LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 301

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II. THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
Scripture, the total sinfulness and lost condition of humanity, that salvation comes through the death and resurrection of Christ and is received by faith without works, that
evangelization and mission are important, and that the Law
of God is an enduring guide for the Christian life. But there
are also differences:

2. The Common Ground (Slide 6)

• Evangelicalism is a movement in many denominations vs.
Lutheranism as a distinct church or denomination.
People of different denominations can be evangelicals,
because only certain doctrines define evangelicalism. As
a result, other Christian teachings may be minimized and
differences on many questions are seen as not divisive of
the basic unity of evangelicalism. Some examples are infant
Baptism or adult Baptism; the presence and importance of
so-called “gifts of the Spirit” such as speaking in tongues,
and, as we will see, also questions pertaining to justification.
These questions and others are often thought to be of relatively minor importance. This means there is a difference in
the view of the church:

• Sacraments as God’s Means of Grace vs. symbols
We see in the description of the basic tenets of evangelicalism that the Sacraments do not play an essential role. In
evangelicalism, the Sacraments are mostly seen as ordinances and symbolic rites, but not as actual ways that God
comes to us (Means of Grace). This is a basic difference
between Lutherans and evangelicals, and by no means an
unimportant one. The question is: What did our Lord teach
about Baptism and the Lord’s Supper and how does He want
His Church to teach and use them? Evangelicalism has its
roots in the Reformed churches and their understanding of
the Sacraments. Thus, the Lutheran objections against the
Reformed understanding of the Sacraments apply also to
the evangelical understanding of the Sacraments.

AC VII, Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds., The Book of Concord:
The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis: Fortress Press,
2000), 42.

5

The National Association of Evangelicals defines
“Conversionism” as “the belief that lives need to be transformed through a ‘born-again’ experience and a life-long
process of following Jesus.”

• The centrality of Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross and His
resurrection from the dead as the foundation of man’s
justification

This is one part of the NAE’s definition of evangelicalism
and is a very common belief among evangelicals: One has to
be “born-again” by means of a decision for Christ in order
to truly call oneself a “born-again Christian.” Where does
this “born-again” language come from?

• Justification is by faith, not by works
We can be thankful that these important truths are
taught in evangelical congregations and churches.
The result is that the Gospel is proclaimed and people
may come to faith as they hear the Good News that
Christ died and rose again for the sins of the world. As
C.F.W. Walther reminds us, God gathers believers also
in “heterodox churches” “if only God’s Word and the
Sacraments are not denied entirely.” However, Walther
then also reminds us that this fact does not mean that
doctrinal differences can be ignored for the true Gospel
must be guarded because salvation depends on it.6

• Unity in doctrine vs. diversity in matters like infant/adult
Baptism.
Lutherans emphasize that the pure proclamation of the
Gospel and proper administration of the Sacraments —
nothing less and nothing more — is necessary for the true
unity of the Church.5 From a Lutheran perspective, evangelicalism’s character as a “movement” results in the fact that it
is not a church since it does not emphasize the full counsel
of God in these crucial areas as the Church does.

The sinner’s prayer according to Cru (formerly Campus
Crusade for Christ):
”Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross
for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as
my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and
giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life.
Make me the kind of person You want me to be.”10
What do you think of this prayer?
Read Revelation 3:20.
Who can open the door to Jesus? (We will take up this
question a little later).
Faith and confession go together, but does that mean that a
decision makes me a Christian?
No! There is no Christian who does not confess his sins
and his faith in Christ (excluding Christians who cannot
communicate because of age or debilitating illness). The
insistence by evangelicals on “making a decision for Jesus”
suggests and often implies that becoming a Christian means
choosing between two options, and that (therefore) being a
Christian is a matter of choice. That fits our overall view of
life, which is full of choices that we have to make, but this
picture is seriously wrong when it comes to justification
and conversion.
(Slide 10) What does the fact that we are “by nature sinful
and unclean” mean for our ability to choose?
It means that we cannot choose to believe in Christ by our
own reason or strength. As we confess, we are “by nature
sinful and unclean,” or as Scripture says, we are “dead in
trespasses” (Eph. 2:1).
Read Ephesians 2:1–5.
How does Paul talk about the way the Ephesians became
Christians? Does he mention their decision or say that they
asked Jesus to enter into their lives?
What does the description of non-Christians as dead say
about their ability to make any steps toward God? What
kind of death is meant here? It means spiritual death, not
physical death.
10

https://crustore.org/fourlawseng.htm

• Read John 3:3–5.
To what is Jesus referring here? Jesus is referring to being
born-again (or being “born from above”) through water
and the Spirit. Thus, He is referring to Baptism.7 When
Lutherans talk about being born again, they are also thinking of Titus 3:5. This verse is quoted in the Small Catechism,
the third question on Baptism:
“How can water do such great things? — Certainly not just
water, but the word of God in and with the water does these
things, along with the faith which trusts this word of God in
the water. For without God’s word the water is plain water
and no Baptism. But with the word of God it is a Baptism,
that is, a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of
the new birth in the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says in Titus,
chapter three: ‘He saved us through the washing of rebirth
and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us
generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having
been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the
hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying’ (Titus 3:5-8).”8

3. The Differences Between Evangelicals
and Lutherans Concerning Justification
(Slide 7)

Despite the points of agreement on justification, there
are also differences between Lutherans and evangelicals.
To take these differences seriously is not mean-spirited,
focused on finding fault, or demonstrating a judgmental
attitude towards other Christians. Rather, the purpose is
twofold: first, to sharpen our own understanding of the
truth of justification and be able to discern what is true and
what is false so that we do not fall into error; second, so
that we are able to explain to our evangelical relatives and
friends what we believe and why we believe it.

Notice that Titus 3 speaks about Baptism (not a decision
we make) as “the washing of rebirth.” Lutherans, too, talk
about regeneration, but they tie it closely to Baptism, and to
the life-giving Word and work of God (1 Peter 1:23) — not
to a specific decision we make or an emotional personal
experience.

• Making a decision for Jesus — Justification and Baptism
You may have heard people — perhaps family and friends
— speak about the day they asked Jesus to come into their
lives. A popular older evangelical hymn is titled, “I Have
Decided to Follow Jesus.” The late famed evangelist, Billy
Graham, followed the pattern of ending his sermons by
inviting people to come forward to “make a decision for
Christ.”

(Slide 8) “Making a Decision” and Baptism
What do you think about the emphasis on a born-again
experience? Do you think that such an experience is
necessary for every Christian? How does such an experience
relate to Baptism?
For a detailed exposition of the relationship between Jesus’ words to Nicodemus
and Baptism, see William C. Weinrich, John 1:1–7:1 Concordia Commentary (St.
Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2015), 421–24.

7

C.F.W. Walther, 7KH&KXUFKDQG7KH2I¿FHRIWKH0LQLVWU\ trans. J.T. Mueller,
ed., rev., and annotated Matthew C. Harrison (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing
House, 2012), 91.
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Leader’s Guide |

“Making a decision for Jesus”? (Sometimes this is called
decision theology.)

• Conversionism

As we have seen there is common ground between
Lutherans and evangelicals in some respects. When we
are talking about justification, this common ground
consists in:

8
Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation (St. Louis : Concordia Publishing
House, 2017), 24.

3

What does it mean to be spiritually dead? It means that man
has no spiritual life, no faith towards God, that he cannot do
God’s will and that he has no power to change that situation.
Read again Revelation 3:20.
Can a dead person open the door? What has to happen
before I can open the door and let Jesus in? A dead person
cannot do anything, certainly not get up and open the door.
Rather, it is the person who is revived and made alive —
that is, the believer — who opens the door to Christ. When
the Holy Spirit creates faith in us, He also creates the new
life and the will to be with Jesus. This is how we receive
Christ. We do so as Christians and because of God’s life-giving Word, not before we become Christians. This is similar
to the command to believe:
“The words of Christ ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel’
(Mark 1:15) do not prove that people are able to do this by
their own powers. Lazarus could not raise himself from the
dead. Christ commanded Lazarus to come out of the grave
(John 11:43–44). In the same way unconverted people who
are dead in sins cannot raise themselves spiritually. They
are raised and converted by the power of God through the
Word (Ps. 19:7) Jesus says, ‘No one can come to Me unless
the Father who sent Me draws him’ (John 6:44).”11
(Slide 11) Among evangelicals, there is often the idea that a
person who is not a Christian can exercise his or her will to
become a Christian, that we have the freedom to choose to
be Christian. From this perspective, being a Christian (or
getting right with God) is the sum of God’s grace and your
decision:

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For Evangelicals, the Christian life begins with a “bornagain experience” that we make for ourselves. Lutherans
who are baptized as babies recognize that their Christian
life begins with their Baptism. In Baptism God adopted you
as His child, gave you Christ’s righteousness and gave you
His Holy Spirit. Or, as the Small Catechism puts it:
“What benefit does Baptism give? — It works forgiveness
of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal
salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises
of God declare.”9
These gifts, as all gifts of God, are received in faith. Without
faith, Baptism does not benefit us. But even small children
can receive these gifts in faith. As an adult, I do not need
some other sort of a “decision for Jesus” or “conversion
experience.” Rather, I trust in the promise that God has
made in my Baptism and live a life of daily repentance
(Small Catechism, fourth question on Baptism). For those
who are adult converts and are baptized as adults, the
foundation of their life as Christians is also not a one-time
experience, but consists in receiving the Word of the Gospel
in faith and trusting in this Gospel.
There is another issue concerning the emphasis on
experience. How do I know that I am a Christian? If the
born-again experience is central, then it is not farfetched to
say: “I know I am a Christian because of my experience” or
“because I made a decision for Jesus.”
How would you answer the question, “How do you know
you are a Christian?” Don’t look inward to what you have
decided or done. You are a Christian because God has
said that you are His child through your Baptism — that is
where your faith looks. Faith is not faith in an experience;
faith looks to God’s gracious promise.
The Christian life starts with God’s promise given to me
and consists in believing this promise, not in a special
experience.

4. Conversionism and Free Will (Slide 9)

As we have seen, the emphasis on conversion and a bornagain experience tends to go hand in hand with an emphasis on making a decision for Jesus. Let’s look more closely at
the assumptions and ideas that such an emphasis includes.
What do you think of the following ideas?
9
Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation (St. Louis : Concordia Publishing
House, 2017), 23

4 | Justification and Evangelicalism

teaching of justification, because in such a view justification
is no longer the work of God alone.
There are also evangelicals who deny free will and thus
teach more like the classical Reformed churches. But it is
fair to say that the most popular form of evangelicalism
teaches some form of free will.
Lutheranism teaches that we are by nature dead in sin and
that God revives us. Therefore, God alone saves us.

5. Conclusion

Evangelicalism is a very prominent strand of Christianity in
America. We can be glad that evangelical churches preach
Christ as Savior and justification by faith is emphasized.
A problem with evangelicalism is that Christ is often not
preached 100% as Savior. Instead, it is taught that man has
to do his part to be saved. There is also a problem with
evangelicalism when it does not follow Christ’s institution of
Baptism as the washing of regeneration, in which we receive
Christ’s righteousness and are justified freely as His gracious
gift. Finally, there is a problem with evangelicalism when
it fosters a faith that relies on an inner experience instead
of the Gospel — telling people that they have to make a
decision for Jesus, or have a particular experience, or say the
right prayer before they can be saved.

God’s grace + our decision = Becoming a Christian =
Justification. (Wrong!)
But as we saw in Ephesians, becoming a Christian and being
justified in God’s sight is all God’s doing.
God’s grace in the Gospel (Word and Sacrament) + God’s
gift of faith = Becoming a Christian (Right!)
God makes the spiritually dead alive. If you are dead, you
cannot do anything to become alive. The view that man
has a free will is often called “Arminianism,” after Jacob
Arminius, a Reformed theologian who lived around 1600.
The view that man cooperates in his salvation is called “synergism” (cooperationism). Both teachings corrupt the true
11
Edward W. A. Koehler, A Summary of Christian Doctrine, 3rd rev. ed. (St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House, 2006), 180.

Leader’s Guide |

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6 | Justification and Evangelicalism

2019 Convention Workbook