To help you get to know us better, here are some frequently asked questions about the Lutheran Church.
Yes. By definition, a Christian church is one that recognizes that Jesus Christ is God (fully equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit) who, after living a perfect life, died an innocent death (on the cross) to forgive the sins of the world. This is one of the most fundamental teachings of the Lutheran Church.
We are named after Martin Luther, a German monk who lived almost 500 years ago (1483-1546). When Luther left the Roman Catholic Church over unresolved doctrinal differences, those who followed him were called, somewhat uncharitably, Lutherans. Luther vigorously opposed this because it gave the impression that what he proclaimed were new teachings instead of a simple return to the teachings of the Bible. He wanted those who held his convictions to simply be called Christians.
No. One of the main teachings of the Lutheran church is that the Bible is the only source from which doctrine (what we teach) and practice (what we do) are to be taken. We sum it up this way: All Lutheran teachings are biblical teachings and all biblical teaching are Lutheran teachings.
We consider the Bible to be the divinely inspired Word of God. While it was written by men, it was God who communicated to them the very thoughts and words they were to write. Accordingly, to us the Bible is not just the word about God, it is the very Word of God; faithful and true in all points.
“Synod” is a Greek word which literally means “walking together”. Our church body or synod consists of all those members who “walk together” in the same faith. There are almost 2.6 million of us. Even though we have churches in every state of the United States and many countries of the world, we are known as the Missouri Synod because that is the state in which we were founded back in (year) and our church’s headquarters are in St. Louis
At the center of all Lutheran theology is Jesus Christ our Savior. We believe that the Bible is much more than a rule book that tells us how we are to live our lives. The Bible is God’s revelation about how Jesus Christ saved us. We believe Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ways God offers us the forgiveness that Jesus Christ won on the cross. We believe that every single verse, every single chapter, every single book of the Bible, and every single doctrine ultimately point to Jesus.
Jesus Christ our Savior is at the center of a Lutheran’s hope. If you ask the question "Why are you saved?" many people will want to talk about their lives. "I have tried my hardest to be a good person," they will say. Or perhaps "I have done my best." How horrible it must be for such people to go through life, wondering if their best is good enough to be saved!
Others will try to answer that question by talking about their faith. "I’m saved because of my strong faith!" That too is a terrifying thought. Does that mean when I have doubts, my salvation disappears? Does it mean when my faith grows weak, my salvation grows unlikely? Does it mean when I am faithful, I am saved; but the times when I am unfaithful and commit sin, I am damned?
A Lutheran answers the question "Why are you saved?" with four words: Jesus Christ my Savior. Lutherans understand we are saved for one reason. Jesus Christ died to save us. Whether our good works are many or few, whether our faith is weak or strong . . . these things have no bearing on our salvation. For such things do not affect what Jesus did on the cross. He died so that we might live. He rose to prove we too will rise.
None of this is Martin Luther’s invention. Lutheran doctrine was not created by Martin Luther. Luther discovered nothing new. He simply taught what the Bible teaches. Lutheran teaching is biblical teaching, and the Bible teaches us about Jesus Christ our Savior.
Since Jesus Christ is at the center of all that Lutherans teach and believe, we realize that there is only one reason we are Lutheran. We are Lutheran because we are Christian. Christians love Christ, and since every aspect of Lutheranism points us to Christ, that’s the reason we love being Lutheran.
As Lutherans we summarize our beliefs with three phrases: FAITH ALONE, GRACE ALONE, and SCRIPTURE ALONE. That’s Lutheran. But what do we mean when we say that we are saved by FAITH ALONE?
First, we need to understand what faith is. Perhaps you have heard someone say, "Keep the faith!" or "You’ve got to have faith!" Those expressions equate faith with optimism. When people say those things, they view faith as a warm feeling that "everything will be okay." Is that the way the Bible uses the word faith? Is that what we mean when we teach that we are saved through "faith alone"? Not at all.
If faith isn’t just an optimistic hope that everything will be okay, then what is it? What does the Bible mean by faith? Paul tells us everything we need to know about faith when he writes, "[I do not have] a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith" (Philippians 3:9).
Paul tells us what faith is and what faith does.
Saving faith is "in Christ." Faith is trust in Jesus Christ and his work.
What does faith do? It receives Christ’s righteousness. You can think of faith like an organ of the body. Through your eyes you receive visual images. Through your ears you receive sound. Through your nose, smells. And through your faith you receive God’s righteousness.
What is righteousness? Another way to describe righteousness is "holy perfection." God tells us that we receive holy perfection though faith. But no one has such perfection, except Jesus Christ. When we believe, God gives us the holy perfection, or righteousness, of Jesus. Faith is the organ that receives this great gift from God.
Therefore, when we teach that we are saved through FAITH ALONE, we are teaching that we need only Christ’s righteousness to be saved.
The whole Bible says the same thing. We find it in the Old Testament: "Abram believed [that is, he had faith in] the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). Jesus teaches the same thing. Jesus says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him [that is, has faith in him] shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Jesus does not say, "Whoever believes and tries his hardest to be a good person . . ." He says, "Whoever believes."
Our salvation depends on Christ’s righteousness, that is, his holy perfection, given to us through faith. Jesus taught FAITH ALONE. And, therefore, so do we.
If someone asked you, "What do Lutherans teach?" you could answer: "For one thing, Lutherans believe in GRACE ALONE." But what does that mean?
The apostle Paul once wrote to Timothy that God "has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time" (2 Timothy 1:9). That one passage tells us much about grace. It tells us . . .
GRACE ALONE is the answer to life’s biggest question: "Why am I saved?" To answer that question we don’t look to ourselves, our lives, or even our faith. Rather, we look to our gracious God, who has always loved us for no other reason than that he chose to love us.
As Lutherans we cherish the teaching of SCRIPTURE ALONE. Those two words emphasize how important Scripture is.
Lutherans believe that the Bible identifies two special ceremonies as sacraments. They are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They are special because Jesus established each of them and gives us forgiveness in both. What are the reasons Lutherans emphasize the use of these sacraments?
Why do Lutherans emphasize the sacraments? They are the means by which God gives us forgiveness, and they are the means by which God creates and preserves our faith.
We call ourselves confessional Lutherans. That means we are ready to tell others what we believe. WE CONFESS what we believe and teach. We have good reasons to confess.
Some might say, "As long as we agree that Jesus is the Savior, can’t we agree to disagree about other parts of the Bible?" But God tells us that a little false teaching is enough to spoil a whole church. He says, "A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough" (Galatians 5:9), and he warns that false teaching "will spread like gangrene" (2 Timothy 2:17). WE CONFESS because not everyone believes the same things.
We want to tell the world what we believe and teach, so WE CONFESS. Martin Luther and his followers wrote down their confessions of faith. This collection of writings is known as the Lutheran Confessions. We cherish them and hold to them because we believe they accurately reflect what the Bible teaches and what we all still believe.
When they are older, children should be allowed to decide for themselves whether they want to learn to read or not.
Would you agree with that statement? Of course not! Children need to be equipped with the proper tools to help them function in life. Imagine trying to get a job or trying to pay the bills without being able to read, to write, or to do simple math. It would be so difficult! We understand the importance of those "fundamentals" — reading, writing, and arithmetic. The very thought of waiting to teach reading until a child is old enough to make the decision to do so is ludicrous.
Reading is very important. But faith is even more important. Reading is of value to this life. But faith leads to eternal life. That’s why the very thought of allowing a child to grow up without basic spiritual instruction was ludicrous to Martin Luther. Luther took to heart what the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy: "From infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15).
Luther understood that the faith which the Holy Spirit creates in a child at Baptism must be nurtured with instruction in God’s Word. And so Luther wrote his Small Catechism. It was meant to be an instruction book that would help parents —especially fathers— teach the Bible to their children.
But what is a catechism? A catechism is any book that uses a series of questions and answers to teach a subject. Luther’s Small Catechism is a series of questions and answers about the Bible’s most important teachings. Working through those questions and answers with children enables us to teach them the fundamentals about the Bible. These are the six main parts of the catechism:
Why is it so important that we teach these things to our children? Luther writes, "In [the Catechism] the entire body of Christian doctrine, which every Christian must know in order to be saved, is contained. . . . Therefore we should by all means love and esteem the Catechism and diligently impress it upon youth" (What Luther Says, p.124).
Luther’s Small Catechism is infinitely more important than any reading or math book. For it teaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is through the gospel that God accomplishes that which he loves most—the salvation of souls!
A Freudian psychologist is one who adheres to the teachings of Sigmund Freud, the most famous of all psychologists. Some might define Lutheran in a similar way: someone who follows the teachings of Martin Luther. Yes, but there are two things wrong with that definition. First, some who claim to be Lutheran follow teachings inconsistent with those of Martin Luther. Second, and more important, Martin Luther would never have wanted people to blindly follow his teachings.
Luther lived at a time when the gospel was all but lost. The church of his day taught that sins were paid for by doing penance, that is, good works that supposedly erased bad deeds. If you couldn’t do enough good works to pay for all your sins, you could buy the good works of others. This purchase was known as an indulgence. Jesus was never portrayed as the Savior, only as a merciless judge.
Many people accepted these false teachings without question, because they had no way to hear the truths of God’s Word. The few Bibles that existed were locked up in the monasteries and churches. And those Bibles were generally Latin translations, a language few understood.
When Martin Luther heard these teachings, he feared he would never be able to do enough good to win God’s favor. He dreaded that he had no chance of going to heaven. He became a monk to earn God’s love. But when Luther became a monk, he gained access to the Bible. As he read and studied the Bible, he learned that humans of all time have been granted forgiveness of sins, full and free, because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
From that point on, Luther realized how dangerous it is to blindly follow the religious teachings of others. He understood that only God’s Word can unlock the mystery of salvation. So Luther translated the entire Bible into German so that people could read it for themselves.
What is a Lutheran? A Lutheran is not someone who blindly follows the teachings of Martin Luther. How Luther would have hated that! Luther once wrote, "Nothing better could be wished than that all books would be put aside and nothing else stay in all the world, especially among Christians, but simply the pure Scripture or Bible" (What Luther Says, p. 112).
A Lutheran is someone who, like Luther, understands that only God’s Word can dictate our conscience. A Lutheran is someone who, like Luther, understands how important God’s Word is to our salvation. Simply put, being Lutheran means being like Luther when it comes to God’s Word. We love it more than anything. We study it all we can. We defend it courageously. We proclaim it boldly. Just like Martin Luther.
For more on what we believe as Lutherans visit the Belief & Practice page of our national church body the LCMS.