What does it mean to be Lutheran?
Foremost, Lutherans believe that all people are imperfect and are saved, or made right with God, by God’s grace and God’s grace alone, through Christ.
Lutherans aren’t born Lutheran or baptized Lutheran. There’s no special prayer to pray, no special state of mind to achieve and no good deed to be performed.
Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God came to earth as one of us and took upon himself the sin and suffering of the world. God did this to demonstrate God’s love for us. Therefore, we receive this gift of grace by faith alone on account of Christ.
We still live in the tension of being sinful, but we trust we are forgiven, and that God is at work in us. Grace expresses God’s unconditional love, mercy and acceptance, and in response, we are set free to live gratefully and lovingly toward God and our neighbor.
An important date in Lutheranism happened on October 31, 1517, when a German monk, Martin Luther, started the movement known as the Protestant Reformation. He insisted the Bible showed that salvation could not be earned or bought, which was contrary to church teachings at the time. He believed salvation was a gift and a sign of God’s never-ending love.
The most influential documents for our church were written by him and by other Lutheran reformers of the time, then compiled together in the Book of Concord. Some key writings include the “Augsburg Confession” and Luther’s own “Small Catechism.”
If a person participates in these Lutheran instructions, then they identify as a Lutheran Christian. If you hold these ideas in mind and heart, you are Lutheran indeed.
“We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.”
Martin Luther
