I frequently get some version of this question, “Do you really think the Lutheran Church* is the only right church?” (*the LCMS and those Lutherans in our global fellowship)
Yes, I do. And, you ought to thank the Lord if your pastor isn’t some unfaithful, vow-breaking squish, who believes one thing and says another. Summer is the season of installations and ordinations in the LCMS. Nearly every weekend from mid-June through August, there will be such an event at an LCMS congregation. The Vows taken by your pastor and the others like him are these:
“Do you believe and confess the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice? Yes, I believe and confess the canonical Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice.” (LSB Agenda, p. 165)
What does this mean? This means that the Christian faith must never embrace what scripture condemns and never condemn what scripture extolls. There are a good number of Christian churches and pastors falling outside of this first vow. Anyone denying infant Baptism or infant faith, denies scripture’s plain teaching. Anyone denying Baptismal regeneration, denies the scriptures. Anyone denying the forgiveness of sins and the true, bodily presence of Jesus in Holy Communion, denies the Word of God. Anyone engaged in the ordination of women into the Holy Ministry, despises the Word of God. Anyone teaching the re-sacrifice of Jesus in the mass, rejects the scriptures. This list is far from exhaustive.
“Do you believe and confess the three Ecumenical Creeds, namely, the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds, as faithful testimonies to the truth of the Holy Scriptures, and do you reject all the errors which they condemn? Yes, I believe and confess the three Ecumenical Creeds because they are in accord with the Word of God. I also reject all the errors they condemn.” (ibid.)
What does this mean? All heresies rejected in the creeds, we reject. In current terms, that means things like the constant, popular, gnostic view of death. Death is not a release of the soul from the body. Death is the unnatural, violent separation of soul from body. Death is not the final destination. The resurrection of all flesh and the restoration of soul and body together on the last day is the completion of all things promised to Baptized Christians. Also, the creeds may not be rejected by Christians, as some do (Joel Osteen, many Baptists, et al).
“Do you confess the unaltered Augsburg Confession to be a true exposition of Holy Scripture and a correct exhibition of the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church? And do you confess that the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Small and Large Catechisms of Martin Luther, the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, and the Formula of Concord—as these are contained in the Book of Concord—are also in agreement with this one scriptural faith? Yes, I make these confessions my own because they are in accord with the Word of God.” (LSB Agenda, p. 166)
What does this mean? This is where the rubber meets the road. The Lutheran Confessions are correct in their entirely. Lutheran Pastors vow this BECAUSE they are the right exposition of and in accord with the Word of God. As stated above, we can identify errors in other Christian confessions. In my short 47 years upon the Earth, I have neither discovered an error in our confessions, nor been shown one. If I or any other Lutheran pastor were convinced of such an error, we would be bound by the first vow to the scriptures alone to fight ceaselessly and publicly against the error, or leave the Lutheran Confession.
“Do you promise that you will perform the duties of your office in accordance with these Confessions, and that all your preaching and teaching and your administrations of the sacraments will be in conformity with Holy Scripture and with these Confessions? Yes, I promise, with the help of God.” (ibid.)
What does this mean? All Lutheran pastors are bound by these vows to conform themselves to the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions of the Unaltered Book of Concord (1580 AD). We must condemn what they condemn and extoll what they extoll. There is no wiggle room or lateral movement. Lutheran pastors are or are not faithful.
Christians teaching a different confession are in error.
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX
And
Mission Planting Pastoral team
Epiphany Lutheran Church, Bastrop, TX
©2023 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com
What about some Lutheran hurches that are not right in their teachings? like ALC.
Gordon,
Thanks for the question. I’m unfamiliar with the ALC’s doctrine and practice. So, I’ll speak of the devil I know. The ELCA publicly ignores Scripture’s plain teaching and the Lutheran confessions of the 1580 Book of Concord. They are publicly in error.
If they had a firm statement of scriptural adherence and full subscription to the BoC, but not in practice. They would be in error. It’s not just right doctrine that preserves the church. She must believe, teach, and confess the true Christian faith. Outside of that is error.
Apply that to the ALC as is suitable.
THANKS JASON
GORDY
Thank you for the post-it helps explain what some of the main differences are between church bodies in a very straight-forward style. I wanted to respectfully suggest there is a typo in last line before question mark: “…and the with these…”it seems “the” should be excluded. “Do you promise that you will perform the duties of your office in accordance with these Confessions, and that all your preaching and teaching and your administrations of the sacraments will be in conformity with Holy Scripture and the with these Confessions? Yes, I promise, with the help of God.” (ibid.)
Cheryl,
Thank you for the edit. You’re absolutely right. Also, my citation page numbers were wrong.
Thank you.
Please explain what death is? I am having a problem with the wording regarding death. Unnatural violent separation of soul from the body please explain this in layman terms.
Kathleen,
Thanks for the question. The pagan world tells us that death is natural and normal. It is not! God created us to live forever with him. Death is a product of the destructive force of sin in the world. In the fall, we brought this disorder into God’s perfection. It is unnatural and abnormal for us to experience death. Yet, we all will until the day of the resurrection of all flesh. Pr. Smith from the blog has a nice, pithy description in this article.
So was Jesus a LCMS Lutheran? I don’t mean this in jest. I can predict what the answer will be- but I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that Jesus Christ was a “CHRISTian”…. not a “LUTHERan”.
I am a LCMS member and hold true to the scriptures and catechism.
The history of the church is one of schism not unity. The faith taught by Adam didn’t remain with all of his descendants. All of them were wiped out save the eight souls of Noah’s family.
The faith taught to his sons by Noah didn’t remain with all of His descendants. Abraham, Lot, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Esau, the unbelieving children of Israel in Egypt, the twelve tribes lead by Moses and Joshua, unbelief under the judges, the unified kingdom for 3 whole kings, the divided kingdom with a uniformly unfaithful northern kingdom, the mostly unfaithful southern kingdom, destruction for the north, exile for the south, more falling away in Babylon, a remnant returning, and the limited crowd keeping the faith in the second and third temples, these all split off, getting ever smaller.
Jesus was born into the Jewish faith. His was both under the Jewsih regulation and the Messiah delivered by the promise contained in the Jewish faith. The Apostles gathered in the temple, spread out to the synagogues in each town. Many Jew were compelled by the Gospel. No one needed a different name. They were not called Christians until the unbelieving Jews rejected them, significantly after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. The Jerusalem council in Acts routed out the Judaizers.
The Christian church spread and heresies blossomed too. The 7 ecumenical councils from the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD to the 7th one, the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 AD battled and rejected on heresy after another. They rejected the Gnostics, Arians, Donatists, Manichaeans, Nestorians, Eutychians, et al. The councils gave us the language of the Apostle’s, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds. They gave us a great inheritance of right teaching.
Then in 1054 AD the church split. The great schism delivered to us a divided church that will never re-assemble herself until the Lord gathers us to himself on the day of the resurrection all flesh. I could go one, but I certain this is boring for many.
The truth of the Christian faith flows from the bible. The ecumenical councils inform all Christians. The Lutheran faith is the one remaining entirely true to that faith as we have received it. Errors abound and we continue to teach against the heresies that distress the church.
There is no such thing as “just Christian.” We are all sectarians. Our duty is to pursue truth, find the least wrong teaching, and stand firm there. I have. I’m happy to preach the Gospel from a church in which I cannot find error. All of the others suffer from errors in the least cases and abject heresies in the worst.