I’ve been surprised and saddened recently by rhetoric suggesting that our Lutheran identity is somehow at odds with the mission of the Gospel. I can only assume this way of thinking stems from a misunderstanding of “Lutheran identity,” of what it means and entails. One colleague has expressed a concern that any talk of “identity” smacks of the “Woke” identity politics that have become so prevalent in recent years, but I just don’t see any reasonable connection there.
Some folks, I suspect, are fearful that advocating a specifically Lutheran identity implies a reliance on adiaphora over and above the Word of God. Frankly, that is a legitimate concern, because our fallen flesh and sinful hearts are prone to make idols out of almost anything, and we should certainly be on guard against the temptation to elevate human traditions beyond what they are able to bear. Of course, those dangers pertain as much to modern innovations as they do to ancient customs. And at the same time we should also take into account the positive and edifying role that traditional Christian ceremonies and other adiaphora are able to serve in the freedom of faith, in holy love, and in the catechesis and confession of Christ Jesus.
I’m not at all convinced that we’ve done an adequate job of considering the role that nonverbal communication plays in conveying who we are in Christ Jesus and what we believe, teach, and confess as Lutheran Christians. Yet, it is a solid fact that what we do and how we do it does speak powerfully – not only to others but also to ourselves – either to adorn and reinforce our faith and confession, or to compromise and undermine those sacred treasures.
Customary practices, adornments, and ceremonies, while not inherently “necessary” to the faith, do communicate, convey, and signify something about who we are. And that is a positive thing! The Luther rose seal, for example, is hardly commanded by God or necessary to faith and life in Christ Jesus, but it confesses something and serves a salutary purpose. I do believe there is more to talk about along these lines, more to be considered, discussed, and explored.
All that being said, I contend that our Lutheran identity involves something more solid, certain, and fundamental than even the most edifying customs, whether they be ancient or modern. And here I borrow words from Dr. Norman Nagel, from the oral history interview I was privileged to conduct with him as part of my dissertation research:
“One likes to use the term ‘Lutheran,’” he said, “as freighted with what matters here most, and with that, then, one is wanting to confess nothing but what the Lord has given us to confess.” In this respect, “there is still the possibility of doing [things] the Lutheran way. And that, I suppose, is what lies close to the heart of things. When you say, let’s do it the Lutheran way, you come to the Gospel, to the theological engagement of the whole question of the Liturgy” (Dr. Nagel).
At its core, at “the heart of things,” our Lutheran identity is the embodied and lived confession that “the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, drawn from the Scriptures, as you have learned to know it from the Small Catechism,” is “faithful and true.” And it is for this reason that every Lutheran confirmand swears, by the grace of God, “to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it” (LSB Agenda, pp. 29-30).
Similarly, every one of our LCMS pastors and commissioned workers confesses before God and His Church that “the Unaltered Augsburg Confession [is] a true exposition of Holy Scripture and a correct exhibition of the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church,” and that the entire Book of Concord is “also in agreement with this one scriptural faith.” Accordingly, all our pastors and commissioned workers publicly ascribe to these Confessions, “because they are in accord with the Word of God,” and they solemnly promise to carry out the duties of their respective offices “in accordance with Holy Scripture and with these Confessions” (LSB Agenda, pp. 166, 224).
In short, our Lutheran identity is to be what President Harrison has called “Book of Concord Christians,” precisely because the Book of Concord faithfully teaches and confesses the Bible.
We have no cause (nor any right) to be ashamed or embarrassed of our Lutheran identity; neither should we apologize for who we are, what we have received, and what we have been taught from the Holy Scriptures in the Lutheran Confessions. On the contrary, what we believe, teach, and confess as Lutherans is the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic faith, once delivered to the saints. By the grace of God, that “one scriptural faith” has been preserved and passed down from one generation to the next, now also to us, not only for our own forgiveness, life, and salvation in Christ Jesus, but for the repentance, faith, and life of our neighbors in the world.
Far from being at odds with the mission of the Gospel, our Lutheran identity encapsulates the very confession of Christ and His Word that we are given to share with everyone around us, near and far. From the straightforward simplicity of the Small Catechism to the solid substance of the entire Book of Concord, from the sermons of Luther and the theological treatises of Chemnitz to the hymns of Paul Gerhardt and Philipp Nicolai, our Lutheran identity expresses and conveys the whole counsel of God, the Law and the Gospel properly divided, and the fulfillment of the good and gracious Will of God for the salvation of sinners in our crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ.