Confessional Lutherans are Lutheran Christians committed to believing, teaching and confessing the doctrines taught in the of 1580 because they believe them to be faithful to the teachings of the Bible.

While the Book of Concord was compiled in 1580, and thus at least some confessional Lutherans have existed from that date, the modern confessional movement arose in the 1830s as a reaction to pietism on the one side and rationalism on the other. It arrived in the United States with the emigration of groups like the Saxons who landed in Missouri under C.F.W. Walther and J.A.A. Grabau's group in Western New York (the Buffalo Synod). Pastors such as F.C.D. Wyneken and Wilhelm Loehe joined the movement as they read the works of Martin Luther and the Book of Concord. Unlike the confessing movement, confessional Lutherans do not compromise easily on matters of doctrine and practice.

Contemporary Lutheran church bodies that self-identify as confessional tend to be either members of the International Lutheran Council or the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as some independent Lutheran bodies. Among the members of the ILC are the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, the Lutheran Church - Canada and the Independent Evangelical—Lutheran Church

Confessional Lutheran churches are distinguished from other branches of the Lutheran church by their "quia" subscription to the Book of Concord. That is, Confessional Lutherans subscribe to the doctrines of the Book of Concord because (Latin: quia) they are in agreement with the Scriptures. Non-confessional Lutheran churches subscribe to the Book of Concord insofar as (Latin: quatenus) they agree with the Scriptures. The latter non-confesssional Lutheran churches are represented by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the major Lutheran churches of Europe (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Germany), and most members of the Lutheran World Federation.

As a practical matter, Lutheran organizations that identify themselves as confessional are generally more conservative in their views of scripture and doctrine than groups that do not identify themselves as confessional.

Confessional Lutherans represent perhaps 20% of the 70 million Lutherans worldwide, though they would claim to be the most faithful reflection of the Lutheran Confessions of the 16th century and Luther's own teaching.