Confessional Lutheran Church of Italy
Our faith
Who are Lutherans?
In Italy, Lutherans are not well known. Those who know of their existence may recall a few high school lessons on the history of the Reformation, visited one of the great Lutheran cathedrals of Scandinavia, or learned one of Bach's many compositions. But behind the scores, the marble colonnades, and the history (or rather, at the foundation of these things) lies a confession of faith based on Sacred Scripture, which joyfully proclaims God's love and his gifts for humanity.
Lutherans are Christians
We believe in Jesus Christ. As such we base our faith on his teachings and those of his apostles as written in the New Testament, and on the words of the prophets of the Old Testament, which Jesus commanded us to listen to. We confess that Jesus is the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, died for our sins, and rose again in glory. Together with him, we also confess and worship as true God, the Father and the Holy Spirit: the Holy Trinity.
Lutherans are Catholics
That is to say, "universal," because we confess and practice the same faith that has been believed "in every place, at all times, and by all," as St. Vincent of Lérins wrote. We recognize ourselves in the Church which was founded by Christ and the apostles, which has endured throughout the centuries, and which still lives and preaches in the world today. Therefore, we joyfully receive the legacy of our fathers in faith throughout the ages, as witnesses to the teachings of Jesus. We join them in the celebration of the liturgy and in the confession of the historic Creed, acknowledging ourselves as part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
Lutherans are evangelicals
At the center of our life of faith is the Gospel, that is, the proclamation that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). The Gospel teaches us that God's approval comes not from what we do or deserve, but from the free gift that God himself gives us in his Son, a gift offered to all. "If you confess with your lips the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).
Lutherans are Protestants
We recognize the principles emphasized during the 16th-century Reformation, namely:
● Sola gratia ("by grace alone") - Nothing we do can bring us closer to God or make us more righteous. It is only God who, in his grace, draws near and gives us grace in his Son, Jesus Christ.
● Sola fide ("by faith alone") - Since God saves us by his grace alone, we need not and cannot do anything to deserve it. We must only receive it through faith, that is, by believing in the promise that Jesus Christ is our Savior.
● Sola Scriptura ("by Scripture alone") - We recognize that God guides and sustains his Church in every age; however, we believe and confess that only Sacred Scripture, the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired Word of God, and therefore it alone is our ultimate and infallible authority.
We are also a confessional church, meaning we adhere to the Lutheran confessions of faith. These include:
- the three Ecumenical Creeds (Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed): the creeds drawn up by the ancient Church to assert the fundamental doctrines of the person of Christ and the Trinity;
- the Augsburg Confession and its Apology: the first Lutheran confession of faith, presented in 1530 to the German Kaiser Charles V by a delegation of Lutheran theologians and princes;
- the Catechisms of Martin Luther: written for the education of clergy and people, illustrating and explaining in an accessible manner the cornerstones of the Christian faith (the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, Baptism, Confession, and the Eucharist);
- the Schmalkaldic Articles and the Treatise on the Primacy and Power of the Pope: two other Lutheran confessions, the first written by Martin Luther in 1536, and the second (probably) by his colleague Philip Melanchthon;
- the Formula Concord: drawn up at the end of the sixteenth century to resolve some theological controversies that had arisen within the German Lutheran Church.