LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2010, Page 17

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SYNOD REPORTS
groups of fellow Christians in the world today: Evangelicals and
Roman Catholics. Lutherans are Christians who stand in the middle between these two movements in the Christian church. We stand
there, “in the middle,” affirming strengths of both although we cannot completely affirm all the teachings of either.
We stand together with Evangelical brothers and sisters in
Christ—because evangelical means Gospel-centered.22 Evangelical
Christianity understands the central truths that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world to Himself (2 Cor. 5:19); that Christ’s saving
work is given freely, without cost, as sheer gift (Rom. 3:24); and that
even the faith which receives this saving gift is freely given by the
Spirit of God (1 Cor. 12:3; Eph. 2:8). Justifying faith in Jesus Christ,
Messiah and Lord, results also in confidence in the Holy Scriptures,
for there we hear His living voice and know Him as Lord and Savior
by means of the prophets who promised His coming and the apostles
He designated as witnesses to His life, atoning work, and teachings
(2 Tim. 3:15; John 14:26; 10:35; and 2 Pet. 1:20–21). As evangelical
Christians we are grounded in the Bible, God’s written and infallible Word. The Bible, and not human traditions (even laudable church
traditions), provides final assurance about what is true and what the
church is to believe and do.
We are also “catholic” Christians. We confess with Roman
Catholics the ecumenical Creeds of the western catholic tradition.
Catholic means universal and complete.23 We believe that there is
only one true faith and all who share it belong to Jesus Christ (Eph.
4:4–6). This one faith is faith in the triune God, who is only known
through Jesus, the Son of God who reveals the Father and who sends
the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The Athanasian Creed calls this the
“catholic” faith.24 This means we cannot compromise doctrinal convictions, nor can we forget that all those who confess faith in the triune
God are fellow Christians. The catholic faith is universal through
the generations. As part of the church catholic we fully and simply
believe Christ’s promises about Baptism (Mark 16:16) and the Lord’s
Supper (Matt. 26:26–28).
Catholic wholeness means the Christian faith is intended for the
whole of humanity—all eras, regions, and cultures. Christianity is not
an American religion or a Western religion, but is for the whole world
(Matt. 24:14). Similarly, evangelical conviction means that we are
called to Christ’s mission, sharing His good news of salvation for all
the world (Matt. 28:19). An understanding of the Christian faith that
is both evangelical and catholic in character reaches out across languages, cultures, oceans, and continents, back through history, and
forward into eternity, sharing the good news that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world to Himself (2 Cor. 5:19).
None of these teachings is a Lutheran discovery and no single
one is unique to us. This does not make us generic Christians. We are
Lutheran Christians, but not because we wish to preserve Luther’s
name or institutions named after him. Rather, we are convinced of
the validity and the necessity of an understanding of the Christian
faith and life which is consonant with significant elements of both
Evangelical and Roman Catholic teaching. The controversy over
human sexuality is a case in point.
Across the spectrum of Christianity, including both Evangelical
and Roman Catholic churches (as well as Christians from virtually
every denominational tradition and throughout the world), church
bodies and their leaders have declared their firm conviction that samegender sexual relationships are contrary to God’s will.25 Evangelical
(and classical Protestant) leaders have emphasized that the contrary
view contradicts the Scriptures. Roman Catholic (and Orthodox)
churches have pointed out that the contrary view contradicts the

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“Great Tradition” of Christian thought that has endured throughout
millennia. As a Christian church body that seeks to be both evangelical and catholic, we are fully at home with this consensus and find
in it a confirmation of Lutheran theology and identity.
The ELCA’s decisions stand in sharp contrast to this genuinely
ecumenical Christian consensus. The foundational document for
the ELCA’s controversial approval of same-gender genital sexual
relationships describes itself as “a distinctly Lutheran approach” to
human sexuality.26 As Lutheran Christians, we find this claim to be
deeply troubling. We have provided this brief overview of what we
are convinced is an authentic Lutheran identity because we strongly
disagree that “a distinctly Lutheran approach” to Christian teaching
should separate us either from the evangelical consensus regarding
the teachings of Holy Scripture about human sexuality or from the
catholic tradition’s perspective on Holy Marriage and its belief in
the incompatibility of openly homosexual activity with Christian
life. It is necessary for Lutherans to maintain theological distinctiveness, such as the central focus on justification of the sinner by grace
through faith, the Law-Gospel dynamic of pastoral care and preaching, Baptism’s gracious power to effect regeneration in faith, and the
forgiving, bodily presence of our Lord in His Holy Supper. Such distinctiveness, however, is entirely based upon the Scriptures and fully
consonant with the beliefs of the central tradition of Christian truth
through the ages. That is, such beliefs—while hallmarks of Lutheran
theology—are both evangelical and catholic. However, any purported
distinctiveness which minimizes biblical authority or isolates us from
the church catholic’s consensus regarding homosexual activity is sectarian and a departure from what makes Lutheranism truly distinctive.
This impacts the Gospel itself. A church body’s acceptance of
homosexual activity promotes a false security about behavior and
conduct which God has forbidden and from which He longs to redeem
us. As such, it leads to a false gospel: to self-justification rather than
that justification for repentant sinners which God has promised to all
who trust in His forgiving mercy through the death and resurrection
of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. We pray that our brothers, sisters,
and friends in the ELCA, and any others who have departed from
this biblical and Christian understanding, would reconsider—even
now—their actions.
Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a
word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to
confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass
from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to
the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
NOTES
1. ELCA 2009 Assembly Legislative Update (Aug. 21, 2009),
page 1.
2. LCMS convention resolutions (e.g., 1973 Res.. 2-04; 1983 Res.
3-14; 1998 Res. 3-21), CTCR reports (e.g., Human Sexuality, 1984;
The Creator’s Tapestry, 2009), and public statements by the President (e.g., http://www.lcms.org/ pages/internal.asp?NavID=15618 )
have unambiguously affirmed the understanding that same-gender
sexual acts are contrary to the will of God, while at the same time
expressing concern for the spiritual well-being of individuals with
same-sex attractions.
3. “Same-Gender Relationships and the Church: A Statement from
the International Lutheran Council” (ILC), meeting in Seoul, South
Korea, August 31, 2009.
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