Welcome to the 2017 Confessional Lutheranism AMA!

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What is Lutheranism?

We are those who believe, teach, and confess the historic Christian faith as it is revealed by God in Holy Scripture, and as it is then summarized and confessed in our Lutheran Confessions. We understand ourselves to be evangelical, orthodox, catholic Christians in continuity with the Christian Church throughout all ages. We first became a communion distinct from other Western Christians in the 16th century, when those bishops loyal to the pope denied ordination to our churches for holding to our confession of the pure Gospel – that is, that sinful men, without any works, merit, or worthiness in themselves, are forgiven of sin and accounted righteous by God, through faith alone, for the sake of Jesus Christ, who has made satisfaction for all. On the basis of God's Word, we refused to compromise this Gospel and rightly began to ordain our own ministers.

Our churches were first identified by the name 'Evangelical', from the Greek word for the Gospel. This is a much more fitting name than 'Lutheran', which was original a derogatory term used by our enemies. Unfortunately, largely due to the use of the term 'Evangelical' by the Reformed tradition, 'Lutheran' was the name that stuck. Despite the name, Lutheranism is not defined by the teachings of Martin Luther, although we consider him to be important as a teacher and confessor of the faith. Rather, we consider ourselves 'Lutheran' only in that we confess the same Christian faith as Luther did. Our doctrine is no human invention and no innovation of Luther's or any other reformer. We derive our beliefs not from the word of Luther, but from the Word of God. Throughout our Confessions, the point is made often that the doctrines of the Evangelical churches were no new invention but the same Christian faith handed down from Christ and the Apostles and confessed by the Church Fathers.

Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions

We believe that Holy Scripture alone is the standard by which all teachers and doctrines are to be judged. It is the norma normans, the rule which rules, while all of our confessional documents are the norma normata, the rule which is ruled (by Holy Scripture, of course). The Holy Scriptures are unique among all other writings in the world in that they are the Word of God, written through men by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. As the Word of God, Scripture is therefore without error, and as it is unique among books in being inspired by God, all other writings and statements and all teachings in the Church must be subject to it.

From ancient times, the Christian Church has collected the true doctrine from Holy Scripture into brief articles, creeds, and confessions which serve to guard against error and promote unity in an approved summary and form of doctrine. Lutherans hold in high regard the statements of the Church Fathers and the ancient councils, and in addition, we have gathered in the Book of Concord a collection of approved confessions of the Christian faith. The Book of Concord was published in 1580, on the fiftieth anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession, and was approved and subscribed to by thousands of princes, magistrates, pastors, theologians, and teachers of the Evangelical churches. It contains the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, the Augsburg Confession and its Apology (Defense), the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, the Small and Large Catechisms, and both the Epitome and the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord. The Augsburg Confession, especially, serves as the chief confession of the Lutheran Church, as it is the original formal declaration of faith made by the Evangelical churches against the Papacy. These Lutheran Confessions are still held as the defining form of the Christian faith by our churches today.

Chief among the articles of faith contained in our Confessions is the article of justification: "Also [our churches] teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ's sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight. Rom. 3 and 4." In addition to this, we also believe, teach, and confess that all men since the Fall are born with original sin, which is truly condemning sin; that God has instituted the ministry of preaching the Word and administering the sacraments in order that the Holy Spirit may work through these means to create faith and justify sinners; that baptism applies to us individually the work of Christ which rescues from sin, death, and the devil; that in the Lord's Supper the body and blood of Christ are really, substantially present to be orally eaten and drunk; that ministers of the Church have divine authority to forgive or retain sins; that wherever the Word and Sacraments are administered, there is the Holy Christian Church; and that wherever the Holy Spirit creates faith in men, He also works to bring forth good works.

Confessional Lutheran Church Bodies

In this AMA, we have panelists from the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Conference and Ministerium, and the Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Germany (Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche or SELK). The LCMS has its origin in the 1830s when, in the face of state enforced unification with Calvinist churches, a group of German Saxon Lutherans immigrated to America to practice their Christian faith freely. In addition to the Confessional Lutheran church bodies represented in this AMA, there are many others in America and abroad. The LCMS is in full fellowship with the American Association of Lutheran Churches, and with 36 other Lutheran church bodies around the world, including SELK in Germany. Many of these churches are members of the International Lutheran Council, as is the LCMS.

The SELK is a church body founded in 1972. It is a union of older churches bound to the Lutheran confessions that trace their history mostly to the same 19th century Confessional reaction against the union of Reformed and Lutheran churches in different states of Germany which prompted the Saxons to emigrate to America. The SELK is a member of the ILC and in full communion with the LCMS and other Confessional Lutheran churches all over the world.

The ELCM was born of dissent to the ELCM merger by mostly LCA pastors. Briefly affiliated with TAALC, the ELCM separated to pursue a centrist stance and policy. It is a quia-confessional body which rejects the historical-critical methodology in favor of historical-grammatical. The polity is intentionally modeled on the first Lutherans in North America, the Pennsylvania Ministerium, and as such requires full consensus for decisions. It has daughter and sister synods in Africa and India, and is in partnership with a number of other synods worldwide (including some in North America) but is not part of the LWF or ILC. It is perhaps the only confessional body in North America that permits the ordination of women (under certain conditions), though this is not without controversy.

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Further Lutheran Resources

Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod

Evangelical Lutheran Conference and Ministerium

Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church (and auf Deutsch)

The Book of Concord, the Lutheran confessions of faith

Issues, Etc.

Just and Sinner blog and podcast

Also visit us at r/lcms to ask further questions after this AMA has ended!

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This Year’s Panelists

u/systematiker: I am a called and ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Conference and Ministerium. In addition, I teach seminary courses and am a military chaplain. I hold a DTheol in Systematic Theology (minors in Pauline Studies and Reformation Studies) and a DA in Philosophy (Virtue Ethics). I'm also a board-certified chaplain and CPE supervisor. My hobbies include Bach, jazz, beer, wine, my pipe, and language learning.

u/ZGZetter: I am a graduate student of theology in the Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Germany. I'm currently wrapping up my studies and beginning the planning phase on my graduate thesis in historical theology - to be completed next year. My academic interests are mainly in the fields of the Old Testament and Systematic Theology.

u/Philip_Schwartzerdt: I am a called and ordained pastor of the Missouri Synod and received a Master of Divinity degree from an LCMS seminary. My beverages of choice are coffee, beer, and whiskey.

u/Etovar1991: Greetings and salutations. I hail from the sunny state of Florida and am a convert to Lutheranism. I'm an avid coffee drinker, bibliophile, gamer, a Hufflepuff, an INFJ, a lover of mint, and a fan of tacos. I'd like to say I'm a well-educated layman, with aspirations of becoming a pastor. In my spare time, I'm either reading or kicking ass in Mario Kart.