Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
From My New Book “Embracing Your Lutheran Identity”

From My New Book “Embracing Your Lutheran Identity”

Last updated on: August 28, 2024 at 6:00 am by Gene Veith

0 Comments

From My New Book “Embracing Your Lutheran Identity” 2024-08-27T17:18:34-04:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Yesterday I posted about my new book Embracing Your Lutheran Identity, which was suggested by Cranach readers and is a new departure for me: a replication of how I teach, complete with “dialectical” questions, making the book suitable for both individual reading and group study.

Here is a sample from the first chapter, “Your Identity in Christ”:

Who are you? What are you?

Those would seem to be easy questions. But they aren’t. Especially today. These are questions about your identity. People today are obsessed with identity, and yet they often have a difficult time identifying themselves.

Part of the problem is that identity involves both your uniqueness and your belonging. Each of us is a unique individual, and yet each of us also yearns for connections with other people.

Many people are trying to find their identity in their sex, ethnicity, or social status. They try to define themselves—and others—in terms of race, wealth, politics, or sexual desires. This never works in the long run, since these and other external and superficial factors do not describe who you are deep down, in your inmost thoughts and feelings, in your personal uniqueness.

There is only one person who knows you in that way, who knows you completely in the depths of your personal uniqueness. That would be God, who created you distinctly from everyone else and is in constant communion with your very soul. Furthermore, God designed you to be in relationship with other persons, with Him and with other people whom He brings into your life.

So to find our identity, we would do well to learn how God identifies us.

Your Baptismal Identity

It is astonishing how directly the Bible addresses the identity preoccupations of our time—ethnicity, social status, and sex—and puts them in their place:

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:27-28)

Everyone who is baptized has “put on Christ.” So when God sees us, He sees Jesus. He sees not our sinfulness but Christ’s righteousness. Christ—by becoming one of us, bearing our sin, and taking our punishment—has our identity, so now we have Christ’s identity. Our identity is no longer based on the world’s categories.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek.” Our ethnic, national, cultural, or racial identity no longer applies. Neither to our relationship to God, or, as St. Paul is exhorting, to Christians’ relationships with each other.

“There is neither slave nor free.” Our social status, our economic position, our place in society no longer define our identity. And, importantly to today’s issues, as to the slaves and other oppressed people who have always been drawn to Christianity, our identity is not to be found in our victimhood and our oppression. They could say, “my slavery doesn’t define me.” And a free citizen would have to say, “my privilege doesn’t define me.”

“There is neither male nor female.” We are not to find our identity in sex or gender. Not in feminism or the men’s movement, nor in trying to change our gender or in fixating on our sexual proclivities.

It isn’t that these categories don’t exist or are not important. They are part of our physical creation and our social and cultural life. The Bible has much to say about them all. But they are not to be identity-defining.

(1) Why is your baptismal identity so much more important than your ethnic, national, cultural, or racial identity?

[space for writing]

(2) Why is your baptismal identity so much more important than your status, the amount of money you have, your job, your victimhood, or your privilege?

[space for writing]

(3) Why is your baptismal identity so much more important than your sex, gender, or sexual desires?

[space for writing]

(4) What does this mean for how we identify others and how we treat them? Apply this to both fellow-Christians and to non-Christians.

[space for writing]

We go on in that vein, with paragraphs followed by questions, including how our unique identity is captured in our name. (“What is your name?” “Why did your parents name you that?,” etc.) Part of what happens in the sacrament of baptism is that we are “named.” Whereupon, our name is joined to the Name of the Triune God (“I baptized you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit).

From there I go to the way baptism makes us part of Christ’s Church, His body on earth. I do a lot with 1 Corinthians 12 and what St. Paul says about the “members” of a body. I explain that “member” originally meant not someone on the roster of some group, but an “organ.” Not the musical instrument but an organ of the body, like the heart or the lung. This, as St. Paul further explains, is an image of diversity (a much talked about quality today), but it is also an image of unity, the union of highly diverse individuals that we long for and that is a reality in Christ.

We also talk about how, by virtue of their confirmation–their stated agreement with Lutheran theology and their pledge to hold on to this confession–they are also members (organs) of a particular outpost of the Holy Christian and Apostolic church, which also has a name and an identity.

The first chapter closes with this:

In this study, we will focus on your Lutheran identity. That is, we will try to help you “identify” with Christians through the centuries and throughout the world who share your faith and your confession.

We will do a lot with history, but not as a list of names and dates, but as a living story of human beings just like yourself. You will learn about martyrs, battles, persecutions, migrations, and victories. You will be introduced to lots of colorful personalities, and you will learn why our church does some of the things it does.

Also, we will try to help you realize how you, yourself have a place in this vast and rich spiritual tradition.

I am aware that “denominations” are out of vogue. I agree that being Christian, having faith in Christ, is the most important thing. But throwing out denominations has led to a generic Christianity largely void of theology. Yet we need theology so that we can navigate the spiritual issues we face today. As a result, contemporary Christianity is weakened.

The word “denomination” derives from a word meaning “naming.” There is nothing wrong with a church body, like a person, having a name; that is, having an identity. And the members of that church–since they belong to a common community, with a common history and with common beliefs–share in that identity. This should reinforce their primary identity that they have in Christ.

The goal of this study is to build up your Christian identity by helping you cultivate a Lutheran identity.

You can buy it here.

Here are some more details about it, along with some testimonials from people I really respect.

Photo: Lutheran Baptism by keskieve, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Embracing Your Lutheran Identity

free

Gene Veith's books

Previous Post

August 27, 2024

The Book You Asked For Is Now Available

Next Post

August 29, 2024 A New Reason Why Some People Are Believing in God

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"As a (retired) lawyer I see potential liability from sharing things like power or sharp ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

"I am not sure the items you mentioned, though disused, discontinued, discarded, could be considered ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

"“Friend, use me in your relations with your neighbor just as you would want your ..."

DakotaLutheran

Luther on Tools

"Archaeology: It's the case that we don't have to go back very far to discover ..."

DakotaLutheran

Luther on Tools

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did Esther risk by approaching the king without being summoned?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Her fortune Her reputation Her citizenship Her life

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »