What's in a Name? Some thoughts on being "Lutheran"

It seems these days that names don't mean as much as they used to mean. Take the name "Lutheran," for example. Being a Lutheran used to mean something. Being a Lutheran used to mean a person who believes unabashedly in the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for us. Being a Lutheran used to mean confessing that we are justified by God entirely apart from works for the sake of Jesus. Being a Lutheran used to mean that you believe that the Word of God is powerful unto salvation and that God works through means such as Word and Sacrament to convert us to faith in Christ and sustain us in that faith. Being a Lutheran used to mean that we had a solid confession of Christ Jesus contained in the confessional documents of the Book of Concord of 1580— documents that were Christ-centered and to which we subscribed unconditionally because those documents were fully in accord with all of Scripture's teaching.

Apparently, being Lutheran doesn't mean that anymore. These days, being Lutheran can mean any number of things. Of course, this is nothing new. All the way back in 1866, Edward F. Moldehnke (WELS), wrote "much passes for Lutheran and so also is regarded as Lutheran which is not actually Lutheran" 1 To some, being Lutheran means that you follow certain traditions handed down from Lutheranism (it's much closer to tracing one's genealogy than affirming a statement of confession of faith in Christ). To others, being Lutheran means worshiping Luther instead of Christ (an accusation not that uncommon these days). On the extreme end of things, being Lutheran means using a formerly?-respectable name to justify all sorts of godless paganism and deluding people into thinking this is true Christianity.

Even still... I believe there is still something to being a Lutheran. I believe that if we stand up and stand firm, the Lutheran name can still mean something. It can still mean a person who unabashedly believes in Christ Jesus and Him alone for salvation. It can still mean a person who believes the truths of God's Word as they are correctly explained and taught in the Book of Concord, for to do so is to confess the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Rev. Dr. A.L. Barry 2 (former president of the LC-MS) once wrote:

Genuine Lutherans, confessional Lutherans, dare to insist that "All doctrines should conform to the standards [the Lutheran Confessions] set forth above.  Whatever is contrary to them should be rejected and condemned as opposed to the unanimous declaration of our faith" (FC Ep.RN,6).  Such a statement may strike some as boastful, but it is not. Rather, it is an expression of the Spirit-led confidence that moves us to speak of the one true faith before the world. To be a Lutheran is to be one who honors the Word of God. That Word makes it clear that it is God's desire for His church to be in agreement about doctrine, and to be of one mind, living at peace with one another (1 Cor.1:10; 2 Cor.13:11).

It is for that reason that we deeply treasure the precious confession of Christian truth that we have in the Book of Concord.  For confessional Lutherans, there is no other collection of documents, or statements, or books that so clearly, accurately and comfortingly presents the teachings of God's Word and reveals the Biblical Gospel as does our Book of Concord.

Hand-in-hand with our commitment to pure teaching and confession of the faith, is, and always must be, our equally strong commitment to reaching out boldly with the Gospel and speaking God’s truth to the world. That is what "confession" of the faith is all about, in the final analysis. Indeed, "It is written: 'I believed; therefore I have spoken.' With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak”(2 Cor.4:13).This is what it means to be a Lutheran.

SDG.

1. originally published in Evangelisch-Lutherisches Gemeinde-Blatt, Vol. 1, Watertown, WI: April 1866). Translated into English by Nathaniel Biebert and printed in "Studium Excitare: The Journal of Confessional Language Studies at Martin Luther College, 2010, issue 12.
2. Barry, A.L., "What about: Being a Lutheran," Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod: Office of the President, 2001.