Our Faith: The Lutheran Confessions
St. Paul's Lutheran Church and School are a part of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). Our beliefs and teachings are drawn from God's Word. The Lutheran Confessions are a true and binding exposition of Holy Scripture and serve as authoritative texts for all pastors, congregations and other rostered church workers of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).
What are the Lutheran Confessions?
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and its members accept the Scriptures as the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and as such, the LCMS subscribes unconditionally to all the symbolical books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a true and unadulterated statement and exposition of the Word of God.
We accept the Lutheran Confessions as articulated in the Book of Concord of 1580 because they are drawn from the Word of God, and on that account we regard their doctrinal content as a true and binding exposition of Holy Scripture and as authoritative for all pastors, congregations and other rostered church workers of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
CORE BELIEFS
We at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and School confess the Christian faith in the words of the three ancient Christian creeds – the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.
We believe that there is only one God Who has revealed Himself to be three “Persons”: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (called the Holy Trinity) (Gen. 1:1-2, 26-27; Psalm 19:1; Matthew 28:19-20; John 1:1-3, 14; 3:16; II Peter 3:9).
We believe that sin is anything that is displeasing to God and contrary to His will. All people are conceived and born with original sin, a condition which separates them from God. Sin entered the world through the disobedience of the first man and woman. It continues today in the thoughts, words, and actions of all people. No matter how hard people try, they cannot free themselves from sin and its penalty, death. Every person has an essential need for a Savior (Genesis 3:1-15; Psalm 51:1-5; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23).
We believe that Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, is the Savior of all people. He came to this earth and took on human flesh with one purpose in mind – to give His life willingly and voluntarily as the all-sufficient payment for all sin and all evil (John 1:1-14; John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:18-19;1 John 4:14).
We believe we are saved by the grace of God (His unmerited, undeserved love) alone — not by anything we do or do not do (Ephesians 2:8-9; Roman 3:23-26).
We believe that forgiveness of sin and salvation come through faith in Jesus Christ alone — a God-given trust in Jesus and His life, death, and resurrection to bring forgiveness of sin and eternal life in the presence of God to all people (John 5:24; John 14:6; Romans 1:17).
We believe that God desires all people to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ and that He desires that we share the good news of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus Christ (Ezekiel 33:11; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9).
We believe that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God and, as such, is the only norm for faith and life — the only true standard by which all teachings and doctrines are to be judged (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21).
We believe that God works through Baptism to take away sin, give the gift of the Holy Spirit, and grant eternal life (Acts 2:38-39; Romans 6:23; Galatians 3:26-27; 1 Peter 3:21).
We believe that God works in Holy Communion to give each communicant not only unleavened bread and wine, but also the body and blood of Christ and the forgiveness of sin (Matt. 26:26-29; 1 Cor. 10:16).
We believe that God created the heavens and the earth in seven, twenty-four-hour days (Gen. 1-2).
We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person at conception as male or female (Gen. 1:26-27).
We believe that God’s gift of life begins at conception and that all life is to be protected, from conception to natural death (Psalm 139:13; Jeremiah 1:4-5; Isaiah 44:24).
We believe that the term marriage has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture (Gen. 2:18-25, Matt. 19:4-6; Eph. 5:31-32). We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other (1 Cor. 6; 7:2-5; Heb. 13:4).
We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God (Matt. 15:18-20; 1 Cor. 6:9-10).
For additional information, see the Book of Concord.
This statement of Core Beliefs was approved by the Elders of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on Saturday, January 28, 2023.