Bible Question: What do Lutherans believe it takes for salvation? |
Bible Answer: The differences between Bible believing groups and non-Bible believing is greater than the difference on either side. I have a book somewhere about all (most) the denominations ... Handbook of Denominations or something like that. The Lutherans used to believe ... According to Christian faith, justification is a gift of God, who grants it through His Son and the Holy Spirit. Fifteen hundred years of intense reflection have left us with a number of questions. Four seem to me to be crucial: 1) Is justification the action of God alone, or do we who receive it cooperate by our response to God's offer of grace? 2) Does God, when He justifies us, simply impute to us the merits of Christ, or does He transform us and make us intrinsically righteous? 3) Do we receive justification by faith alone, or only by a faith enlivened by love and fruitful in good works? 4) Is the reward of heavenly life a free gift of God to believers, or do they merit it by their faithfulness and good works? In the sixteenth century Martin Luther came up with answers to all these questions based primarily on his study of Paul. He affirmed, first, that justification, as God's act, is independent of all human cooperation. Justification, secondly, consists in the favor of God, who freely imputes to us the merits of Christ. It is not a matter of inner renewal. Justification, in the third place, is received by faith alone, independently of any good works or obedience to God's law. And finally, eternal life is a sheer gift; it is not merited by good behavior. At the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, the Emperor Charles V ordered the Lutheran party to explain its position. They did so in the Augsburg Confession, composed by Philip Melanchthon at the behest of Luther. A group of theologians assembled by the Emperor studied that Confession and faulted it at several points, especially for its teaching on merit. Source: http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9912/articles/dulles.html This article relates how the Lutherans and Catholics came up with The Lutheran–Catholic Joint Declaration. There are several Lutheran denominations, too. |