施马尔卡尔登战争结束后，查理五世致力在赢得的领土上推行罗马基督教会的教条。然而，路德派运动所赢得的领土更为辽阔。1577年，路德派运动的第二代继承人搜集整理前人学说，为路德派教会的承传奠下理论根基，这份文件世称《协和信条》。到1580年，前后共十二份认信文（Confessions of faith）都归集为《协同书》，流传至今。
路德宗教会相信所有参与圣餐的人在领受饼和酒时，同时领受主的真身体及真宝血–“基督在没有改变的饼与酒之内，与饼和酒同在，在饼和酒之下”(in, with and under the bread and wine)（哥林多前书10:16）。路德教会坚信，当信徒领受主的真身体和真宝血时，他们也同时得到罪的赦免（马太福音26:28），但未认罪的信徒、非信徒和拒绝承认基督真身体临在于圣餐的人，若领受基督的身体和宝血，只会令他们被定罪：[22][23]
世界信义宗联会及罗马天主教自1965年成立了工作小组尝试修补两教派间的宗教裂痕及展开对话。及至1997年2月，世界信义宗联会与天主教会发表《关于称义教义的联合声明》，惟双方仍存在分歧，声明亦未得到天主教教廷的认可[35]。在1999年10月31日，双方在德国奥格斯堡签署文件确认《关于称义教义的联合声明》（Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification）[36]。循道宗亦肯定两教会共同签署的联合声明，于2006年7月23日于南韩首尔加入联署有关声明[37]，并附上一份循道卫理宗教会对“称义”的理解文件，两份文件的中文译本亦已于2014年5月24日于香港循道卫理联合教会九龙堂，由三方教会签署领袖确认。[38]
Book of Concord Frequently Asked Questions. bookofconcord.org. [2017-11-07]. （原始内容存档于2020-10-31）. The Lutheran Confessions are ten statements of faith that Lutherans use as official explanations and summaries of what they believe, teach, and confess. They remain to this day the definitive standard of what Lutheranism is.
This We Believe - Justification （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）, by Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, stating: We believe that God has justified all sinners, that is, he has declared them righteous for the sake of Christ. This is the central message of Scripture upon which the very existence of the church depends. It is a message relevant to people of all times and places, of all races and social levels, for "the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men" (Romans 5:18). All need forgiveness of sins before God, and Scripture proclaims that all have been justified, for "the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men" (Romans 5:18)...We believe that individuals receive this free gift of forgiveness not on the basis of their own works, but only through faith (Ephesians 2:8,9).
《协同信条》 （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） （1577） "[T]he Gospel is properly a doctrine which teaches what man should believe, that he may obtain forgiveness of sins with God, namely, that the Son of God, our Lord Christ, has taken upon Himself and borne the curse of the Law, has expiated and paid for all our sins, through whom alone we again enter into favor with God, obtain forgiveness of sins by faith, are delivered from death and all the punishments of sins, and eternally saved. For everything that comforts, that offers the favor and grace of God to transgressors of the Law, is, and is properly called, the Gospel, a good and joyful message that God will not punish sins, but forgive them for Christ's sake." （主文所用为香港路德会文字部《协同书》中文译本）
This We Believe - The Means of Grace （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）: "We believe that the blessing of Baptism is meant for all people (Matthew 28:19), including infants. Infants are born sinful (John 3:6) and therefore need to be born again, that is, to be brought to faith, through Baptism (John 3:5)...We reject the view that babies should not be baptized and that they cannot believe in Christ (Luke 18:15-17)"
This We Believe - The Means of Grace （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）: "We believe that all who join in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper receive the true body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine (1 Corinthians 10:16)...We believe that Christ's words of institution cause the real presence—not any human action. As believers receive his body and blood, they also receive the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:28) and the comfort and assurance that they are truly his own. Unbelievers also receive Christ's body and blood, but to their judgment (1 Corinthians 11:29)...Scripture teaches that all communicants receive both the bread and wine and the body and blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16)."
WELS Topical Q&A: Who may Commune/Serve? - Closed Communion, "Communion is based on faith in Christ, so non-Christians cannot attend. Communion is for forgiveness so the impenitent who are living in a sin cannot attend. Communion calls for self-examination so the uninstructed cannot attend, even our own children. If communicants do not recognize the presence of Christ's body and blood in the sacrament, they receive it not to their blessing but to their condemnation, so members of churches that do not believe in the real presence cannot attend with us."
This We Believe - Justification By Grace through Faith （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）: "We believe that already before the world was created, God chose those individuals whom he would in time convert through the gospel of Christ and preserve in faith to eternal life (Ephesians 1:4-6; Romans 8:29,30)."
This We Believe - Justification By Grace through Faith （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）: "We reject the false and blasphemous conclusion that those who are lost were predestined, or elected, by God to damnation, for God wants all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9)."
This We Believe - Jesus' Return and the Judgment （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）: "We reject the teaching that Christ will reign on earth for a thousand years in a physical, earthly kingdom. This teaching (millennialism) has no valid scriptural basis and falsely leads Christians to set their hopes upon an earthly kingdom of Christ (John 18:36)." )
This We Believe - Church and State （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）: "We believe that not only the church but also the state, that is, all governmental authority, has been instituted by God. "The authorities that exist have been established by God" (Romans 13:1). Christians will, therefore, for conscience's sake obey the government that rules over them (Romans 13:5) unless that government commands them to disobey God (Acts 5:29)."
A German pope heads for the Land of Luther （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）, National Catholic Reporter（英语：National Catholic Reporter）, 2 Sept 2011 （英文）, saying "To be sure, the Joint Declaration has not exactly brought about an ecumenical New Jerusalem. Some Lutherans have rejected the agreement, including the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference. On the Catholic side, the Vatican’s approval remains officially binding, but enthusiasm varies."
WELS Topical Q&A - Justification. [2017-11-07]. （原始内容存档于2009-09-27）. The biblical Lutheran teaching of “forensic” justification maintains that the only effective cause of our forgiveness is a verdict of God that takes place outside of ourselves. We are declared “not guilty” entirely on the basis of what Christ has done for us. Catholic teaching on justification makes a change within man part of the cause of our forgiveness. The Joint Declaration does not represent a change in the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. It does nothing to repudiate Rome’s historic position on the doctrine. The Joint Declaration is nothing more than an ambiguous statement, carefully worded to make it possible for the Pope’s representatives to sign it without changing, retracting, or correcting anything that has been taught by the Roman Catholic Church since the time of the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century. The Joint Declaration is a compromise. It masquerades as a significant change which brings Roman Catholicism in line with confessional Lutheranism on the teaching of justification. In fact, it is a deception that presents the appearance of agreement without any real substance that would make agreement possible. It is a thinly veiled attempt on the part of ecumenicism to embrace Catholicism. In the final analysis it appears that Rome has moved closer to reattaching what was lost in the sixteenth century without any substantive change in its doctrinal position.
