Lutherans get their name from Martin Luther. He was a German priest who broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in the early 1500's. Luther's writing and teaching sparked the Protestant Reformation.
The teaching of Luther and the reformers can be summarized in three parts:
God loves the people of the world, even though we are sinful, rebel against Him, and do not deserve His love.
- People cannot save themselves by their good works or restore themselves to a right relationship with God.
- The means of grace are the Word, Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. By these means, the merits of Jesus’ perfect life and atoning death are personally conveyed to all who believe in Jesus as their Savior.
The Bible is God's Word, in which He reveals His Law and His Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ.
- The Bible is God’s inspired and infallible Word through which God has revealed Himself, His actions, and His will.
- It is God’s message of love and hope for all people.
- There is only one true God, who exists in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
- God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world. He is both true God and true man. He lived to fulfill God’s law for us, died on the cross to pay the penalty our sins deserved, and rose from the dead so that we might have eternal life. He ascended into heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of The Father to intercede for us.
- The study of God’s Word is important for us to understand the mind of God and live according to His ways.
- God is the creator of everything that exists.
- Adam and Eve, our first parents, were originally created by God pure and holy. They lived according to God’s will, doing what was pleasing to Him.
- Adam and Eve, the man and woman God created in the beginning, went against God’s will and brought sin into the world. Since that time, all people have been conceived and born in sin.
His suffering and death is the substitute for all people of all time. Jesus purchased and won forgiveness and eternal life for them. Those who hear this Good News and believe it, have the eternal life that it offers.
- Our lives are built on Christ Jesus who suffered and died for the sins of all people. Jesus victoriously defeated death and the powers of evil when He rose from the dead on Easter morning.
- All who repent and seek Christ’s forgiveness will be forgiven by God and reconciled to God.
- Faith is given to us and nurtured by God’s Holy Spirit.
- Baptism is God’s way of bringing us into His family and giving us His gifts of eternal life.
- The Lord’s Supper is a way by which God draws us close to Himself, giving us forgiveness, life, and salvation.
- Our obedience to God is a grateful response for His love toward us and our salvation won by Christ Jesus.
- We show our faith by following God’s will for our lives and by helping those in need.
- Everyone will have an existence after death—either in heaven or hell—forever.
- All believers in Christ have the assurance of eternal life with God and with one another in heaven.
- Sin is living out of relationship with God, not living according to God’s will, and thus transgressing His holy will in thought, word and deed.
- Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, God declares a person just or righteous and forgiven. This happens not because of human effort, but because the justification won by Jesus is applied to the one who believes in Jesus as Savior.
- Faith in Jesus is a gift of God, given by the power of the Holy Spirit; thus all the glory belongs to God.
- Jesus will come again to take all believers to Himself. On the final day, all the dead will be raised. Those who are still alive will be bodily transformed. After this, the final judgment will take place. Unbelievers will go into eternal damnation, and believers into eternal life.
- The true Christian church is made up of all believers of all times who believe in the Triune God and in Jesus Christ as their only Savior.
- God wants Christians to join with other believers in churches which correctly teach God’s Word and administer Holy Baptism and Holy Communion according to the teachings of Scripture.
- Christians are called to tell others that the only way of salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ, and to show their faith by their deeds of love toward others.
III. Faith Alone: His suffering and death is the substitute for all people of all time. Jesus purchased and won forgiveness and eternal life for them. Those who hear this Good News and believe, it have the eternal life that it offers.
- Our lives are built on Christ Jesus who suffered and died for the sins of all people. Jesus victoriously defeated death and the powers of evil when He rose from the dead on Easter morning.
- All who repent and seek Christ’s forgiveness will be forgiven by God and reconciled to God.
- Faith is given to us and nurtured by God’s Holy Spirit.
- Baptism is God’s way of bringing us into His family and giving us His gifts of eternal life.
- The Lord’s Supper is a way by which God draws us close to Himself, giving us forgiveness, life, and salvation.
- Our obedience to God is a grateful response for His love toward us and our salvation won by Christ Jesus.
- We show our faith by following God’s will for our lives and by helping those in need.
- Everyone will have an existence after death—either in heaven or hell—forever.
- All believers in Christ have the assurance of eternal life with God and with one another in heaven.
- Sin is living out of relationship with God, not living according to God’s will, and thus transgressing His holy will in thought, word and deed.
- Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, God declares a person just or righteous and forgiven. This happens not because of human effort, but because the justification won by Jesus is applied to the one who believes in Jesus as Savior.
- Faith in Jesus is a gift of God, given by the power of the Holy Spirit; thus all the glory belongs to God.
- Jesus will come again to take all believers to Himself. On the final day, all the dead will be raised. Those who are still alive will be bodily transformed. After this, the final judgment will take place. Unbelievers will go into eternal damnation, and believers into eternal life.
- The true Christian church is made up of all believers of all times who believe in the Triune God and in Jesus Christ as their only Savior.
- God wants Christians to join with other believers in churches which correctly teach God’s Word and administer Holy Baptism and Holy Communion according to the teachings of Scripture.
- Christians are called to tell others that the only way of salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ, and to show their faith by their deeds of love toward others.
