Justus Jonas

Philip I of Hesse, after the Diet of Speyer had confirmed the edict of Worms, feels the need to reconcile the diverging views of Martin Luther and Huldruych Zwingli in order to develop a unified Protestant theology.

At the Marburg Colloquy, arranged in 1529 to establish doctrinal unity as a preliminary to the political unity of Protestantism, Johannes Oecolampadius defends Huldrych Zwingli's position on the nature of the Eucharist against that of Martin Luther.

It takes place between October 1 and October 4, 1529.

The leading Protestant reformers of the time attend at the behest of Philip.

His primary motivation for this conference is political; he wishes to unite the Protestant states in political alliance, and to this end, religious harmony as an important consideration.

Besides Luther and Zwingli, the reformers Stephan Agricola, Johannes Brenz, Martin Bucer, Caspar Hedio, Justus Jonas, Philipp Melanchthon, Johannes Oecolampadius, and Andreas Osiander participate in the meeting.

Luther’s failure to reach doctrinal accord with Zwingli, who denies Christ's real presence in any form in the Eucharist, splits the Reform movement.

Philipp Melanchthon, along with Martin Luther and probably Justus Jonas, writes the so-called Articles of Schwabach (so named because they are presented at the Convention of Schwabach on October 16 of the same year) beginning in July 1529, as a confession of faith with other Wittenberg theologians.

Material from this document will later be incorporated into the Augsburg Confession written by Melanchthon in 1530.

During Luther's stay in the Wartburg, Jonas had been one of the most active of the Wittenberg reformers.

Giving himself up to preaching and polemics, he has aided the Reformation by his gift as a translator, turning Luther's and Melanchthon's works into German or Latin as the case might be, thus becoming a sort of double of both.

Jonas has also assisted Luther with his translation of the Bible into German.

One of the eight hymns in the first Lutheran hymnal is attributed to him, In Jesu Namen wir heben an (In the name of Jesus we begin), which appeared in 1524 with four hymns by Martin Luther and three by Paul Speratus.

His hymn "Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält", a paraphrase of Psalm 124, was published in the Erfurt Enchiridion in 1524.

It was used by several composers as a base for organ and choral music, including Bach's chorale cantata BWV 178.