The Means of Grace

While Lutherans don’t own the market on talking about being saved by grace, we tend to pride ourselves on the fact that grace is the main focus of our message and ministry. As a result, Lutherans are concerned with how to communicate the message of God’s grace to the rest of the world. In church lingo, this communica-tion of God’s grace is also called “the means of grace.”

Martin Luther recognized that people frequently misunderstand the word grace. Often it is thought of as a substance, and as a “thing” God gives us. Luther understood that the Bible reveals that God’s grace is His disposition toward us - His attitude toward us, how He feels about us. And what is that disposition? God loves us; so much that He sent His Son for the forgiveness of our sins.

So how do we really know that? How do we experience God’s grace and know that God forgives our sin? In other words, to use the theological term, what are the means of grace?

Luther understood that God uses ordinary things to deliver His words of for-giveness, His promise, to us. He uses the water of Baptism and the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. And He uses something as simple as words, in the words of absolution and a sermon. All of these things are the means, the methods, God uses to deliver his promise to us. And they are all called the means of grace.

This month, we’re going to explore the means of grace and Luther’s under-standing of each of them. Keep watching the weekly bulletin and the Reformation 500 video series at www.lutherhouseofstudy.org to learn more.