What Lutherans Believe

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We believe that all people are imperfect and are saved (made right with God) by God’s grace and God’s grace alone, through Christ. There is no special prayer you need to pray, no special state of mind you need to achieve and no good deed you need to perform. We believe that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God became one of us and took upon himself the sin and suffering of all the world. God did this to demonstrate God’s love for us. We believe that we receive the gift of grace by faith alone on account of Christ. We live in the tension of still being sinful but trusting that we are forgiven and that God is at work in us. The gift of grace expresses God’s unconditional love, and in response to that love we are set free to live gratefully and lovingly.

An important date in the Lutheran tradition is Oct. 31, 1517, when a German monk named Martin Luther started a movement known as the Reformation. He insisted the Bible showed that salvation could not be earned or bought, which was contrary to church teachings at the time. Luther believed salvation was a gift and a sign of God’s never-ending love. The most influential documents for our church were written by him and other Lutheran reformers.  We don’t believe that you are born or are baptized Lutheran, but if you participate in the Lutheran tradition, you identify as a Lutheran Christian.  

• In the Triune God — Creator, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
• Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on the cross to forgive our sin and rose from the dead to give us life.
• We look to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (commonly called the Bible) to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.
• The Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion are a gift of God’s grace.
• God reaches out and comes to us through Word and Sacrament to offer love, forgiveness, and salvation by connecting us to the death and resurrection of Jesus.
• Those who believe in Jesus are saved by God’s grace (not by good works or deeds)
• The Holy Spirit creates faith and continues to strengthen and sustains our faith in Jesus Christ and the life we have in him.
• The Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed are statements that confess what we believe.
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ inspires us to live by faith and serve others in all that we do.

To learn more about ELCA Teaching / Scripture, Creeds and Confessions please refer to www.elca.org.