Lutheran Basics

Lutherans are Christians that hold to four basis tenants: Grace Alone; Faith Alone; Christ Alone; and, Word Alone.

Lutherans believe that we are saved by the grace of God. God the Father sent God the Son to die for our sins. God did this out of his great love for us. Jesus hanging on the cross erased all our sins. They are gone. This forgiveness is freely given.

It can not be bought. It can not be earned. It can only be accepted, like the gift that it is. By faith alone we accept the gift. No works can earn it, it is freely given.

The final authority for faith and life is the Word of God--Not what one feels; Not what the society thinks or teaches; Not what the pastor says--The Word of God alone. Lutherans do not have to "check their brains" at the door. Studying the scriptures is a participatory event. Discovering what God has planned for us through God's word, come to us through the Bible and the Spirit, is a life-lone pursuit. The struggle of this discovery is one of the definers of Lutheranism.

What is the Church?

The Christian church is made up of those who have been baptized and thus have received Christ. Lutherans believe that they are a part of a community of faith that began with the gift of the Holy Spirit, God's presence with his people, on the day of Pentecost.

The church, regardless of the external form it takes, is the fellowship of those who have been restored to God by Christ. Indeed, to be called into fellowship with Christ is also to be called into community with other believers.

The church is essential to Christian life and growth. Its members are all sinners in need of God's grace. It has no claim on human perfection. The church exists for the hearing and doing of God's Word. It can justify its existence only when it proclaims the living Word of Christ, administers the Sacraments and gives itself to the world in deeds of service and love. E.L.C.A. (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) Lutherans recognize a wider fellowship of churches and are eager to work alongside them in ecumenical ministries and projects.

 What is the Bible?

The Bible is the Word of God. While Lutherans recognize differences in the way the Bible should be studied and interpreted, it is accepted as the primary witness to the church's faith.

Written and transcribed by many authors over a period of many centuries, the Bible bears remarkable testimony to the mighty acts of God in the lives of people and nations. In the Old Testament is found the vivid account of God's covenant relationship to Israel. In the New Testament is found the story of God's new covenant with all of creation in Jesus.

In a sermon on Epiphany day, speaking of the Old Testament, Luther wrote, "It is in Scripture and nowhere else, that he [Jesus] permits himself to be found. He who despises Scripture and sets it aside, will never find him. We heard earlier that the angel gave a sign to the shepherds [Luke 2:12]; but to Mary or Joseph or to any other man, however pious they may have been, he gave no sign except the swaddling clothes in which he was wrapped, and the cradle into which he was laid, that is, the Scripture of the prophets and the law. In these he is enclosed, they possess him, they speak of him alone and witness to him and are his sure sign, as he says himself, in John 5[:39]: "Search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me.""

The New Testament is the first-hand proclamation of those who lived through the events of Jesus' life, death, and Resurrection. The Bible is thus the record of the drama of God's saving care for creation throughout the course of history.

 Who is Jesus?

Jesus is one of the persons of the Trinity. Jesus is God. Jesus is the Father's son, chosen by the Father to become human like us. In his life and being he broke through the prison of sinfulness and thus restored the relationship of love and trust that God intended to exist between himself and his children. Though he is eternal, with God at the beginning of time, he was born on earth of a virgin, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was at once truly God and truly human.

The man, Jesus of Nazareth, lived and died in Palestine during the governorship of the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate; and he is the Messiah chosen by God to show his love for the world. He is God, yet with all the limitations of being human. His relationship to the Father, however, was not one of sin but rather of perfect obedience to the Father's will. For the sake of a sinful world, Jesus was condemned to death on the cross.

But death could not contain him. On the third day after his execution, the day Christians observe as Easter, Jesus appeared among his followers as the risen, living Lord. By this great victory God has declared the Good News of reconciliation. The gap between all that separates us from our Creator has been bridged. Thus, Christ lives today wherever there are people who faithfully believe in him, and wherever the Good News of reconciliation is preached and the Sacraments administered.

Creation

Lutherans believe that God (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) is Creator of the universe. Its dimensions of space and time are not something God made once and then left alone. God is continually creating, calling into being each moment of each day.

Human beings have a unique position in the order of creation. As males and females created in God's image, we are given the capacity and freedom to know and respond to our creator. Freedom implies that we can choose either positively or negatively to respond to God. Doubtlessly, this is God's most generous gift to humankind.