The Lutheran Tradition

This term, or "Lutheranism," is employed to refer to the doctrine and practices authoritative in the Lutheran Churches and as a broad term for those churches throughout the world in general. The name "Lutheran" was not self-chosen but was initially applied by the enemies ofMartin Luther in the early 1520s. Only when he felt that the identification was understood to mean recognition of the truth of his teaching did Luther suggest, "If you are convinced that Luther's teaching is in accord with the Gospel,...then you should not discard Luther so completely, lest with him you discard also his teaching, which you nevertheless recognize as Christ's teaching."

 This teaching of Luther, forged from his discovery that the righteousness of God is not a righteousness that judges and demands but the righteousness given by God in grace, found its systematic expression in the formularies incorporated in the Book of Concord. All these documents, with the exception of the Formula of Concord, were written between 1529 and 1537 by Luther and Philip Melanchthon. They reflect the emphasis on justification by grace and the correction of abuses in the life of the church while at the same time "conserving" the church's catholic heritage (through explicit commitment to the ancient creeds, traditional forms of worship, church government, etc.). During the years following Luther's death in 1546, theological conflicts increasingly plagued his followers. The Formula of Concord, composed of the Epitome of the Articles in Dispute and the Solid Declaration of Some Articles of the Augsburg Confession, sought to resolve those disputes in terms of the authentic teaching of Luther.

 Subscription to these "symbolical" writings of the Book of Concord as true expositions of the Holy Scriptures has historically marked the doctrinal positions of Lutheranism.

 The distinctive doctrines of Lutheran theology have commonly been related to the classical leitmotifs of the Reformation: sola Scriptura, sola gratia, sola fide.

 The theology of Lutheranism is first a theology of the Word. Its principle of sola Scriptura affirms the Bible as the only norm of Christian doctrine. The Scripture is the causa media by which man learns to know God and his will; the Word is the one and the only source of theology. Lutheranism pledges itself "to the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments as the pure and clear fountain of Israel, which is the only norm according to which all teachers and teachings are to be judged and evaluated" (Formula of Concord, Epitome).To be sure, the authority of Scripture had been emphasized prior to Luther and the Reformation. However, when Lutheranism referred to the Bible as the divine Word, brought to man through the apostles and prophets, it spoke with a new conviction regarding the primacy of the Word. Luther recognized that the authority of Scripture was valid even where it was opposed by pope, council, or tradition.

Historic Lutheranism viewed Scripture as the organic foundation of faith. God is the first cause of theology; he is the principium essendi, its foundation, its beginning, and its end. The Scripture is the principium cognoscendi, for from Scripture theology is known and understood. Furthermore, the Lutheran view of the Bible is to be distinguished from a legalistic orientation. Christ is at the center of the Bible. Essential to understanding the Word of God is accepting the promises of the gospel by faith. If this faith is lacking, the Scriptures cannot be correctly understood. 

 The second doctrinal distinctive of Lutheranism is the doctrine of justification. According to Luther, there are two kinds of righteousness, an external righteousness and an inner righteousness. External righteousness, or civil righteousness, may be acquired through just conduct or good deeds. However, inner righteousness consists of the purity and perfection of the heart. Consequently, it cannot be attained through external deeds. This righteousness is of God and comes as a gift of his fatherly grace. This is the source of justification. The ground for justification is Christ, who by his death made satisfaction for the sins of mankind. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession defines justification as meaning "to absolve a guilty man and pronounce him righteous, and to do so on account of someone else's righteousness, namely, Christ's." Thus God acquits man of all his sins, and he does this not because man is innocent; rather God justifies us and declares man to be righteous for Christ's sake, because of his righteousness, his obedience to God's law, and his suffering and death. When God justifies, he not only forgives sins, but he also reckons to man Christ's perfect righteousness. God declares sinners to be righteous, apart from human merit or work, for the sake of Christ (forensic justification).

 Related to this teaching is the third significant hallmark of Lutheranism: sola fide. The means whereby justification accrues to the individual is faith. The gospel, as Lutheranism confessed it, made faith the only way by which man could receive God's grace. In the medieval scholastic tradition theologians spoke of faith as something that could be acquired through instruction and preaching (fides acquisita). This was distinguished from infused faith (fides infusa), which is a gift of grace and implies adherence to all revealed truth. Lutheranism repudiated this distinction. The faith which comes by preaching coincides with that which is justifying; it is wholly a gift of God. Justifying faith is not merely a historical knowledge of the content of the gospel; it is acceptance of the merits of Christ. Faith, therefore, is trust in the mercy of God for the sake of his Son.

 Lutheranism has persistently refused to see faith itself as a "work". Faith is receptivity, receiving Christ and all that he has done. It is not man's accomplishment that effects his justification before God. Faith is instead that which accepts God's verdict of justification: "Faith does not justify because it is so good a work and so God-pleasing a virtue, but because it lays hold on and accepts the merit of Christ in the promise of the holy Gospel" (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration).

 The article of justification by grace through faith challenged the Roman Catholic tradition, which asserted that faith was pleasing to God only if it were accompanied by good works and perfected by love. At the Council of Trent in 1545 the Lutheran view was condemned and the medieval Roman Church reiterated its doctrine that justification is a state of grace in which human good works have merit. For Lutheranism, faith and works certainly cannot be separated; however, they must be distinguished. The righteousness of faith refers to man in his relation to God (coram Deo). The righteousness of good works refers to man in relation to his neighbor (coram hominibus). These must not be confused so as to intimate that man will seek to become just in the sight of God on the strength of his good deeds, nor in such a way that he will attempt to conceal sin with grace. Thus, with respect to justification strictly speaking, good works must be clearly distinguished. But faith cannot be apart from works. Where there is faith in Christ, love and good works also follow.

 In one way or another the three fundamental doctrines of Lutheranism, sola Scriptura, sola gratia, sola fide, determine the shape of other distinctive teachings. For example, the position of Lutheranism on man's free will is understood in the light of the doctrine of justification. Man is completely without a free will with respect to the "spiritual sphere" (that which concerns salvation). Salvation depends exclusively on the omnipotent divine will of grace. Man does not have freedom to do the good in the spiritual sense. Similarly, the Lutheran understanding of the Lord's Supper must be viewed in light of the principle of sola Scriptura. Lutheranism has consistently battled against every denial of the real and essential presence of Christ's body and blood in the Supper. An important element of Lutheran biblical interpretation is that one takes words of command and promise literally unless there is some compelling reason for not doing so.

 If the words of institution at the Supper were to be taken figuratively, simply because they appear to conflict with reason or common sense (e.g., the Reformed axiom of the finite being incapable of the infinite), one could do so with any command or promise of God. Thus, Lutheranism has insisted on the doctrine of the "real presence" on the basis of Christ's plain words. Also, the Lutheran view of grace contributed to the retention of infant baptism. Baptism expresses the participation of the Christian in the death and resurrection of Christ. Baptism, like the gospel, is powerful to confer the very faith it calls for with its promises, and in each case the Holy Spirit works faith through the instruments of his choosing, namely baptism and the gospel. In Lutheran understanding it is no more difficult for him to work faith in infants through the gospel promise attached to the water of baptism than in adults alienated from God through the proclamation of the gospel in preaching.

The above is in Public domain.