Lutheran Church History, Growth, Beliefs

Lutheran Church History, Beliefs, Changes

The Lutheran Church, or Lutheranism, is traced back to the Protestant Reformation, and has become one of the largest Protestant denominations today. The Lutheran name actually comes about after the Reformation and comes from Martin Luther, a German priest and professor of theology.

The term Lutheran first originated as a derogatory term used against Luther by Roman Catholics who traditionally named the practice of heresy after its leader, thus labeling the theology teachings of Martin Luther as Lutherans. Lutheranism The Lutheran Church believes Luther's doctrine of justification; "by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone", which was totally against the Roman view of "faith formed by love" or "faith and works".

The Augsburg Confession in 1530 is the first formal Lutheran statement of faith.

The church is the congregation of believers, though mixed with the lost, in whom the gospel is taught and the sacraments are rightly administered. All believers are "priests" in that they have direct access to God.

Lutherans accept the Bible as the written Word of God, and the only reliable guide for faith and practice. They confess in the Formula of Concord, "We receive and embrace with our whole heart the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the pure, clear fountain of Israel." The only source of divinely revealed knowledge, and the only norm for Christian teaching.

Inspired and Infallible