Why We Left Lutheranism--Upholds Denominationalism
Luther stayed the course. He wrote on a sheet of paper he kept before him: "This is my body. This is my blood." Jesus was speaking the night he he was betrayed! This was the night before he would die on the cross, which he knew was going to happen! This was hardly a time to start spouting stories and metaphors. And how this fits in with the "I Am" statements in John's Gospel will be explored when I address Mr. Guild's concerns on the Lutheran position on the Lord's Supper.
But in the end, the two reformers did not agree on a key piece of doctrine. Luther was bound by his conscience and by the Word of God. Zwingli was bound by his reason. (Read The Doctrine of the Means of Grace to see the differences of the three branches of Christianity on the Means of Grace.)
When we speak of the Church, we refer to both a visible and an invisible church. The visible church is the flesh and blood, the names we see on church rolls, people who have a membership with a church or regularly attend church and you can see and verify that. That is the visible church.
The invisible church is known only by God. Only God can see hearts and know if faith is present or not. We may often see hypocrites, but the fact is only God knows if someone in his/her heart is a hypocrite or a person of faith. There may be others who trust in the promise by God of a Savior, but have not heard of Christ, who are also saved. It is likely Job didn't follow the Mosaic law-yet he had faith. In his lifetime many Israelites probably didn't know him, yet God knew him and had his story recorded for us. Many in the Jewish community in our time have trusted in the promise by God for a Savior. When they started comparing the Old Testament texts with Jesus' life, miracles, teaching, death, and resurrection, they soon saw that Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Did they become members of the church when they believed in Christ? No! They were members by virtue of faith in the promise!
Because we cannot see hearts, we go by public confession of one's faith. And one public confession a person makes is by his or her membership or
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