“We are not swayed by the majesty or wealth of anyone.”
Magdeburg, Germany, 1550, a group of Lutheran pastors signed the Magdeburg Confession. The Confession was a bold response to the Augsburg Interim, that ordered Protestants to readopt traditional Catholic beliefs and practices.
The Magdeburg Confession and Calvin’s The Institutes of the Christian Religion, are 
considered the foundation to The Doctrine of Lesser Magistrates, which teaches a lesser magistrate has the authority to rebel against the tyranny of a supreme ruler, (and will be featured in a later entry).
A striking aspect to these doctrines, as Faith and Heritage points out, is the “radically different manner” of interpretation for Romans 13 “than commonly done by the modern church.” “Obedience to government is understood to be conditional upon the government’s fulfilling its duty to uphold the Law of God,” as exemplified from the Confession below,
“When, moreover, [the superior magistrate] deposes an inferior magistrate who is unwilling to obey him in such a crime, and replaces him with someone who is willing, by the very fact that he now honors and promotes evil works, and dishonors and destroys the good, he is no longer the ordinance of God, but the ordinance of the devil, and he makes this disposition of the good magistrate invalid before the judgment of God, and the deposed one still remains obligated to God to do the duty of a magistrate among his people – that is, to promote good works and reprove evil in whoever commits it, even his superior.”
For further reading visit Faith and Heritage’s in depth review, and magdeburgconfession.com
The French Connection: MLMGA Part 1
Confessing Resistance: MLMGA Part 2
A Wee Dram of Thunder: MLMGA Part 3
Reform and Resist: MLMGA Part 4
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