Lutherans believe in God’s grace.
All people are sinners and would perish eternally without God’s help. The good news is that God has provided all of this help as a free gift. God’s saving grace is His undeserved love for all people through the life, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. God loves all people, of every nation and race equally. It is God the Father’s desire for all people to hear His Word, to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, as their only Savior, and therefore to have eternal life. Jesus lived a holy life in our place and died on the cross for the forgiveness of all our sins. Through this completed work of Jesus, God the Father sees the whole world as not guilty or justified. This teaching of “justification” is the central truth of the Bible.
Lutherans believe that faith in Jesus Christ is necessary for eternal salvation.
This faith in Jesus, who is both God and man, our Savior, comes only as God, the Holy Spirit, works through God’s Word and Baptism in a person’s heart. We believe we sinners cannot come to faith through our own power, but that our faith is accomplished only by the power of the Holy Spirit as He connects us to Jesus as the Savior.
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