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What Lutherans Believe
Lutheran teaching can be summed up by what are called the "Three Alones": (1) Grace Alone; (2) Faith Alone; (3) Scripture Alone.
The Lutheran Confessions
For a fuller discussion of what Lutherans believe one need only turn to a group of writings called "the Lutheran Confessions."
Written by Martin Luther and others, these are historical statements of faith taken from the Bible that Lutherans believe to be a correct exposition of God's Word. They provide a standard of what is truly Lutheran and what is not. They include the three ecumenical creeds (Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian), the Augsburg Confession of 1530, as well as seven other Confessions. They are gathered together in the "Book Of Concord of 1580."
The Lutheran Reformation
Mention the word "Reformation" and what comes to mind? For many Protestants, the word immediately evokes heroic memories of a determined monk named Martin Luther defiantly hammering his challenge to the Roman Church with his posting of his Ninety-five theses on the Castle Church door on October 31, 1517.
Among many Lutherans, at least, the commemoration of the posting of the Theses on October 31 is known as "the Day of the Reformation." It is designated thus, because the posting of the Ninety-five theses has long been held to be the beginning of a church movement or era known as "The Reformation." This is no doubt due to the fact that Luther himself refers to the Indulgence Affair and the publishing of the Ninety-five theses as the beginning of what later became known as the Reformation.
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