What We Believe

Lutherans are Christians. The Lutheran church traces its origins to Germany in the 1500s and the teachings of Martin Luther, a monk in the Roman Catholic church who taught in a seminary (a school for priests). Luther sought to reform Roman Catholic practices that he believed went against the Bible, and he was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church when he refused to back down from his positions.

The Authority of the Bible

Luther's biggest break with the Roman Catholic church comes from his insistence that the Bible is the only source for teaching in the church. (The Roman church still teaches that their interpretation is the only authoritative one, and that their traditions are also authoritative along side of Scripture.) To this day, Lutherans hold to the idea of scripture alone, the idea that the Bible by itself has sufficient clarity and authority to lead the church.

It's All About Jesus

Most protestant churches agree with Luther's position of scripture alone. Unfortunately, there is still a need to interpret Scripture in order to arrive at the teachings of the church. Different churches use different methods of interpretation; our church believes that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. That is, we believe that it does not contain mistakes or deceptions. The Bible uses figures of speech (like exaggeration and metaphors), but even these are "true" if we understand how the author meant them. We believe that there are many human authors of Scripture, but that the Holy Spirit is the divine author.

Jesus is the center of the scripture. He says, "the Scriptures ... testify about me." (John 5:38). Luther taught that Jesus, the Christ of God, True God and True Man, is the central truth of the Scripture. Lutherans always start and end with Jesus when interpreting the Bible.

The Importance of Tradition

Luther also held to the importance of traditions, especially the traditional teachings of the church in its first 500 years of existence. The basic worship form of the Roman Catholic mass took a shape remarkably like the one it has today by about 250 A.D. Lutherans still follow these ancient orders of worship, which gives our services a "catholic" feel.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper

Some protestant scholars disagree, but the church has taught for nearly all its existence that Baptism has a saving effect. It has also taught, for nearly all of its existence, that when Jesus told his disciples at that last Supper, "take and eat, this is my body," that He was not using a figure of speech, but that those words are a promise about Jesus being really and physically present. The words we use are that the body and blood of Christ are present "in, with, and under" the bread and the wine. Lutherans believe that baptism should be remembered daily, and that its remembrance has the power to daily put to death the old sinful nature. Lutherans also believe that the Jesus' gift to the church in the form of His body and blood are precious gifts to the church.

The Christian Life

Luther came to the truth of Scripture because he could never make himself feel holy. He tried very hard as a monk, in his younger years, to follow the rules and purify himself, but he found it impossible to eliminate all sin from his thoughts and behavior. It was out of the despair he felt about his own sinfulness that he discovered a central truth of the Bible: that in Jesus, a Christian is made right with God by grace alone, that is, as a free gift. Lutherans to this day are pessimistic about removing all sin from the Christian life. Instead, for us the life of the Christian is one of repenting for sins over and over, that is, telling God that we are sorry and resolving to keep trying.

Many Christian groups teach that a life of sufficient faith should lead to a complete victory over sin. We do not share this optimism; as a result, our teaching, our worship life, and our personal devotions all lead to a long, slow struggle against sin, a realistic view of human nature, and joy that ultimatly comes only from God in Jesus Christ.

Life from Knowledge

Perhaps because Luther taught in a seminary, the church that follows his teaching puts great emphasis on learning and study. For us, it is the knowledge of Jesus that makes knowing Jesus possible. Ultimately, we know that it is a relationship with God that brings salvation, but that relationship begins with knowing what God has revealed to us in the Bible.

The Lutheran Church has a long history of writing extensive essays about what we believe. You can find some of them at the LCMS web site.