I haven't been posting regularly, because I'm trying to learn how to articulate myself better. So, I decided to focus where Lutherans get most misunderstood, ignored, or even confused. And I decided to take my time with it. Sometimes, I just want to keep writing, but realize I have to stop somewhere. If you have a short attention span, I invite you to read paragraph 6. Cheers.
The “Word and Sacraments” is a phrase that commonly comes up with Lutherans. But it’s also a phrase that quickly rubs people the wrong way, as if it were the road to Rome. However, as opposed to Catholicism, Lutherans have a totally different definition of the Sacraments and Salvation because of the Word. And the Word is that which declares our salvation accomplished, Jesus himself. Roman Catholics define sacraments like a blessing, including marriage and ordination. But Lutherans would say the blessing of Christ is most sacred, and they therefore reserve the term “sacrament” for the mystery of our salvation. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are for all people, but marriage and ordination is not.
Lutherans accept that the term “sacrament” is not found anywhere in the Bible. But they believe the idea to be Biblical. The word is used by Lutherans the same way all Christians would use the term “Trinity”, which is also a word not found in the Bible. The historicity of the word “sacrament” comes from avoidance of the word “mystery”, which is a word that is used in the scriptures, but earlier Christians preferred to substitute it for “sacrament” in order to distance themselves from the esoteric mystery religions. So while a “sacrament” is not exactly a coined term in the Bible, the teaching certainly is Biblical.
Lutherans also teach that the word and sacraments are important because this is how Christians receive saving faith. Faith isn’t something that comes out of nowhere. It is a gift from God, and he comes to us in saving power through his promises. Naturally, you cannot have faith without the promises of God revealed to you. Therefore, Lutherans teach that the Word and Sacraments are where God reveals the mystery of salvation, and shows us that his disposition towards us is grace. And thus he saves us through the faith he creates in us by the Word and Sacraments. The Word and Sacraments are important because faith alone is important.
In Lutheran theology, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are characterized by words like declaration, proclamation, and promise. These are also words that characterize the Gospel. Lutherans, like all Christians, believe that the Holy Spirit has wrought faith and repentance in the hearts of all Christians through the Word of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but they also perceive God to work faith and repentance in the faithful, continually, not only through the mouth of a preacher, but also through Baptism and the Supper, because in them is found the same gospel that offers the same solid promise of the cross. That is why the Word and Sacraments go together in Lutheran terminology. Since the word reveals Christ’s saving acts and thus save us by faith, so do the sacraments because they contain the same word and revelation, but with a sign, and gives us the same faith.
This generally gets lost on evangelicals who view salvation as a one-time decision. However, Lutherans would say that all Christians are ever dependent on God’s saving grace and promises. They make it a point to confess that whenever you have the promises of salvation there you will also have forgiveness and life. Lutherans see this as a work of God who is constantly feeding our faith with the same promises that he always gives us through the Word and Sacraments. Lutherans do not ever rationalize this in any legalistic way to earn forgiveness for ourselves, but confess that God never stops declaring us righteous on account of Jesus, and that he never stops offering his promise to us, even when we have faith.
Lutherans believe when God forgives us our sins, it is complete and entire in Christ. All sins, past, present and future, are washed away. In the Lutheran churches, this message of the Crucified is revealed in several ways. They teach that Jesus comes to us and saves us through the Word, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, on account of faith. And yet, they do not regard the Word and Sacraments as something to be added up to attain salvation. But they regard each as having the whole of salvation, on account of the Word that declares us forgiven and redeemed in Christ. They believe when we come to faith through the preaching of the word we have and receive salvation, but also that when we are baptized we have and receive salvation, and when we partake of the Lord’s Supper we have and receive salvation. Salvation isn’t quantifiable as if we gain it in bits and pieces. Rather in Lutheran theology, salvation is lived in as an ever-present reality, and in it we endlessly have and receive, complete and entire grace, simultaneously, to excite faith in the One who has done it all. Lutherans hold the word and sacraments to be special promises and sure realities in this extraordinary encounter with Jesus. These gifts come through the overflowing love of God in Christ Jesus, transcending quantity, and create and sustain faith in the Gospel.
That is to say, that when Jesus says, “Take, eat; this is my body” and when he took the cup and said, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins”, Lutherans teach that you actually receive the body and blood of Christ, which is for the forgiveness of sins. And when Jesus says, “he that believes and is baptized shall be saved” or when Scripture says, “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name”, Lutherans believe these words accomplish what they say. Lutherans take these to be special dynamics in salvation, by the power of the Word, and should be trusted and believed. For Lutherans, to confess the Word and the Sacraments is to confess Christ, which is to confess the power of the Word. Christ’s words deliver what they say, and they deliver his promises, and his promises deliver him.
I suppose you could frame Lutheran teaching this way, “Jesus is present in his word, and manifestly present in his word-pictures. Both appear weak to human eyes and ears, but both work for the same end, and demand our faith.” Lutherans teach if someone does not have any faith, they do not receive these gifts to their benefit. The gift is still offered with integrity and sincerity, and retains every intention of the gift, but like the preaching of the Word, if it is not received in faith, it is rejected, and the gift is lost on deaf ears. But even still it doesn’t nullify the promises offered, Christ has still died for all, and the sacraments testify to every individual that he has died for them.
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