Lutheran churches
The Lutheran churches, most of which are members of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), emerged from one of the prominent strands of the Reformation movements within the (western) Catholic Church in the 16th century. In the course of the doctrinal controversies of that time, the doctrine of justification by faith through grace alone became the decisive issue and the hallmark of Lutheran teaching. It emphasizes that God redeems human beings from the power of sin through the cross of Jesus Christ and confers God’s own righteousness upon them. The Lutheran tradition considers the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments, received and responded to in faith without any human merit, as central to the life of the church. The Lutheran confessional writings, e.g., the Augsburg Confession and Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, interpret core convictions regarding the significance of the gospel for individual and common life in faith. The Bible is affirmed as the sole rule of faith, to which all the creeds and other traditions and beliefs are subordinated.
Lutheran churches are partners in the majority of church communion agreements that have been established, e.g., the Leuenberg Concord (1973, now called Community of Protestant Churches in Europe), the Meissen Agreement (1991), the Porvoo Agreement (1992), and Full Communion agreements in the USA and Canada.
Varying forms of worship have developed over the centuries, in interaction with local cultures. Lutheran worship tradition has sought to maintain liturgical continuity with the ancient church, in the reading and proclamation of the word of God and in the celebration of the sacraments, baptism and holy communion.
Lutheran churches strongly emphasize elementary and secondary religious education as well as theological study and research. The doctrine of the two rules of God has been a well-known part of Lutheran tradition: God reigns both in the secular world through secular and church government by means of law and in the spiritual world through grace. This teaching has at times been discredited through misinterpretation, e.g., in Nazi-Germany in the 1930s and ‘40s. In recent decades attempts have been made to reinterpret this teaching as a basis for critique of injustice, authoritarian regimes and destructive societal developments.
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The statement in the LUTHERAN family description regarding the "well-known" doctrine of the two rules of God and its impact on historical member-state relations needs to be re-assessed.
People who have some familiarity with the Reformation and Martin Luther usually identify three points of emphasis coming out of Luther's contribution to the Reformation:
First, the doctrine of Justification by Faith (according to scriptural interpretation since Luther rejected church tradition as grounds for authority);
Second, Luther taught in "the priesthood of all believers" which correspondingly adds that the clergy are not needed as intercessors between the individual and God;
Third, the reduction of the sacraments into two, being Holy Baptism and Holy Communin, based on the fact that they were instituted by Jesus during his earthly ministry.
As someone who attended Sunday School and worship services in a small town Lutheran church, the doctrine of the two rules of God was not covered as anything essential to Lutheran identity that I can recall. (Don't underestimate the value of small town church--in the 1970's a short-term pastor who was African went on to serve in the pre-eminent position of the Lutheran World Federation).
Incidentally, Martin Luther did not want his name on his church. He preferred the name "Evangelical" to describe his church; using evangelical in it historical meaning of "of or relating to the Gospel". It is generally known that Luther did not set out to found a new church, rather he wanted to reform it (posting his theses on the door was an accepted way to open debate on issues in his day). This can be an easy item of affirmation--or a difficult matter of negation--for theologians depending on their perspectives on ecclesiology, apostolic succession and the prophetic voice.
The article has been updated, with more details on the doctrine of the two rules of God, and links to sources on Lutheranism.
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