What Makes Us Lutheran?

Our church name has Lutheran in it. It says Lutheran at the top of your screen. We are a Lutheran church. But what makes us Lutheran?

The name Lutheran comes from Martin Luther, who began the Lutheran Reformation with the nailing of his “95 Theses” to the door of a church in Wittenberg, whose work culminated and continued with the writings in what’s called the Book of Concord. The name itself comes from this heritage. But is that what really makes us Lutheran?

Maybe it’s the fact that we believe that “Salvation is by grace alone through faith in Christ alone.” If this phrase is the only thing that sets us apart, then the church across the street from us is also Lutheran, even though they wouldn’t claim to be. Most Protestant (non-Roman Catholic) churches claim this truth. In fact, the Roman Catholic Church would also say the term “faith alone” is true, as long as “faith” is understood according to their definition, that definition being “faith formed by charity or love.”

Many of the differences between Lutherans and other churches come from two questions: 1) “What is saving faith?” and 2) “Where does saving faith come from?” Today, we’ll look at the first question.

what is saving faith?

The Bible states what saving faith is. “Whoever believes in [God’s one and only Son] shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). St. Paul’s response to the question, “What must I do to be saved?” is, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Faith is simply knowledge of the teaching about Jesus Christ, assent that he is the Savior of the world, and trust that he is your Savior.

Compare the Bible’s definition with the Roman Catholic teaching stated above and found in the link: “Faith formed by charity or love.” This statement is based on Galatians 5:6, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” This position is taken to counteract the thought that because only faith is necessary for salvation, a Christian does not need to produce any good works at all—an unbiblical position (see James 2:26.) However, the Roman Catholic position goes too far by saying that it is both the knowledge and trust in Christ as well as the expression of faith in love that save. This, in effect, elevates works produced by faith in to the same level as belief in Christ as necessary for salvation. The biblical position is that works are fruits of faith rooted in Christ. They are subordinate. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). However, it is also the biblical position that saving faith does produce fruits.

Is saving faith a work? The man in Acts 16 asks, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul responds, “Believe.” Is faith, then, a work on my part, the one thing God asks me to do in order to be saved? If faith must be my decision, can I make that decision? And can I make it on my own?

No Christian church today would say it is a decision you make on your own without God’s help. Instead, the prevailing teaching is called “prevenient grace.” What is prevenient grace? Depending on which church you ask, it is either, God’s enabling of a person to seek God on their own from birth, or it is an enabling that comes later that allows a person to make the decision to believe in God.

Here’s an example. Imagine you’re an unbeliever. Your friend tells you about Jesus. They tell you you are a sinner in need of salvation. But Jesus paid for your sins on the cross. (Their telling you this is the prevenient grace; it is what enables to do what comes next). Now, to receive God’s full grace and salvation, you need to make the decision to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

What does the Bible say? In Ephesians 2:1,4,5, “You were dead in your transgressions and sins …. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” The Bible tells us that by nature we are spiritually dead. Unable to please God or trust in him. But God has made us alive in Christ. By grace we are saved.

The idea of prevenient grace, where faith ultimately lies in my decision, paints Ephesians 2:1,4,5 as a sort of zombie movie. You are spiritually dead, but God sends some prevenient grace your way, and you become half-alive, able to make the spiritual decision you couldn’t before. But you’re not quite fully alive because you haven’t made the decision yet.

Is that what Ephesians 2:1,4,5 says? It’s not. In those verses, we are completely passive. Dead. And made alive. This coming to life is all the work of God, and it is complete. You’re either alive or dead. There’s no in-between.

Ok, but is faith a work? Yes, it is something you do. You believe. God does not believe for you, as if you’re a puppet on a string. But be careful how that’s understood. Paul says in Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Though you believe, faith doesn’t begin with you or your decision. Faith comes from God. “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).

One could try to make the argument that because the Bible says faith is not a saving work, therefore the decision to believe is not a saving work. Such an argument is backwards. The problem is not only with the verb decide but also with the subject I. If I am in any way involved in my salvation, even just by saying, “Yes,” my confidence goes from 100% to much less than that because I am a weak, sinful human being. And here I am, knowing that saving faith in Christ is a 100% free gift from God, already with plenty of doubts. “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

Thanks be to God that our salvation is completely outside of us. It is outside of us because it is Jesus who lived a perfect life, not I. It is Jesus who died on the cross, not I. It is Jesus who rose from the dead, again, not I. It is outside of us because it is the Holy Spirit who calls us through the gospel. It is God who makes us alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:4,5). It is God who gives us the gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8). And God is perfect. He’s made the plan. He will not fail.

In this article, we discussed how faith comes from God and not from ourselves. Next week, we will look at how God gives that faith to us.