A Lutheran is a Christian that
Lutheranism had it’s beginnings in 1517, when Martin Luther publicly called for the correction of errors in the Western European expression of the Christian church, which later became what we know today as the Roman Catholic Church. Though Luther had 95 Theses, 95 assertions, that challenged the church of his time, Luther’s primary concern what what we call the doctrine of justification, that is, the theology of how are we justified and reconciled to God. Luther, looking at earlier church theologians and his intensive study of Scripture, revealed that a person is justified and given the gift of salvation by God’s grace through faith, not by anything we have done or will do. Salvation is the result of God’s action, not our own. This idea was powerful enough to challenge the status quo, where Luther, refusing to retract his writings, was excommunicated by Pope Pope Leo X and and condemned by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, as an outlaw. While Luther never intended to start a new denomination or new church, after being excommunicated, he set out to spread his writings and to expand what he called his “evangelical” (meaning Gospel or good news) movement. Eventually, this evangelical movement became the various Lutheran denominations and churches we know today.
After 500 years, Luther’s influence can still be seen in key ways. Lutherans continue Martin Luther’s emphasis