Home
Welcome
The Beatitudes
Great Commission
Foreword
Acknowledgement
News & Views
Search my web

 "a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit"         (James 2:15-16 NKJV)

 

 History |  Doctrine


Lutheranism traces its origin to the work of Martin Luther, a German Augustinian monk, priest, and theologian who sought to reform the practices of the Western church in the 16th century. The symbolic beginning of the Reformation occurred on October 31, 1517 when Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg. Luther's ideas are generally held to have been a major foundation of the Protestant movement.

And while many of the religious movements of this era are commonly referred to as reformed, that term cannot properly be applied to Lutheranism, which retained many of the sacramental understandings and liturgical practices of the Western Christian church that were enhanced by reformed tradition.

The Lutheran reform of the theology and practice of the Western church eventually led to separation within the Western Christian church.[1] Today nearly 70 million Christians belong to Lutheran churches worldwide;[2] furthermore, many of the 400 million Protestant Christians[3] can trace their tradition, at least in part, back to Luther's reforming work.

The Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions
The formal principle of Lutheranism is the Bible. Lutherans believe the Bible is divinely inspired and is the final authority for all matters of faith and doctrine. Lutherans also hold that Holy Scripture is explained and interpreted faithfully by Scripture itself. This teaching is expanded upon in the Book of Concord, a series of Confessions of faith composed by Lutherans in the 16th Century. Traditionally, Lutheran pastors, congregations, and church bodies agree to teach in harmony with the Lutheran Confessions. Some Lutheran church bodies require this pledge to be unconditional, while others allow their congregations to do so "insofar as" the Confessions are in agreement with the Bible.

As a vital key to interpreting the Bible and fully understanding the Gospel of justification by faith in Jesus, Lutherans have articulated and practiced the proper distinction between Law and Gospel.[16] In their view, without this proper distinction, the Bible becomes a closed book and the Gospel, unclear.

Over the history of the Lutheran tradition, views on the nature of "biblical authority" have varied. Martin Luther and the Book of Concord taught that the Scriptures were the Word of God, and are the only reliable guide for faith and practice. The 17th-century period of Lutheran scholasticism emphasized strongly a theology of biblical inerrancy. In the 20th- and 21st- centuries, Lutheran groups vary on the nature and limits of biblical inerrancy, with each group claiming to represent the true Reformation position. Conservative groups tend to stress biblical inerrancy and the theology of 17th-century Lutheran scholasticism (for example, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod), and liberal groups seek to make use of the higher criticism method of biblical interpretation (for example, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).

Central doctrines

The material principle of Lutheranism is the doctrine of justification: salvation by God's grace alone (Sola Gratia), through faith alone (Sola Fide), revealed through scripture alone (Sola Scriptura). Lutherans believe this grace is granted for the sake of Christ's merit alone (Solus Christus). Traditional Lutheran theology holds that God made the world, including humanity, perfect, holy, and sinless. However, Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, trusting in their own strength, knowledge, and wisdom. Because of this Original Sin — the sin from which all other sins come — all humans are born in sin and are sinners. For Lutherans, original sin is the "chief sin, a root and fountainhead of all actual sins."

Lutherans teach that sinners cannot do anything (i.e. "good works") to satisfy God's justice. Every human thought and deed is colored by sin and sinful motives. Because of this, all humanity deserves eternal damnation in hell.God has intervened in this world because he loves all people and does not want anyone to be eternally damned. By God's grace, made known and effective in the person and work of Jesus Christ, a person is forgiven, adopted as a child and heir of God, and given eternal salvation. For this reason, Lutherans teach that salvation is possible only because of the grace of God made manifest in the birth, life, suffering, death, and resurrection, and continuing presence by the power of the Holy Spirit, of Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:13). Lutherans believe Jesus Christ is both by nature God (Col. 2:9) and by nature man (1 Tim. 2:5) in one person (John 1:14), as they confess in Luther's Small Catechism that he is "true God begotten of the Father from eternity and also true man born of the Virgin Mary".

Lutherans believe that individuals receive this gift of salvation through faith alone[2] — a full and complete trust in God's promises to forgive and to save (Heb 11:1). Even faith itself is seen as a gift of God, created in the hearts of Christians (Ps. 51:10) by the work of the Holy Spirit his means of grace, the Word (John 17:20, Rom. 10:17) and the Sacraments (Mat. 26:28, Tit. 3:5). It is important to note the words — through faith (Rom. 3:22), not by faith. Faith is seen as an instrument that receives the gift of salvation, not something that causes salvation (Eph. 2:8). Thus, Lutherans reject the so-called "decision theology" which is common among modern evangelicals.

Traditionally, Lutherans have accepted monergism, which states that salvation is by God's act alone, and reject the doctrine that humans in their fallen state have a free will concerning spiritual matters (1 Cor. 2:14, 12:3, Rom. 8:7). Instead, they believe that the elect are predestined to salvation (Acts 13:48, Eph. 1:4–11). Properly understood, the doctrine of predestination is simply another way of expressing the doctrine of salvation by grace alone. Lutherans disagree with those that make predestination the source of salvation rather than Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection. Unlike some in Calvinism, Lutherans do not believe in a predestination to damnation (1 Tim. 2:4, 2 Pet. 3:9).

Lutherans are not dogmatic about the number of the sacraments. Some speak of only two sacraments[13]: Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. They teach that Holy Baptism is a saving work of God (1 Pet. 3:21), mandated and instituted by Christ[14]. Thus it is administered to both infants (Mat. 19:14, Acts 2:38–39) and adults (1 Cor. 1:14). Children born to practicing Lutheran families are usually baptized shortly after birth. Holy Absolution (John 20:23) is also confessed to be a sacrament. Holy Communion, which the Lutherans also call the Sacrament of the Altar, the Holy Eucharist, or the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. 11:20), they believe to be the true body and blood of Christ "in, with, and under" the bread and wine for all those who eat and drink it (1 Cor. 10:16, 11:27), a doctrine that the Formula of Concord calls the Sacramental union.

Lutherans believe that all who trust in Jesus alone can be certain of their salvation, for it is in Christ's work and his promises in which their certainty lies (Rom. 8:33). They teach that, at death, Christians are immediately taken into the presence of God (2 Cor. 5:8), where they await the resurrection of the body at the second coming of Christ (1 Cor. 15:22–24). Lutherans do not believe in any sort of earthly millennial kingdom of Christ either before or after his second coming on the last day (John 18:36).

Although Lutherans believe that good works do not satisfy God's wrath, this is not to say that they hold good works to play no role in the Christian life (Tit. 2:14). Good works are the fruit of saving faith (John 15:5), and always and in every instance spring spontaneously from true faith (2 Cor. 9:8). Any true good works have their true origin in God (Phil 2:13), not in the fallen human heart or in human striving (Rom. 7:18, Heb 11:6); their absence would demonstrate that faith, too, is absent (Mat. 7:15–16, Tit. 1:16).


 

What Christians can do | Pastor's Corner | Healing  | Prophecy  | Financial Blessing | Spiritual Death | Apostolic Succession

  Tenet of Faith |  Testimony  | Manifestation | I My profile | The Big Bang  | Salvation | Sins |  Other Links

Catholic Christians | Catholic Evangelical | Baptist | Anglican | Lutheran | Pentecostal 

 Methodist  |  Presbyterian | Saint Anne  | Paul of Tarsus 

Church  | Christianity | The Bible | Our Prayer

Ways of God  |  Answered Prayer   |   Power of Faith   |   Measure of Faith   |   Enemies of Faith

Feedback  | Search This Site | Bible & Commentary Search  | Statement of Faith

Affiliated Link:  Faith Restoration Center   |  Faith Restoration Church | Association of Christian Evangelists

 Copyright © 2007  AmazingKingdom.org
For problems or questions regarding this Web site contact : webmaster@Amazingkingdom.org
Last updated: 08/02/08.