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It's almost Reformation Day. What is the difference between Protestant and Lutheran?


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It is true that of all the church bodies which have left the papacy, it is precisely the Lutheran Church which is accused of retaining many papal abuses and of having been the least successful in cleansing itself. It is pointed out, for example, that in our church priestly clothing, church ornamentation, pictures, altar, crucifixes, candles, confession, the sign of the cross, and the like are still apparent. But, my friends, whoever regards these innocent things as vestiges of the papacy knows neither what the papacy is, nor what the Bible teaches. The very fact that the Lutheran Reformation was not aimed at indifferent adiaphora, but retained those things which were in harmony with God’s Word, shows that it was not a disorderly revolution, but a Biblical reformation.

 

— C. F. W. Walther

 

I would add to this, as Walther did elsewhere, that the high view of sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion are also distinguishing marks.

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:iagree:kinda sounds like a lecture. . . .

What is the point of your thread? Protestant is the big category. Lutheran is a small category (denomination) under the Protestant umbrella. I'm not sure what your point is with your quote. To discuss if it is true? To get people riled?
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What is the point of your thread? Protestant is the big category. Lutheran is a small category (denomination) under the Protestant umbrella. I'm not sure what your point is with your quote. To discuss if it is true? To get people riled?

 

Just to share some info. At a few points over the last few months confessional Lutheranism has been labelled Protestant. There is a sense in which that is true, but a sense in which it isn't. The trouble is that it is often the case that the word Protestant is used to refer to things that are true only of a subset of Protestants, specifically not confessional Lutheran ones, among others--and once those references become common usage, the term Protestant becomes extremely misleading. So when I ran across this quote I thought I would share it as info on some of those differences between Protestants and Confessional Lutherans.

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Just to share some info. At a few points over the last few months confessional Lutheranism has been labelled Protestant. There is a sense in which that is true, but a sense in which it isn't. The trouble is that it is often the case that the word Protestant is used to refer to things that are true only of a subset of Protestants, specifically not confessional Lutheran ones, among others--and once those references become common usage, the term Protestant becomes extremely misleading. So when I ran across this quote I thought I would share it as info on some of those differences between Protestants and Confessional Lutherans.

 

I got what you were saying! ;) Without these boards I never would have known of about confessional Lutheranism. I appreciate you sharing.

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