On Being Lutheran: Common Culture or Common Confession

By Betsy Schroeder

I’m Lutheran. But what’s the big deal about that? For many who have been baptized, confirmed, and raised in the Lutheran Church, being Lutheran is often hardly distinguished from having a German or Scandinavian heritage. It has become merely a label for an identifiable culture and set of customs. In the American Midwest, they are: hot dishes—especially the legendary tater tot hot dish here in Minnesota, potlucks, Jell-o in the liturgical color of the Church Year, always sitting in the back of the church... all those clichés so comically portrayed by Garrison Keillor in his popular radio show “A Prairie Home Companion.” Lutheranism has become more about enjoying a common culture than about holding to a common confession of faith.

This confusing of identities has resulted in church members who do not understand what it really means to be Lutheran or the differences between the Lutheran Church bodies. Although Lutherans of different synods have some doctrine and practices in common, we are not tied together by our common love for beer and brats (that’s German sausage, not naughty children) or lefse and lutefisk. It is a common confession of faith that unites Lutherans. The fact that the term Lutheran encompasses more than just one confession can be confusing.

The United States is home to many subsets of the Lutheran Church. Why the divisions? Because of disagreement in doctrine. It is no different from the reason why there are Roman Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and so forth. Again, it is a common confession of faith that brings people together into a Church—not a common ethnic heritage or family tradition. Issues that divide the Lutheran Church at large range from whether Scripture is the inspired Word of God to the role of women in the Church to the issues of abortion and homosexuality.

As I went through grade school, I was surprised to learn that not all other people calling themselves Lutheran believed the same as I did—as I had been taught through my parents, the Divine Service, Sunday School, and confirmation. Through one discussion with a friend after school, I came to find out that one of the Lutheran churches in town had a woman pastor. I had never even heard of that before. Not long after, a conversation with one friend of my brother’s brought out that he was a Lutheran PK (pastor’s kid). However, as the tale unraveled, it came out that not only was his dad a pastor, but his mom was too! This was the second “Lutheran” church in town that I had heard had a woman pastor.

It became clear to me that there were indeed differences among the Lutherans. As the years passed, I was shocked to find out that some Lutherans supported abortion, that others believed the Bible is full of myths and errors, that many believed homosexuality is okay, and worst, that to most who held those views, none of these points of disagreement mattered, even though their beliefs were in direct conflict with Scripture. In reality, these discrepancies are major points of doctrine. One of the most significant differences is the disagreement on the inspiration of Scripture.

The orthodox Lutheran position is that the Scriptures are inspired by God in the sense that, though He certainly employed the background and education of the writers, He gave them the very words penned in the original Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic texts of the Holy Bible. There are no errors or contradictions in the teachings of Holy Scripture because God is the author. This is also the position of the Book of Concord, which orthodox Lutherans believe to be the correct exposition of God’s Word. The inerrancy of Scripture is only one of the many points of doctrine on which the different Lutheran circles disagree. But it is the issue on which all other points of doctrine rest. After all, if we can’t trust the Word of God to be inspired, inerrant, and true, what do we have to base our faith on? If Christ has not been raised, our faith is in vain! As orthodox Lutherans, we place our trust in what God tells us in His Word, that He has saved us from the consequences of our sins, through faith, for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ.

What does it truly mean to be a Lutheran? It means that we are simply a continuation of the Church catholic, teaching what the Christian Church has correctly believed, taught, and confessed from the time of the apostles. It means to hold fast to the Word of God, to accept the Book of Concord as the correct exposition of that Word, and to embrace the Sacraments and historic liturgy as they were passed down to us. Most of all, it means to cling to Jesus Christ as the full atonement for our sins. Through faith, we can look forward to eternal life with Him in heaven. This is most certainly true!

Betsy Schroeder is a May 2006 graduate of Concordia University Wisconsin with degrees in Parish Music and Business Communication. She can be reached at Betsy.Schroeder@cuw.edu.