Ask the Pastor: Lutheran or Protestant; Jesus' Last Name; A Time to not Tell about Jesus
by the Rev. Walter Snyder
Religion Columnist

Q: The question recently came up "are Lutherans really Protestants?" I have it in the
back of my mind that I read somewhere that Lutherans are not Protestants. Could you please
define the term "Protestant" (as it applies here) and answer the question? Thank you.

A: By original definition, Lutherans are the only "Protestants." At the time they received the
name, they were also the only "Evangelicals" (Gospel proclaimers), a name they'd chosen for
themselves. In 1529 at the Diet (Imperial Assembly) of Speyer, legal restrictions were placed upon
the Evangelicals. This included Martin Luther and those following his teachings on salvation by grace
through faith alone.

The restrictions included the spread of Evangelical teaching, assembly, and other rights.
Because of this, the Evangelical delegation filed a formal protest. When the protest was rejected, the
delegation filed an appeal with the emperor. During this time, they were imprisoned for a time, late
in 1529.

The name stuck, and later reformers tried to strengthen their case by joining themselves with
this historic protest. Because so many people who taught radically different doctrine than the
Evangelicals were claiming the name, the "Lutherans" rejected the Protestant title for themselves. As
a matter of fact, the Lutherans often found themselves in closer agreement with the Catholics with
whom they had first disagreed than with these later theological movements.

Just as they lost exclusive claim to the Protestant title, so the Lutherans found many others
later claiming to be Evangelicals because of political concessions granted to the Evangelical (Lutheran)
movement. Because of this, while Evangelical often appears as part of various Lutheran church
names, the movement generally has kept the name Lutheran as its identifier. This was not done so
much to honor Luther, who roundly rejected such a thing, but to identify their teachings as the same
as Luther's. As you see, both of these nicely descriptive names are rarely used by their original
holder, the Lutheran Church, because of differences with others who claimed them for themselves.

Q: What was Jesus' last name?

A: In Jesus' day, people didn't have family names, as is common now in most parts of the
world. Since he was presumed to be the son of Joseph the carpenter, his name would have been
Yeshua (Joshua) bar Joseph in Aramaic or Jesus Josephson according to an English translation.

Q: I am confused. When Jesus does miracles, he tells his disciples and the people he
does the miracles on to not tell anyone. He commands that his identity not be revealed and
that his actions not be spread. Why is this?

A: I think that the main reason is that he was not yet ready to claim the title of Messiah
publicly. Once that happened, it wouldn't be much longer until the authorities moved openly against
him. You'll notice that near the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus tended to stop asking that the stories
not be spread. He knew that his hour was coming, and that as his reputation spread, so would the
opposition to him. Thus, he opened himself up to the coming assault of the religious leaders in order
to be arrested, tried, and crucified that he might pay for our sins. However, this wasn't until all that
he had been sent to do by the Father had been accomplished.

To Ask the Pastor, please write Ask the Pastor, PO Box 12, Emma, MO, 65327 or send
email to askthepastor@aol.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of
the book "What Do Lutherans Believe."