What Lutherans Believe:
1. The entire Bible, which points to Jesus as the
Savior, is the inspired and errorless Word of God. It is God's message
of love and hope for all people.
2. There is only one true God, who exists in three
persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
3. God is the creator of everything that exists.
4. Adam and Eve, our first parents, were originally
created by God pure and holy. They lived according to God's will,
doing what was pleasing to Him.
5. Adam and Eve, the man and woman God created in
the beginning, went against God's will and brought sin into the world.
Since that time, all people have been conceived and born in sin.
6. Sin is living out of relationship with God, not
living according to God's will, and thus transgressing His holy will
in thought, word and deed.
7. People cannot restore themselves by their good
works or restore themselves to a right relationship with God.
8. God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world. He is
both true God and true man. He lived to fulfill God's law for us, died
on the cross to pay the penalty our sins deserved, and rose from the
dead so that we might have eternal life. He ascended into heaven,
where He now sits at the right hand of The Father to intercede for us.
9. Because of Jesus' death on the cross, God
declares a person just or righteous and forgiven. This happens not
because of human effort, but because the justification won by Jesus is
applied to the one who believes in Jesus as Savior.
10. Faith in Jesus is a gift of God, given by the
power of the Holy Spirit; thus all the glory belongs to God.
11. The means of grace are the Word, Holy Baptism
and Holy Communion. By these means, the merits of Jesus' perfect life
and atoning death are personally conveyed to all who believe in Jesus
as their Savior.
12. Jesus will come again to take all believers to
Himself. On the final day, all the dead will be raised. Those who are
still alive will be bodily transformed. After this the final judgment
will take place. Unbelievers will go into eternal damnation, and
believers into eternal life.
13. The true Christian church is made up of all
believers of all times who believe in the Triune God and in Jesus
Christ as their only Savior.
14. God wants Christians to join with other
believers in churches which correctly teach God's Word and administer
Holy Baptism and Holy Communion according to the teachings of
Scripture.
15. Christians are called to tell others that the
only way of salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ, and to show their
faith by their deeds of love toward others.
(Reprinted from Lutheran Hour Ministries What
Lutherans Believe brochure, ©2000)
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