Sacraments
15 questions in this topic
Can Infants Have Faith?
Yes—faith is the Spirit's gift, not a feat of adult reasoning, and Scripture describes infants believing, leaping for joy in the womb, and being held up by Jesus as the model of how everyone must receive the kingdom.
Read it →Do I Have to Be Worthy to Receive Communion?
No one is worthy in themselves—that is the point. To 'examine yourself' is not to audit your virtue but to trust the promise: Christ's true body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Faith in that promise is the only worthiness the table requires.
Read it →Do I Need to Be Baptized to Be Saved?
Baptism is God's commanded gift and the ordinary way he saves—never to be treated as optional. But what damns is unbelief, not the mere absence of water beyond one's control, as the thief on the cross shows.
Read it →Do Lutherans Believe in Transubstantiation?
No. Lutherans confess the real presence—Christ's true body and blood truly given—without the philosophical explanation of transubstantiation. The bread remains bread and is Christ's body at once: a mystery received by faith, not solved by theory.
Read it →Does Baptism Actually Save, or Is It Just a Symbol?
Scripture says 'baptism now saves you.' It is not a badge announcing a decision already made, but a means of grace—God's own work, water joined to His Word—that actually delivers what it promises.
Read it →Does the Lord's Supper Require Wine With Alcohol?
Wine is the church's historic norm and best practice, but the sacrament's power rests in Christ's Word joined to the fruit of the vine—not in alcohol content—so binding consciences to fermentation goes beyond Christ's institution.
Read it →How Often Should I Take Communion?
Scripture sets no fixed frequency, but if the Supper is truly Christ's forgiveness delivered, there's no reason to ration it. The early Church and the Reformation both point toward receiving it as often as it's offered.
Read it →Is Christ Really Present in Communion?
Yes—the true body and blood of Christ, in, with, and under the bread and wine. Not a bare memorial, not a spiritual-only presence, not transubstantiation. The word 'is' means is, and everything hangs on 'for you.'
Read it →Is My Baptism Valid? Should I Be Rebaptized?
Yes, it's valid—baptism is God's act, not yours, so its validity rests on his faithfulness, not the strength of your faith at the time. Scripture knows 'one baptism'; there's no reason, and no warrant, to repeat what God already did.
Read it →Is the Lord's Supper Just a Symbol?
The whole matter turns on four words: 'This is my body.' The memorial view has to soften 'is' into 'represents'; Lutherans take Jesus at his word and confess his true body and blood, truly present and given 'for you'—God's gift delivered, not merely our act of remembering.
Read it →What Is a Sacrament, and How Many Are There?
A sacrament is instituted by Christ, joins a physical element to His command, and delivers the forgiveness of sins. By that rule there are two beyond dispute—Baptism and the Supper—with Absolution often counted a third.
Read it →What Is Private Confession?
Yes—the Reformation purified private confession, not abolished it; the Augsburg Confession explicitly retains it. Hearing forgiveness spoken aloud, by name, for the specific sin that haunts you, is Christ's own absolution delivered concretely rather than left abstract.
Read it →What Is the Office of the Keys?
Christ gave His Church authority to forgive and retain sins. Most of Protestantism set it aside; Lutherans kept it. Absolution is Christ's own forgiveness, spoken to you by name—as valid as if He said it Himself.
Read it →Why Do Lutherans Baptize Babies?
Because baptism is God's work, not ours—and a gift God gives does not require the recipient to be old enough to earn or understand it. Infants are the clearest picture of how anyone receives grace: empty-handed.
Read it →Why Do Lutherans Baptize by Pouring Instead of Immersion?
Scripture commands no specific mode or amount of water, only water and the Trinitarian name—so pouring, sprinkling, and immersion are all valid. The power is in God's Word joined to the water, not the plumbing; a drop with the Word is a full baptism.
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