What Does It Mean To Be Lutheran?
Good Shepherd is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the sixth largest Protestant denomination in the United States. Click on this link to read the ELCA's brief description of Lutheranism (www.elca.org/communication/brief.html), or read our summary of Lutheran principles below.
Lutheranism is not a religion; it is a denomination or subdivision within Christianity. Thus we share with other Christians the central doctrines of Christian faith and accept the three historic creeds (Apostolic, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds) as a summary of our beliefs. We believe in the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and that his life, death, and resurrection brings us salvation and eternal life with God.
Although Lutheranism is a mainstream Christian denomination, it is also distinctive in some ways. It was formed in the 1500s as a reaction against the excesses of the Roman Catholic Church at that time.
- In contrast to the Catholic position that humans could earn their salvation through good deeds or contributions to the Church, Martin Luther asserted that salvation is by God's grace alone, through faith, not works.
- The Catholics of that era acknowledged that the Bible was one of the sources of authority, but actually gave more weight to the writings of the early Christian leaders and conferences of bishops. Against this, Luther argued for Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone) as the ultimate guide for Christian doctrine and life.
- The Catholics of that era had seven sacraments (ways that God's grace comes to people), but the chief sacrament was ordination of priests, because all the other sacraments depended on the priest as the channel of God's grace. Against this, Luther asserted the universal priesthood of all believers, arguing that every Christian can approach God directly, confessing sin and receiving forgiveness.
Because of these differences from Catholic doctrine, Lutheranism is considered a Protestant denomination (in fact, Lutherans were the first Protestants), but Lutheran doctrine contains elements that set Lutherans apart from at least some other Protestants.
- Reacting against the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation in Holy Communion, in which the bread and wine are thought to actually turn into Christ's body and blood, many Protestants view Communion as merely a symbolic reenactment of the Last Supper, and believe that nothing happens to the bread and wine. Although Lutherans do not accept transubstantiation, they believe in the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine.
- Also, many Protestants have given up on the Roman Catholic Church, and believe that their own Protestant denomination represents the true, pure, reformed Christian Church. Most Lutherans believe that there is only one true Church, consisting of all believers in all denominations. Therefore most Lutherans see Lutheranism as a reforming movement within the universal Christian Church, rather than as a church of its own.
- Finally, some branches of Protestantism hold that salvation requires some action, a decision to follow Jesus and be born again. Lutherans see this as a slide back to "works-righteousness," and argue that humans cannot do anything to earn salvation, because salvation is a free gift from God.
