October ‘Witness’: A confessing community

(LCMS/Erik M. Lunsford)

What does it mean to be “confessional Lutherans”? What does “confession” really mean?

We live in a world with no shortage of opinions. The world of politics is more divisive and vitriolic than ever. The internet presents many forums for immediate, reactionary arguments that can be deleted as quickly as they are posted. More and more, our words seem to mean very little.

Confession, as the Lutheran reformers understood it, looks very different. As the Rev. Dr. Richard J. Serina writes in the October issue of The Lutheran Witness (LW), true confession is theological (it makes statements about God), corporate (it is a public statement made along with fellow Christians), and binding (in our confirmation rite, we vow to hold to these doctrinal statements even unto death). “This Lutheran type of confession is like solid ground in a sea of opinions,” writes Serina.

The Lutheran reformers put together a series of confessional documents: the Lutheran Confessions found in the Book of Concord. We “confessional” Lutherans still hold to these documents.

What makes these Lutheran Confessions “solid ground” is not that they are well-written or that they have stood the test of time or make an appealing case. It is that is that they are a faithful articulation of the truths revealed in Scripture. God’s Word is the ground of all true confession. The Lutheran Confessions, we believe, provide a clear and true interpretation of that Word.

Pick up the October LW to learn more about the meaning of confession and about how Lutherans can confess through our communities, homes, churches, conversations and more.

We also invite you to join us in reading through some of our Confessions in the coming year. Visit witness.lcms.org/2024/reading-plan to learn more.

Posted Oct. 21, 2024