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What We Believe

What does the Lutheran Church Believe?

Martin Luther never sought to have a church named after himself. In fact, it was not the original intention of Luther and the Lutheran reformers of the 16th century to split off from the catholic church and form a new church. They wanted to "RE-FORM" the one universal Church which had been "DE-FORMED" in the West. They sought to return the Church to its Scriptural basis and restore the pure proclamation of the Gospel. They sought to purge the erroneous man-made teachings which had crept into the Church. They did not teach anything new, rather they sought to show that what they taught and practiced was consistent with the Christian Church from its very beginnings. The following is a summary of what they and the Lutheran Church since their time have believed, taught and confessed based solely upon God's Word, the Bible.
  • GOD
    There is only one true God, the God about Whom the Bible tells us. He exists eternally in three Persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Each Person is God, but there is only one God; three persons in one God. This "tri-une" God created all that exists.
  • Man
    Mankind was the crown of God's creation. Man was created in a special and perfect relationship with the Creator, having perfect knowledge of God and living in perfect harmony and obedience to God's will.
  • Sin
    Man of his own free will chose to rebel against the Creator's will and so fell into sin and spiritual corruption. By their sin, Adam and Eve brought sin, suffering and death upon the whole human race and upon all of God's creation. Sin is not only an act against God's will, but also a condition into which we are born. We are born sinful by nature, spiritually dead. We are separated from God by our sin and deserve eternal death and damnation.
  • The Bible
    Since mankind fell into sin, we no longer know God naturally and personally until God reveals Himself to us. God reveals Himself to man in the Holy Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. The Bible is God's Word to man, inspired and infallible in its entirety. The whole Bible is about Jesus Christ, and it points us to Christ as the perfect revelation of God to us, and it proclaims Christ to be our Savior.
  • Salvation
    From the moment man fell into sin, God in His Love and Mercy promised to provide salvation for man. That promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the God-man. God the Son came into our world as one of us to bring us salvation. Jesus Christ, God and man in one person, did all that was necessary for us to be saved from sin and death and have eternal life. He lived in perfect obedience to God's will for us. And He suffered the wrath of God for the sins of the whole world for us upon the cross. He rose from the dead completing His victory over sin, death and Satan for us.
  • Justification
    God justifies or declares sinful man to be righteous in His sight because of Christ's perfect Work for his salvation. By faith, the sinner receives Christ's Work for our salvation as his own. His sins are forgiven and he is covered in the righteousness of Christ. By faith, we are righteous, that is without sin, in God's eyes and God is pleased with us.
  • Faith
    Faith is trusting in Christ for forgiveness of sins, salvation, and eternal life. It is knowing that Christ has done all that was needed for all sinners to be saved by His life, death and resurrection. And it is believing that because of Christ's Work, you are forgiven of all of your sins and will live eternally with God. We are saved through faith alone apart from our good works. Christians do good works as a fruit of their faith. Faith is created and sustained in the heart of man by the Holy Spirit, Who works in man through the means of Grace.
  • Means Of Grace
    The means of Grace are the channels or instruments God uses to bring man the blessings and benefits of the Gospel of Christ and apply them to the individual sinner. The Word of God (Gospel) and the Sacraments (Baptism and Lord's Supper) are the means which the Holy Spirit uses to create and sustain faith in man. Through them, He gathers sinners into the Church and keeps them safe within.
  • Sacraments
    In Baptism, God gives us (infants and adults) a new spiritual birth of faith and makes us children of God and members of Christ's Church. In the Lord's Supper, Christ gives us His true body and blood with the bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins and for the strengthening of faith.
  • Church
    The one true Christian Church consists of all people of all times who believe in the one true God, the triune God, and trust in Christ, the Son of God, as the only Savior from sin. All who have faith in Christ are part of the Church. As faith in the heart is not visible, we look for the Church where the Word of God is taught in all of its truth and purity and where the Sacraments are administered according to Christ's bidding. As Lutherans, we believe our teaching, practice, and confession of faith are the most true and faithful to the Gospel of Christ.
  • Judgment Day
    At the end of time, Jesus Christ will return to earth and all people will be judged. Those who are dead will be raised to life again. All unbelievers will go to eternal damnation, eternal separation from God. All those who have believed in Christ will be found righteous by faith and will live eternally and blissfully with God.