Luther’s Rose

Curious aboutwhat Lutherans actually believe?

Written by converts from evangelical churches, for anyone who wants to know what Lutherans teach and why, whether you come from an evangelical, Catholic or Orthodox background, or none. We wrote what we wished someone had explained to us.

Common ground

You will recognisea lot of this

Lutherans and evangelicals begin in the same place. We confess one God in three persons. Jesus Christ is true God and true man, who died for our sins and rose again. The Bible is God’s Word, and the final authority for what the church teaches. Sinners are saved by grace, through faith, because of Christ and not because of anything they have done.

Lutherans said all of this at the start of the Reformation. So the question is not whether Lutherans are Protestants. The question is what they teach about how God gives his gifts, and why that matters.

Where we part

Eight teachingsLutherans hold differently

Most evangelicals meet Lutheran teaching one question at a time: Why do you baptise babies? Why is the Supper treated that way? Here are the eight questions we hear most, each answered from Scripture, with the objections you are probably thinking of.

  1. 1How does God give his gifts?read
  2. 2Who is doing the baptizing?read
  3. 3What do we receive at the Table?read
  4. 4Who tells you that you are forgiven?read
  5. 5How is a sinner made right with God?read
  6. 6Where do we hear the voice of God?read
  7. 7Did you choose God, or did he choose you?read
  8. 8God speaks twice. Which word is for you?read
Where Lutherans come from

Five hundred yearsin six steps

  1. 1517

    Martin Luther, a monk and professor at Wittenberg, invites a public debate on the sale of indulgences by posting ninety-five theses. The debate spreads across Europe.

  2. 1521

    Called before the Emperor at the Diet of Worms, Luther refuses to take back his teaching unless he is shown from Scripture that it is wrong.

  3. 1529

    Luther writes the Small and Large Catechisms, so that families and pastors have a plain summary of the faith.

  4. 1530

    The Lutheran churches present their confession of faith to the Emperor at Augsburg. It is written mainly by Philip Melanchthon, and it is still the main statement of Lutheran teaching.

  5. 1580

    The Book of Concord collects those confessions, along with the three ancient creeds, into the standard statement of Lutheran teaching.

  6. 1838–1847

    Lutherans from Saxony settle in Missouri (the first ships arrive in 1838–39). In 1847 C. F. W. Walther and others form the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, with Walther as its first president. Much of American confessional Lutheranism descends from this stream.

Unfamiliar words are explained in the glossary.

Where to go next
The eight teachingsStart here if you have a specific question.Read the Bible with commentaryPick a chapter and read what the Fathers and the Reformers said about it.SearchLook up a word, a verse or a doctrine across everything.GlossaryPlain meanings of the churchy words.