Even though the Church is scattered throughout the whole world, it is One in Christ Jesus. It exists where the Word of God is taught in truth and purity and where the Sacraments are administered according to Christ's institution. Confessional Lutheranism understands itself as historic Christian faith and life, nothing less, nothing more. As the centuries of church history have moved along, various questions have arisen. The Lutheran Confessions are a set of documents that set forth Biblical answers to those questions.
This is why we seek to hold course rather go the route of generic protestantism as many have unfortunately gone. There are many others, too, who seek to hold to the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Concordia Lutheran Church Sign in. Why aren't we in altar and pulpit fellowship? Is 'Lutheran' still Lutheran anymore? Getting beyond potlucks, bratwurst, lefse to the real substance of things William Weedon - "Where Were Lutherans Before Luther: Patristic Quotations" We certainly acknowledge that there will be no outwardly perfect church body or synod on this side of heaven.
Pastoral Care for Former Evangelicals. The Sacrament of Baptism for Former Evangelicals. The Theology of the Cross vs. Having said this, the major theological differences between historic Lutheranism and Presbyterianism and other churches of Calvinistic background and theological orientation include the following:.
The centrality of the Gospel. Presbyterian churches tend to emphasize the "glory" or "sovereignty" of God as the central teaching of Scripture, while Lutherans believe that the central teaching of Scripture — and the key to understanding and interpreting the Bible — is the Gospel: the Good News of Salvation for sinners by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The nature of Christ's atonement. Lutherans believe that when Jesus died on the cross He atoned for the sins of all people of all time — even those who have not or will not come to faith in Christ and will spend eternity in hell.
Some Presbyterian churches teach a "limited atonement" of Christ, i. Most Presbyterian churches teach a "double predestination," i. Lutherans believe that while God, in his grace in Christ Jesus, has indeed chosen from eternity to save those who trust in Jesus Christ, He has not predestined anyone to damnation.
Those who are saved are saved by grace alone; those who are damned are damned not by God's choice but because of their own sin and stubbornness. This is a mystery that is incomprehensible to human reason as are all true Scriptural articles of faith. The authority of Scripture. A fourth difference has to do with the proper use of reason and its relationship to the authority of Scripture. Lutherans look to Scripture alone as the source of all Christian doctrine, and we hold to the teachings of Scripture even when they are incomprehensible to human reason.
Some Presbyterian churches tend to place human reason alongside Scripture as a source of doctrinal authority, and they seek to bring seemingly paradoxical Scriptural truths into harmony with human reason in ways that in our view undermine the truthfulness and authority of Scripture.
The Sacraments. Most Presbyterian churches to a greater or lesser degree view the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper merely as "signs" or "symbols" of God's grace. A more detailed discussion of the differences between Lutherans and Calvinist churches may be found in Churches in America by Thomas Manteufel, available from Concordia Publishing House in St.
Louis or cph. ANSWER: Just as there are many significant differences in theology and practice between Lutherans of varying denominations, the same is true when it comes to different churches within the Reformed tradition.
Differences exist among Reformed churches even regarding such fundamental issues as the authority of Scripture and the nature and centrality of the doctrine of justification. Historically, however, most Reformed churches adhere to the five points of Calvinist theology commonly summarized by the acrostic "tulip" as these were set forth at the Synod of Dort On page 41 in his book, Churches in America , Dr.
T Total Depravity The Calvinists rightly teach that all descendants of Adam are by nature totally corrupt in spiritual matters. People do not have freedom of the will to turn to God in faith or cooperate in their conversions Eph. U Unconditional predestination Scripture does teach that it is by grace that God has predestinated the elect to eternal salvation and given them justifying faith.
It is not because of any condition fulfilled by them 2 Tim. However, the Bible does not teach, as do the Calvinists, that some are predestined for damnation. God wants all to be saved 1 Tim Furthermore, His atoning death does not mean that all people are saved 1 Cor. However, Jesus died for all 2 Cor. Furthermore, God warns us not to resist His grace 2 Cor. Scripture does not teach, however, that those who come to faith cannot lose that faith Heb.
God urges His people not to continue in sin but to live in repentance and faith Rom. Churches in America by Dr. Thomas Manteufel; p. Louis: CPH, Louis at or cph. ANSWER: At the risk of oversimplification, and keeping in mind that individual Lutheran and Catholic theologians would undoubtedly disagree about the success of recent Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogues in lessening or even "resolving" historic doctrinal differences between these two churches, listed below are what the LCMS would regard as some of the major theological differences between the Lutheran Church and the Roman Catholic Church:.
Lutherans believe Scripture alone has authority to determine doctrine; the Roman Catholic Church gives this authority also to the pope, the church, and certain traditions of the church.
Lutherans believe a person is saved by God's grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The Roman Catholic Church, while at times using similar language, still officially holds that faith, in order to save, must be accompanied by or "infused with" some "work" or "love" active within a Christian. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, Lutherans do not believe the office of the papacy as such has any divine authority or that Christians need to submit to the Pope's authority to be "true" members of the visible church.
Roman Catholics speak of seven Sacraments while Lutherans tend to speak of only two or three. More important than number is how the Sacraments are understood. Unlike Catholics, Lutherans do not believe it is proper or scriptural to offer prayers to saints or to view Mary as in any sense a "mediator" between God and human beings.
While Lutherans believe any doctrinal error has the potential to distort or deny Scripture's teaching regarding salvation, we also believe that anyone regardless of denominational affiliation who truly believes in Jesus Christ as Savior will be saved. ANSWER: Lutherans have always rejected the traditional Roman Catholic teaching regarding purgatory because 1 we can find no scriptural basis for it, and 2 it is inconsistent, in our view, with the clear teaching of Scripture that after death the soul goes directly either to heaven in the case of a Christian or hell in the case of a non-Christian , not to some "intermediate" place or state.
What Scripture teaches concerning the death of the Christian is summarized as follows by Lutheran theologian Edward Koehler in his book, A Summary of Christian Doctrine :.
In the moment of death the souls of the believers enter the joy of heaven. Jesus said to the malefactor: "Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise" Luke Stephen said in the hour of death: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" Acts Whoever dies in the Lord is blessed "from henceforth" Rev. What is the Synod's belief regarding the salvation of Catholics who adhere to Roman dogma? In fact, a primary "objective" listed in the Synod's Constitution Article III is to "work through its official structure toward fellowship with other Christian church bodies" — which explicitly assumes that these "other church bodies" are "Christian" in nature.
That does not lessen the Synod's concern for the false doctrine taught and confessed by these churches, but it does highlight the Synod's recognition that wherever the "marks of the church" the Gospel and Sacraments are present—even where "mixed" with error—there the Christian church is present. Such a church is a heterodox church, that is, a church that teaches false doctrine. Of course, personal salvation is not merely a matter of external membership in or association with any church organization or denomination including the LCMS , but comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
All those who confess Jesus Christ as Savior are recognized as "Christians" by the Synod—only God can look into a person's heart and see whether that person really believes. It is a denial that the text was actually written by the apostle]. The question of who Jesus of Nazareth really was and what he accomplished became a matter of research and therefore in principle an open question always subject to continuing investigation. Each claim to truth must be carefully analyzed, and it should not be excluded a priori that some of the miracles attributed to Jesus may have no historical basis and serve only to emphasize his exceptional status.
The relationship to the Confessions. Another matter that is directly tied to the interpretation of Scripture has to do with the Lutheran Confessions. That oath means they promise to uphold and follow the doctrines teachings as defined by the Confessions because they are a correct explanation of Scripture. That oath means they promise to uphold the doctrines espoused in the Confessions in so far as they correctly reflect the Scriptures.
The Confessions are a sort of insurance policy for both congregations and pastors. LCMS congregations can be certain that their pastor will not teach or preach doctrines contrary to those always held to be true by Lutheranism because he has promised to abide by the teachings of the Confessions.
Similarly, if a congregation insists its pastor should teach things contrary to the Scriptures, the pastor can go the Confessions and say, "This is the confession of faith you promised to follow. ELCA congregations have less of an assurance that their pastors will abide by the historic teaching of the Lutheran Church.
The ELCA confessional subscription opens the door for individual pastors to stray from the faith historically taught by Lutheranism without consequences, because that pastor never promised to follow all the doctrines of the Confessions. He or she only promised to follow the Confessions in so far as they believe they correctly represent the Scripture. The result of this difference in Confessional subscription the oaths of the pastors is that ELCA pastors have much more freedom to teach and preach doctrines that are different than those of historic Lutheranism.
LCMS pastors are bound to preach and teach only those doctrines consistent with the historic Lutheran confessions. From the source all things flow. Some of these differences were noted in the opening paragraphs of this article.
The one issue that is most in the public eye and has caused the greatest controversy within the ELCA is the issue of ordaining openly practicing homosexuals into the pastoral office.
More important that just noting the fact that there are differences in how the two churches do things, is understanding why these differences exist. That is the foundational difference that affects all the other individual doctrinal differences. Namely, that is is sinful and opposed to God. This is the conclusion reached by ELCA theologians because of their critical interpretation of Scripture.
If a person is looking for a comprehensive and graphic description of just how far the ELCA interpretation of God's Word has taken it away from historic Christianity, then please read the book, What's Going on Among Lutherans?
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