The Lutheran Churches

Churches that take their name from Martin Luther and confess the Book of Concord, from the Missouri and Wisconsin Synods to the ELCA and the state churches of Germany and the Nordic lands.

The Augsburg Confession (1530), Book of Concord, bookofconcord.org

The Apology of the Augsburg Confession (1531), Book of Concord, bookofconcord.org

The Small Catechism (1529), Book of Concord, bookofconcord.org

The Large Catechism (1529), Book of Concord, bookofconcord.org

Formula of Concord (1577), Epitome, Book of Concord, bookofconcord.org

Formula of Concord (1577), Solid Declaration, Book of Concord, bookofconcord.org

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Beliefs (lcms.org)

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Worship (lcms.org)

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Kids in the Divine Service (lcms.org)

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Office of the President (lcms.org)

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Faith (elca.org)

Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, What We Believe (wels.net; read from the Internet Archive copy of 21 October 2026)

Lutheran World Federation, home page (lutheranworld.org)

Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (1999), Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (Wikipedia)

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (Wikipedia)

Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (Wikipedia)

Evangelical Church in Germany (Wikipedia)

Church of Sweden (Wikipedia)

Church of Norway (Wikipedia)

Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (Wikipedia)

Diet of Worms (Wikipedia)

To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (Wikipedia)

Peace of Augsburg (Wikipedia)

Prussian Union of Churches (Wikipedia)

Barmen Declaration (Wikipedia)

Seminex (Wikipedia)

Martin Luther (Wikipedia)

Philip Melanchthon (Wikipedia)

C. F. W. Walther (Wikipedia)

Elizabeth Eaton (Wikipedia)

Yehiel Curry (Wikipedia)

Ninety-five Theses (Wikipedia)

Lutheranism (Wikipedia)

Lutheran World Federation, Who we are (lutheranworld.org)

Reporter (LCMS), “Harrison elected to sixth term as LCMS president” (24 June 2026)

The Lutheran Witness (LCMS), Jerald C. Joersz, “Baptism: Dunking, Sprinkling, or Pouring?” (October 2010)

The Lutheran Witness (LCMS), Kenneth Wieting, “Weekly Communion Too Common?” (4 January 2021)

F. Bente, Historical Introductions to the Book of Concord: The Book of Concord (thebookofconcord.org)

Lutheran history begins as a protest inside the Western church and becomes a set of church bodies. The dates below follow Luther's break with Rome, the confessions written to define what Lutherans teach, the legal settlement that let princes choose Lutheranism, and the divisions that came after: unions and church struggles in Germany, the founding of the Missouri and Wisconsin Synods, and the American mergers and walkouts of the twentieth century.

Luther and indulgences

The ELCA dates the start of the Reformation to 31 October 1517, when "a German monk named Martin Luther started a movement known as the Protestant Reformation." Luther wrote that day to Archbishop Albert of Mainz about the sale of indulgences, and the Ninety-five Theses were set out for debate at Wittenberg.

Worms

Luther was excommunicated in January 1521 and summoned to the Diet of Worms. He arrived on 16 April, stood before the diet on 17 and 18 April, and refused to recant. On 25 May the emperor issued the Edict of Worms, which declared him an outlaw. His prince, Frederick III of Saxony, had him seized on the road and hidden at the Wartburg castle, where he stayed nearly a year.

The Augsburg Confession

The Lutheran princes and cities presented their confession to Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg on 25 June 1530. The Augsburg Confession is the first and best known of the Lutheran confessions, and the later documents in the Book of Concord defend and explain it.

The Peace of Augsburg

On 25 September 1555 the emperor and the Lutheran princes agreed the Peace of Augsburg. It let each ruler in the Empire choose either Lutheranism or Roman Catholicism for his own territory. Calvinism was not allowed until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. This is why the Lutheran churches of Germany became territorial churches tied to their princes.

The Book of Concord

The Formula of Concord settled the disputes among Lutherans after Luther's death. The confessions were then gathered into the Book of Concord, published at Dresden on 25 June 1580, fifty years to the day after the Augsburg Confession was presented to the emperor. It carried about 8,000 signatures of theologians and church officers.

The Prussian Union

King Frederick William III of Prussia called on the Lutheran and Reformed churches of his kingdom to unite. On Reformation Day 1817 the Reformed court congregation and the Lutheran garrison congregation in Potsdam became one congregation, and many others followed. The Saxon Lutherans who later founded the Missouri Synod considered the Union's teaching and practice on communion and baptism non-Lutheran, and feared the same pressure at home.

The Missouri Synod

On 26 April 1847, twelve pastors representing fourteen German Lutheran congregations met in Chicago and founded the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States, today the LCMS. Its first president was C. F. W. Walther. Its constitution bound pastors and congregations to the whole Book of Concord.

Barmen

In May 1934, in Wuppertal-Barmen, Christians who opposed the Nazi-aligned "German Christians" met in synod and adopted the Theological Declaration of Barmen. It said that the church is bound to Jesus Christ as the one Word of God, and rejected the claim that the church could be subordinated to the state. Lutheran, Reformed and united Christians signed it together.

Seminex

After years of dispute in the LCMS over how to read the Bible, the board of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis suspended its president, John Tietjen, on 20 January 1974. On 19 February most of the faculty and students walked out and formed "Concordia Seminary in Exile," or Seminex. More than 200 congregations left the LCMS, and in December 1976 they formed the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, which later helped form the ELCA.

The ELCA

The ELCA says on its own page that it "was formed in 1987 through the merger of three Lutheran churches." The merger took effect on 1 January 1988. The three were the American Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church in America and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches. It became the largest Lutheran body in the United States.

The Joint Declaration

On 31 October 1999 the LWF and the Roman Catholic Church signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification at Augsburg. It states: "sinners are justified by faith in the saving action of God in Christ." The LCMS and WELS are not members of the LWF and were not parties to it.

The ELCA assembly in Minneapolis

On 21 August 2009 the ELCA Churchwide Assembly voted 559 to 451 for a resolution that the church would find a way for people in "publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships" to serve as ministers. Congregations that do not wish to call such people are not required to. The Evangelical Mekane Yesus Fellowship in North America declared disunity with the ELCA in October 2009, and the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus itself then broke links with it. In February 2010 the group Lutheran CORE announced that it would leave the ELCA and form the North American Lutheran Church.

Martin Luther

Born in Eisleben and ordained a priest in 1507, an Augustinian friar and professor at Wittenberg. His Ninety-five Theses began the Reformation. The ELCA calls him the man "after whom the Lutheran branch of Christianity is named." The LCMS says that God "sent a German friar to call the medieval church back to the central teaching of Scripture."

Philipp Melanchthon

A scholar of Greek and Luther's colleague at Wittenberg. He wrote the Augsburg Confession and its Apology, and he is remembered as the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation.

C. F. W. Walther

Born in Saxony, he left for the United States in 1838 with the Saxon Lutheran emigration and was the first president of the LCMS. He wrote The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel and shaped the Synod's insistence on the Confessions. The LCMS commemorates him on 7 May, the day of his death in 1887.

Gudina Tumsa

General secretary of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, the church that is now the largest in the LWF. He was arrested and killed by the communist government of Ethiopia in 1979.

Elizabeth Eaton

The first woman elected presiding bishop of the ELCA. She was re-elected in 2019 and served until 2025, when Yehiel Curry, the first African American presiding bishop of the church, succeeded her.

Other dates. In August 1520 Luther published To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, the first of his three great tracts of that year. In it he set out, for the first time, the priesthood of all believers (Wikipedia, To the Christian Nobility). The Lutheran World Federation was founded at Lund in 1947. The American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America ordained women from 1970, and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches did so soon after it was formed in 1976 (Wikipedia, ELCA and Seminex). The Wisconsin Synod was founded in Milwaukee in 1850 and had 340,511 baptized members in 1,250 congregations in 2022 (Wikipedia, WELS). It broke fellowship with the LCMS in 1961 (Wikipedia, LCMS).

Two figures for the ELCA's start. The ELCA's own page says it "was formed in 1987." Wikipedia gives 1 January 1988 as the day the merger took effect. Both are right: the churches voted and constituted the new church in 1987, and it began its work in 1988.

Did Luther want a new church? The LCMS says Luther wanted to "call the medieval church back to the central teaching of Scripture." The Augsburg Confession ends its list of doctrines by saying: "there is nothing that varies from the Scriptures, or from the Church Catholic, or from the Church of Rome as known from its writers." The Lutheran churches say they were reforming the church, not founding another. The papal ban of January 1521 and the Edict of Worms that May made the break permanent.

Many Lutheran bodies. The Lutheran family is not one organization. The LWF says it has 153 member churches, and its president since 2023 is Bishop Henrik Stubkjær of Denmark (LWF, Who we are). The LCMS and WELS are not members of it. Wikipedia reports that LWF membership grew from about 70 million to about 78.4 million between 2009 and 2023, with growth in Africa and Asia and decline in Europe and America. For the ELCA's size, keep two figures apart: the ELCA's own page speaks of "nearly 8,400" congregations without a date, and Wikipedia reports 8,208 at the end of 2025.

Scripture alone is the rule by which all teaching is judged. The Confessions are held as a faithful witness to what it teaches, and the LCMS binds itself to them as a correct exposition.

The Book of Concord says that "the sole rule and standard according to which all dogmas together with [all] teachers should be estimated and judged are the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and of the New Testament alone." Other writings, even those of the church's best teachers, "must not be regarded as equal to the Holy Scriptures." The Confessions call themselves a witness to the faith, not a second source.

The bodies hold this in their own ways. The LCMS teaches that the Bible is "the inspired and inerrant Word of God," and that the Confessions are "a correct interpretation and presentation of biblical doctrine." The WELS says that "every statement in the Bible is the truth" and that Scripture "is the only guideline for the faith and life of Christians." The ELCA says its "roots are in Scripture and a collection of writings called the Book of Concord." The LCMS says it differs from the ELCA on "the doctrine and authority of Scripture."

the sole rule and standard according to which all dogmas together with [all] teachers should be estimated and judged are the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and of the New Testament alone

The LCMS believes that the Bible is unlike any other book, namely, it is the inspired and inerrant Word of God.

Our roots are in Scripture and a collection of writings called the Book of Concord, as well as in the rich histories of our congregations.

The Epitome goes on: "Other writings, however, of ancient or modern teachers, whatever name they bear, must not be regarded as equal to the Holy Scriptures, but all of them together be subjected to them, and should not be received otherwise or further than as witnesses." It names the Augsburg Confession, its Apology and the Smalcald Articles as the "symbol of our time." The WELS site says: "It is the only guideline for the faith and life of Christians." On the Confessions the LCMS says: "Our LCMS congregations believe the Lutheran Confessions are a correct interpretation and presentation of biblical doctrine, as they are contained in the 1580 Book of Concord." The Synod has also "adopted three historical yet timeless doctrinal statements." Of the ELCA, the LCMS says it differs "with regard to biblical fellowship," "the doctrine and authority of Scripture (i.e., the infallibility of the Bible, especially with regard to topics like homosexuality, abortion and a male-only pastoral office)," and the type of commitment required of pastors.

People are justified freely, for Christ's sake, through faith, and not by their own works. Baptism, given to infants and adults, is God's own washing that forgives sins and gives life, and faith receives it.

The Augsburg Confession says that people "cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ's sake, through faith." The ELCA puts it for today: "We are saved (made right with God) by God's grace alone, through Christ — not by prayer, mindset, or good deeds." Lutherans do not teach that works do not matter. The Confessions say that "it is necessary to do good works commanded by God," only not to merit justification by them.

Baptism is, for Lutherans, a saving act of God and not a symbol of something a person does. The Small Catechism says it "works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this." It calls baptism "a washing of regeneration." The LCMS says baptism is "conferred on babies, children and adults alike in the Lutheran church." The Large Catechism says baptism is valid when the Word is joined to the water, "even though faith be wanting," because "my faith does not make Baptism, but receives it." The Confessions do not stop there. They say that infants do believe: "even though infants did not believe, which, however, is not the case, yet their baptism as now shown would be valid." And they deny that the rite works by itself. The Large Catechism says of baptism, "Without faith it profits nothing," and the Apology condemns those "who teach that the Sacraments confer grace ex opere operato, without a good disposition on the part of the one using them." The WELS says: "Infants also are sinful and therefore need the spiritual rebirth brought about through baptism."

men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ's sake, through faith

It works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.

Baptism is nothing else than water and the Word of God in and with each other, that is, when the Word is added to the water, Baptism is valid, even though faith be wanting. For my faith does not make Baptism, but receives it.

On works: "it is necessary to do good works commanded by God, because of God's will, but that we should not rely on those works to merit justification before God" (Augsburg Confession VI). The Joint Declaration, signed by the LWF and Rome, says: "good works--a Christian life lived in faith, hope and love--follow justification and are its fruits" (§37). The Apology: "we confess that Baptism is necessary to salvation, and that children are to be baptized, and that the baptism of children is not in vain, but is necessary and effectual to salvation," and it condemns those who say baptism of little children is not profitable (Apology IX). The Small Catechism on how water does this: "It is not the water indeed that does them, but the word of God which is in and with the water, and faith, which trusts such word of God in the water." The Augsburg Confession (Article IX): "Of Baptism they teach that it is necessary to salvation, and that through Baptism is offered the grace of God, and that children are to be baptized who, being offered to God through Baptism are received into God's grace. They condemn the Anabaptists, who reject the baptism of children." The LCMS says baptism is "not by any action or merit on the part of the Christian." On infants, the Large Catechism says: "We bring the child in the conviction and hope that it believes, and we pray that God may grant it faith; but we do not baptize it upon that, but solely upon the command of God." Its proof that infant baptism pleases Christ is drawn from experience: "That the Baptism of infants is pleasing to Christ is sufficiently proved from His own work, namely, that God sanctifies many of them who have been thus baptized, and has given them the Holy Ghost." On the mode, the Large Catechism describes the act itself as immersion: "the act or ceremony is this, that we are sunk under the water, which passes over us, and afterwards are drawn out again." It also speaks of water "poured" and "sprinkled," and fixes no mode. In practice Lutherans usually pour. The LCMS's magazine answered a reader who had seen a Lutheran pastor immerse and wrote, "I didn't know we Lutherans baptized that way." Its answer: "the manner in which the water is applied is not a matter of divine command." The ELCA page on faith speaks of grace "received through faith," and does not discuss what baptism does.

Christ's true body and blood are present in and under the bread and wine, and are received by all who eat and drink. The cup is given to everyone. The LCMS and WELS commune only those in their fellowship.

The Small Catechism says the Sacrament of the Altar "is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink, instituted by Christ Himself." The Large Catechism says "in and under the bread and wine." The Solid Declaration explains that the forms "under the bread, with the bread, in the bread" are used to reject transubstantiation and to confess "the sacramental union." The LCMS puts it this way: "Christ dwells in body and spirit in, with and under the bread and wine, granting forgiveness of sins and life everlasting to those who partake worthily." The WELS says: "Together with bread and wine we receive Jesus’ true body and blood." The ELCA page names Holy Communion as a common part of worship but says nothing here about how Christ is present.

Lutherans teach that Christ is present by His word of institution, and not because of the faith of the one who receives. The Epitome says that "not only the true believers [in Christ] and the worthy, but also the unworthy and unbelievers, receive the true body and blood of Christ; however, not for life and consolation, but for judgment and condemnation." They do not hold that the bread becomes something else, and they do not hold that it is a new sacrifice. Both kinds are given to all. The Augsburg Confession says the laity receive the cup "because this usage has the commandment of the Lord."

The LCMS says that "members in good standing of the LCMS and her sister church bodies may commune at LCMS congregations," with pastors able to "exercise discretion in special cases or emergencies." The WELS says that "only people who repent of their sins and receive proper instruction in the Christian faith should be admitted to this sacrament," and that "religious association is to be practiced only with those who faithfully adhere to all of God’s Word."

The Apology says that "masses are celebrated every Lord’s Day and on the other festivals." Practice has often fallen short of that. The LCMS's magazine says that in 1930 most of its congregations offered Communion four to six times a year, and that most later moved to "at least twice a month."

It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink, instituted by Christ Himself.

In the Lord's Supper, Christ dwells in body and spirit in, with and under the bread and wine, granting forgiveness of sins and life everlasting to those who partake worthily.

not only the true believers [in Christ] and the worthy, but also the unworthy and unbelievers, receive the true body and blood of Christ; however, not for life and consolation, but for judgment and condemnation

The Large Catechism: "It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in and under the bread and wine which we Christians are commanded by the Word of Christ to eat and to drink." The Augsburg Confession on the cup: "To the laity are given Both Kinds in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, because this usage has the commandment of the Lord in Matt. 26:27: Drink ye all of it." On the frequency of the Supper, the Apology says: "among us masses are celebrated every Lord’s Day and on the other festivals, in which the Sacrament is offered to those who wish to use it, after they have been examined and absolved." It also says: "With us many use the Lord’s Supper [willingly and without constraint] every Lord’s Day." The Apology rejects "the application ex opere operato of the Lord’s Supper on behalf of the dead." The ELCA is in full communion with the Episcopal Church, the Moravian Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Reformed Church in America, the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church (Wikipedia, ELCA), so its table is open more widely than the LCMS's.

The church is the congregation of saints, where the Gospel is taught and the sacraments given. God instituted the ministry to do this. Congregations join in synods (LCMS, WELS) or are led by bishops (ELCA, Nordic churches).

The Augsburg Confession defines the church in one line: "The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered." It says the ministry was instituted by God "that we may obtain this faith," and that the power of the bishops "according to the Gospel" is "to preach the Gospel, to remit and retain sins, and to administer Sacraments." The Confessions do not say that the church requires bishops in a line from the apostles. The Apology says of the bishops of its day that "they may be bishops according to canonical polity, which we do not censure."

The bodies are organized differently. The LCMS is a synod, a word it says means "walking together," and its congregations "voluntarily choose to belong." The LCMS lists "a male-only pastoral office" among the teachings that separate it from the ELCA. The ELCA is led by a presiding bishop and by synod bishops, and ordains women, as its predecessor churches did from the 1970s. The Church of Sweden keeps the threefold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons, and the Church of Norway is governed by bishops and synods together. The EKD is a federation of twenty regional churches, Lutheran, Reformed and united.

The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.

That we may obtain this faith, the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted.

the power of the Keys, or the power of the bishops, according to the Gospel, is a power or commandment of God, to preach the Gospel, to remit and retain sins, and to administer Sacraments.

The LCMS on its name: "That word in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod comes from Greek words that mean ‘walking together.’ The term has rich meaning in our church body because congregations voluntarily choose to belong to the Synod." On the office of bishop the Apology says: "Those who are now bishops do not perform the duties of bishops according to the Gospel; although, indeed, they may be bishops according to canonical polity, which we do not censure." The Augsburg Confession (Article VII) says: "Nor is it necessary that human traditions, that is, rites or ceremonies, instituted by men, should be everywhere alike." The ELCA elected Elizabeth Eaton, the first woman, as presiding bishop in 2013 (Wikipedia). The first woman bishop in the ELCA was elected in 1992. The ALC and LCA ordained women from 1970 and the AELC from 1976. The LCMS president "is the chief ecclesiastical and ecumenical officer of the Synod."

Worship centers on the Word and the Sacrament. The Confessions kept the old liturgy, the church year and most customary ceremonies as matters of good order, and the style now varies from organ and choir to praise band.

The Augsburg Confession says that "the Mass is retained among us, and celebrated with the highest reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved, save that the parts sung in Latin are interspersed here and there with German hymns." The ceremonies are kept for a purpose: "ceremonies are needed to this end alone that the unlearned be taught." The Epitome calls them "ceremonies or church rites which are neither commanded nor forbidden in God's Word," kept "for the sake of good order and propriety."

The ELCA says that "common elements of worship include sharing the word of God through Bible readings, listening to a sermon and receiving Holy Communion," and that "worship styles and languages vary." The LCMS gives its congregations a calendar of Scripture readings arranged by the church year and a hymnal, the Lutheran Service Book. Lutherans pray to God alone. The Augsburg Confession says Scripture "teaches not the invocation of saints or to ask help of saints."

Falsely are our churches accused of abolishing the Mass; for the Mass is retained among us, and celebrated with the highest reverence.

common elements of worship include sharing the word of God through Bible readings, listening to a sermon and receiving Holy Communion.

Concerning ceremonies or church rites which are neither commanded nor forbidden in God's Word, but have been introduced into the Church for the sake of good order and propriety

The Augsburg Confession (Article XXIV): "The people are accustomed to partake of the Sacrament together, if any be fit for it, and this also increases the reverence and devotion of public worship." On the language of worship it appeals to Paul (1 Corinthians 14:2-9) and says the church should use "a language understood by the people." The Apology adds: "we cheerfully maintain the old traditions [as, the three high festivals, the observance of Sunday, and the like] made in the Church for the sake of usefulness and tranquillity." The ELCA says: "Worship styles and languages vary across the ELCA's 8,400 congregations. Some congregations worship in storefronts, parks or historic church buildings. Some have contemporary music and a praise band, others an organ and a choir." The LCMS lists "Scripture readings, arranged according to church year, to be read during Sunday and festival services." Its children's inserts explain "the church year seasons, the liturgy, sanctuaries and general information about worship." On music the LCMS says: "We in the LCMS are heirs of an astonishingly rich tradition: more than five centuries of Lutheran hymns and hymnals."

The Holy Spirit works faith through the Word and the sacraments, in those who hear the Gospel. Lutheran confessions reject any claim to the Spirit apart from the outward Word.

The Augsburg Confession says the ministry was instituted so that people may obtain faith: "through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Ghost is given, who works faith; where and when it pleases God, in them that hear the Gospel." The LCMS says: "The Holy Spirit creates faith through the proclamation of the Word of God and the administration of the Sacraments." The ELCA says: "Scripture teaches that faith is a gift of God."

The Confessions are strict about this. The Solid Declaration says that those who "imagine [dream] that God, without any means, without the hearing of the divine Word, and without the use of the holy Sacraments, draws men to Himself" are wrong, and calls them "enthusiasts." The texts checked here speak of the Spirit's work in faith, baptism, absolution and the Supper. They do not discuss speaking in tongues, healing or prophecy as gifts for today. Mekane Yesus, the largest Lutheran church, is described as Lutheran with some Pentecostal influence in its worship.

the Holy Ghost is given, who works faith; where and when it pleases God, in them that hear the Gospel

The Holy Spirit creates faith through the proclamation of the Word of God and the administration of the Sacraments.

Scripture teaches that faith is a gift of God.

The Solid Declaration: "both the ancient and modern enthusiasts have taught that God converts men, and leads them to the saving knowledge of Christ through His Spirit, without any created means and instrument, that is, without the external preaching and hearing of God's Word." It adds that such people "should in no way be tolerated in the Church of God." The Small Catechism calls baptism "a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost," citing Titus 3:5. No official LCMS, WELS or ELCA statement on spiritual gifts today was checked for this chart, and one would be needed before saying more about what these bodies hold on tongues and healing.

Christ will return to judge, raise all the dead and give eternal life to the godly. The unbelieving face condemnation. The Confessions reject purgatory and indulgences, and the ELCA speaks with more reserve about who is saved.

The Augsburg Confession says: "Christ will appear for judgment, and will raise up all the dead; He will give to the godly and elect eternal life and everlasting joys, but ungodly men and the devils He will condemn to be tormented without end." It condemns the Anabaptists "who think that there will be an end to the punishments of condemned men and devils," and "certain Jewish opinions, that before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall take possession of the kingdom of the world."

The LCMS says: "Those who trust in Jesus as their Savior will rise to eternal life in heaven. Those who deny Jesus and live in their sin will be cast out of His presence to hell." The ELCA, asked how it understands heaven and hell, answers: "You might be surprised to learn that Christians today talk about heaven and hell much more than the Bible does." Of what will happen after death, it says: "The answer to that question lies in God's hands, not ours." The Apology rejects the Roman doctrine that satisfactions redeem the punishments of purgatory, and rejects Masses applied to the dead. It adds that "the ancients speak of prayer for the dead, which we do not prohibit."

Christ will appear for judgment, and will raise up all the dead; He will give to the godly and elect eternal life and everlasting joys, but ungodly men and the devils He will condemn to be tormented without end.

Those who trust in Jesus as their Savior will rise to eternal life in heaven. Those who deny Jesus and live in their sin will be cast out of His presence to hell.

The answer to that question lies in God’s hands, not ours.

The Apology (Article XXIV): "we know that the ancients speak of prayer for the dead, which we do not prohibit; but we disapprove of the application ex opere operato of the Lord’s Supper on behalf of the dead." The Apology also says of the Roman scheme: "They imagine that eternal punishments are commuted to the punishments of purgatory, and teach that a part of these is remitted by the power of the keys, and that a part is to be redeemed by means of satisfactions." The ELCA answer above sits beside its statement that Christians are transformed "by the gift of grace, received through faith."

Law and Gospel

The Law shows sin and the Gospel gives Christ. Keeping the two apart is called the key to reading Scripture rightly.

Lutherans read Scripture through a distinction. The Law tells people what God requires and shows them their sin. The Gospel tells them what God has done for them in Christ. The Epitome calls this "an especially brilliant light, by which, according to the admonition of St. Paul, the Word of God is rightly divided." The ELCA says the same in its own words: God "works through both law and gospel." The Epitome grants that the word Gospel is used in two ways. Taken broadly, as "the entire doctrine of Christ," it "is a preaching of repentance and of the forgiveness of sins." Set against the Law, it is "properly nothing else than a preaching of consolation." The Solid Declaration also teaches that the Law guides the believer's life, which is called the third use of the Law.

the distinction between the Law and the Gospel is to be maintained in the Church with great diligence as an especially brilliant light, by which, according to the admonition of St. Paul, the Word of God is rightly divided.

God works through both law and gospel, calling us to serve our neighbors and providing mercy, hope, and joy through Jesus Christ in modern, often unsettling times.

because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin.

So that the law is become our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor.

and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus:

Lutherans stand on apostolic ground in the heart of this teaching: "by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20). Their own Epitome also grants that in Scripture's broad use the Gospel "is a preaching of repentance and of the forgiveness of sins," as the risen Lord commanded "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations" (Luke 24:47). The fault lies in making the narrow sense, the Gospel as promise only, the key to all of Scripture, so that the commands the Gospel itself carries, to repent and be baptized, are heard as Law and as a human work. The apostles speak of those who "obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thessalonians 1:8), and Paul's tutor was the Law of Moses until Christ came: "now that faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor" (Galatians 3:25). The distinction is true, but the system built on it divides what the apostles preached as one Gospel with its commands.

When the crowd at Pentecost heard the Gospel and asked, "Brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37), Peter answered with commands: "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you" (Acts 2:38). Paul received his apostleship "unto obedience of faith among all the nations" (Romans 1:5), and in Jerusalem "a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:7). The Solid Declaration says believers "should daily exercise themselves in the Law of the Lord, as it is written," so Lutherans do teach a life of obedience. The weak point is narrower. Baptism and repentance are classed with what man does, where Scripture presents them as the response the Gospel itself commands.

The liturgy and the church year

The old Mass, the church year and customary ceremonies are kept because they are neither commanded nor forbidden, and serve good order.

The Lutheran Reformation did not clear away what it received. The Augsburg Confession says that church usages "ought to be observed which may be observed without sin, and which are profitable unto tranquillity and good order in the Church." The Epitome calls such rites "neither commanded nor forbidden in God's Word." The rule is that anything not forbidden may be kept. The church year, the Sunday readings, the festivals and the liturgy follow from this. Today the LCMS publishes calendars and hymns for the church year, and the ELCA says its congregations vary from organ and choir to praise band.

those ought to be observed which may be observed without sin, and which are profitable unto tranquillity and good order in the Church

Now I praise you that ye remember me in all things, and hold fast the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day: which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

but now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again? Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years. I am afraid of you, lest by any means I have bestowed labor upon you in vain.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

The Lutherans keep one rule, to retain what Scripture does not forbid, and Paul praised another, to keep what the apostles gave: "hold fast the traditions, even as I delivered them to you" (1 Corinthians 11:2). The New Testament names one day for the church's gathering, the first day of the week (Acts 20:7), and the Lutherans keep it. It names no yearly round of festivals and seasons, and Paul calls the feast days of the old order "a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s" (Colossians 2:17), and feared for converts who took up a calendar: "Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years" (Galatians 4:10). To their credit the Confessions bind the church year on no one, and the Apology calls the festivals "old traditions." That admission is the verdict: an order of days the apostles did not deliver is a human tradition, and the church loses nothing by laying it down.

The Apology says: "we cheerfully maintain the old traditions [as, the three high festivals, the observance of Sunday, and the like] made in the Church for the sake of usefulness and tranquillity." The Lord's day is the one day the New Testament names (Acts 20:7). The festivals and seasons are kept as free things. The fault is not in singing a psalm in a set order. It is that a pattern of days that no apostle taught tends to become the thing a congregation is known by, and Paul's word to the Galatians is a warning about that tendency.

Confession and absolution

Private absolution is retained. The pastor, by Christ's command, declares to the one who repents that his sins are forgiven.

The Augsburg Confession says that "Private Absolution ought to be retained in the churches, although in confession an enumeration of all sins is not necessary." It teaches that people "should highly prize the absolution, as being the voice of God, and pronounced by God's command." It adds that "such faith in Christ truly obtains and receives the forgiveness of sins." Confession is not abolished, but it is not required to list every sin. Absolution is given to the one who is sorry and believes.

Private Absolution ought to be retained in the churches, although in confession an enumeration of all sins is not necessary.

they should highly prize the absolution, as being the voice of God, and pronounced by God's command

whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working.

But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.

Lutherans are right to drop the Roman demand to list every sin, and right that forgiveness is sure: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9). Christ did give the apostles authority to declare sins forgiven and retained (John 20:23), and believers are told, "Confess therefore your sins one to another" (James 5:16), which is a confession among brethren, not a rite before a pastor. The Augsburg Confession makes being "examined and absolved" the usual door to the Supper, while Paul's rule is "let a man prove himself, and so let him eat" (1 Corinthians 11:28). Private absolution is a custom the Lutherans kept from Rome in a purer form, and the apostles did not command it.

The Augsburg Confession (Article XXV) says "it is not usual to give the body of the Lord, except to them that have been previously examined and absolved." Absolution is joined to coming to the table. The Lutheran practice does not include the works of satisfaction that the Apology condemns.

Saints remembered, not invoked

The memory of the saints is kept as an example. They are not prayed to, because Christ alone is Mediator and Advocate.

The Augsburg Confession teaches "that the memory of saints may be set before us, that we may follow their faith and good works." It adds that "the Scripture teaches not the invocation of saints or to ask help of saints, since it sets before us the one Christ as the Mediator, Propitiation, High Priest, and Intercessor." The LCMS calendar commemorates figures such as C. F. W. Walther on a day of remembrance. The Lutheran confessions keep the honor and drop the prayer.

the memory of saints may be set before us, that we may follow their faith and good works, according to our calling

the Scripture teaches not the invocation of saints or to ask help of saints, since it sets before us the one Christ as the Mediator, Propitiation, High Priest, and Intercessor

For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus,

My little children, these things write I unto you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Here Lutherans stand with the apostles, and further from Rome and the East than on any other point. John writes, "we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1), and Paul, "there is one God, one mediator also between God and men" (1 Timothy 2:5). John was forbidden to bow even to an angel and told, "worship God" (Revelation 19:10). The "cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1) are examples to run by, as the Confession says, and not helpers to call on.

The Confessions ground the teaching in Christ's office as Intercessor, and the Apology (Article XXI) argues at length that no text of Scripture commands invoking saints. The Lutheran calendar of commemorations is a remembrance, in the Confessions' words "that we may follow their faith and good works." The Lutherans have kept this teaching where much else in their churches has changed.

Church and state

Church and state are two separate powers given by God, each to be honored in its own sphere. Yet Lutheran churches in Germany and the Nordic lands long stood as state churches.

The Augsburg Confession distinguishes "the power of the Church and the power of the sword," and says that "both of them, because of God's commandment, are to be held in reverence and honor, as the chief blessings of God on earth." The church does not rule by the sword, and the state does not teach the Gospel. In practice the Peace of Augsburg of 1555 let each prince choose the religion of his land. The Norwegian king was the head of the Church of Norway until 2012, and its clergy were civil servants until 2017. The Church of Sweden was the state church until 2000. In 1934 the Barmen Declaration, signed by Lutheran, Reformed and united Christians, rejected the subordination of the church to the state.

both of them, because of God's commandment, are to be held in reverence and honor, as the chief blessings of God on earth

Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God; and the powers that be are ordained of God.

But Peter and the apostles answered and said, We must obey God rather than men.

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

They say unto him, Cæsar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.

The Confession is right that the two powers differ: "Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers" (Romans 13:1), yet "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29), and the Lord said, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). A church whose membership is a map, with the infants of a whole realm baptized and counted, is another matter, for the church of the New Testament was made of people who had heard, believed and been baptized. In Sweden the church still registers half the nation, and only a small share of its members attends. Barmen in 1934 was a true witness for the church's freedom, but the territorial church it defended was the settlement of 1555, not the order of the apostles.

The Norwegian monarch was the church's titular head from 1537 to 2012, and church employees were civil servants until 2017, when the Church of Norway became a legal entity separate from the state (Wikipedia, Church of Norway). The Church of Sweden was the state church until 2000. It registered 5,365,542 members at the end of 2025, 50.7 percent of the population, and about 2 percent of its members attended regularly in 2010 (Wikipedia, Church of Sweden). The EKD's member churches "are no longer state churches," though "they enjoy constitutional protection as statutory corporations" (Wikipedia, EKD).

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. Each position above is set against it, and the wall below shows how far each one stands from it. Choose a course to read the Scripture and the reason. The Lutheran churches are the oldest of the Protestant family, and in several places they stand nearer the line than Rome or the East. This is said first and plainly. They also kept much that the apostles did not give, and that is said just as plainly.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

What thing soever I command you, that shall ye observe to do: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

The Lutheran Confessions stand nearer the line here than Rome or the East: Scripture "alone" is the "sole rule and standard," and every other writing, their own included, is a witness and not an equal, as the Bereans tested even an apostle by "examining the Scriptures daily" (Acts 17:11). Scripture makes the man of God "complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (2 Timothy 3:17), and the LCMS and WELS confess it without error. Two things hold the course off the line. The rule that whatever Scripture does not forbid may be kept goes past Paul's word to learn "not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). And a human confession is bound on pastors as "a correct interpretation and presentation of biblical doctrine," where the apostles bound no creed but the Word.

Moses gave the same rule for the Lord's commands: "thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it" (Deuteronomy 12:32). The ELCA's own page says that its "roots are in Scripture and a collection of writings called the Book of Concord." No ELCA statement on how it reads the Bible was checked for this chart. The LCMS says that the ELCA differs from it on "the doctrine and authority of Scripture." Where a church sets aside what the Bible plainly says on a moral question, it has put another authority above Scripture, whatever its confession says.

for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ;

On grace Lutherans teach what the apostles taught, "by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8), and they confess with Peter that baptism is "unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38) and "doth now save you" (1 Peter 3:21), not a mere sign. But every baptism in the New Testament follows hearing and believing: "They then that received his word were baptized" (Acts 2:41), and Philip's hearers were baptized "when they believed" (Acts 8:12). The Large Catechism admits that the child is brought only "in the conviction and hope that it believes," and rests the practice on "the command of God," yet the one command is to "make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them" and "teaching them" (Matthew 28:19-20). Peter defines the baptism that saves as "the interrogation of a good conscience toward God" (1 Peter 3:21), which no infant can make, so a faith the rite is said to create in a child is a claim no text makes. The course stands far from the line because the person baptized and the usual mode both differ from the text, though the Confessions name baptism's purpose rightly and condemn any rite said to work "without a good disposition" in the one who receives it.

The texts offered for infant baptism do not carry it. The household of the jailer first heard: "they spake the word of the Lord unto him, with all that were in his house" (Acts 16:32), and afterward he rejoiced "with all his house, having believed in God" (Acts 16:34). When "they were bringing unto him also their babes" (Luke 18:15), Jesus blessed them and baptized no one. The promise of Pentecost is to "as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him" (Acts 2:39), and those who were baptized were those "that received his word" (Acts 2:41). The Large Catechism's chief proof is not a text but experience: that infant baptism pleases Christ "is sufficiently proved from His own work," because God has given the Spirit to many baptized as infants. God's mercy to such people is real, but it does not show what the apostles commanded.

On the mode, Paul says "We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death" (Romans 6:4), and the Large Catechism itself describes the act as being "sunk under the water, which passes over us, and afterwards are drawn out again." Lutherans usually pour, and their own magazine says the manner "is not a matter of divine command." The Confession describes the burial and the practice leaves it aside.

On "faith alone," the only verse that says "faith only" says that "by works a man is justified, and not only by faith" (James 2:24). Paul rules out works of the law, and James rules out a faith that does nothing. Both are the apostles' word, and neither is "faith alone" taken apart from repentance and baptism.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ?

In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body.

Lutherans stand nearer the line here than Rome: the cup is given to all, the Mass is refused as a sacrifice, for Christ "offered one sacrifice for sins for ever" (Hebrews 10:12), and the Apology says the Supper is held "every Lord's Day," which is the pattern "upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20:7). Yet the LCMS's own magazine says most of its congregations came to offer it only "at least twice a month," and a congregation that does not break bread each first day falls short of a pattern that binds. On the presence, Paul calls the bread "a communion of the body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:16), but in the same words of institution the Lord says "This cup is the new covenant in my blood" (1 Corinthians 11:25), where the cup is plainly not a covenant in itself, and Paul still calls what is eaten "this bread" (1 Corinthians 11:26). A sacramental union "in, with and under," received even by unbelievers, is an inference beyond the text, and the LCMS and WELS make agreement with it a condition of the table. Paul sets one rule for the one who comes: "let a man prove himself, and so let him eat" (1 Corinthians 11:28).

The Epitome teaches that "the unworthy and unbelievers" also "receive the true body and blood of Christ" for judgment. Paul says the one who eats "eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body" (1 Corinthians 11:29). That the unworthy are judged is plain. That they receive the body is the Lutheran inference, and it is stated as a doctrine for the church to hold. The same Confessions say the Supper is received in faith for the forgiveness of sins, which is right, and they rightly refuse a sacrifice, as the cup is given "in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:25). The practice of close communion makes membership in a synod a condition of the table, and the Augsburg Confession made examination and absolution its usual door, where the apostles left it to each one's own examination. The ELCA opens its table more widely and is in full communion with several other churches, though the same Supper is then offered by churches that teach differently on baptism and on the Supper itself.

Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

The Confessions begin well: the church is "the congregation of saints," the bishop's power "according to the Gospel" is only to preach, forgive and give the sacraments, and no unbroken line of bishops is claimed. But the apostles left a plurality of elders in each church, for they "appointed for them elders in every church" (Acts 14:23), and the Spirit made the elders of Ephesus the "bishops" of that one flock (Acts 20:28), so that elder and bishop are one office in one congregation. Lutheranism sets one pastor over a congregation and a district president or bishop over the pastors, and the ELCA and the Nordic churches add a presiding bishop or the threefold ministry, none of which is in the text. The LCMS and WELS keep the pastoral office for men, as Paul did: "I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man" (1 Timothy 2:12). The ELCA ordains women and since 2009 has allowed ministers in same-sex relationships, though the bishop must be "the husband of one wife" (1 Timothy 3:2) and Paul names as error "men with men working unseemliness" (Romans 1:27).

The EKD is a federation of Lutheran, Reformed and united regional churches, and it ordains women in all its member churches (Wikipedia). It joins bodies whose confessions differ. The LCMS is a synod of congregations that choose to belong, and the congregation calls its own pastor, which is nearer the New Testament than a church ruled by bishops. The Church of Norway's clergy were employed by the state until 2017. The rule in the text is simple: elders, appointed in each church, who are men of proven life and who are told, "Tend the flock of God which is among you" (1 Peter 5:2).

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

howbeit in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

Of the old churches, the Lutherans stand nearest the line in worship: they pray to God alone, for there is "one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5), and the Word is read and preached in the people's tongue, as Paul would "rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue" (1 Corinthians 14:19). The people sing, "teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Colossians 3:16). The course is not on the line because the service has added what the apostles did not give. The organ and the choir stand where the New Testament names only "singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19), and an inherited liturgy and a year of seasons shape the whole assembly. The Lutherans hold all of these as free, which is to their credit, but a free addition is still an addition.

The ELCA says worship may have "a praise band" or "an organ and a choir." The LCMS publishes liturgy audio, church-year calendars and the Lutheran Service Book. These are free choices for the Lutherans, and they say so, and a free choice is not the same as a command. But a set order of service, a calendar of seasons and an organ are additions to what the first churches did, which was to continue in "the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts 2:42). The matter is one of degree. The Lutherans have kept fewer additions than Rome, and they have taught that none is required.

This only would I learn from you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal.

Lutherans tie the Holy Spirit to the Word and to baptism, which is the pattern of Scripture: Peter promises "the gift of the Holy Spirit" to those who repent and are baptized (Acts 2:38), and Paul asks, "Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" (Galatians 3:2). The Confessions rightly refuse every claim of the Spirit apart from the outward Word, and that guards the church against prophets who speak from their own hearts. But the Spirit is given "to them that obey him" (Acts 5:32), and Lutherans give the promise of Acts 2:38 to infants who have neither heard nor repented. The texts checked for this chart also say nothing of the gifts Paul says are given "to each one" (1 Corinthians 12:7). The course stands midway: right about the means, wrong about who receives them.

Paul tells the church: "despise not prophesyings" (1 Thessalonians 5:20). Whether the miraculous gifts continued after the apostles is a question on which Christians differ, and Scripture does not name the date they ceased. The Lutheran silence on them is a gap in the teaching and not a denial, and this chart has not found an official LCMS, WELS or ELCA statement to weigh. Mekane Yesus, the largest Lutheran church, is described as having "some Pentecostal influence."

Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.

And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

The Confessions teach what the Lord taught: "all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28-29). They reject purgatory and any end to the punishment of the lost, as Jesus did: "these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46), and the LCMS says the same in plain words. The ELCA stands apart: it tells inquirers that Christians "talk about heaven and hell much more than the Bible does," yet the Lord himself warned of the one "who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). The Apology also leaves room for prayer for the dead, which no text commands. And Article XVII condemns "certain Jewish opinions, that before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall take possession of the kingdom of the world," which binds as a confession article one view of an order of events that Scripture does not settle. The course stands near the line, not on it, for these three reasons.

Each one will "receive the things done in the body" (2 Corinthians 5:10), and "it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). The Apology's "which we do not prohibit" for prayers for the dead is a permission, not a practice the Confessions require. The Confessions' rejection of the Roman purgatory is at full strength, and it is right. On the thousand years. The view Article XVII condemns may well be wrong, and the plain texts lean against an age between the resurrections (John 5:28-29). But a confession that condemns a view of the order as error binds an unsettled point as surely as one that requires a view, and the LCMS holds the Confessions to be "a correct interpretation and presentation of biblical doctrine." This does not move the placement, which already rests on the two faults above.

Much that the Lutheran churches confess, Scripture also teaches, and it should be said plainly. They confess one God in three persons, and Christ truly God and truly man, born of a virgin, crucified, risen and coming again to judge the living and the dead. They hold Scripture to be the only rule of faith, and the LCMS and WELS hold it to be the Word of God without error. They teach that no one earns salvation, but that it is by grace through faith, and that good works follow as its fruit. They give the cup to all who commune, hold the Supper every Lord's day in their Confession, and refuse the Mass as a sacrifice. They teach baptism as God's gift for the forgiveness of sins, and not as a mere sign. They pray to God alone and keep the saints as examples, not as helpers. They reject purgatory, indulgences and the papacy. Their worship is centered on the Word read and preached, and their people sing. Through four centuries and under kings, dictators and indifference, they have kept the faith in Christ and, at Barmen and in Ethiopia, have paid for it.

Measured by the New Testament alone, the Lutheran churches stand nearer the line than Rome, the East and the Oriental Orthodox on most courses, and still short of it on those that matter most. Their rule of faith is Scripture, but they bind a human confession beside it as a test of fellowship. Their baptism is a true washing for the forgiveness of sins, but it is given to infants who cannot yet repent or believe. Their Supper is rightly given in both kinds, but its mode is bound, and in two large synods the table is closed to other Christians. Their government is one pastor over a congregation, and a synod or a bishop over the pastors, where the apostles left elders in every church. Their worship carries a liturgy and a year that no apostle set.

One division runs through the whole family. The LCMS and WELS hold the Bible without error and a male-only pastoral office, which agrees with the text. The ELCA ordains women and, since 2009, ministers in same-sex relationships, and in doing so sets aside what Paul wrote. It is a plain departure from the text, and it is judged here as one.

None of this is contempt for them. The Lutherans recovered much that had been lost: grace, the Word, the cup, and the plain naming of the Mediator. The answer to them is the answer they gave Rome. Bring every teaching to the Scriptures alone, and keep only what the apostles taught: "the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3).

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