What We Believe, Teach and Confess
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Christ Lutheran Church believes, teaches and confesses the Triune God: the Father, creator of all that exists; Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, who became man to suffer and die for the sins of all people and to rise to life again in ultimate victory over death and Satan; and the Holy Spirit, who creates and sustains saving faith through God's preached Word and the true Sacraments of Christ. The three persons of the holy Trinity are coequal and co-eternal, one God.
Christ Lutheran Church believes, teaches and confesses the Biblical teaching of Martin Luther (1483-1546) that inspired the Reformation of the Christian Church in the 16th century. The teaching of Luther and his fellow reformers may be summarized in three short phrases: Grace alone, Word alone, Faith (in Christ) alone.
Grace alone:
For the sake of His Son, God loves all mankind, even though everyone is by nature sinful, rebellious against God and undeserving of His love. God freely sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to love the unlovable and save the ungodly. God wants all to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth in Christ.
Word alone:
The Christian Bible is God's Word, without error and infallible. In it God reveals both His Law (summarized in the Ten Commandments), and, more significantly, His Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. The Bible is the sole rule and norm for Christian teaching and life. The Bible is preached and taught as God's living voice, his Word.
Faith (in Christ) alone: By His suffering and death as substitute for all people of all time, Jesus purchased and won forgiveness and eternal life for them. Those who hear this Good News and believe it have the eternal life that it offers. God creates such saving faith in Christ, which simply receives Christ and his blessings. There is no other way of salvation. Such saving faith will then live in love for others. Christ Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. We hold to a confession of the one, holy catholic and apostolic Faith as taught in the Book of Concord of 1580 (the Concordia), the Lutheran Confessions. Christ Lutheran Church is confessional and orthodox, evangelical and catholic, confessing the Three Ecumencial Creeds. It holds to the Lutheran Confessions as a correct interpretation and presentation of Biblical teaching. The simplest of these is Luther's Small Catechism. The Augsburg Confession, the first and most basic of the Lutheran Creeds, provides a summary of the main articles of Christian teaching in controversy in the 16th century.
