If Martin Luther were alive today; if we could somehow bring him back from heaven to see what his reforming work has yielded, he might be disappointed. Luther’s mission was never to break away from the established Church and start anew, but to reform the existing Church, to correct the errors according to a strict interpretation of Scripture.

If Luther were alive today, he would groan to discover so many different Christian denominations, each with their subtle, or not so subtle differences between them. Our collective creed says, “One holy Christian and Apostolic Church.” So are we one, or many churches? Can we find fellowship with each other? Can the Methodist reading this article find doctrinal common ground with its Lutheran author, for example?

The important differences lie not in the “style” of a denomination’s worship, but what we call “substance,” the elements of the worship service and the doctrinal beliefs that reflect universal Biblical truths that need to be followed, believed and professed by all Christians. This can be stated or divided into two categories: fundamental and non-fundamental doctrine. Fundamental doctrine is what all Christians must believe where our salvation is at stake, the basic tenets of God. Non-fundamental doctrine does not mean “non-important,” but are those issues of the faith where denominations may disagree in interpretation, but our salvation does not hang in jeopardy.

Fundamental doctrine consists of our belief in the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; in other words, our view of God as He makes Himself known in Scripture, one God in three persons; not three Gods, not one person, but three persons, each with a different ‘role’ in salvation and God’s extended grace. Churches that deny Jesus (as the Son of God, one with the Father) would not be in Christian fellowship. Those who deny or fail to recognize the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and to know Him as God the third person, would not have Christian fellowship with those who do. The Trinity is a fundamental Biblical Christian truth.

Other fundamental truths relate to God’s Law which convicts us as sinners, and how we are saved from sin, (Gospel). These truths are what constitute sin, redemption and salvation. Christians in fellowship agree that we have all sinned against God and fall short of His glory. Sin offends God, and we can’t make up for sin on our own. Redemption comes through the shed blood of Jesus who died for our sins to make payment to the Father for His own Law that says the wages of sin is death. Salvation, the saving from sins is what Christians have whose faith is in the redeeming work Christ did on our behalf. To deny these, or hold to a different gospel would be false and will not save.

With our salvation assured by these beliefs, interpretation of other doctrines by imperfect people create the various Christian denominations we now have. We can be sure that heaven will be filled with Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopals, Baptists and other Christian denominations who believe and profess their faith in the fundamental doctrines.

To learn more about the Reformation, you can visit or call our churches: St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fredonia (672-6454), Trinity Lutheran Church in Silver Creek (934-2002), or Immanuel Lutheran Church in Gowanda (532-4342).