Was Luther a "lutheran" in today's sense of the word (like LCMS)? I've heard that Luther himself was much more like Calvin than the later lutherans (like those who wrote the lutheran confessions). I've heard that Luther was pleased with Calvin's teaching on the sacraments.
My question is would Luther himself be what we today call lutheran (like LCMS)? Or was he more reformed than that?
Luther was pretty dogmatic that Christ is physically present "in, with, and under" the elements in the Supper, and of baptismal regeneration.
The main point of departure between him and modern Lutherans is that they tend to weaken his predestinarian views in one way or another. In general, they do not believe in perseverance of the saints or irresistible grace. That aspect of Lutheranism can be traced back to the influence of Luther's chief disciple Philip Melanchthon, who by the final edition of his
Loci communes had softened his views on predestination, as well as the sacraments, in relation to Luther. When the
Book of Concord was written, it was primarily an attempt to stem the tide of those adopting Melanchthon's view of the sacraments; his departures from Luther on the matter of election passed into Lutheran Orthodoxy almost uncontested.
But, in short, no, Luther was not Reformed. In more ways than one, Zwingli and Bucer represent the genesis of the Reformed Churches, and Luther, that of the Lutheran Churches.
