Western Christianities Compared
Here, four divergent Christian traditions are compared side by side: 1) Lutheran, 2) Catholic, 3) Calvinist, and 4) Anabaptist.
The first paragraph under each heading deals with commonly held beliefs. The differences and contrasts are italicized.
God
We worship the Holy Trinity (three-in-one). God is one divine Being, though three divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is unbegotten; the Son is eternally begotten from the Father; the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. Each Person is fully and equally God.
Creation
The Triune God we worship created everything that exists apart from Him (the universe). Because God is good, everything He made in the beginning was perfect. Evil was introduced by the wicked will of Satan, the Devil, who can neither create nor destroy but only distort what God made good.
Christ
Christ Jesus is fully God and fully human. He consists of these two Natures in one Person. Christ was miraculously conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary of Nazareth. Only the Son became human; the Father and the Holy Spirit have only a divine Nature.
Scripture
Holy Scripture – the collected books of the Bible (canon) – is the fully inspired Word of God, written by men. It is incapable of error (infallible), a reliable source about the natural and supernatural worlds. It does not inform on every subject but teaches what we need to know about salvation.
Lutherans, Calvinists, and Anabaptists agree that Holy Scripture is sufficient (Sola Scriptura) as the only authoritative source of God’s revelation. Other sources – including tradition, reason, and experience – are of value but always subject to scrutiny according to Scripture. They recognize 66 books of the Old and New Testament. The Old Testament Apocrypha are not considered “Canon”.
Roman Catholics insist that Holy Scripture is one mode of God’s revelation – written down once – standing alongside Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church (continuing revelation). For their Scriptures they recognize 66 books of the Old and New Testament as “Canon” as well as the Old Testament Apocrypha as “Deuterocanon”.
Sin
Sin is departure from God’s Law revealed in Holy Scripture. It harms God’s creation. Humans are tempted to sin externally by the Devil as well as internally because of Original Sin (sinful desire). We sin by commission, failing to do what God commands; and omission, doing what God forbids.
Lutherans and Calvinists agree that human nature is entirely corrupted by original sin and therefore cannot avoid sin with their own efforts alone (total depravity). Once given the Holy Spirit, however, humans are empowered to do fulfill the Law – though never perfectly as long as they live.
Roman Catholics assent that original sin corrupts human nature but reject total depravity. They attribute some minor ability to earn (merit) grace from God which prompts Him to give the Spirit. Original sin and sinful desire (concupiscence) are removed by the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
Salvation
The Son of God became human – Christ Jesus – in order to experience all human trials, resist temptation, and offer Himself as a substitutionary (atoning) sacrifice or sin. Christ was born miraculously, without original sin, and therefore had no sins of His own to atone for on the cross.
Lutherans believe Christ Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross atoned for every sin ever committed, and therefore, by His merits all humans are justified. This “universal objective” reality of justification – that is, grace and forgiveness of sins – is received subjectively through faith apart from works.
Calvinists deny the universal application of Christ Jesus’ sacrifice; they teach “limited” atonement to those whom God has predestined to believe and be justified. Since nonbelievers have not been justified objectively, there is no forgiveness available to be received by them subjectively.
Roman Catholics acknowledge that Christ Jesus universally atoned for sin, but only “venial” sins; “mortal” sins require additional grace and merit to be forgiven. Humans must “activate” their faith through works in order to maintain their “state of grace” outside of which they may not be saved. Mary, no less than Christ Jesus, was free of original sin (the immaculate conception) because she also exercises a rôle in reconciling God and humanity.
The Church
The Church is the community in which humans worship the Triune God and receive grace from Him. This one, holy, true Church spans heaven (Church triumphant) and earth (Church militant).
Roman Catholics define the “Church” in terms of members of “religious” (monastic) and “secular” (ministering) clergy. They are organized in a hierarchy under the Pope of Rome, whom they believe to be St. Peter’s successor by divine appointment. In addition to the Church triumphant and militant, some speak of the “Church expectant”: souls suffering in purgatory awaiting heaven. Other Christian and non-Christian believers may be in “communion” with the Church, though imperfectly, through “ignorance”; only those who willfully reject the Pope will not be saved.
Calvinists and Anabaptists acknowledge that the Church is a visible, earthly organization consisting of both clergy and laity. Those who have been predestined to believe (Calvinist) or otherwise obtain their membership in the Church may be recognized by the “fruits” of their faith: whether they persist in fulfilling the Law and correct understanding of Holy Scripture (doctrine). It is impossible for an individual to ascertain from external sources whether he or she is saved.
Lutherans agree with Calvinists that the Church is the community of clergy and laity united by correct doctrine and fulfilling the Law. However, believers are not assured of Church membership by examining the fruits of faith. Everyone who believes the Church’s proclamation that their sins are forgiven (the Gospel) according to the Word of God is saved; those that do not are not saved.
The Sacraments
Christ Jesus instituted sacraments to be external signs connected with the Gospel. The sacraments utilize visible materials – water, bread, and wine – in tandem with audible words.
Lutherans have no fixed number of “sacraments” but recognize two: Holy Baptism and Holy Communion (the Lord’s Supper). (Holy Absolution following Confession of sins may be numbered among the sacraments.) Because the words of Christ Jesus instituting each sacrament proclaim the Gospel, all objectively confer grace and forgiveness received subjectively through faith. They are therefore both signs and seals of salvation. Infants are baptized because the sacraments are God’s, not human, work; the body and blood of Christ are inseparably present with the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper – in a physical as well as spiritual manner that cannot be explained. Every sacrament confers grace and forgiveness equally. Only the Lord’s Supper has a curse attached, which necessitates denying it to those who are unworthy (Closed Communion).
Calvinists and Anabaptists fix the number of sacraments at two: Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They reject individual Confession before a minister as unnecessary and harmful. Denying that physical material can confer spiritual gifts such as grace and forgiveness, they maintain that the sacraments are external – yet independent – signs that God is internally nurturing faith.
Historically, Calvinists practice Closed Communion although they teach only the worthy receive Christ’s body and blood that is present spiritually; the unworthy receive only bread and wine. Calvinists in the mainline establishments also baptize infants, believing that baptism is continuous with the rite of circumcision in the Old Testament and a seal of God’s “covenantal” promise that spans generations. Baptism is therefore received not individually but publicly.
Anabaptists neither teach a physical nor spiritual presence of Christ Jesus in the Lord’s Supper but consider it a pledge or memorial of the forgiveness they already received at conversion. Anabaptists reject infant baptism since it is a rite that follows verbal confession of individual faith.
Roman Catholics fix the number of sacraments at seven: Baptism, Confirmation, Confession (Penance), the Lord’s Supper, Marriage, Ordination, and the Last Rites (Extreme Unction). Whenever performed by a validly ordained minister, one ordained by a bishop in communion with the Pope, the sacraments confer grace whether received by faith or not (ex opere operato). Each sacrament “infuses” grace empowering the recipient to meritoriously remain in the state of grace. The sacraments individually confer different graces and blessings. Baptism receives an individual into the Church. It is therefore administered to infants and, because necessary, a layperson may baptize in cases of extreme urgency; Confirmation is administered by a bishop later – customarily following formal catechesis – through anointing to seal a baptized Roman Catholic into communion with the Church. The Lord’s Supper is offered to confirmed Roman Catholics who have not excluded themselves through erring life or doctrine (Closed Communion). The primary action of the Lord’s Supper, however, is not in receiving Christ’s body and blood that through “transubstantiation” replaces the bread and wine; it is the “Sacrifice of the Mass” by which clergy offer the crucified body and blood continuously to atone for sins and merit special grace from God. The Sacrifice of the Mass requires ordination to bestow an “indelible character” on the priest – that is, rendering his hands pure enough to handle the sacrifice. Because historic Roman Catholic doctrine reckoned copulation as a sin, even between married couples, marriage was counted a sacrament which purifies the sexual relations necessary for human procreation. The Last Rites fully reconcile a dying Roman Catholic to the Church, providing a last opportunity to confess venial sins as unconfessed sins may either damn or extend an individual’s penance in purgatory.
Eschatology
Physical death is the separation of a human’s body from the soul; spiritual death is the separation of the body and soul from God. Salvation is the soul being at rest with God in heaven, and in both body and soul in the Resurrection made possible by Jesus’ Resurrection after dying on the cross. Damnation is experiencing punishment from God in hell. Eternally fixed at the moment of death, varying degrees of bliss or suffering in heaven or in hell are rewards for actions done on earth.
Lutherans, Calvinists, and Anabaptists teach that, at the moment of death, the soul either ascends to heaven or descends to hell depending whether it had faith or not. The body left behind decays; only the soul remains conscious and unharmed, though it longs for eventual reunion with the body. Faith alone suffices for salvation; the claim to have earned it by works consigns to damnation.
Roman Catholics opine that relatively few believers are pure enough to enter heaven by death; purgatory is an intermediate state necessary to purify believers from venial sins. Mortal sins remaining unconfessed and unreconciled for consign the believer to hell at death. Purgation may be reduced by merits and intercessions from the departed saints in heaven, as well as from living Roman Catholics as they obtain graces through Masses and pilgrimages. Faith must be “active” doing good works and rejecting sin to be sufficient for salvation. Bodies of “saints” – believers worthy of immediate entry to heaven – may remain incorrupt.
Predestination
Father Heide
