Well, the
Jerusalem Declaration states: “We [GAFCON] uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.” They do not necessarily deny the doctrinal content of the remaining three councils – the second council of Constantinople (in 553), the third council of Constantinople (in 680-681), and the second council of Nicaea (in 787) – but they deny that they have the ecclesial authority of being an ecumenical council, and the authority to ‘express the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.’
Some might argue that this is also true of Lutheranism, as the five confessions held there is the
Apostles’ Creed, the
Nicene Creed, the
Athanasian Creed, the
Augsburg Confession (or
Confessio Augustana), and Luther’s
Small Catechism, but if we read
Confessio Augustana carefully, we see that it does endorse these councils. On the first 21 articles (the main doctrinal part), the confession states. “This is about the Sum of our Doctrine, in which, as can be seen, there is nothing that varies from the Scriptures,
or from the Church Catholic, or from the Church of Rome as known from its writers.” And in the conclusion, it states: “Only those things have been recounted whereof we thought that it was necessary to speak, in order that it might be understood that in doctrine and ceremonies nothing has been received on our part against Scripture or the Church Catholic. For it is manifest that we have taken most diligent care that no new and ungodly doctrine should creep into our churches.” (The Church Catholic refer to the entire Church, not only including Roman Catholics.)
So for Lutherans, all the seven ecumenical councils are authoritative, and they ‘express the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.’
But if ACNA do not hold the same beliefs as GAFCON, why is it alined with them? GAFCON is Protestant.