Religion
Broadly speaking, the Lutheran Church teaches that there are two relgions in the world:
relgions of the Law and the Gospel. Religions of the Law try to mend the relationship between God and mankind
through good works. The religion of the Gospel says that the relationship between God and mankind has been fixed through
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, apart from any works that we can do. Lutherans (as do most Christians) believe that the
religion of the Gospel is the only true religion in the world.
The Bible
While there are many places that we may see the Law of God, (nature and our consciences
for instance), there is only one place that God reveals the Gospel to us - the Bible. We believe that the Bible is God's
Word, given to the prophets, apostles, and evangelists to write down for all people. Because God inspired the authors
of the Bible, it is without errors or mistakes. While the Bible does contain God's Law, the primary emphasis of it is
the Gospel - the salvation of the entire world throught the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Salvation
Contrary to what many people think today, the Christian Faith does not believe that
a person is saved because they are "a good person" or they do a lot of "good things". Rather, the Bible is very clear
that we are saved by trusting in Jesus Christ as our Savior from our sin. Thus, our salvation really has nothing to
do with what we have done, and everything with what Christ has done - namely died on the cross as a sacrifice for us and rose
back to life after three days!
So we don't have to do good works?
Because we are saved by our faith, apart from doing good works, some have suggested
that we don't have to do good works or live good Christian lives. Nothing could be further from the truth! Knowing
how much God loves us, that He would send His only Son to die for us, Christians can't help but to respond to God's love by
doing what He wants. A Christian will therfore do good works, in the same way that a good apple tree will make
good apples. Again, a Christian does good works not to be saved, but because she is!
