THE ORIGIN OF DENOMINATIONS
                               Lesson Ten

                            LUTHERAN CHURCH
                                 (1530)

  I. ITS BEGINNING:

          The Lutheran Church was the first Protestant Denomination to
     come into existence, as the results of the work of Martin Luther.
     In 1517, Luther posted his ninety-five objections to the Catholic
     Church. Luther had no intention of starting another religious
     organization. He pled for those who later followed him not to call
     themselves Lutherans, but Christians. Luther was excommunicated,
     as a result of his defying a Papal "Bull." In 1529, Luther wrote
     his Longer and Shorter Catechisms. In 1530, the new movement
     adopted the Augsburg Confession of faith.

          Luther was the first champion of justification by faith
     "Only." This belief grew out of Luther's objections to "works of
     merit," as practiced by the Catholic Church: especially the
     selling of indulgences.  Luther rejected the book of James,
     declaring it as uninspired, calling it a "book of straw." In his
     translation of the New Testament into the German language, Luther
     added the word "only" in Romans 3:28.

          "Lutheranism is the established church of Denmark, Norway and
     Sweden. Germany is largely Lutheran. The people of Finland and a
     large percentage of the population of Switzerland are Lutheran.
     Immigration to the new world planted the Lutheran Church in
     America. The Lutherans in this country are divided into a number
     of separate bodies, formed in some instances according to the
     locality and in others on the basis of the language spoken in
     assembled worship." (Churches of Today, L. G. Tomlinson, pg. 32)

 II. SOME OF THE MAJOR DOCTRINES OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH:

     1. Justification or salvation by Faith "only."
     2. Denominations are branches of the church of Christ.
     3. The mode of baptism is not important, it is non-essential.
     4. The practice of infant baptism.
     5. Concerning the Lord's Supper, article X of the Augsburg
        Confession states: "They (the Scriptures) teach that the body
        and blood of Christ are truly present and are distributed to
        those who partake in the Lord's Supper...." Lutherans
        understand this to  mean that even though the bread and wine
        remain unchanged, they carry with them the body and blood of
        Christ.
     6. The governmental structure of the Church. "Each congregation is
        independent and free to make its own decisions. A group of
        congregations in a given geographical area make up a circuit. A
        group of circuits in an area make up a district and all the
        districts in the world make up the Lutheran Church-Missouri
        Synod." (One Way, a Layman's guide to Denominations, Lilla
        Ross, pg 51.) (According to the constitution, the synod is an
        advisory body that makes suggestions to the congregations that
        are members.)
     7. It teaches the doctrine of original sin.
     8. It teaches the doctrine of total inherited depravity.

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