Do Lutherans talk about being saved?

EPISODE #187: Ted asks about how Lutherans speak of the idea of ‘being saved’. Rod talks about sola fide (faith alone), the idea that baptism saves sinners (1 Pet 3:21), what our contribution to our salvation is, and what our condition is when Christ and His gifts are given to us.

Produced by: Rick Ritchie

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[JeanKeeleyNASM-CPT]

I still remember fondly my time with the 1517 ministry guys at the first HWSS in 2017. Newly subscribing to your channel here. Love you guys, my brothers IN Christ.

[danielhowe-gmlk]

The latent absolution ... my baptism...

Wonderful questions Men! Keep them coming

[terylbarrett]

yes me too! It's so hard to believe that I'm saved in spite of myself.... Thanks so much you guys. Love the honesty and joy.

[derickrae]

I have only begun to explore Lutheranism. I don't think I ever crossed paths with conservative Lutheranism until the last 5 years ( I'm 46) I wish I had known about the Lutheran view of Baptism decades earlier. I did not baptize my children & today none of them follow Christ. I plead to God for His mercy on their souls. .

[collinlynch]

John 3:5 ESV. Jesus answered, “Truly, Truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” It is frustrating when “Free Grace” people say that you’re saved by only believing Jesus and not from water baptism. When Christ himself says you need to be baptized. Then they bring in the Penitent Thief but they fail to realize that he literally talked to Christ one on one and it was before Pentecost.

[wilfredkube]

“Talking about being saved” – I agree that this is a worthwhile subject to talk about. There can be a problem though when the discussion emphasizes only one aspect of the truth of the Gospel.
What does it mean to have faith in Jesus, or to believe in Him?
I wish to give some answers to these questions, answers which come directly from the scriptures. I feel disappointed that a number of the comments in this video use only partial quotes from the Bible. This kind of use of scripture, taking quotations out of context, can easily lead to false interpretation. I remember an old adage, “To take a text out of context is a pretext”, and that is why I wish to use scripture quotations faithfully, within the meaning of their contexts.

At 2:50 the speaker commented that the Lutheran answer would be “I was baptised”, and a few moments later he referred to 1 Peter3:21, by saying “Baptism now saves you”. This phrase, “Baptism now saves you” is only a portion of the verse. But here is the entirety of that verse, 1 Peter3:21 - “and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, . . .” (NIV translation).

It can be very helpful, when really trying to understand a verse of scripture, to read that section of scripture in more than one translation of the Bible. This same verse, in the “Living Bible” (TLB translation) reads: “That, by the way, is what baptism pictures for us: In baptism we show that we have been saved from death and doom by the resurrection of Christ; not because our bodies are washed clean by the water but because in being baptized we are turning to God and asking him to cleanse our hearts from sin.”
In the context of the complete verse, baptism is “the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.” There are many scripture verses which explain the connections between belief, baptism, and salvation. Here are some of them -
Mark 16:16 - Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Acts 15:11 - No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
Acts 16:31 - They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

So what does it mean, “to believe”? It can also be expressed as “to have faith”. A good explanation can be found in Romans 10:9 - If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord, ” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
However it is not just a matter of believing that there is a God, or of believing that Jesus is the son of God – it is a matter of putting our full trust in Him. Consider the implications of the following passage from James 2:18-20. - But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?

Is it just a matter of belief? No! Look again, because we are told that even the demons believe that there is one God. They shudder at that thought. They will not be saved because of that belief.

Here is another question. Are we saved by faith? Before you give an answer to that question, please read and understand the following verses, Ephesians 3:8-10 – “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So the answer is, No, we are not saved by faith as such, but rather we are saved by God’s grace, which is in response to our faith. It is in this passage that we see that we are not saved by our good works. We are called to do good works in response to God’s gift. We are saved by God’s grace, by God’s gift, which we do not deserve. What is God’s grace? There is a helpful acronym which can help us to understand what grace really is - G.R.A.C.E. - “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense”.

There is one other fundamental part to this whole question of “being saved”. One of the most frequently quoted promises in the Bible, and perhaps one of the best known, is “John 3:16”. It is actually very important that this verse is understood in its context, of John 3, verses 16 to 18 - “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

We need to carefully read and understand the whole of that passage, because God warns the consequences for those who do not believe. God wants us to turn towards Him, to live our lives in honour and obedience to Him. He wants us to turn away from those things which are contrary to His will, and His laws. Repentance is a keyword in the message of salvation, of “being saved”. “Repentance” is a word which means to “turn away”, or “turn around”, from disobedience to God.
Mark 1:15 - “The time has come, ” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Acts 19:4 - Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”

[BirdDogey]

Wasn't he Episcopalian in the movie? I might have mentally assigned him that denomination.

[Subdood]

So how is baptism not an additional work then? Asking to understand, not criticize. Also, what about the thief on the cross?

[rolancarter]

Do you know for certain that God will not save the failing, sinning believer in the end. Is a great question that needs to be asked of those who judge believers who struggle with their remaining sin.
The attitude of these who render such judgment is a manifestation of the confidence they have in themselves not confidence in Christ.

[Edward-ngoo]

I don't accept that the Holy Spirit works universally through the means of grace (neither did Luther believe this as can be seen from The Bondage of the Will.) Just because one has been baptised doesn't mean one is therefore a believing Christian. Luther in his large catechism says that in baptism we hope that the infant believes and we pray that God will grant him faith. But it's not an automatic thing that baptism gives faith and saves everyone who is baptised. So the answer to the question about whether a person believes in Christ isn't to reply that he's been baptised but is to say in the affirmative that he believes as well as having been baptised. Merely replying that one has been baptised doesn't answer the question about whether one believes. It might be a sufficient answer for someone who agrees with the Formula of Concord but it wouldn't have been a sufficient answer for Luther.

Also although we're sinners in that we have evil desires and lusts because of original sin, if we don't fight against these so that they don't lead us into open sinning then we lose the Holy Spirit and faith. So for instance if someone indulges in fornication and then tries to maintain he's still a believer despite being unrepentant then he's only deceiving himself.