Lutherans as Christians
Our primary identity is that of "Christian." This defines us as a certain group of people, found in every nation of the
Earth, who believe the same basic understanding of God and the world based on the Bible. This understanding is most commonly found in agreements called creeds which state basic Christian beliefs.
Different Understandings of God
There are four basic understandings of God in the world.
Atheism is the belief that there is no God and that the universe and everything in it was self-generated. In this view there is no real meaning to our existence and no eternity to look forward to.
Polytheism is the belief that there are many gods who interact with the world, often times reflecting basic characteristics of humans, both good and evil. This is the view of Hindus, animists, Mormons and Native American religions.
Pantheism is the belief that everything is God and God is everything. The goal of pantheism is to become one with the universe and eventually to lose all self-consciousness. This is the view of Buddhists and various forms of New Age.
Monotheism is the belief that there is one Creator God who rules the Universe through divine principles and laws. He has further spoken into the world through Prophetic revelations. This is the view of Jews, Christians and Muslims, although Jews and Muslims believe that acceptance by God can only occur through a life of religious and moral good works.
Christianity’s Understanding of God
Christians understand from the Bible that this One God has revealed Himself as three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three persons are distinct and yet one being. Sometimes illustrations of this belief have been used, such as water taking on the form of solid, liquid or gas. However such illustrations do not fully explain this mystery, since one molecule of water can only be in one form at a time. God, on the other hand, is all three at the same time. Each person is fully God, yet there are not three Gods, but one. The understanding of God means that God has always know community. This is why God values love above all else. If God is only one how would He ever know or care about love? The Trinity may be hard to understand but it is the reason we all strive to get married, surround ourselves with friends, and feel lonliness.
Furthermore, we believe that the Father sent the Son to be the substitute, standing in for all sinners on the cross. He took the punishment for sin that we have all deserved, then rose again to prove that the payment was accepted.
He then sent the Holy Spirit to bring us to faith, equip us to live a Christian life and share this Good News with others. Jesus made it clear that He was the only hope of salvation for all people.
Lutherans’ Understanding of Christianity
Within the family of Christianity there are diverse groups with different emphases and understandings of core beliefs shared by all Christians. The group of Christians known as Lutherans get their name from Martin Luther, a 16th century monk who led the Protestant Reformation.
As a devout monk Luther struggled with God’s justice and his own unworthiness. No matter what he did to feel better about himself there was always a gnawing sense of guilt. Pilgrimages, fasting, prayers, solitude, alms and relics could not calm his anxious conscience. It was his study of Scripture that began to turn the light on in his heart and head as he realized that righteousness was a gift from God, given freely on the basis of what
Jesus did for him through His life, death and resurrection. He described this experience as being "born all over again."
As a result the Lutheran Church grew out of this understanding as more and more Christians began to have this same experience. They called it justification by grace through faith. The three pillars of Lutheranism are:
Scripture alone as the only reliable basis of truth about God.
Grace alone as the basis of God’s love for the world. God loves us not because we have earned His love, but because His anger toward sin was satisfied by the death of His Son on the cross.
Faith alone as the way that we receive this grace. Faith is not merely an intellectual belief in the historical facts of Christianity, but the clinging of a sinner to Christ as his only hope of salvation. Such faith is not a decision but a revelation. The Holy Spirit enlightens a person’s heart and mind to the truth of the Gospel. In a sense it is a complete dependency upon a gracious God.
The Gospel
There are many outlines for the Gospel. A good one is based around the Trinity.
- There is one God who desires to be our Heavenly Father. He created the human race to be in that special relationship with Him. But our ancestors rebelled against God and lost that relationship. That predisposition to sin is a part of every person. It separates us from God. And as a result the human race feels a longing for something that they don’t quite know how to get back.
- Therefore God the Father sent His only-begotten Son. We believe that Jesus was fully God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and fully man, born of the Virgin Mary. He proved His identity by His teaching and miracles, and then suffered and died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins by taking the punishment of sin upon Himself. He then rose bodily from the dead and ascended into Heaven. One day He will return to judge the world and receive into Heaven those who have trusted in Him.
- But faith is not easy. In fact, it is too hard for any person to produce in him or her self. It does not simply believe that God exists or that the words of the Gospel story are true in some historical way. It beleives that God has taken away your sins and that He has declared you to be His child and that You will certainly live with Him forever. Such faith and certainty is beyond human ability. Therefore the Father and the Son sent forth the Holy Spirit, the life and power of God Himself. Through the Gospel, whether it is purely in spoken form or in picture form (Baptism and Holy Communion) He not only speaks, but His Word creates, faith. When you hear the Gospel and find faith rising up within you, do not resist it. That is the activity of the Holy Spirit. He then incorporates you into His church where you learn more and more about His work in your life.
Sacraments
Different Christians have had a different understanding of these rites of the Christian church. Roman Catholics consider any holy act performed by a priest to be a sacrament. They have seven. Protestants hold to two, Baptism and Holy Communion. These are described by Lutherans as:
- something commanded by Christ;
- something having a visible element (water or bread and wine); and
- something which carries the assurance of sins forgiven.
Baptism
Lutherans believe that baptism is a promise of God, not the commitment of a Christian. Therefore we also baptize infants, believing that they too have been included in the promise of God. Even as infants understand their relationship to their biological parents long before they are able to verbalize that relationship, so an infant can understand a relationship with God long before he or she can verbalize it. Faith can live in an infant or an Alzheimer's patient as easily as a fully functional adult because faith is not dependent on intellectual understanding.
If you are interested in learning more about baptism, please contact a pastor.
Holy Communion
Luther believed that the words of Scripture were important and carefully chosen by the Holy Spirit. Therefore when Jesus said, "This is my body," and "This is the New Covenant in my blood," He meant what he said. To change the word "is" to "represents" is to change Scripture because one wants to make it easily understood to human reason. He believed that reason must be subject to the Word and not the other way around. His view has been called "The Real Presence," and is the belief that Jesus really comes in the bread and wine to give to us His real body and blood. It is not sufficient to say that He is spiritually present because it misses the truth that the human and divine natures of Christ have been inseparably joined in the mystery of the virgin birth. Even his ascent to the right hand of the Father does not remove Him from our presence, since the Father is present everywhere. He Himself said that He would be with us always. However, He is now invisible to our physical sight. Like television waves are invisible until they are broadcast through a special device called a TV, so Jesus is with us in invisible form until He is manifested in the form of bread and wine. Luther thought of Holy Communion as Jesus walking into the room, throwing His arms around him and saying, "Martin, I love you."
The Ministry of the Holy Spirit
Lutherans believe that the Holy Spirit enters our lives through the Word and the Sacraments. We then respond to God through Worship, Service and Witness. Lutherans allow for much variety in worship, emphasizing the heart rather than the external forms. You may find anything from high church liturgies to free-flowing contemporary worship services. Regardless of the style, what is important is that we worship in spirit and in truth. Service and witness are also the ways the Holy Spirit flows out of us to others. Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as a river, not a pond. The Holy Spirit not only wants to live in us, He wants to flow through us to others, using spiritual gifts, talents, and resources to bless them. This is what the New Testament describes as the Spirit-filled life.