also the unity of the German Evangelical Church, is seriously endangered. It is threatened by the teaching and actions of the ruling church party of “German Christians” and of the church leadership exercised by them, which has become more and more apparent during the first year of the existence of the German Evangelical Church. This threat consists in the fact that the theological requirements on which the German Evangelical Church is united has been continually and systematically thwarted and rendered ineffective by alien principles, on the part of the leaders and spokesmen of the “German Christians”, and by the church leadership. When these principles are held to be valid, the church ceases to be the church, according to all of the confessions held in authority with us, and the German Evangelical Church, as a federation of confessional churches, becomes internally impossible.
As members of Lutheran, Reformed, and United Churches we can and must speak together on this matter today. Precisely because we want to be and remain faithful to our various confessions, we must not remain silent, since we believe that we have been given a common word to utter in a time of common need and temptation. We commend to God what this may mean for the relationship between the confessional churches.
In view of the errors of the “German Christians” of the present Reich church government, which are devastating the church and therefore also breaking up the unity of the German Evangelical Church, we confess the following evangelical truths:
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) — "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber... I am the door of the sheep." (John 10:1, 9)
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.
We reject the false doctrine that the Church could and would have to acknowledge as a source of its proclamation, apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other events and powers, figures and truths, as God's revelation.
"Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption." (1 Cor. 1:30)
As Jesus Christ is God's assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins, so, in the same vigour, he is also God's mighty claim upon our whole life. Through him befalls us a joyful deliverance from the godless fetters of this world for a free, grateful service to his creatures.
We reject the false doctrine that there could be areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ, but to other lords — areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him.
"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body is joined and knit together." (Eph. 4:15–16)
The Christian Church is the congregation of the brethren in which Jesus Christ acts presently as the Lord in Word and sacrament through the Holy Spirit. With its faith as well as with its obedience, with its message as well as with its order, it has to testify in the midst of the sinful world, as the Church of pardoned sinners, that it is his alone, that it lives and wants to live solely from his comfort and from his direction in the expectation of his appearance.
We reject the false doctrine that the Church would have the right to abandon this form of its message and order to its own pleasure or to changes in prevailing ideological and political convictions.
"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant." (Matt. 20:25–26)
The various offices in the Church do not establish a dominion of some over the others; on the contrary, they are for the exercise of the ministry entrusted to and enjoined upon the whole congregation.
We reject the false doctrine that the Church, apart from this ministry, could and were allowed to give to itself, or allow to be given to it, special leaders vested with ruling powers.
"Fear God. Honour the emperor." (1 Pet. 2:17) — "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." (Matt. 22:21)
Scripture tells us that, in the as yet unredeemed world in which the Church also exists, the State has by divine appointment the task of providing for justice and peace. The Church acknowledges the benefit of this divine appointment in gratitude and reverence before him. It calls to mind the Kingdom of God, God's commandment and righteousness, and thereby the responsibility both of rulers and of the ruled.
We reject the false doctrine that the State, over and beyond its special commission, should and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life, thus fulfilling the Church's vocation as well. We reject the false doctrine that the Church, over and beyond its special commission, should and could appropriate the characteristics, the tasks, and the dignity of the State, thus itself becoming an organ of the State.
"Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matt. 28:20) — "The Word of God is not fettered." (2 Tim. 2:9)
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, and therefore in the ministry of his own Word and work through sermon and sacrament.
We reject the false doctrine that the Church in human arrogance could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes, and plans.
Acts 4:12
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
No ideology, nation, or movement can share the lordship that belongs to Christ alone — Thesis I of the Barmen Declaration is a direct refusal of Nazi ideology’s claim on the church.
Romans 12:2
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
No area of life falls outside Christ’s lordship — Thesis II rejects the idea that politics, race, or nationality constitute neutral zones where Christian faith does not apply.
1 Corinthians 3:11
“For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
The church’s order and message are given by Christ, not redesigned by political convenience — Thesis III rejects any human ideology becoming the church’s foundation.
Mark 10:43
“But whoever would be great among you must be your servant.”
The Führer principle — absolute obedience to a single human leader — is incompatible with the servant structure Christ gives his church.
Acts 5:29
“But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’”
The state has a real but limited authority — when it oversteps into totalitarian claim, the church must resist, as the Confessing Church did at great personal cost.
Romans 1:16
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
The church’s freedom rests on one commission: proclaiming the free grace of God to all people — Thesis VI is the Declaration’s positive vision of the church’s calling.
The English translation presented follows the traditional rendering used in Catholic and/or Protestant traditions.
This text is provided for study, research, and educational purposes in Christian theology and church history.
The Barmen Declaration emerged from one of the darkest chapters in modern church history. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, a movement known as the "German Christians" (Deutsche Christen) sought to align the Protestant church with National Socialist ideology — introducing the Aryan Paragraph to exclude Jewish Christians from ministry and replacing the authority of Scripture with the authority of race, blood, and the Führer.
In response, a network of pastors and congregations formed the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche). In May 1934 they gathered at Barmen and adopted this theological declaration, primarily drafted by Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth. The declaration was not explicitly political but was radically theological — insisting that the church has only one Lord, and that Lord is Jesus Christ.
Though Barth was later expelled from Germany and many signatories faced persecution, the Barmen Declaration became a landmark of 20th-century confessional theology. It has since been adopted by denominations worldwide, most notably by the Presbyterian Church (USA) as part of its Book of Confessions, and has shaped political theology, church-state discussions, and resistance ethics ever since.
Jesus Christ alone is the Word of God the church must hear and obey. No other power, figure, or truth may be placed alongside Scripture as a source of revelation.
Christ's lordship extends to every area of life — there are no zones exempt from his rule or from the need for his justification and sanctification.
The church's message and structure must be governed by Christ alone — not by ideological or political trends of the day.
Church office is service to the congregation — not a ruling authority. Special leaders with autonomous power are rejected.
The state has a legitimate, limited role in providing justice and peace. Neither the state nor the church may absorb the other's vocation.
The church exists to proclaim the free grace of God to all people — it may not place this commission in service of any ideology, party, or human plan.
The Barmen Declaration is a 1934 theological statement adopted by the Confessing Church in Germany, rejecting Nazi influence over the church and declaring that Jesus Christ — not any political ideology — is the sole Lord of the church. It consists of six Scripture-grounded theses.
The primary author was Swiss-German Reformed theologian Karl Barth, assisted by Lutheran pastor Hans Asmussen and Reformed pastor Thomas Breit. It was adopted by delegates representing Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches at Barmen on May 31, 1934.
It was written to counter the 'German Christians' movement, which sought to fuse Christianity with National Socialist ideology — adopting the Aryan Paragraph, exalting Hitler as a new revelation, and subordinating the church to the Nazi state.
Yes. The Presbyterian Church (USA) includes it in its Book of Confessions. It is studied in seminaries worldwide and invoked whenever churches face pressure to subordinate the gospel to political or ideological agendas.
Bonhoeffer was not present at the Barmen Synod, though he was a leading figure in the broader Confessing Church movement. He was in London at the time. He later became the most famous martyr of the resistance, executed by the Nazis in April 1945.
Thesis 5 articulates a careful balance: the state has a legitimate God-given role in justice and peace, but may not become totalitarian or absorb the church's mission. The church owes allegiance first to Christ — a principle with enduring relevance wherever states demand ideological conformity.
Explore our articles, study guides, and historical commentary on the Barmen Declaration.