Christ Lutheran Church Core Beliefs

Overview:

We believe the Bible to be the Word of God and the source and authority on all matters of faith.  We believe the three Ecumenical Creeds (Apostles', Nicene and Athanasian Creeds) to be faithful summaries of the Bible's teaching.  We believe the Lutheran Confessions (The Book of Concord) to be a faithful exposition of God's Word.  We are a part of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS).

Bible

We believe Holy Scripture (the Bible) to be the complete Word of God.

• That the 66 books of the Old and New Testament were inspired by the Spirit of God as originally written
• That the Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and conduct · 2 Timothy 3:16

God

We believe in one God, Creator of all, holy, sovereign, eternal, existing in three equal Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

Father

We believe God the Father is the creator of all things, visible and invisible.

Jesus Christ

We believe in the absolute and essential deity of our Lord Jesus Christ

• In His eternal existence, with the Father in pre-incarnate glory
• In His work of creation, in His virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death and bodily resurrection
• In His ascension, His reign at the right hand of the Father, and His personal return in glory to judge the living and the dead

The Holy Spirit

We believe in the absolute and essential deity, and in the personality of the Holy Spirit

• Who convinces of sin, of righteousness and of judgment
• Who regenerates, indwells, seals, sanctifies, illuminates and comforts those who believe in Jesus Christ
• Who baptizes believers at conversion into the Body of Christ and bestows upon them His gifts sovereignly as He wills and fills those yielded to Him

Mankind

We believe that Adam and Eve were divinely created in the image of God

• That by the sin of disobedience they fell from that state
• That all their descendants inherited spiritual depravity and defilement
• That all humans therefore are guilty before God and justly condemned to physical and spiritual death

Salvation

We believe that salvation is by the steadfast love of God

• That by the Father, Christ voluntarily suffered a propitiatory (reconciling) death for our sake
• That justification is by faith alone in the all-sufficient sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ
• That God preserves believers by his grace and power
• That at death each believer is with Jesus, and that on the last day they will be resurrected to the New Heaven and New Earth

Christian Living

We believe the Ten Commandments are a summary of how God's people are to love Him and each other.

• These commandments do not earn our salvation, but are how God intended humans to live
• Jesus summarized these commandments as "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself"