What does the Lutheran Church teach about Justification by Faith and is the sacrament of Baptism essential to salvation?
score:1
Having been raised in the Lutheran church, and being born again as an adult, I spent a lot of time trying to understand this question, because It never made sense to me.
It's the type of question that requires a lot of context. The first thing is to understand that Lutheranism is NOT the same as reformed, calvnist, or baptist theologies.
They have a lot of common elements, and intersections, but these old ideas about baptism point more towards Catholicism than what other reformers would teach after Luther.
Here is an excerpt from the LCMS frequently asked questions page which explains quite frankly, that while they do indeed teach baptismal regeneration, they stop short of saying that baptism is REQUIRED for salvation.
Lutherans do not believe that only those baptized as infants receive faith. Faith can also be created in a person's heart by the power of the Holy Spirit working through God's (written or spoken) Word. Baptism should then soon follow conversion (cf. Acts 8:26-40) for the purpose of confirming and strengthening faith in accordance with God's command and promise. Depending on the situation, therefore, Lutherans baptize people of all ages from infancy to adulthood. The LCMS does not believe that Baptism is ABSOLUTELY necessary for salvation. All true believers in the Old Testament era were saved without baptism. Mark 16:16 implies that it is not the absence of Baptism that condemns a person but the absence of faith, and there are clearly other ways of coming to faith by the power of the Holy Spirit (reading or hearing the Word of God).
Heres the link to the whole FAQ. https://www.lcms.org/about/beliefs/faqs/doctrine#baptism This link is from the LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod). In my experience, this is about the best straight forward answers you can find. They have a bunch of stuff on baptism, and salvation in general. I think this will answer your question nicely.
With that being said,and the request for an official source being satisfied, I will give some brief points to help you contextualize the situation.
Lutherans believe human beings are saved by grace alone, through faith. They however differ from other protestants in that they believe that the sacrament of baptism, is an actually effectual means of grace, which benefits the baptized person. They talk about baptism as being "Water and the Word". So by baptism, the infant receives the word with faith.
They also teach that one can lose their salvation. Admittedly this is not brought up very much. But Lutheranism does not teach that an unbeliever, tho baptized as a child is any more saved than an unbaptized unbeliever.
By this they maintain that it is grace through faith that saves. They just do some "hand waving" and equate infant baptism with faith and grace.
As mentioned in the above quote, they do not teach that baptism is necessary for salvation.
This can all be somewhat confusing if you are coming from a Baptist/reformed understanding of things. I hope this helps!
More post
- 📝 Who can validly confer the sacrament of confirmation?
- 📝 Why is Eben Ezer used as a shop's name in Chile?
- 📝 Are there or have there been Christian healing ministries that have documented healing cases with supporting medical records?
- 📝 What was the amount of bread and wine used when Jesus did communion?
- 📝 How do Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians evangelize?
- 📝 Are there any Christian groups or denominations that believe that non-Christians have access to the power of the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 What is the origin of the "religion vs. relationship" dichotomy?
- 📝 Ghosts Appearing as Children [Latter-day Saint perspective]
- 📝 Does Exodus 15:11 hint at the possibility of existence of lesser gods?
- 📝 Biblical support for why something is a sin?
- 📝 What is Alvin Plantinga's view on divine sovereignty and free will?
- 📝 Why did God create a new covenant?
- 📝 According to Biblical Unitarians, what is the essential belief about Jesus in order to be saved?
- 📝 Is there any real significant difference between Protestantism and Catholicism?
- 📝 What is the difference between the KJV, AKJV, NKJV, etc?
- 📝 When is earliest mention of the Church tradition that Jesus was born in a cave?
- 📝 Why doesn't the Catholic Church give indulgences to everybody, regardless of their works?
- 📝 Is spirituality different than superstition?
- 📝 Does the Catholic Church teach where Lazarus’ soul was before being resurrected?
- 📝 What is the basis for the doctrine of the Trinity in the Book of Mormon?
- 📝 Did Rahab sin by hiding the Hebrew spies and lying to the leaders of Jericho? (Catholic/Protestant overview)
- 📝 Why does the Roman Catholic Church not hold to the perspicuity of Scripture?
- 📝 Did Jesus reject the apocrypha?
- 📝 Where is the concept of "local church" from?
- 📝 What is the basis for saying that the Gospel of Thomas was accepted as scripture by early Christians?
- 📝 How does "Lead us not into temptation" need to be interpreted?
- 📝 Do we love the world in the same way that Jesus loved the world?
- 📝 If Catholics have to be open to new life how can they practice Natural Family Planning?
- 📝 Doesn't God giving orders to demons contradict the principle of double effect?
- 📝 Why did the Bishop of Rome accept (and retains until today) the title "Pontifex Maximus" and how were the rights and duties transferred/transformed?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What does the Lutheran Church teach about Justification by Faith and is the sacrament of Baptism essential to salvation?
- 📝 What does the LDS Church (Mormon) teach about marriage and polygamy in the afterlife?
- 📝 What does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints teach about who Jesus is and where He came from?
- 📝 What does the LDS Church teach about Jesus being married, having children, and His position on polygamy?
- 📝 What does the LDS church teach about what men and women did or do in the pre-existence?
- 📝 What does the Catholic church teach about fate of non-Catholic christians?
- 📝 What does the Roman Catholic church teach about those who die having never heard of Christ?
- 📝 Does the Catholic Church teach that it has the authority to change what is morally right and wrong?
- 📝 What does the LDS Church teach about the pre-existence of each person prior to conception?
- 📝 What does the LDS Church teach about infallibility?
- 📝 What does the Roman Catholic Church teach about covenant theology?
- 📝 What does the Church say about the statements that the Pope Benedict XVI made in the book "God and the World"?
- 📝 What does Eastern-Orthodoxy teach about the Law and Gospel division?
- 📝 What does the Anglican Church teach about being born again?
- 📝 What does the Catholic Church teach about the communication that takes place among the Persons of the Trinity?
- 📝 What does Believers Eastern Church teach on the mode and subjects of baptism?
- 📝 What does the Catholic Church teach about the significance of reference to Jacob's Well at John 4:12?
- 📝 What does the Catholic Church teach about the observance of Sunday?
- 📝 What does Catholic Church teach about the interpretation of the metaphor of "salt of the earth?"
- 📝 What does the Orthodox Church actually teach about Original Sin?
- 📝 What has the LDS Church (Mormons) historically taught about the Curse of Cain and dark skin?
- 📝 What is the Lutheran doctrine of consubstantiation and how does it differ from transubstantiation and a more general protestant sacramental view?
- 📝 What does Catholic Church say about the post-resurrection wound marks of Jesus?
- 📝 On what basis does the Catholic Church teach that women cannot be ordained?
- 📝 What does the Bible teach about domestic discipline?
- 📝 What does the Bible say about this question- Why do Jesus and God have two seats in heaven when they are the same God?
- 📝 What does the Church have to say about the Pope's latest statement?
- 📝 What did the early Church Fathers (pre-Nicea A.D. 325) have to say about faith, baptism and if it is the act of baptism that saves?
- 📝 What privileges and powers does the Prophet of the LDS Church have in his office as Seer?
- 📝 What does the Catholic church say about its own presence or absence when the tribulation starts?
