What Does the Bible Say About the Lutheran Church?

We continue our study of denominations by next looking at what the Bible says about the Lutheran Church. Of course, the truth is that the Lutheran Church is not mentioned in the Bible. The Lutheran Church was one of the first of the many Protestant churches formed out of the protests against Catholicism during the Reformation Movement. It dates from All Saints Day, October 31, 1517. We discuss what Luther did on that day and why his actions are so important to know. We need to understand that Luther's intention was to identify where the Roman Catholic Church failed to follow the Bible, not to establish the Lutheran Church. We look at Luther's background and what led to him nailing his 95 theses to the door of the church building in Wittenburg, Germany. We discuss the debate he had and the resulting trials and his excommunication from the Catholic Church. We talk about the greatest error he made when he began teaching that men are justified by faith only and what he said about the epistle of James. We discuss this later in this episode. We note that the Lutheran Church claims to follow the Bible as their only standard of authority. but have nine creeds and confessions that they require their members to be loyal to. We quote a number of their writings that show this to be true. We next begin to look at some doctrines, teachings and views of the Lutheran Church. We begin by looking at their teaching that men are justified by faith alone and two places in their writings that this is stated. We discuss several passages in the Bible that show this to be false. We will continue this discussion next week. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying, There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

Transcript

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Fred Gosnell: 0:00

This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. We meet for worship on Sunday at ten thirty am and five thirty pm We meet for Bible study at nine thirty am on Sunday and seven pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc i.net or to Arne Granke at agranke440718@yahoo.com or to Glenn Landrum at scbamaboy2003@yahoo.com.

Arnie: 0:41

Ah, good afternoon. This is what does the Bible say, brought to you by the church of Christ at Woodland in Sumter, South Carolina. We're about two miles located about two miles east of Shaw Air Force Base main gate on Highway 76 378 and we're easy to find, and we're convenient to get to, and we would certainly enjoy having you visit with us, and we would welcome any questions or disagreements that you may have concerning things that we, that we teach. We'd be glad to discuss those with you, and that's somewhat what we're talking about doing this afternoon, is is discussing some things where what the Bible says differs with with various religious groups. So Fred Gosnell is with me, and Glenn Landrum is with me, and let's open our Bibles, and let's talk about it.

Glenn: 1:53

Yeah, we've been talking about denominations, and the reason why we're talking about denominations, so we're trying to point out differences between what denominations teach and what they practice and what the Bible says. Now, the reason why we do this, of course, is if you've been paying any attention to us for any length of time, you come to understand that all that we say and all that we do, we, we use scripture from, from the Bible to, to back up what we say, and we believe that's that's what we, we need to do. God gave us these, these scriptures, for a reason. He gave us these scriptures as a, as an instruction, as a guide for us to be able to live our lives, to conduct our worship, and to ensure that the church is operating as it should be, and is set up as it should be. Now, Luther, we talked about Luther last week, some, and this is exactly what Luther was doing to start with, as well. Luther had had been a Catholic priest, and he, using the Bible, found 95 things and he called them theses, 95 things he found different than what from the what the Bible said, and what the Catholic Church was practicing. And we've covered some of those things. And now we're talking about it was these 95 theses that that he found differences from what the way the Catholic Church practiced and what the Bible said we should do, those he nailed on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany. Now that was the Catholic Church in Wittenberg, Germany. His three greatest objections were the selling of indulgences, the authority of the Pope, and the doctrine of transubstantiation. We covered transubstantiation last week and talked about it. We talked about the authority of the Pope some last week, and we talked particularly about the authority of the Pope, in our last segment of this lesson on denominationalism. In his theses, he named these objections and asked for a debate with one who would defend them. In 1519 he had a debate with Dr. John Eck in Leipzig, which resulted in a declaration of his stand against some doctrines of Catholicism. After much criticism and church trials, Luther was excommunicated from the church. He continued to preach against the errors that he had found. The Lutheran Church thus had its beginning, even though Luther asked that his followers not call themselves after him, but to call themselves only after Christ.

Fred Gosnell: 5:18

Right, and of course his greatest error was his teaching that justification was by faith only, and teaching that people are saved at the point of faith without further acts of obedience. And he overreacted to the Catholic position of justification by works. So because James contradicted the teaching of faith only, what Luther did, he then rejected the book of James as being part of the New Testament, and he labeled it as a quote right strawy epistle. So his, of course, his problem is that James was inspired, and his words came from the Holy Spirit. So, so the Lutheran Church has a number of creeds that it follows, and of course, this is true of basically all the denominations. It, but it claims to use the Bible as its only standard of authority, and of course, that's many of the denominations will make the same claim. So, here's what they say in Our Church and Others. It's published by Concordia, and this is page 24, says, The Lutheran Church is a Bible church. She receives the word of God, the Holy Scriptures of the old and new testament as the only source and standard of doctrine, the sole authority in matters of faith and life. Of course, this is a typical denominational statement, but they have creeds which make such a claim, then immediately repudiated, by stating doctrines which are admittedly not found in the Bible.

Arnie: 7:08

One of the, one of the statements that this gentleman made is that our Lutheran, well, Fred, Fred just mentioned the nine creeds, but he said the the ecumenical or universal creeds are, and he named three of them, the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. All three of those have been used throughout the centuries by the by the Lutheran Church, and still are in various groups. There are several sub denominations, is what I refer to them as that are associated with with the Lutheran Church. It's not just all the same everywhere you go, there are 10 or 12 different subgroups there. So the ecumenical or universal creeds that they, that they mentioned are the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, in the Athanasian Creed, and then there are several confessions, as they refer to them, that evangelical, the Lutheran evangelical church uses. One of those is called the Augsburg Confession, that's named after Augsburg, Germany, where Lutheranism had taken a hold. Second one is the Apology of the Augsburg Confession. So that provided some comments and and explanations as to why that that had been important to them. The third is called the Smalcald Articles, doesn't have anything to do with with the size of it that is from a particular location where those articles had been had been written up. And and then there was a Large Catechism of Luther. When, when I was being raised as a Lutheran, by the way, as, as a boy, I went to a class for boys and girls who were going to ultimately become Lutherans, and so we used Luther's Small Catechism. In fact, I have a copy of it right here in front of us here. Don't know whether we'll have the opportunity to use that or not. But there was also a large Catechism that Luther had written, and it was more detailed, of course, than the small one. And then then the Formula of of Concord. So these are nine documents that are designed to explain the things that the Lutherans believe, I think the best way to explain what we believe is just the Bible. Glenn.

Glenn: 10:29

Now you're exactly right, Arnie. And these, these creeds, the Apostles' Creed, which is used by many denominations, the Nicene Creed, as well. The Athanasian Creed. I've personally never heard of it. But the problem with any of these, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Augsburg Confession, and so and so, is that what people have done, this would be Lutherans in this case. What Lutherans had done is they use the Bible, and then they add their own words to what the Bible says. So they'll use the Bible as a base, but then add their own ideas to these things. We, we often hear these, these things about like the saying, the Apostles' Creed, but this we don't find in the Bible. Much of what was written in the Apostles' Creed is in the Bible, but there's also much that's not. So, what we have are people's ideas and people's statements and people's words contained in these as well. And Arnie just mentioned, why don't we just use the Bible? After all, we've read many times Second Peter one verse three, which to which tells us that God's word provides everything we need for life and godliness. So we don't really need the additional creeds or anything in order to understand what God wants us to do. The six confessions and the ecumenical creeds form the Book of Concord, first published in 1580 The Lutheran Church requires loyalty to its creeds and confessions by its members. Well, if I'm not mistaken, the only book that we are required to confess and maintain loyalty to is the Bible, because the Bible are the is the words of Christ. Jesus said, "I am the word, way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me. So that lets us know as well that is Jesus' words, which includes all the Bible that guide us into how we should live and how we should worship. The Lutheran Confessions may also be regarded as a standard around which Lutherans can rally in their common defense of the doctrines of the scriptures against error, or they may be regarded as a flag to which the teachers of the church pledge loyalty. The cementing force in the American Lutheran Lutheranism must be sought in a loyalty to the Lutheran confession. Matthew 6, 33 Jesus told us that we need to put God first, and that's what we should completely rely, on not anything that any confessions or creeds, or anything that man has made. And I'm going to pass off Fred at this time.

Fred Gosnell: 14:10

Well, let me just.. let's just.. we've read this before, but let's just read Revelation chapter 22 and verses 18 and 19, says, "I testify to every man that heareth the words of this prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. So at the end of the Bible, the Spirit provides that that warning, and Glenn reminded us what Peter said in First, First Peter, Second Peter, chapter one, verse three, again, According as His divine power hath given us all things that pertain to life and godliness to the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. So, when Peter wrote that, Peter, by the Holy Spirit, said, "God has given us all things. So, when Peter wrote that, all things had been delivered to the apostles, which means that the Revelation had been delivered by the Spirit to John. So, when we get back to the Evangelical Lutheran Church, that's a total of all who reservedly. Now, this is a quote, by the way, these things that we're reading, and what Glenn has read, were quotes from Our church and Others. This is on page 25 The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the total of all who unreservedly accept all canonical books of the Old and New Testament as God's revealed word, and who confess agreement with the teaching again brought to light through Luther's Reformation and represented concisely in writing to Emperor and Empire at Augsburg in 1530 and repeated and expanded in the other so-called Lutheran symbols. So that's from the Lutheran writing, Our Church and Others. So again, the problem is that these people, denominations, and just about all of them do the same thing. They will say that they are faithful to the, they follow the Bible, and they're faithful to it, and it's their book. But then, on the other hand, they just turn around, and then they start writing all of these things to guide their people in a particular denomination. Of course, now, just think about it. They have to do that, because their denomination is not in the Bible. So, so, how are they going to guide their people if what they do is not in the Bible? They're going to have to write something as their guidance.

Arnie: 16:51

When, when Fred was speaking about Our Church and Others, he was not referring, was not referring to the Woodland church of Christ. He was quoting the name of a document there, and, and it just occurred. I wonder if anybody's going to misunderstand that. So, let's, let's just clarify that. One of the quote, quoted quotations from, from that document on page 37 is that, The Lutheran Church observes and maintains certain time-honored customs and practices, some of which are derived from scriptural command or precedent, while others are merely of human ecclesiastical origin. Well, if these are just things that human beings wrote, what value has that in understanding God's will? That's somebody's opinion, not God's will, God's will is in the Bible, and, and if, if, if somebody tells you something that they cannot back up and give you book, chapter, and verse of the New Testament, then, then it's, it's no longer in effect, or never was in effect, so don't be deceived by that. When we pick up a pick up a book, I've got, I've got a whole room full of books at home, and, and probably Glenn and Fred do as well. But those, those are people's opinions, not the word of God. So don't let anybody mislead you on on that. In in one of the Lutheran catechisms, one that was revised in 1967 Here's a quotation: We who are Lutherans prize our catechism as one of the crown jewels of this church. It is a summary of heavenly truth presented in a most desirable manner. Once again, I don't mean to nag, but if we can't show book, chapter, and verse from the word of God, there is of no value in any document or in any quotation that these documents may make that that's accurate.

Glenn: 19:36

I'll give you a good example of something of a change that was made, and it was not necessarily made in the Lutheran Church. Of course, the Lutheran Church didn't exist at this time. But we've mentioned before that instrumental music was not introduced into Christian worship or the worship of Christians until the mid seventh century. That's in the six hundreds. Prior to that, there was no instrumental music used in, in the worship of the of the Lord's church. But in the mid seventh century the Catholic Church implemented the practice of using instrumental music. Now it didn't become predominantly predominant in, in any denomination till later on. It probab, increased in the in the 11th century, and then it was probably the fifth, 15th or 16th century when it really caught on and started spreading to to most denominations. So that that is something that people decided, Oh, this will be a good idea if we add an instrument along with our singing. But we don't find that mentioned anywhere in the New Testament. Therefore, we don't have the authority to add things like instruments of music to our singing, because they're not mentioned in the New Testament. Only singing is mentioned. Some doctrines, teaching, and views of the Lutheran Church. The Lutheran Church observes and maintains certain time-honored customs and practices. Now, when you see these words, customs and practices, we, we are meaning predominantly that these are things that that people set up rather than being Bible doctrines. Some of which are derived from scriptural command or precedent, while others are merely of human ecclesiastical origin, ecclesiastical origin, that is the the the the higher ups, the priests, the preachers, and things of that nature, who, who are making the decisions for what the the common people in the church practice. Some of these are sponsor at baptism, the use of the wafer in Holy Communion, close communion, and announcement for communion, confession, and absolution, parochial schools, catechism, catechetical instruction, confirmation, ordination, clerical vestments, the altar and pulpit, the sign of the cross, set forms of prayers, the observance of the church year, and the like. One I would mention here in this list is the sign of the cross. Now, you often, you often see in on TV and in movies people making the sign of the cross, that's they touch their forehead, they touch their chest, and they go to one shoulder and the other shoulder making the sign of the cross. You even see that in sporting events now a lot, where players will will do the sign of the cross when they in major league baseball, they'll go, they'll go up to the plate, and they'll do the sign of the cross, and then they'll point up. In football, you'll see them quite often do the sign of the cross before they go out to play. We don't see that anywhere in the Bible as being a sign that Christians should use. Therefore, it's something that people made up. Now, we don't deny that that the cross of Jesus Christ is is an emblem that that reminds us of the situation that Christ went through, that He, that He died upon the cross, but it's not something that we should wear, it's not something that we should make a sign of in order to confess our faith.

Fred Gosnell: 24:20

Well, another one of their teachings and views is, and this is a quote from the Government Report of Denominations. This is page volume two, page 853 Justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ is held to be the central doctrine of the Word of God, and of course specific statement. Then again in the Lutheran writings, Our Church and Others, not the Woodland church, of Christ's church, but that one says that. This faith in Christ is neither holy nor in the least part the work of man, but the work of God's grace and almighty power alone, faith alone justifies the sinner. Of course, we have talked about this before, but in the Bible, James specifically deals with this, and you might, what things we need to understand that the Bible, the author of the Bible is God, and the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles in the first century by Jesus, told them He would be given to them, and that He would bring to their remembrance everything that He said, and so that they could teach it, and of course everything in the Bible comes from God through the Holy Spirit. So James wrote in James 2, 17 through 24 and let's just go ahead and read that, and this is James by the Holy Spirit, he begins in verse 17. He says, Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble, but wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? That's the second time that James has said that. Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he had offered Isaac, his son, upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect, and the scripture was fulfilled, which saith Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. You see, then, how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. So it's just. it's amazing to me that it seems that so many of the things that these denominations do and say are exactly contrary to what the Bible says, and James is specific, so the Holy Spirit has wrapped that one up pretty tight, as far as I'm concerned.

Arnie: 27:21

Yeah, it's not not what we read and say. Okay, that's that's an expression of my faith. What we need to do is put these expressions of faith, if they're in accordance with the Bible, put them into action in our life, people should be able to see our faith, not just hear our declaring that it exists. I'm looking, Fred, at Galatians chapter five right now, and in verse, verse six, where Paul is, is the writer, the Apostle Paul, and in, in verse six, he said, For in Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith, which worketh by love. Well, of course, as you know, the Jews have always circumcised since very early in their, in their faith, and so that's why this particular reference is discussed. That's not something that that proves our faith. We either obey what God's word says, or or we do not, but it, but circumcision or other works are are not, are not what the Bible requires for for us to do. Mark chapter 16 is another passage of scripture, and, and verse 16, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. This is Jesus making that, that statement there in Mark 16, 16. And while faith is certainly an important aspect of of our salvation, baptism is also in, in that, if you could believe all you want, but if you don't obey the gospel, and baptism is a part of that, of that obeying. Then you haven't had your sins washed away, you haven't been been saved. So the point that Jesus is making is believe, yes, but do what you believe.

Glenn: 29:59

WelI, our time is just about up, so we'll, we'll pick up at that point next week, and we have some more to talk about with, with the subject of baptism, and it's all one of the subjects that not only in the Lutheran Church, but many other denominations, there's a problem with with baptism, and Arnie just mentioned what Mark 16, 16 says, that believe and be baptized is what it says. Those are two things, and they're equal, and it doesn't, it doesn't exclude one, and it says both. So, with that, we'll close, and we hope you'll take this, study, it, and come back and talk to us again last next week. Okay. Thank you.