What We Believe

What is the Christian faith?

The Christian faith is the confession that Jesus Christ is the world's only Savior and Redeemer. 

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." 

Who is Jesus Christ?

Jesus is true God and true man in one person. He is the eternal Son of the Father, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary to be our Savior and Lord. This God who became flesh in the person of the Son, Jesus Christ, is the only true God, the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

What has this one God done?

God made all things and loves His creation, especially His human creatures. Beginning with our first parents, all humanity has rebelled against Him and fallen into darkness, sin, and death. God the Father sent His only Son into the world to become man and to redeem and save humanity by His death and resurrection. God sent His Spirit so that people might once again be His own through faith in His Son, Jesus, who is the world's only hope, life, and salvation.  

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

What is a Christian?

A Christian is someone who, by the power and work of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, believes in and confesses Jesus as Savior and Lord. Through Baptism, a Christian is adopted into the Father's family, the Church. 

What does it mean to confess Jesus Christ as my Lord?

To confess Jesus as my Lord means that I trust Him in life and in death as my Savior and my God. His death and resurrection have atoned for all my sins and assured me of my resurrection to eternal life. I am His own and want to live for Him. 

Where do we learn about Jesus?

God's truth about Jesus Christ is made known in the Bible and is its central message. We call this truth the Gospel, namely, the promise of the forgiveness of sins for Jesus' sake. 

John 20:31 “But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”

What is the Bible?

The Bible gathers together the writings of God's chosen prophets and apostles over a period of more than a thousand years. Through the Holy Spirit, God Himself gave these writers the thoughts and words they recorded (verbal inspiration), such that the Bible is God's Word. For this reason, the Scriptures are both infallible (incapable of error) and inerrant (containing no mistakes). Holy Scripture is therefore entirely reliable and gives us everything we need to know and believe for Christian faith and life.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

What are the two great doctrines of the Bible?

Law and Gospel are the two great doctrines of the Bible. We must sharply distinguish between the Law and the Gospel in order to understand the Bible rightly. 

What is the difference between the Law and the Gospel?

The Law teaches what we are to do and not to do; the Gospel teaches what God has done, and still does, in Jesus, for our salvation. 

The Law shows us our sin and the wrath of God; the Gospel shows us our Savior and brings God's grace and favor.

The Law must be proclaimed to all people, but especially to sinners who refuse to repent; the Gospel must be proclaimed to sinners who are troubled by their sins.

What is the Small Catechism?

For centuries, Christians have used three important texts as a basic summary for teaching the Christian faith and life: the Ten Commandments, Creed, and Lord's Prayer. Martin Luther helpfully included biblical passages on Baptism, Confession, and the Lord's Supper. The Small Catechism, written by Luther in 1529, includes these texts along with brief explanations (see the front of this book). This expanded Explanation section is prepared as a teaching and learning tool. 

What are the central, or chief, parts of Christian teaching and life?

These six parts of the catechism are the central teachings, or Six Chief Parts of Christian Doctrine: 

1. God makes known His will through the Ten Commandments, which summarize how God wants us to love Him and love our neighbor and also reveal our sin and inability to keep God's Law.

2. The Creed summarizes who God is and what He has done for the world: creating and preserving all things out of fatherly love; redeeming the world in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and calling and gathering believers into the Church by the Holy Spirit. 

3. In the Lord's Prayer (or the Our Father), God the Son teaches Christians how to pray as God's own dear children, confident that what we are praying pleases Him and is for our good. 

4. Scripture teaches us that in Holy Baptism, we are cleansed from our sins and belong to the one true God, Father, Son, and Spirit, whom we trust for life and salvation.

5. As God's believing, baptized children, we still battle against sins of thought, word, and deed. But God graciously has given special authority to His Church on earth to forgive the sins of the penitent and to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant (Office of the Keys and Confession). 

6. God welcomes His children to the Sacrament of the Altar (Lord's Supper), where Christ gives us His body to eat and His blood to drink with the bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins and to strengthen our faith. 

The information above is adapted from The Introduction to Luther’s Small Catechism (Luther’s Small Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther (cph.org)