Lutherans and OSAS

[Vanny]

(I was raised a Lutheran. I agree with Matt 16 18.
I believe Luther did teach that yes you can loose your Salvation, you can deny your baptism, fall into unbelief.

 

[LutheranStudent]

As a well-informed layman of the Wisconsin Synod, we do NOT believe in OSAS. If you’re curious, here is our position.

As a well-informed Lutheran, we do NOT believe in OSAS. Check out the Solid Declaration of The Formula of Concord, Article IV, (Good Works) Sec. 31 & 32.

God’s Blessings to you in leading your girlfriend to orthodoxy in this doctrine.

-Lutheran Student

 

[Kevan]

LutheranStudent:

As a well-informed layman of the Wisconsin Synod, we do NOT believe in OSAS. If you’re curious, here is our position… Check out the Solid Declaration of The Formula of Concord, Article IV, (Good Works) Sec. 31 & 32.

Yep, I was wrong. WELS Lutherans do not believe in OSAS.

There’s some tricky theology at play here. On this page of the WELS web site, the following statement appears:While we do not use the phrase all that regularly, perhaps to avoid confusion with the “perseverance of the saints” dogma among Calvinists, we rightly hold to the teaching on the perseverance of the elect.“The elect” are those chosen by God for salvation before the worlds began, which is a doctrine that Luther declared very forcefully. “Perseverance” means continuing in salvation. The context explains that one may have faith, but then fall away, because he was not one of the elect. But the elect will never fall away; they will persevere. That’s why I called it a kind of OSAS, albeit a kind that guards against antinomianism.

But, to come down to where the leather meets the sidewalk, what we commonly refer to as OSAS is clearly rejected by the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord. That’s good enough for me and probably good enough for 100% of the other readers here.

Thank you, LutheranStudent.

 

[LutheranStudent]

No Problem, Kevan.
The Wisconsin Synod is actually just a tiny speck of an American synod when compared to the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) or the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). But we do pride ourselves (as proud as a Christian allows himself to get, anyway) on our consistently clear and simple message. I guess the most important thing to us is that we never be caught sleeping, so to speak.
Anyway, it kindof cuts like a knife to hear us misrepresented - but I was delighted to see us being acknowledged. If you’ll grant me the opportunity to say so, I believe that the WELS continues to parallel exactly the faith of the Lutheran fathers, more importantly, the faith given by Christ.

-Lutheran Student