As Members of Lutheran Church Canada This Is What We Believe

• The Bible is the inspired Word of God.  It is His message to all people.  The entire Bible points to Jesus as the Saviour.

 

• There is only one true God.  He has revealed Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• God is the creator of everything that exists.
• People were originally created by God pure and holy.  They lived according to God’s will, doing what was pleasing to Him.
• Adam and Eve, the man and woman God created in the beginning, went against God’s will and brought sin into the world.  Since that time, all people have been conceived and born in sin.
• Sin is living out of relationship with God, not living according to God’s will, and thus transgressing His holy will in thought, word and deed.
• People cannot save themselves by their good works or restore themselves to a right
  relationship with God, but don’t get discouraged by this.  (See next point)
• God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world.  He is both true God and true man.  He lived to fulfill God’s law for us, died on the cross to pay the penalty our sins deserved, and rose from the dead so that we might have eternal life.  He ascended into heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of The Father to intercede for us.
• Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, God declares a person just — or righteous — and forgiven.
   This happens not because of human effort, but because the justification won by Jesus is applied to the one who believes in Jesus as Saviour.
• Faith in Jesus is a gift of God, given by the power of the Holy Spirit, thus all glory belongs to God.
• The means of grace are the Word, Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.  By these means, God
  applies the merits of Jesus' atoning death to all who believe in Jesus as their Saviour.
• Jesus will come again to take all believers to Himself.  On the final day, all the dead will be raised. Those who are still alive will be bodily transformed.  After this, the final judgment will take place.  Unbelievers will go into eternal damnation, and believers into eternal life.
• The true Christian church is made up of all believers of all times who believe in the Triune God and in Jesus Christ as their only Saviour. 
• The true visible church is the church which correctly preaches and teaches God's Word and administers Holy Baptism and Holy Communion according to the teachings of Scripture.
• Christians are called to tell others that the only way of salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ and to show their faith by their deeds of love towards others.

that humans are saved from their sins by God’s grace alone (Sola Gratia), through faith alone (Sola Fide), on the basis of Scripture alone (Sola Scriptura).

• that the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament are the written Word of God and the only rule and norm of faith and of practice.
• that men and women are of equal dignity and worth before God, and His love embraces both.
• that human life is to be cherished and protected. We therefore consider abortion and euthanasia to be against the will and command of God.
• that God created the earth in six natural days. The creation of Adam as the first human was a historical event.
• that in the beginning the blessed Trinity instituted marriage to be the life-long union of one man and one woman.
• that evidence of the Christian faith can be seen in the three creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian), and that there is only one true God, and yet one God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit.
• that God the Son was born of the virgin Mary. This Jesus Christ, who is true God and true man, died on the cross and rose to life again in order to save the world from God’s wrath