p> Lutherans believe that, before Adam and Eve, man was without sin. After the fall of Adam and Eve, man's perfect nature became inherently evil, and he was thereafter incapable of doing good by himself. The origin of this belief may be found in "One of Luther's most famous works, The Bondage of the Will, [which] describes man as having no free will, especially in regard to spiritual matters" (Kersten, 1970, p. 22). Through Baptism, Holy Communion and the proclamation of the Word, the Church becomes the conduit through which grace is received, but grace and salvation cannot be obtained through Church authorities (a widely held view in the Roman Catholic Church).
For Luther, the Ten Commandments were an unobtainable ideal but, for many of today's believers, they are, in conjunction with living a moral life, a path to salvation. Although much debated among Protestant religions, "Salvation, according to Lutheran ethics, comes only as a free gift of grace from God, through Jesus Christ, and is not affected by the worldly deeds of men. Man is assured of salvati
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