Five Things I Love about Lutheranism

This month marks ten years since I began attending a confessional Lutheran church. On Palm Sunday, 2016, my wife and I made our first visit to an LCMS congregation in the Indiana town in which we live. As a ten-year anniversary is often considered an important milestone, it seems like a good occasion to briefly reflect on the things that I love about Lutheranism. There are many, in fact, but I will focus on the five that most stand out to me. These are the things that will keep me Lutheran until my dying day.

1. The Book of Concord

First published in 1580, the Book of Concord is a large volume that contains the historic confessions of the Lutheran church. These confessions articulate what we believe Scripture teaches about many issues. It is impossible to truly be Lutheran without agreeing with the contents of this book. While a book of doctrine put together over four hundred years ago might sound like a boring or tedious read, the Book of Concord is anything but. This is the richest theology one can find outside of the Bible. While the confessions touch on numerous topics, the center of everything is always Christ and what he won for us on the cross. Everything here gives glory to God and comfort to repentant sinners. It mirrors Scripture in all that it affirms and emphasizes. To read it carefully and take what it teaches to heart is to become wise and mature in the faith.

2. The distinction between Law and Gospel

Nothing is more basic to Lutheran thought than the distinction between Law and Gospel. While other Protestant traditions often maintain this distinction in some way or other, Lutherans make it the key principle of theology. We insist that it is the hallmark of true Christianity, and the only way that we can properly understand the Bible, Christ, and ourselves. The Law expresses God’s righteous requirements. It is perfect, just, and holy. Yet as we are far from perfect, just, and holy, we break it continuously and therefore are subject to God’s judgment. Yet this is not the whole story. The Gospel contains the promises about Christ and His benefits for needy sinners. Because Christ fulfilled the Law and took our sins upon Himself at the cross, we can have forgiveness and peace with God in His name. This we receive through faith alone in His person and work. The Law-Gospel distinction is of the utmost importance because it clearly teaches that Christ alone is our Savior. Nothing we can do could ever suffice to make us right with God, but that is no reason for despair, for Christ is all-sufficient, and Christ is always interceding for those who trust in Him. With this distinction the Gospel is kept pure, and our faith and hope are directed outside ourselves to the cross and empty tomb.

3. The real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper

Unusually for Protestant Christians, Lutherans have a very catholic conception of the Sacraments. We confess that in the Lord’s Supper the body and blood of Christ are truly and essentially present in, with, and under the bread and wine. This being so, when we receive these elements, we receive Christ Himself, and if we eat and drink in faith, we partake of the life and salvation that He brings. Every time that we commune, therefore, our union with Christ is confirmed and strengthened through these humble means. There can be no greater gift than this life-giving participation in our holy, good, and gracious Lord.

Many people wonder how Christ’s body and blood can be present in this way. Lutherans do not attempt to explain this. We deny that His body and blood are physically or tangibly present, but we believe they are present, nonetheless. The mode of Christ’s presence must remain an inscrutable mystery, at least in this life. We are confident that the God we trust and worship can certainly do what He has promised, and we believe that Jesus’s words of institution—“this is My body”—contain a promise that He Himself will be present in the bread and wine. For us, His words are enough to settle the matter.

4. Esteem for church history

It is common to criticize Protestants for lacking knowledge of and appreciation for church history. In Lutheranism, however, we have no shortage of esteem for and interest in our forebears in the faith. Lutherans in large part introduced the careful study of the church fathers, and we habitually and diligently seek wisdom, guidance, and encouragement from patristic, medieval, and Reformation-era sources. It can rightly be said that to be deep in Lutheranism is to be deep in history. We of course do not accept or affirm all that we find taught and practiced in church history, but no tradition does.

5. Johann Gerhard

The last item I will mention is not a thing but a person. Johann Gerhard (1582-1637) was a Lutheran theologian who spent most of his career teaching at the University of Jena. He was a prolific author who penned some of the most enduring works of Lutheran theology. Many people would place Gerhard behind Martin Luther and Martin Chemnitz in terms of his importance to Lutheranism, and this is certainly correct. But when it comes to his abilities as a Christian thinker and writer, he is second to none. What makes him particularly notable is that he was both a clear and cogent writer of voluminous dogmatic treatises and a composer of marvelous pastoral and devotional writings. His Theological Commonplaces ranks as probably the greatest work of Lutheran dogmatics ever produced, while his Sacred Meditations (written when he was in his early twenties) is a devotional masterpiece that is in the same class as Augustine’s Confessions. Reading anything that Gerhard wrote is highly rewarding, and one cannot reflect on his words without growing closer to Christ.

As I mentioned above, there are many other things that I deeply appreciate about my tradition. The doctrines of Baptism and vocation, the liturgy, the hymns, the art, the music of Bach, and the contributions of numerous other theologians all come to mind. But none are more valuable to me than these five. All five have formed me into the person I am, all have helped me to grow in the knowledge of God, all have brought joy to my soul, and all have increased my love for my precious Jesus.

Nathan Greeley is managing editor of The Conservative Reformer.