Who God is: The Gospel
The Bible teaches two doctrines above all others and including all others: the law and the gospel. On the law you can see this section of our website. The Bible teaches the law in each book but does not teach a law that could save sinners. God’s holy law always accuses sinners.
​
So the Bible also teaches a way of rescue: the gospel or good news that Jesus Christ was born, suffered, died, and rose from the dead to give us life and forgiveness. There is no hope for sinful men except in Jesus Christ, His work, His death, His resurrection, but in Him we have every hope of mercy and peace from our heavenly Father. The Bible also teaches this good news in each book, and only this gospel or good news can save us from certain death and the punishment of sin in Hell.
​
This gospel is the heart and soul and purpose of Christ’s Church and so also of Immanuel Lutheran Church. In this gospel God opens to us the truth and reality of His heart and desire – to save sinners from death and Hell through the blood and resurrected life of Jesus Christ. It is the reason we are and the reason we do all that we do.​
The Ecumenical Creeds
This gospel is summarized for us in the oldest of our church’s confessions – the three Ecumenical Creeds. A “creed” is something that someone or some group believes, and “ecumenical” means worldwide. Any Christian can and should believe what these three creeds – the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed – teach. You can find all three creeds here.
​
The oldest creed is the Apostles' Creed. It’s so old we don’t even know exactly how old it is but find it used at baptisms in Rome a couple centuries after Jesus' resurrection. We still use the Apostles' Creed at baptisms and other Sundays throughout the year. It teaches the basics of who God is – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and what He has done and does to create us, to redeem us, and to make us holy so that we can live with Him forever.
​
The second-oldest creed is the Nicene Creed, which resolved disagreements in the church about who Jesus is and who the Holy Spirit is. It is about 1,700 years old, and we say it every Sunday at Immanuel. It teaches very clearly that Jesus Christ is true God and true man and that the Holy Spirit is not some kind of power or force but the Third Person of the Holy Trinity and the One who makes us spiritually alive through the gospel.
​
The newest creed is the Athanasian Creed; it’s only 1,400 years old. It was written against people who believed that Jesus was not truly God in the same way His Father is – a group then called Arians but similar to modern-day Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons. We say this creed once a year on Trinity Sunday in early summer because it teaches us clearly who Jesus is, what He’s done for our salvation, and what we must believe to have eternal life.​
What is the Bible?
The Bible is God’s Word, sixty-six distinct books written over more than a thousand years’ time, all with some human author, all with a single divine Author, the Holy Spirit. If we are reading Paul’s letter to the Romans, we are reading the Holy Spirit’s words. If we are reading Jonah’s prayer in the belly of the fish, we are reading the Holy Spirit’s words. If we are reading Moses’ account of the world’s creation, we are reading the Holy Spirit’s words.
​
Since the Holy Spirit has written all these things through the human writers He chose to use, the Bible is inerrant (it has no mistakes) and infallible (it will not mislead us). Since God Himself is totally trustworthy, His Word is also totally trustworthy.
​
How should I read the Bible?
You should read the Bible the way it wants to be read: as God’s Word centering on the person and work of Jesus Christ. See the section above (“What is the Bible?”) to understand the fact that it’s God’s Word, not man’s. Look at the gospel of Luke, chapter 24, to see how Jesus Himself read the Bible. When people were confused about what God was doing and what His Word meant, Jesus explained that the Bible centered on who He is and what He has done in His death and resurrection that the world might be saved through Him.
​
When you read the Bible, read as much as you can at a time. Don’t read one verse and then put it down. That’s like watching one minute of a movie per day. You’ll never understand what’s happening, and you’ll never finish it all! Here are some reading plans that will help you get more deeply into the Bible than you have before:
​
​
What is a Confessional Church?
A confessional church is a church that clearly tells you what it believes and teaches and does. Many churches do not have a confession of faith, or if they do have a faith statement, it’s not very long or very clear. So you never know what you’re going to get, and it probably depends on who’s preaching that week.
​
Our church is confessional as all Lutheran churches are. Our confessions are listed here, and you can read more about them and more of them here and here. All that means is that at Immanuel what you see is what you get. What we believe drives what we say and what we do, and you can see for yourself what we believe.
​
We need confessions because almost every church will say that it believes in Jesus and believes that the Bible is true or at least helpful. Confessions make clear what we mean when we say that so you don’t have to wonder, and they hold us accountable for what we’re doing or saying. It's not that we don’t need confessions or creeds because the Bible isn’t clear. The Bible is very clear. That’s how we can write a confession: because we know what the Bible says. We need confessions because human beings aren’t very clear and can be erratic and change their minds often. Confessions hold us on course, keep us biblically grounded, and help you know what our church is all about.​
God saves us from our sin, death, and Hell through the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. He made atonement for our sin through the blood He shed on the cross for us, and He gave up His life for ours when He gave up His spirit at the end of His crucifixion. That message is brought to us through the preaching of the gospel, whether we hear it first when we’re very young or when we are much older, and it is that good news that alone saves us.
​
Since that has to do with God’s work for us and God’s message preached to us, we say that God’s salvation or rescue is entirely His doing. Theologians call that idea “monergism,” from the Greek word meaning that only one Person is doing the work. The work of saving us from everything that threatens us or terrifies us or would destroy us either today or forever is up to God and depends alone on God.
​
If everything depends on Him, then our salvation is all grace – a free gift, a present you don’t have to do anything to get or do anything once you get it. Our salvation is His to do and ours to enjoy eternally.
​
How many religions are true?
There are thousands and thousands of different beliefs and practices throughout the world that you could call “organized religion.” There are even more private beliefs and practices that people do on their own that you could also call “religious.” Are those all the same? Do they all get you to the same place?
​
No, they don’t because they can’t. All religions other than Christianity boil down to: do this, so that you can be saved or fixed or however they express the goal of what they believe and do. Every other religion than Christianity boils down to a religion of the law – maybe not God’s law as we read it in Scripture but some kind of command or rule. You might be using healing crystals to overcome something horrible that happened to you or washing yourself before Friday prayers in a mosque. The idea is always the same: do something so you can get something.
​
Christianity is the only true religion because it is the only religion of the gospel. It is not defined by what you do or don’t. It’s defined by God’s good news that everything necessary for salvation from sin and shame and death and Hell has been done and is brought to you in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. That’s the only religion you can rely on. That’s the only true religion.
​
You can learn more about the two religions here.
​