A Protestant tradition that confesses the Trinity and the deity of Christ. Many of its members believe the Gospel, and we receive them as brethren in Christ. But on baptism, church order, and other parts of the whole counsel of God its teaching departs from Scripture, and that affects whether we can serve together in church practice.
Where It Came From
Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar and professor at Wittenberg, posted the Ninety-Five Theses in 1517, sparking the Reformation, a movement to reform doctrine within Roman Catholic Europe. Lutherans hold that Luther recovered the Gospel of justification by faith after it had been obscured in the medieval church. Theologica holds that the Gospel was never lost from Christ's churches, and gladly recognizes that Luther proclaimed it to much of Europe. The Augsburg Confession (1530) presented the evangelical faith before the emperor, and the Book of Concord (1580) gathered the Lutheran confessions into one collection. The Lutheran reform kept infant baptism and became the established church of many German territories and of Scandinavia. The Augsburg Confession condemns the Anabaptists for rejecting infant baptism (Article IX), and Lutheran rulers, with the approval of Luther and Philip Melanchthon, punished Anabaptists, in some cases with death.
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In Their Own Words
This profile describes the tradition from its own official documents and standard teaching:
- The Book of Concord (1580)
- The Augsburg Confession (1530)
- Luther's Small Catechism (1529)
- The Formula of Concord (1577)
Sharing the Gospel with a Lutheran
Lutherans confess justification by grace alone through faith alone, and many Lutherans truly trust Christ. With them, the conversation may end in shared joy, and you should not treat a believer as a lost person. But many people raised Lutheran rest on something else: that they were baptized as a baby, confirmed as a teenager, and have been members of the church ever since. The question to ask is whether they have ever personally put their trust in Christ.
Luther's own teaching gives you a starting point. Faith alone means faith in Christ alone, not faith in my baptism, my confirmation, or my church. Lutheran churches also vary widely. Confessional churches hold the Book of Concord, while some mainline churches have drifted far from Scripture, so ask what your friend's church teaches and what your friend believes.
Where to begin
- Scripture is the final authority for what we believe.
- A sinner is justified by grace through faith, apart from the works of the law (Romans 3:28).
- Christ died as our substitute and rose again.
- God's law shows us our sin, and His promise gives us Christ.
Questions to ask
- When did you come to trust Christ for yourself?
Many will answer with their infant baptism or their confirmation. That answer opens a gentle conversation about personal faith: as many as received Him were given power to become the sons of God (John 1:12).
- Luther taught that we are saved by faith alone. What is your faith resting on right now?
This honors what they already believe and asks the right question. Faith that saves rests on Christ and His finished work (Galatians 2:16), not on a ceremony performed long ago.
- Do you know that you have eternal life, and that you can never lose it?
Lutheran teaching holds that faith, and so salvation, can be lost, which leaves many without assurance. Show them that Christ gives eternal life and that no one can pluck His sheep out of His hand (John 10:28–29).
- If someone had never been baptized, but trusted Christ alone, would they be saved?
The thief on the cross was promised paradise without baptism (Luke 23:43). This helps a friend see that faith in Christ saves, and baptism follows as obedience.
Where Scripture challenges their thinking
No one is born into God's family through a family or a church. God's children are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13). A person must believe in his own heart (Romans 10:9–10).
When the Ethiopian asked to be baptized, Philip answered, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest (Acts 8:36–38). Baptism pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (Romans 6:3–4), and Paul could say that Christ sent him not to baptize, but to preach the gospel (1 Corinthians 1:17).
Those who trust Christ are sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13–14) and kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation (1 Peter 1:5). Nothing can separate them from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:38–39).
Luther was right that we are justified by faith, without the deeds of the law (Romans 3:28). Carry that truth to its end: if baptism or the Supper is needed to give or keep salvation, faith is no longer alone (Romans 4:5).
What to avoid
- Do not assume your Lutheran friend is unsaved. Listen first. If they trust Christ alone, rejoice with them.
- Do not belittle Luther. He preached justification by faith to much of Europe, and that is common ground.
- Do not turn the conversation into a debate about infant baptism. Make it about whether your friend personally trusts Christ.
- Do not assume every Lutheran church believes the same things. Ask what their church teaches and what they believe.
Pointing them to Christ
If your friend has never personally trusted Christ, the invitation is simple: receive Him. Turn from trusting a past ceremony or a church membership, and trust Christ alone, who died for your sins and rose again (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). He promises everlasting life to all who believe (John 3:16).
If your friend already trusts Christ, encourage them in the assurance God gives His children (1 John 5:13), and in following the Lord in believer's baptism as an act of obedience.
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”JOHN 1:12 · KJV