By His suffering and death as the substitute for all people of all time, Jesus purchased and won forgiveness and eternal life for them. Those who hear this Good News and believe it have the eternal life that it offers. God creates faith in Christ and gives people forgiveness through Him. – From LCMS.org
From “Lutheran Hour Ministries” – It is through faith in Jesus that we receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life – by believing that He has freed us from the guilt, punishment, and power of sin. Faith is a gift worked in us by the power of the Holy Spirit; it doesn’t come to us through anything we are capable of, but through what God does for us. We simply receive what is already being offered out of God’s great love.
From LCMS Cyclopedia – Faith, Justifying (fides justificans; fides salvifica). The act by which one enters into that right relation to God which the all-atoning work of Christ has established for the whole world.
Man needs new life through faith because of sin, which separates from God (Is 59:2). The remedy for sin comes entirely from God (Eph 2:5, 8). His gracious plan of salvation is revealed in Scripture and is received by faith (Ro 4:13, 16).
Justification by grace through faith establishes a new relationship between God and man and produces new attitudes, desires, objectives, and ideals (Gl 2:20; Ph 4:8; Tts 2:12–13). True faith is a living, energizing, motivating power that propels and urges to action (Mt 17:20; 1 Jn 5:4–5).
Learn more about what we believe.