6 Years a Lutheran

 It's been an interesting journey from Episcopalian to Presbyterian to Episcopalian to Anglican to Lutheran.  As an Episcopalian, beliefs came from what was preached from the pulpit.  As Presbyterian in the Presbyterian Church in America, it was the pulpit, the Bible, John Calvin, and other reformed and Puritan voices.  Back to Episcopalian, it was the Bible and the 39 Articles.

The 39 Articles were the standard for theology in the Church of England, but in the Episcopal Church, in 1979, they were relegated to a section at the back of the Book of Common Prayer called "Historical Documents of the Church."  What that meant was that they weren't taken seriously, except for the few clergymen (all men until 1974) who took the Bible and the 39 Articles as the basis of the faith as it had been received in Anglicanism.  Returning to the Episcopal Church, under a priest who was evangelical, the 39 Articles took on new importance for me.  They were like the Westminster Confession of Faith that theologically conservative Presbyterians uphold as their standard of doctrine.

Going to the one evangelical seminary of the Episcopal Church, I was steeped in the doctrine and faith of the 39 Articles, although they weren't referred to all that often.  For the most part, the theology of my seminary could be fairly described as generic evangelical, which is pretty much the theology of theologically conservative Anglicanism.  The 39 Articles are Lutheran in some places, and Calvinistic in other places.  I considered myself a four-point Calvinist at this point.  I always rejected the doctrine of limited atonement, meaning that Christ only died for the elect.  There are too many verses in the New Testament that speak about Christ dying for the world for that doctrine to make any sense.

One of the Calvinistic beliefs that I clung to tenaciously was the perseverence of the saints, meaning, in popular parlance, once saved always saved.  It was at the interview in St. Louis for being received into the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod as a pastor, that I was informed that Lutherans don't believe this.  I had read the entire Book of Concord, which is the norm for confessional Lutherans, and roughly another dozen or so other works in Lutheran theology and that doctrine eluded me.  It does seem to make better sense of the parable of the soils, and a verse in the Book of Hebrews that talks about losing faith than does the Calvinist view.

I was received into the Lutheran Church as a pastor about fifteen months ago.  I've pastored a church for a little over a year, and considering all that has been related so far in this post, it's been an interesting journey.  I describe Lutheranism as basic Christianity.  It is focused on the gospel and puts the cross of Christ at the very center.  Luther never wanted anyone to call themselves Lutheran.  He preferred that people describe themselves as simply Christian.  But, a lot of water has gone under that bridge, and here we are with a worldwide church tradition that is known as Lutheran.  

The Lutheran churces worldwide are not anywhere near as big as the Church of Rome, or the Eastern Orthodox churches.  It is dwarfed by the Anglican Communion.  Maybe the Methodists are bigger too.  The point of confessional Lutheranism, meaning those Lutheran churches who believe and teach the Christian faith according to the Book of Concord, is that we seek to live and believe according to the gospel as it is given to us in the New Testament.  We understand the Bible as a compendium of divinely inspired writings that teach the law of God and the gospel of God.  For me, for that reason, it is good to be a Lutheran.  

Martin Luther intended to reform the Church of Rome.  In the end, the Church of Rome refused to be reformed as Luther intended.  The counter-reformation that was initiated by the Church of Rome dug the church deeper into some of the teachings that Luther tried to correct.  The Book of Concord gives us not only teachings from Luther, but also from other Lutheran scholars, and it is the basis of the Lutheran Church.

I've learned that there are Lutherans who do not subscribe to the Book of Concord, just as there are Anglicans who don't subscribe to the 39 Articles.  Two approaches to the Book of Concord are described with reference to two Latin words, Quatenus and Quia.  Quantenus means "in so far as," as in accepting the authority of the Book of Concord as it is in agreement with Scripture.  This view puts us in the position of deciding whether we believe the Book of Concord is accurately interpreting the Bible.  In the other view, Quia, it is believed that the Book of Concord does teach what the Bible teaches.  In other words, we believe the Book of Concord because it teaches what the Bible teaches.

The Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod is emphatically in the Quia camp.  The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is in the Quantenus camp.  The LCMS fully subscribes to the Book of Concord.  The ELCA disagrees with some teachings of the Book of Concord.  I am thankful to be in the LCMS.  I am thankful to be a member of a confessional Lutheran church body.  I am thankful to be a confessional Lutheran.