Lutheranism &
Predestination
OK, I freely admit over 60 pages is a bit overkill, but this post includes ALL the cognates for freewill, predestination, election, Choice, etc., not just the ones that bolstered my point but all that appeared by searching the ESV, KJV, NIV & The Mounce Reverse-Interlinear™ New Testament. Most verses are ESV, most of the variants came from the KJV, my apologies for not marking them. There are over 300+ verses. The cognate words are in bold, I left the In Context, Full Chapter and Other Translations links in so the person who desires to can knock themselves out
Scripture Verses
Freewill
All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.
And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of
Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept
bringing him freewill offerings every morning,
But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten.
“Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to
them, When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel
presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord,
And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it.
You may present a bull or a lamb that has a part too long or too short for a freewill offering, but for a vow offering it cannot be accepted.
besides the Lord's Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.
and you offer to the Lord from the herd or from the flock a food offering or a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or at your appointed feasts, to make a pleasing aroma to the Lord,
“These you shall offer to the Lord at your appointed feasts, in addition to your vow offerings and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your grain offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.”
and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your
tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.
You may not eat within your towns the tithe of your grain or of your
wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or
any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present,
Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.
That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the Lord thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.
Then the leaders of fathers' houses made their freewill
offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of
thousands and of hundreds, and the officers over the king's work.
And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the east gate, was over the freewill offerings to God, to apportion the contribution reserved for the Lord and the most holy offerings.
And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the
men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts,
besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”
Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site.
and after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the Lord.
I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his
priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.
with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly for the house of their God that is in Jerusalem.
And I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.
With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me your rules.
When the prince provides a freewill offering, either a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to the Lord,
the gate facing east shall be opened for him. And he shall offer his
burnt offering or his peace offerings as he does on the Sabbath day.
Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out the gate shall be shut.
offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!” declares the Lord God.
Predest*
Acts 4:28
Acts 4:28
to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined
to take place.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be
conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn
among many brothers.
And those whom he predestined he also called, and
those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also
glorified.
he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus
Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined
according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel
of his will,
Elect*
Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom
my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth
judgment to the Gentiles.
For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have
even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known
me.
And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah
an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my
servants shall dwell there.
They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not
plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people,
and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
And if those days had not been cut short, no human being
would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut
short.
For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform
great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call,
and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of
heaven to the other.
And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being
would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he
shortened the days.
For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform
signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.
And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect
from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry
to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is
God who justifies.
though they were not yet born and had done nothing either
good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not
because of works but because of him who calls—
Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant
according to the election of grace.
What then? Israel
failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the
rest were hardened,
As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But
as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and
beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
longsuffering;
Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect
angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from
partiality.
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect,
that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal
glory.
[ Greeting ] Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of
Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their
knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,
[ Greeting ] Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To
those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of
the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I
lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth
on him shall not be confounded.
The church that is at Babylon,
elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.
[ Confirm Your Calling and Election ] His
divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,
through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm
your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will
never fall.
[ Greeting ] The elder to the elect lady and
her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the
truth,
The children of your elect sister greet you.
Choose/Chose*/Choice
the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were
attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.
So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley,
and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated
from each other.
For I have chosen him, that he may command his
children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”
“Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury
your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from
you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.”
Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and
departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose
and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor.
Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so,
then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags,
and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum,
myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds.
Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice
vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of
grapes.
and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the
other chariots of Egypt
with officers over all of them.
“Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and
his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go
out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with
the staff of God in my hand.”
Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made
them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and
of tens.
These were the ones chosen from the congregation, the
chiefs of their ancestral tribes, the heads of the clans of Israel.
And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader
and go back to Egypt.”
And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people
of Israel,
250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known
men.
and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning
the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy,
and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring
near to him.
put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You have
gone too far, sons of Levi!”
And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout.
Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which
they grumble against you.”
The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are the
Dathan and Abiram, chosen from the congregation, who contended against
Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against the Lord
Choose for your tribes wise, understanding, and
experienced men, and I will appoint them as your heads.’
And because he loved your fathers and chose their
offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his
great power,
[ A Chosen People
] “When the Lord your God brings you into the
land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many
nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the
Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more
numerous and mightier than you,
“For you are a people holy to the Lord
your God. The Lord your God has chosen you
to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on
the face of the earth.
It was not because you were more in number than any other
people that the Lord set his love on you and chose
you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
Yet the Lord set his heart in
love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all
peoples, as you are this day.
[ The Lord's Chosen Place
of Worship ] “These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to
do in the land that the Lord, the God of your
fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth.
But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes
to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go,
then to the place that the Lord
your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall
bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your
tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings
that you vow to the Lord.
but at the place that the Lord
will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt
offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.
but you shall eat them before the Lord
your God in the place that the Lord your God will
choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your
female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And you shall rejoice
before the Lord your God in all that you
undertake.
If the place that the Lord
your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you
may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord
has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns
whenever you desire.
But the holy things that are due from you, and your vow
offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to the place that the Lord will choose,
For you are a people holy to the Lord
your God, and the Lord has chosen you to
be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the
face of the earth.
And before the Lord your God,
in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you
shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn
of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord
your God always.
And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able
to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God
blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there,
then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in
your hand and go to the place that the Lord your
God chooses
You shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose.
And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place
that the Lord will choose, to make his
name dwell there.
but at the place that the Lord
your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall
offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came
out of Egypt.
And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. And in the morning
you shall turn and go to your tents.
And you shall rejoice before the Lord
your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female
servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless,
and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord
your God will choose, to make his name dwell there.
For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in
all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.
“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose:
at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of
Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord
empty-handed.
[ Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges ] “If any
case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one
kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case
within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up
to the place that the Lord your God will choose.
Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from
that place that the Lord will choose. And
you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you.
you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your
brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you,
who is not your brother.
For the Lord your God has chosen
him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.
“And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, where
he lives—and he may come when he desires—to the place that the Lord will choose,
Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for
the Lord your God has chosen them to
minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord,
and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled.
He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he
shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall
not wrong him.
you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the
ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord
your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to
the place that the Lord your God will choose,
to make his name to dwell there.
[ The Choice of Life and Death ] “For this
commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far
off.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I
have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose
life, that you and your offspring may live,
when all Israel
comes to appear before the Lord your God at the
place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their
hearing.
And of Joseph he said, “Blessed by the Lord be his land, with the choicest gifts of
heaven above, and of the deep that crouches beneath,
with the choicest fruits of the sun and the rich
yield of the months,
He chose the best of the land for himself, for there
a commander's portion was reserved; and he came with the heads of the people,
with Israel he executed the
justice of the Lord, and his judgments for Israel.”
So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And
Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night.
But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of
water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord,
to this day, in the place that he should choose.
[ Choose Whom You Will Serve ] “Now
therefore fear the Lord and serve him in
sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served
beyond the River and in Egypt,
and serve the Lord.
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the
gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord.”
Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against
yourselves that you have chosen the Lord,
to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.”
When new gods were chosen, then war was in the gates.
Was shield or spear to be seen among forty thousand in Israel?
Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let
them save you in the time of your distress.”
And the people of Benjamin mustered out of their cities on
that day 26,000 men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who
mustered 700 chosen men.
Among all these were 700 chosen men who were
left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.
And there came against Gibeah 10,000 chosen men out
of all Israel,
and the battle was hard, but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was
close upon them.
Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my
priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I
gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel.
Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I
commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves
on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’
And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom
you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord
will not answer you in that day.”
[ Saul Chosen to Be King ] There was a man of
Benjamin whose name was Kish,
the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite,
a man of wealth.
And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among
all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for
whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a
king over you.
Saul chose three thousand men of Israel. Two
thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in
Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent.
Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel.
And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen
this one.”
Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has
the Lord chosen this one.”
And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And
Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen
these.”
He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why
have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not
servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to
me.
Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five
smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling
was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.
Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said
to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen
the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother's
nakedness?
Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went
to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats' Rocks.
So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with
three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the
wilderness of Ziph.
[ The Ark Brought to Jerusalem ] David
again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
And David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above
all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will celebrate before the Lord.
When Joab saw that the battle was set against him both in
front and in the rear, he chose some of the best men of Israel and
arrayed them against the Syrians.
And Hushai said to Absalom, “No, for whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen,
his I will be, and with him I will remain.
[ Hushai Saves David ] Moreover, Ahithophel said to
Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue
David tonight.
let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang
them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen
of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give
them.”
“Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord,
Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’”
And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you
have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for
multitude.
‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt,
I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house,
that my name might be there. But I chose David to be over my people Israel.’
“If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by
whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the Lord
toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for
your name,
if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart
in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward
their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen,
and the house that I have built for your name,
However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will
give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake
of Jerusalem
that I have chosen.”
(but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant
David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of
all the tribes of Israel),
Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his
hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David
my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes.
Yet to his son I will give one tribe, that David my servant
may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem,
the city where I have chosen to put my name.
When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem,
he assembled all the house of Judah
and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the
house of Israel,
to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
[ Rehoboam Reigns in Judah ] Now Rehoboam the son of
Solomon reigned in Judah.
Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put
his name there. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite.
Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one
bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no
fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no
fire to it.
Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for
yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the
name of your god, but put no fire to it.”
and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice
city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin
every good piece of land with stones.”
By your messengers you have mocked the Lord, and you have
said, ‘With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to
the far recesses of Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses; I entered its
farthest lodging place, its most fruitful forest.
And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in
the house of which the Lord said to David and to
Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem,
which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.
And the Lord said, “I will
remove Judah also out of my
sight, as I have removed Israel,
and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My
name shall be there.”
All these, who were chosen as gatekeepers at the
thresholds, were 212. They were enrolled by genealogies in their villages.
David and Samuel the seer established them in their office of trust.
Then David said that no one but the Levites may carry the
ark of God, for the Lord had chosen them
to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister to
him forever.
O offspring of Israel his servant, children of
Jacob, his chosen ones!
With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the rest of those chosen
and expressly named to give thanks to the Lord,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
[ Ammonites and Syrians Defeated ] When Joab saw that
the battle was set against him both in front and in the rear, he chose
some of the best men of Israel
and arrayed them against the Syrians.
“Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord,
Three things I offer you; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’”
So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Choose what you will:
And the scribe Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel, a Levite,
recorded them in the presence of the king and the princes and Zadok the priest
and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar and the heads of the fathers' houses of the
priests and of the Levites, one father's house being chosen for Eleazar
and one chosen for Ithamar.
Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all my father's
house to be king over Israel
forever. For he chose Judah
as leader, and in the house of Judah my father's house, and among my father's
sons he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel.
And of all my sons (for the Lord
has given me many sons) he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the
throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.
He said to me, ‘It is Solomon your son who shall build my
house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be
his father.
Be careful now, for the Lord
has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it.”
[ Offerings for the Temple
] And David the king said to all the assembly, “Solomon my son, whom alone God
has chosen, is young and inexperienced, and the work is great, for the
palace will not be for man but for the Lord God.
‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of
Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build
a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over
my people Israel;
but I have chosen Jerusalem
that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
“If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by
whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that
you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,
if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart
in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray
toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen
and the house that I have built for your name,
Then the Lord appeared to
Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen
this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.
For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that
my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
[ Rehoboam Secures His Kingdom ] When Rehoboam came
to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah
and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against Israel, to
restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.
So King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one
years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem,
the city that the Lord had chosen out of
all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah
the Ammonite.
Abijah went out to battle, having an army of valiant men of
war, 400,000 chosen men. And Jeroboam drew up his line of battle against
him with 800,000 chosen mighty warriors.
Abijah and his people struck them with great force, so there
fell slain of Israel
500,000 chosen men.
[ Amaziah's Victories ] Then Amaziah assembled the
men of Judah
and set them by fathers' houses under commanders of thousands and of hundreds
for all Judah and Benjamin. He mustered those twenty years old and upward, and
found that they were 300,000 choice men, fit for war, able to handle
spear and shield.
My sons, do not now be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to
minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.”
And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in
the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this
house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen
out of all the tribes of Israel,
I will put my name forever,
but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do
them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I
will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make
my name dwell there.’
Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox
and six choice sheep and birds, and every ten days all kinds of wine in
abundance. Yet for all this I did not demand the food allowance of the
governor, because the service was too heavy on this people.
You are the Lord, the God who chose
Abram and brought him out of Ur
of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.
[ Esther Chosen Queen ] After these things,
when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she
had done and what had been decreed against her.
And the young woman pleased him and won his favor. And he
quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food, and with seven
chosen young women from the king's palace, and advanced her and her
young women to the best place in the harem.
so that I would choose strangling and death rather
than my bones.
For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose
the tongue of the crafty.
I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like
a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.
so that his life loathes bread, and his appetite the choicest
food.
Let us choose what is right; let us know among
ourselves what is good.
Will he then make repayment to suit you, because you reject
it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know.
Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen
rather than affliction.
The Lord is my chosen
portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
Who is the man who fears the Lord?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his
heritage!
He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom
he loves. Selah
Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to
dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
the holiness of your temple!
He rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the
tribe of Ephraim,
but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loves.
He chose David his servant and took him from the
sheepfolds;
You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen
one; I have sworn to David my servant:
Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said: “I
have granted help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from
the people.
O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen
ones!
He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen
ones with singing.
that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen
ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with
your inheritance.
Therefore he said he would destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen
one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying
them.
I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your
rules before me.
Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen
your precepts.
[ The Lord Has Chosen
Zion ] [ A
Song of Ascents. ] Remember, O Lord, in
David's favor, all the hardships he endured,
For the Lord has chosen
Zion; he has
desired it for his dwelling place:
For the Lord has chosen
Jacob for himself, Israel
as his own possession.
Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the
fear of the Lord,
Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any
of his ways,
Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather
than choice gold,
My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield
than choice silver.
The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the
heart of the wicked is of little worth.
How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get
understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.
Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest
fruits, henna with nard,
nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of
frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all choice spices—
Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my
garden, let its spices flow. [ Together in the Garden of Love
] [ She ] Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest
fruits.
His legs are alabaster columns, set on bases of gold. His
appearance is like Lebanon,
choice as the cedars.
The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and beside our doors are
all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O
my beloved.
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired; and
you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen.
He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice
vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in
it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the
evil and choose the good.
For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose
the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
[ The Restoration of Jacob ] For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose
Israel,
and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will
attach themselves to the house of Jacob.
Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the
horsemen took their stand at the gates.
By your servants you have mocked the Lord, and you have
said, With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the
far recesses of Lebanon,
to cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses, to come to its
remotest height, its most fruitful forest.
He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses
wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol
that will not move.
But you, Israel,
my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my
friend;
you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from
its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen
you and not cast you off”;
Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing;
an abomination is he who chooses you.
[ The Lord's Chosen Servant ] Behold my servant, whom I
uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon
him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and
understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any
after me.
The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the
ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give
drink to my chosen people,
[ Israel
the Lord's Chosen ] “But now hear, O
Jacob my servant, Israel
whom I have chosen!
Thus says the Lord who made
you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my
servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or
an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar
and the rain nourishes it.
For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.
Thus says the Lord, the
Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the
nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they
shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord,
who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
For thus says the Lord: “To
the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to
humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth
and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?
“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the
bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go
free, and to break every yoke?
I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah
possessors of my mountains; my chosen shall possess it, and my servants
shall dwell there.
I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow
down to the slaughter, because, when I called, you did not answer; when I
spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose
what I did not delight in.”
You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse,
and the Lord God will put you to death, but his
servants he will call by another name.
They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant
and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
“He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who
sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck; he who presents a grain
offering, like one who offers pig's blood; he who makes a memorial offering of
frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own
ways, and their soul delights in their abominations;
I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring
their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke,
they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose
that in which I did not delight.”
Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed.
How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?
I will prepare destroyers against you, each with his
weapons, and they shall cut down your choicest cedars and cast them into
the fire.
“Wail, you shepherds, and cry out, and roll in ashes, you
lords of the flock, for the days of your slaughter and dispersion have come,
and you shall fall like a choice vessel.
“Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two clans that he chose’?
Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their
sight.
then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my
servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the
offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and
will have mercy on them.”
The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up,
and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter, declares
the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against
a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make him run away from her. And I will
appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon
me? What shepherd can stand before me?
“Behold, like a lion coming up from the thicket of the Jordan against
a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make them run away from her, and I will
appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon
me? What shepherd can stand before me?
and say to them, Thus says the Lord God:
On the day when I chose Israel, I swore to the offspring of the house of
Jacob, making myself known to them in the land of Egypt; I swore to them,
saying, I am the Lord your God.
“For on my holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel, declares the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve me
in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will require your
contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your sacred
offerings.
She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men
of Assyria all of them, and she defiled
herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted.
put in it the pieces of meat, all the good pieces, the thigh
and the shoulder; fill it with choice bones.
Take the choicest one of the flock; pile the logs
under it; boil it well; seethe also its bones in it.
“Therefore thus says the Lord God:
Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose corrosion is in it, and whose
corrosion has not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece, without
making any choice.
In your market these traded with you in choice
garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of colored
material, bound with cords and made secure.
I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I
cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all
that drink water, were comforted in the world below.
They shall not sell or exchange any of it. They shall not
alienate this choice portion of the land, for it is holy to the Lord.
[ Zerubbabel Chosen as a Signet ] The word of
the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the
twenty-fourth day of the month,
On that day, declares the Lord
of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel,
declares the Lord, and make you like a signet
ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord
of hosts.”
Cry out again, Thus says the Lord
of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion
and again choose Jerusalem.’”
And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will
again choose Jerusalem.”
And the Lord said to Satan,
“The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand
plucked from the fire?”
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no
one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
[ God's Chosen
Servant ] Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him,
and he healed them all
“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved
with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will
proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to
this last worker as I give to you.
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what
belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’
For many are called, but few are chosen.”
[ The Crowd Chooses Barabbas ] Now at the
feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner
whom they wanted.
And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being
would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he
shortened the days.
according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen
by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
And when day came, he called his disciples and chose
from them twelve, whom he named apostles:
And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son,
my Chosen One; listen to him!”
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no
one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good
portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
[ The Parable of the Wedding Feast ] Now he told a
parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the
places of honor, saying to them,
And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at
him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of
God, his Chosen One!”
Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the
Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”
I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen.
But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel
against me.’
You did not choose me, but I chose you and
appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should
abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its
own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the
world, therefore the world hates you.
until the day when he was taken up, after he had given
commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
[ Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas ] Then they
returned to Jerusalem from the mount called
Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,
a Sabbath day's journey away.
And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of
all, show which one of these two you have chosen
[ Seven Chosen to
Serve ] Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a
complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were
being neglected in the daily distribution.
And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose
Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus,
and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen
instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the
children of Israel.
not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by
God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
The God of this people Israel
chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them
out of it.
And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and
said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice
among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and
believe.
[ The Council's Letter to Gentile Believers ] Then it
seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose
men from among them and send them to Antioch
with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading
men among the brothers,
it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose
men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been
commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
[ God's Sovereign Choice ] I am speaking the
truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy
Spirit—
So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen
by grace.
Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who
has been a mother to me as well.
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame
the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even
things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one
of them, as he chose.
But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each
kind of seed its own body.
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for
me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.
To them God chose to make known how great among the
Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you,
the hope of glory.
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen
you,
[ Stand Firm ] But we ought always to give thanks to
God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the
firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the
truth.
For every high priest chosen from among men is
appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and
sacrifices for sins.
Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those
who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which
he has promised to those who love him?
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in
the sight of God chosen and precious,
For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a
stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him
will not be put to shame.”
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies
of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
She who is at Babylon,
who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son.
They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer
them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called
and chosen and faithful.”
Systematic Theology
Original Sin
1. The sin of our first parents was of disastrous consequence not only to
them personally, but also to all their offspring, inasmuch as the guilt of their
first transgression is imputed, and the corruption of their nature is
transmitted, to all their children. The first is called hereditary guilt, the
other, hereditary depravity.
2. Hereditary guilt.—The sin which Adam
committed was, indeed, first charged to Adam himself, and he died of that sin.
But it was imputed also to all his children, and to this day men die of the sin
of Adam. Paul tells us that by the obedience of One, that is Christ, many were
made righteous—constituted righteous, because the obedience of Christ is
imputed or credited to them—and “by one man’s disobedience many were made
sinners”—were constituted sinners, because the disobedience of Adam was imputed
or charged to them (Rom. 5:19). “By the offense of one, judgment came upon all men
to condemnation” (Rom. 5:18). This he proves by the fact that from Adam to
Moses men died, even though they had not sinned “after the similitude of Adam,”
transgressing as Adam had done an express command of God, to which the penalty
of death was affixed (Gen. 2:17). But they died “through the offense of one”
(Rom. 5:14. 15); (1 Cor. 15:22). Hence, the offense of Adam must have been
charged to them, and
because of this offense they died. ‘Tis true, also the sins men commit
personally are worthy of death (Rom. 6:23). Paul emphasizes how sin and its
guilt came into the world, into the human race. Adam’s sin killed our entire
race, made death reign supreme. By their very entrance into this world, sin and
death reached all men. “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12).
That the guilt of Adam’s sin is charged to us appears also from the fact that
the punishment meted out to him and Eve for their specific transgression (Gen.
3:16–19), is suffered by all men and women to this day. Illustration: A man,
who gambled away his freedom and became a slave, by this act brought slavery
also upon his children, who had not gambled as their father did. In a similar
manner the guilt of Adam, and whatever goes with it, is visited upon all his
children.
In this connection
we must, however, remember that the same God who imputes to us the sin of Adam
and condemns us on its account, has likewise imputed to us the righteousness of
Christ and declared us just for HIS sake (Rom. 5:18. 19).
3. Hereditary depravity.—In another
direction did the fall of Adam bring woe upon him and his kin. By their sin our
first parents lost the image of God and became altogether sinful and corrupt in
their nature. As children inherit from their parents certain features and
traits, sometimes even bodily weaknesses and diseases, so have all men
inherited that deep-seated spiritual corruption, which we call original
depravity. This is not a sin which men do or commit in their lives, but a
sinful condition of their nature, which they have by birth. Having himself lost
the image of God, Adam begat a son “in his own likeness” (Gen. 5:3). Like
himself, his children were destitute of righteousness, holiness, and innocence;
they were selfish, seeking only their own advantage and pleasure and honor;
they were inclined to, and capable of, any sin and crime. Cain was a murderer.
Men do evil, because by nature they are evil (Gen. 4:8; 6:3. 5; 8:21).
“Since the fall of
Adam, all men begotten in a natural way are born with sin, that is, without
fear of God, without trust in God, with concupiscence; and this disease, or
vice of origin, is
truly sin, even now condemning and bringing eternal wrath upon those not born
again through Baptism and the Holy Ghost” (A.C., Art. II, Triglot, p. 43).
Bible proof.—Man is “flesh born of flesh” (John 3:6), that is, he is the sinful child
of sinful parents. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother
conceive me” (Ps. 51:5). In his flesh dwelleth no good thing (Rom. 7:18). By
nature there is in him no true fear of God, no love of God, no trust in God, no
willingness to serve God and to do good to his neighbor. On the contrary, his
old Adam “is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Eph. 4:22). All manner
of lusts arise in him, but they are deceitful, do not lead him in the right
way, because his heart, alienated from God, is inclined toward evil (Gen.
8:21). Man covets, because by nature he is covetous; he sins, because by nature
he is sinful, and given to “inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and
covetousness” (Col. 3:5). Thus, by nature man loves himself more than he loves
God or his neighbor; he envies others, is selfish and self-centered. Whatever
he plans, purposes, and does, must in some way serve his own personal
interests, or flatter his vanity. He has become his own god. In spiritual
things his understanding is darkened (Eph. 4:18); he cannot discern or
appreciate them, for they are foolishness to him (1 Cor. 2:14). Being carnally
minded, his will is not free or neutral, but set on the things of the flesh
(Rom. 8:5), and against the things of the Spirit (Gal. 5:17); hence he is by
nature an enemy of God (Rom. 8:7; Col. 1:21). Being dead m sin (Eph. 2:1), man
has no strength to work out his spiritual restoration.
This description
of the spiritual condition of natural man is by no means flattering to his
vanity, but such it is according to the Word of Him who “knew what was in man”
(John 2:25). This inherited corruption, which vitiated and depraved primarily
the faculties of the soul, enslaves in the service of sin also the members of
the body (Rom. 6:12, 13a; 7:23, 24).
Original sin does
not constitute an essential part of the soul, which God created, nor is it a
self-existing essence; but it is the corrupt quality and condition of the soul,
brought on by the fall of man, and passed on by birth to his children. It is
not the sinful act which Adam committed, but the depravity and corruption of
the entire nature contracted by, and resulting from, that act. It is the
sinfulness of our whole nature, which is ours by birth, and because of which we
are constantly at variance with the demand of God: “Ye shall be holy” (Lev.
19:2). Because we are not as God made us at the beginning, and as He wants us
to be, we are by nature under His wrath (Eph. 2:3).
“Original sin is
not properly the nature, substance, or essence of man, that is, man’s body and
soul, which even now, since the Fall, are and remain the creation and creatures
of God in us, but it is something in
the nature, body, and soul of man, and in all his powers, namely, a horrible,
deep, inexpressible corruption of the same, so that man is destitute of the
righteousness wherein he was originally created, and in spiritual things is
dead to good and perverted to all evil …. Now, since the Fall, man inherits an
inborn, wicked disposition and inward impurity of heart, evil lust and
propensity” (F.C., Th. D., I, 2. 11, Triglot,
p. 859. 863).
Other names for
this original depravity are “old Adam,” because we inherited it from Adam. It
is also called “flesh” (Rom. 8:13); “old man” (Eph. 4:22); “sin that dwelleth
in us” (Rom. 7:17).
“Original sin is universal, inherited by ‘all men begotten in the natural
way’ (A.C.,
Art. II). The universal scope of Job 14:4; John 3:6; Rom. 5:12 leaves no
room for excepting the Virgin Mary. She did not except herself, but placed her
sole hope of salvation in her ‘Saviour’ (Luke 1:47). The only human being,
untainted by original sin is the Virgin’s Son, Jesus Christ, who was
immaculately conceived through the power of the Holy Ghost (Luke 1:35; Hebr.
7:26; 2 Cor. 5:21).” (Popular Symbolics,
§48).
Original sin clings to us through life.—It is not eradicated in Baptism, as the Roman
Catholic Church teaches. (Popular
Symbolics, §227). By faith in Christ we are freed from its guilt and
punishment; but the corruption itself, concupiscence, remains, as Paul
experienced (Rom. 7:14–25), and as every Christian still experiences. (Apol., Art. II,
35–37, Triglot, p. 113). By faith
Christians will with the aid of the Holy Ghost constantly strive to suppress
this old Adam (Eph. 4:22; Gal. 5:24); in this life they will never succeed in
totally destroying him. (Cf., F.C., Th. D., Art. I).[1]
The Election of Grace
As the work of the Holy Ghost, by which men are brought to Christ and
through faith unto salvation, is but the realization of God’s eternal purpose
and plan, it is proper to discuss the doctrine of election at this point. “The eternal election of God,
however, or predestination, that is, God’s ordination to salvation, does not
extend at once over the godly and the wicked, but only over the children of
God” (F.C., Th. D., XI, 5, Triglot, p.
1065). It has no counterpart, such as a predestination to damnation.
1. General statement.—Before a person
begins to build a house, he has in mind the purpose to build and a plan
according to which he will build. And while we may not have any advance
information concerning his purpose and plan, we learn to know them as the
building operations begin and proceed, for the man builds as he has purposed
and planned it. We also conclude that he will continue to build until his
original purpose is realized. In a similar way we may consider the work of the
Holy Ghost. We observe in others, and experience it also in ourselves, that the
Holy Ghost has called us by the Gospel, that He has wrought faith in our
hearts, that He justifies, sanctifies, and that He keeps us in this faith, and
will finally save us. These are spiritual blessings, which the Holy Ghost
bestows upon us during our lifetime, of which we have knowledge. Behind the
work of the Holy Ghost, as it unfolds itself in our lives, stands the eternal
purpose and plan of God. The entire work of the Holy Ghost is the actual
fulfilling and realization of God’s purpose.
Briefly stated,
then, the doctrine of predestination is this: Whatever God has done, is doing,
and will still do for us during our life on earth to bring us to faith in
Christ and to preserve us in this faith unto eternal salvation, is not a matter
of chance; neither is it motivated by any personal merit and worthiness, or
better conduct, which God foresaw in some people; but God has from eternity
purposed and planned it, and by grace for Christ’s sake He has chosen and
predestinated us to salvation before the foundation of the world.
2. Bible proof.—We read in Scripture: “God
hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works,
but according to His purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began” (2 Tim. 1:9). Here the apostle Paul calls attention to certain
things the Christians had experienced in their lives; they had been called and
converted through the Gospel. This did not happen by chance, nor because God
discovered in them some merit or virtue; He purposed this before the world
began according to His grace in Christ Jesus.
“Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as He hath chosen us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame
before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise
of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved”
(Eph. 1:3–6). The apostle Paul thanks God for the spiritual blessings the
Christians at Ephesus
had received, and of which they had knowledge. Then he adds this information, that
they were blessed “according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world.” God blessed them during their lifetime, even as He had from
eternity purposed and planned to do. The intent of this election, therefore,
was that the Ephesian Christians should be blessed with all spiritual
blessings; they were chosen that they should be holy and blameless before God
in love; they were predestinated that by faith they should become the children
of God.—Furthermore, Paul points out the cause of their election. As during
their lives they were blessed “in Christ,” so they were from eternity chosen
“in Him,” and predestinated “according to the good pleasure of His will, to the
praise of the glory of His grace.” Thus we see that in blessing us with spiritual
blessings during our lives on earth, God carries out what He purposed to do for
us from eternity.
Other texts which
clearly set forth the doctrine of election are: Rom. 8:28–30; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1
Pet. 1:2; Acts 13:48.
3. Election in detail.—(a) Election is an
act of God; “He hath chosen us.” Man did not choose God to be his Father, but
God chose man to be His child. And this He did not during the lifetime of a
person, but “before the foundation of the world.” The question is not
determined while man lives on earth, pending his conduct, but before he is born
(Rom. 9:11), before the world began (2 Tim. 1:9).
(b) God was moved
to do this, not by any merit or worthiness He foresaw in man (2 Tim. 1:9; Rom.
11:6), but solely and exclusively by His grace in Christ Jesus; “according to
the purpose of His grace given us in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:9); “having chosen
us in Him” (Christ) and “having predestinated us … by Jesus Christ … according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace”
(Eph. 1:4–6).
(c) This
predestination does not pertain to the redemption, by which salvation was to be
procured for all men, nor to the means of grace, through which these spiritual
blessings were to be offered and imparted to men, but it pertains to men
themselves, to individual persons; “us” (Eph. 1:4), “you” (2 Thess. 2:13), “as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). The objects of
election are men, human beings, not means.
(d) God chose,
elected. Election, therefore, does not extend over all men, for that would not
be an election. Election extended over certain ones. “Many are called, but few
are chosen” (Matt. 22:14). Who these chosen ones are, God did not reveal
beforehand; but they are recognized by the results of their election in their
lives, as we shall see later. The election was at the same time also a
predestination; for God elected these people for a definite purpose, and
ordained that this purpose be realized and accomplished with them. He resolved
and decreed from the beginning what He would do for them after they are born
into this world.
(e) The elect are
predestinated unto being called through the Gospel and unto conversion (2 Tim.
1:9; Rom. 8:28), unto the obedience of faith (1 Pet. 1:2; Acts 13:48), unto the
adoption of children by faith (Eph. 1:5; Rom. 8:29), unto justification through
faith (1 Pet. 1:2; Rom. 8:30), unto sanctification of life, to “be holy and
without blame before Him in love” (Eph. 1:4), unto good works (Eph. 2:10), unto
perseverance in the faith (John 10:28; Matt. 24:24), and through all these unto
eternal life (Acts 13:48; 2 Thess. 2:13).
4. Resumé.—The decree of predestination,
therefore, ordains not merely the final salvation of the elect, but it includes
also the entire way that leads them to heaven. In other words, God
predestinated His elect unto eternal
life via conversion, faith,
justification, sanctification, and preservation in the faith, as Paul says:
“God hath from the beginning chosen you to
salvation through sanctification of
the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). None of the elect get to
heaven except by this way, and it is included in the decree of their election
that they should get to heaven by this way. Hence, the entire work of the Holy
Ghost, by which He calls, converts, justifies, sanctifies, keeps, and finally
saves sinners, is but the execution and realization of God’s eternal purpose
concerning these individuals. This is brought out very clearly in Rom. 8:28–30,
where we read: “We know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son,
that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did
predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified:
and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” In this text the word
“foreknow” cannot mean merely to know beforehand, because God knew all men
before they were born, yet not all men are predestinated. Here the word
“foreknow” means to know as one’s own, as in Matt. 7:23; Luke 13:27; it means
to elect, to choose, as in Rom. 11:2; Amos 3:2. Hence, the meaning of the text
is: Whom He chose, those He predestinated; and whom He predestinated, them He
called by the Gospel, them He justified by faith, and them He finally glorified
in heaven.
“In this counsel,
purpose, and ordination God has prepared salvation not only in general, but has
in His grace considered and chosen to salvation each and every person of the
elect who are to be saved through Christ, also ordained that in the way just
mentioned He will, by His grace, gifts, and efficacy, bring them thereto, aid,
promote, strengthen, and preserve them” (F.C., Th. D., Art. XI, 23, Triglot, p. 1069).
Being elected unto conversion and faith, and through these unto salvation, it is
evident that a person cannot be elected in view of, or because of, his faith,
since faith is not a cause, but the result of his election (Acts 13:48).
5. Knowledge of our election.—No man on
earth has direct information as to his personal election; he can have only an
inferred knowledge. In life we often infer the cause from its effects.
Illustration: Perhaps we did not see or hear it rain during the night; but if
in the morning we find wet ground and water puddles, we infer that it must have
rained. In like manner, we have no direct knowledge of our election, but we
have the experimental knowledge of its results in our lives, namely, those
spiritual blessings in Christ, from which we should infer that we were elected
thereunto. From our faith in Christ, which we now have, we infer that we shall
not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16); from the same faith we
should infer also that we were ordained to eternal life (Acts 13:48). Faith in
Christ is a matter of personal experience and direct knowledge; “I know whom I
have believed” (2 Tim. 1:12). And by this faith which I now have, I know of my
election in the past and my salvation in the future. The knowledge of my
election, in turn, fortifies my assurance of final salvation (Matt. 24:24).
Thus knowledge of election—not election itself—is contingent on faith. Faith in
Christ does not explain why we are elected, but it shows us that we are
elected. “Der Glaube ist nicht
Erklaerungsgrund, wohl aber Erkenntnisgrund der Wahl.”
He who would know
of his election, should not begin to speculate concerning the secret and
inscrutable foreknowledge of God; but let him repent of his sins, hear the
Gospel of grace, by which God calls His elect; let him examine himself whether
he is in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5); then by this faith he will know also of his
election. As long as a person is in the faith, he should regard himself an
elect, even as he regards himself an heir of salvation as long as he believes
in Christ. In like manner must we, as Paul did (2 Thess. 2:13), look upon all
as being elected, whom we must assume to be believers.
As long as a
person is without faith, he cannot know
and regard himself as being elected. But this does by no means say that he is not elected; for God may still call him
by the Gospel and begin in him that good work, which will end in heaven. Let
him hear the Gospel, believe in Christ, his Savior, and then he will by this
faith also know of his election. (Cf. F.C., Th. D., Art. XI., 25–33, Triglot, p. 1071).
6. The comfort of this doctrine.—This
doctrine is by no means a useless speculation, but very comforting; it shows us
that our salvation and everything pertaining thereto is not a matter of chance,
nor, on our part, a matter of personal choice (Rom. 9:16), or of personal merit
(Rom. 11:6), but is a matter of deep concern to God, who purposed it before the
world began, deliberated concerning it, and in His secret counsel ordained how
He would bring us thereto and preserve us therein. And since this counsel of
God cannot fail nor be overthrown, we are thereby assured of our final
salvation (Matt. 24:24). (Cf., F.C., Th. D., Art. XI, 45. 46, Triglot, p. 1079).
We are also
admonished: “Give diligence to make your calling and election sure” (2 Pet.
1:10). No one should think that, because he is in faith today and thereby
assured of his election, he may now discard the Gospel, lose faith, live in
sin, and still regard himself as one of the elect who will unfailingly be
saved. We find comfort in our election only while
we are in the faith. Hence, to make our election sure to ourselves, we must give diligence that we remain steadfast in
the faith. To this end we must make use of those means by which God assures us
of His grace and thereby of our election.
7. Relation of the election of grace to the
work of grace.—The work of the Holy Ghost, by which we are brought to
Christ and to salvation, is the fulfillment and the execution of the election
of grace. Hence, there is so intimate a connection between the two that an
error in the one will result in an error in the other. Synergists teach that
man contributes something toward his conversion; hence, they teach that men are
elected in view of this “something” they would contribute. Calvinism teaches
that many are foreordained to everlasting death; hence, they teach that the
Holy Ghost does not intend to save all men. He who correctly understands and
believes as is confessed in Luther’s explanation of the Third Article of the
Apostles’ Creed, will have no difficulty in understanding and believing that,
what the Holy Ghost does to bring us to Christ and through faith to heaven, God
has purposed and resolved to do for us from eternity.
“This doctrine is
the doctrine of the Third Article plus the idea of eternity; in other words, it
is the eternal purpose and plan of God to do for the individual what, according
to the Third Article, He actually does for him during his lifetime to bring him
to heaven” (G. J. Fritschel in The
Lutheran Standard, January, 1940).
8. False teachings on election.—Calvinism
teaches: “By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men
and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to
everlasting death” (Westminster Confession); (cf., Schaff, 3608); (cf., Triglot, Introd., No. 225. 226). The
Bible knows nothing of a predestination unto eternal death. On the contrary, it
teaches that God will have all men to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4), and that man alone
is at fault, if he is lost (Matt. 23:37; Hos. 13:9).
Synergism, while
upholding the universality of God’s grace and of Christ’s redemption, teaches
that there must be something in man that influenced and determined God to elect
just him and not another. (Cf., Triglot,
Introd., No. 224). Even the expression that men are elected “in view of faith”
makes sense only if there is an element of human merit in faith. But the Bible
definitely excludes every merit or worthiness in man as a cause of his election
(2 Tim. 1:9; Rom.
11:6).
Human reason
cannot harmonize the two doctrines of the Bible, that God by grace for Christ’s
sake will have all men to be saved, and that God by grace for Christ’s sake
elected few to be saved; neither must men try to harmonize them. We can only
restate what God has revealed to us in His Word, and we must not begin to guess
what He has reserved in His hidden wisdom concerning this mystery. God has not
revealed to us all He knows, all He did and intends to do for our salvation,
nor His reasons for His acts. But God did reveal as much as He wants us to know
and as much as we need to know regarding salvation through Christ. He does not
satisfy our curiosity as to His secret counsels. Hence, we say with Paul: “O
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how
unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33).
(Read F. C., Art. XI.)[2]
Preservation through Faith Unto Salvation.
1. God keeps us in the faith.—As
it is God who gave us, and preserves in us, our natural life, so it is He who
not only wrought faith and spiritual life in us, but who also keeps and
preserves it. “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation”
(1 Pet. 1:5). “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the
day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). “Who shall also confirm you unto the end,
that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:8).
From these texts it is evident that God does not merely start men on the way of
faith to heaven, but that God also “strengthens and preserves us steadfast in
His Word and faith unto the end.” “The decree of the Council of Trent, and
whatever elsewhere is set forth in the same sense, is justly to be rejected,
namely, that our good works preserve salvation or the righteousness of faith,
which has been received, or even faith itself is either entirely or in part
preserved by our works” (F.C., Th. D., Art. IV, 35, Triglot, p. 949). We reject “the
doctrine of the synergists … that free will … can cooperate, by its own powers,
with the Holy Ghost in the continuation and maintenance of this work” (F.C.,
Th. D.,
Art. II, 77, Triglot, p. 911).
“The exhortations
‘Be thou faithful unto death’ (Rev. 2:10), ‘Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling’ (Phil. 2:12), do not imply that a Christian achieves this
perseverance by his own powers, as little as the command to believe implies
that man produces faith. The powers called for in this exhortation are supplied
and set in action solely by God (Phil. 2:13). As to the argument that, since
man himself brings about his defection, he must also be able to achieve his
perseverance, Scripture rejects the deduction (1 Pet. 1:5; Hos. 13:9). And it
is not even logically valid” (Popular
Symbolics, p. 74). The fact that man is able to do one thing does not prove
that he is able also to do the opposite. Man can destroy his life, but he can
neither produce nor preserve it.
2. God preserves faith through the means of
grace.—As God preserves physical life through certains means, such as food
and drink, so He preserves spiritual faith and life through means, the means of
grace. The same means by which He created faith He employs to nourish and to
keep it, namely, the Gospel and the Sacraments. The power of God by which we
are kept in the faith (1 Pet. 1:5), operates through the Gospel, which is “the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom. 1:16). It is
“the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thess.
2:13). “Through the same Word and the forgiveness of sins (He) bestows,
increases, and strengthens faith” (Large Cat., III, 62, Triglot, p. 695). “Through the same Spirit and His grace, by means
of daily exercise of reading and practising God’s Word, He would preserve in us
faith and His heavenly gifts, strengthen us from day to day, and keep us to the
end” (F.C., Th. D., Art. II, 16, Triglot, p. 887).
3. Man must use the means of grace.—As man
must use the means which God provides for the support and wants of the body, so
he must likewise use the means by which God would preserve his faith. “Search
the Scriptures” (John 5:39). “Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and
keep it” (Luke 11:28). “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col.
3:16). “Blessed is the man … his delight is in the Law of the Lord; and in His
Law doth he meditate day and night” (Ps. 1:1. 2). While God could, indeed,
preserve us in faith without the use of any means whatsoever, He has not
promised to do so. It has pleased Him to deal with us only through His Word.
If, then, we wish that faith be preserved in us, we must learn and ponder His
Word, and keep it in our hearts. Whatever occupies our attention will work on
our hearts. Neglecting to use the Word of God means spiritual starvation, spiritual
suicide. The light of faith continues to burn as long as the Word of God
supplies oil for our lamp.
4. The end of such preservation in the faith
is the salvation of the soul.—“Who are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation … Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of
your souls” (1 Pet. 1:5. 9). “God so loved the world, that He gave His
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life” (John 3:16). Trusting in God’s promise of preserving grace,
the believer is assured of his final salvation. Hence, we confess with Luther
in the explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe that
… He will give unto me and all believers in Christ eternal life. This is most certainly
true.” Having thus brought the sinner back to God, the Spirit’s work of
sanctification comes to an end.
5. Warnings against apostasy.—“The
warnings against apostasy, Rom. 11:20; 1 Cor. 10:12, are aimed not at the
confidence of faith, but at carnal security and self-confidence; heeding them,
the Christian casts himself upon the Gospel promise and thus obtains and
retains the certainty of final salvation. So also the ‘fear and trembling’ of
Phil. 2:12, resulting from the realization of our weakness and inability, does
not replace the confidence of faith, but exists side by side with it and
subserves it” (Popular Symbolics, p.
75). As we look at our weakness and the dangers that threaten us, we, like
children, are filled with fear and trembling; but as we look at the sure
promises of God, we are quite confident that His hand will lead us safely
through all difficulties and dangers (Rom. 8:38; John 10:28). “The assertion
that one who knows that he may become a castaway (1 Cor. 9:27) cannot have the
assurance that he will not become a castaway may be logically correct, but is
theologically false; Rom. 8:38. The difficulty which this matter presents
cannot be solved by means of logic, but only by distinguishing between the Law
and the Gospel. The convictions produced by the Law must not, and do not,
eliminate the convictions produced by the Gospel, the assurance of
perseverance, but subserve them” (Popular
Symbolics, p. 75).
6. Salvation is exclusively a work of divine
grace.—Without their merit and cooperation did the Son of God procure for
all men forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Without our merit and
cooperation did the Holy Ghost cause us to believe in Christ, and to continue
in this faith unto the end. Thus God began the good work in us, and performs it
until we are safe in heaven. No Christian may now or hereafter claim any merit
for himself, but must give all praise and glory to God, who “hath made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12). If at
any stage our salvation depended in any measure or degree on some contribution
we must make, it would at once become uncertain to all of us, since no one
could be sure whether his personal contribution were sufficient to insure
salvation. Man cannot contribute anything toward his conversion and final
salvation, but he is saved exclusively by the monergism of divine grace. “By
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it” (salvation)
“is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8. 9);
(Rom. 4:16).
7. “God will have all men to be saved” (1
Tim. 2:4). Whereas God alone can save sinners, the question arises, whether He
wants to save all of them. The answer is given in the following Scripture
texts. “The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). “God will have all men to be saved, and to
come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). “As I live, saith the Lord
God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn
from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11). In this last text God confirms with an
oath His serious intention of saving all men. Even of those who are finally
lost we learn, that Christ has not only bought them (2 Pet. 2:1), but that He
also wanted to gather them to Himself (Matt. 23:37). There is no human being
whom Christ did not redeem, and whom the Holy Ghost does not want to bring to
faith in Christ, and through such faith to heaven. If there were but one
exception, each man might think that he is this exception, and no one could be
sure of his salvation. However, there is positively no exception; God wants all
men to be saved, and to that end has redeemed all men through Christ.
8. Not all men are saved.—“Enter ye in at
the strait gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate,
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it”
(Matt. 7:13. 14). “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the
righteous into life eternal” (Matt. 25:46). “Many are called, but few are
chosen” (Matt. 22:14). Thus, more are actually lost than saved.—The reason why
many do not come to Christ, though they are called, lies in no sense with God,
but solely with man. Unto Jerusalem Christ said: “How often would I have
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not!” (Matt. 23:37). Stephen told the Jews: “Ye stiffnecked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as
your fathers did, so do ye” (Acts 7:51). Whoever, therefore, is lost, is lost
by his own fault; whoever is saved, is saved by the grace and power of God. “O
Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine help” (Hos. 13:9). Man
got himself into trouble, but only God can get him out of it.
9. A difficulty.—In this connection a
certain difficulty presents itself to man’s way of thinking.
There is no
difference among men; they all are equally unworthy to be converted and saved
(2 Tim. 1:9), equally incompetent to convert themselves, and by nature equally
unwilling to be converted (1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 2:1; Rom. 8:7; 1 Cor. 12:3).
There is no
difference in the attitude of God towards men; He earnestly would convert and
save all men (1 Tim. 2:4), and He alone can convert if man is to be converted
(1 Cor. 12:3; Jer. 31:18).
From this it would
seem to follow that, since the same powerful grace of God works on all who hear
the Gospel, the same effect would result: either that all are converted,
because the powerful grace of God breaks down their resistance, or that no one
is converted, because the grace of God is not strong enough. For if the grace
of God does convert one, we see no reason why it should not do so with another,
who is in like condemnation. If it cannot or does not convert the second
person, we see no reason why it can and does convert the first. Where the same
powers operate under the same conditions, we should expect the same results. Still
we find, while the spiritual condition of all men is the same, and the
converting grace is equally serious and efficacious with all, there is a difference in the result: some are converted,
others are not.
Synergism would
explain this different result by a difference in men. Some people, it is held,
by their natural powers contribute something towards their conversion; they
cooperate with the Holy Ghost, fit themselves for His work, do not resist as
much as others, and therefore with them the efforts of the Holy Ghost take
effect, and conversion results.
Calvinism would
explain the different result by a difference in God, namely, that God does not
seriously intend to convert and save all men, that He passes certain ones by
with His grace. (Cf., Historical Introduction to the Symbolical Books: XIV, The
Synergistic Controversy, Triglot, p.
124; XX, On Predestination, p. 195).
Both, Synergism
and Calvinism, make salvation uncertain to the individual. The Synergist must
ask himself whether he has sufficiently cooperated with the Holy Ghost to bring
about a real conversion, while the Calvinist must ever be in doubt whether he
really is among those whom God wanted to convert and to save.
The Bible denies
that there is a difference in the spiritual attitude of natural man toward God,
or in the gracious will of God towards men, and it plainly teaches that He is
willing to convert and save all men, and that only He can convert and save
them. If any man is turned to God in
conversion, this is solely and exclusively the work of the Holy Ghost; but if
any man remains unconverted, it is solely and exclusively his own fault. Beyond
this we must not try to reason. We have no right to construct or develop a
doctrine on the basis of our own rational deductions, but must bring every
thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5), and bow in
humble admiration to the superior wisdom of our God, as the apostle Paul did,
saying: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33).[3]
Purpose of the Doctrine of Election
Scripture explicitly and definitely states the purpose of this doctrine.
Its purpose is not to deny or restrict the gratia
universalis, as many before and after Calvin have thought,20
but to confirm and impress on us the sola
gratia. Christians, in comparing themselves with non-Christians, are not to
get the idea that God has chosen them as His people in view of their “different
behavior,” their better conduct, or their lesser guilt, etc., but they should
always and in all circumstances remain aware that, compared with the
unbelievers, they, too, behaved wickedly and are themselves just as guilty
before God as are the reprobate. If they took the opposite view, they would be
canceling their membership in the Christian Church, the Kingdom of Grace, and be joining the kingdom of the
Pharisees, which lies under the curse (Luke 18:9 ff.; Gal. 3:10). This is the
purpose of the doctrine of election as revealed in Holy Writ.
This was the
purpose also of the Old Testament type of the election of grace, namely, the
election of Israel
to be the covenant people. Reading Deut. 9:4
ff., one gains the impression that Moses in addressing Israel felt that he could not do enough to cure
the people of the delusion that they received the land of Canaan
because they were better than the heathen. Listen to his words: “Speak not thou
in thine heart, after that the Lord, thy God, hath cast them out from before
thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land; but for the wickedness of these nations
the Lord doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or
for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land; but for
the wickedness of these nations the Lord, thy God, doth drive them out from
before thee, and that He may perform the Word which the Lord sware unto thy
fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand, therefore, that the Lord, thy
God, giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for
thou art a stiffnecked people.”
The doctrine of
election to salvation serves the same purpose. Here, too, it seems that the
Holy Ghost cannot do enough to instill this truth into the Christians, that God’s
choice of them to salvation is not due to their being better than others, but
is attributable solely to the grace of God in Christ. 2 Tim. 1:9: “Not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” Eph. 1:5–6: “According to the
good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace.” Rom. 11:6:
“And if by grace, then is it no more of works.” Keeping in mind this purpose,
the confirmation of the sola gratia,
we are led to the right understanding of Romans 9–11. These chapters are not
directed against universal grace; on the contrary, universal grace is very
emphatically taught here too; see 10:21; 11:32. The characteristic feature of
these chapters is their polemicizing against the delusion of self-righteousness
and superiority to others.21
Our Lutheran
Confessions, too, declare it to be the purpose of the doctrine of election to
confirm the sola gratia. Says the
Formula of Concord: “It establishes very effectually the article that we are
justified and saved without all works and merits of ours, purely out of grace
alone, for Christ’s sake. For before the time of the world, before we existed,
yea, before the foundation of the world was laid, when, of course, we could do
nothing good, we were according to God’s purpose chosen by grace in Christ to
salvation, Rom. 9:11; 2 Tim. 1:9. Moreover, all opiniones (opinions) and erroneous doctrines concerning the powers
of our natural will are thereby overthrown, because God in His counsel, before
the time of the world, decided and ordained that He Himself, by the power of
His Holy Ghost, would
produce and work in us, through the Word, everything that pertains to our
conversion.” (Trigl. 1077, ibid., 43 ff.) Again: “By this doctrine
and explanation of the eternal and saving choice [predestination] of the elect
children of God His own glory is entirely and fully given to God, that in
Christ He saves us out of pure [and free] mercy, without any merits or good
works of ours, according to the purpose of His will, as it is written Eph. 1:5
f.: ‘Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory
of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.’ Therefore it is
false and wrong [conflicts with the Word of God] when it is taught that not
alone the mercy of God and the most holy merit of Christ, but that also in us
there is a cause of God’s election, on account of which God has chosen us to
eternal life. For not only before we had done anything good, but also before we
were born, yea, even before the foundations of the world were laid, He elected
us in Christ; and ‘that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
not of works, but of Him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall
serve the younger; as it is written concerning this matter, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated, Rom. 9:11 ff.; Gen. 25:23; Mal. 1:2 f.” (Trigl. 1091, ibid., 87 f.)
Because of its purpose
of confirming the sola gratia the
Scriptural doctrine of eternal election is terrifying to some, consoling to
others. For all who think that they are not as other people, who still find in
themselves inherent virtue and innate ability, semina virtutum, at least a facultas
se applicandi ad gratiam, a different behavior, a lesser guilt, etc.—for
all these the Scriptural election of grace is terrifying because it blasts
their whole religion, of which “self-determination, inseparable from human
nature,” is an important part.22 On the other hand, all
whom the thunderbolt of the Law “has knocked into a heap,” who have come to
despair of themselves and who see their only salvation in the pure, free grace
of God, find the Scripture doctrine of the election of grace very comforting
because of its powerful confirmation of the sola
gratia. “Thus this doctrine,” says the Formula of Concord, “afords also the
excellent and glorious consolation that God was so greatly concerned about the
conversion, righteousness, and salvation of every Christian, and so faithfully
purposed it [provided therefor] that before the foundation of the world was
laid, He deliberated concerning it, and in His [secret] purpose ordained how He
could bring me thereto [call and lead me to salvation], and preserve me
therein. Also, that He wished to secure my salvation so well and certainly
that, since through the weakness and wickedness of our flesh it could easily be
lost from our hands, or through craft and might of the devil and the world be snatched
and taken from us, He ordained it in His eternal purpose, which cannot fail or
be overthrown, and placed it for preservation in the almighty hand of our
Savior Jesus Christ, from which no one can pluck us, John 10:28. Hence Paul
also says, Rom. 8:28–29: Because we have been called according to the purpose
of God, who will separate us from the love of God in Christ?” (Trigl. 1079, ibid., 45 ff.) Thus the election of grace affords strong
consolation to the individual Christians in their weakness and temptations
because it confirms the sola gratia.
Furthermore, when
it seems at times that the end of the Christian Church on earth is at hand, we
should regard the election of grace as a guarantee of the survival of the
Church under all circumstances. This, too, Scripture teaches as one purpose of
eternal election. When Elijah in his pessimism stood before God and lamented:
“Lord, I, even I only, am left” (1 Kings 19:10), the Lord informed him that
there were still seven thousand left in Israel as fruit of the election.
Rom. 11:7: “The election [abstractum pro
concreto: the elect] hath obtained it.” When the distress reaches its
climax in the closing days of this world, God will for the elect’s sake shorten
the days of affliction (Matt. 24:22). Accordingly, the Formula of Concord says:
“This article also affords a glorious testimony that the Church of God
will exist and abide in opposition to all the gates of hell” (Trigl. 1079, ibid., 50). Election is a cause of the continuous existence of the
Christian Church.
Those, however,
who make some human factor (aliquid in
homine) the cause or motive of eternal election—whether this is in whole or
only in part man’s own accomplishment, whether called the “inalienable” option
or human free choice or something similar—are all utterly perverting the
purpose of the revelation of eternal election into its antithesis. They contort
this doctrine, which should confirm and magnify God’s grace (Eph. 1:6), into a
teaching which actually affirms and magnifies human virtue and good behavior,
which removes salvation from the gracious hand of God and places it into the
power of man, makes grace and salvation uncertain instead of certain, and is
designed to move the Christian Church off its foundation, the sola
gratia. We dare not forget that
as long as a person in his heart and before God holds that there is a cause and
reason of election in him personally, he bears the marks of the lost, as Paul
reminded the Gentile Christians when they were beginning to forget the truth
that “there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek” (Rom. 10:12) and to
assume that they were superior to the unbelieving Jews (Rom. 11:18–22).
Another purpose of
the doctrine of election is to supply an admonition and warning much needed by
all Christians according to their flesh. Since Christians were not elected
irrespective of the means of grace (nude),
but “through the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth,” this
doctrine powerfully exhorts all Christians by all means to hold to the course in
which their election in eternity took place. Thus Christ uses the election for
admonition when, after describing the way of salvation, He adds: “Many are
called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 20:16; 22:14). Peter, too, uses this
doctrine for the same purpose when he urges all Christians to make their
calling and election sure (2 Pet. 1:10).23 The elect on earth are
seen in these vestments: they “hear the Gospel, believe in Christ, pray and
give thanks, are sanctified in love, have hope, patience, and comfort under the
cross, Rom. 8:25; and although all this is very weak in them, yet they hunger
and thirst after righteousness, Matt. 5:6.” (Trigl. 1073, ibid., 30.)
The Formula of Concord specifically sets forth the hortatory purpose of the
doctrine of eternal election in the words: “From this article also powerful
admonitions and warnings are derived, as Luke 7:30: ‘They rejected the counsel
of God against themselves.’ Luke 14:24: ‘I say unto you that none of those men
which were bidden shall taste of my supper.’ Also Matt. 20:16: ‘Many be called,
but few chosen.’ ” (Trigl. 1079,
ibid., 51.)[4]
No Election of Wrath or Predestination to Damnation
The Calvinists categorically teach a predestination unto damnation as the
“necessary reverse” or other side of a predestination to salvation. Calvin
gives the following heading to the chapter in which he begins his discussion of
eternal election: “Eternal Election, or God’s Predestination of Some to
Salvation, and of Others to Destruction” (Inst.
III, 21; Allen, II, 140). And earlier as well as recent Reformed theologians
look down on all who, while teaching an election to salvation, reject a
predestination to damnation. Calvin reprimands them in severe and rude
language. He declares the rejection of a predestination to damnation to be
exceedingly “puerile and absurd,” “worse than absurd” (Inst. III, 23, 1; Allen, II, 163). Hodge and Shedd use more polite
language, but deny the Lutheran theology the right to exist because it rejects
a predestination to damnation while teaching an election to salvation. Shedd (Dogm. Theol. I, 448) divides all
Christendom on earth into two classes, Calvinists (the deniers of the universalis gratia) and Arminians (the
deniers of the sola gratia). This
division leaves no room in the Church for the Lutherans. The position of the
Formula of Concord is called “untenable ground.”24
But this
“necessary reverse” or logical counterpart is purely a human invention.25
Scripture strikes this allegedly necessary complement out entirely. Clearly and
emphatically Scripture teaches that Christians owe their whole Christian state
in time, specifically also their faith, to their eternal election; but with the
same clarity and emphasis Scripture also excludes the thought that the unbelief
of the lost can be traced to a predestination to damnation. Compare, for
example, v. 48 of Acts 13 with v. 46. In v. 48 the faith of Gentile converts is
traced back to their eternal election: “As many as were ordained to eternal
life, believed.” But the unbelief of the obdurate Jews is not traced to a
predestination to unbelief and to damnation, but to their opposition to the
earnest and efficacious gracious will of God in the Word: “Seeing ye put it
[the Word of God] from you [ἀπωθεῖσθε] and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the
Gentiles.” The “necessary reverse” is completely wiped out also by the passages
which testify that the saving grace of God, the merit of Christ, and the
efforts of the Holy Ghost to convert apply also to the lost. See the discussion
of the pertinent Scripture texts in Vol. II, 21–34. Likewise the Scripture
doctrine of obduration proves that the obdurate were in no wise elected to wrath or bypassed with
the offer of grace (praeteritio). Of
course, the hardening of the heart is an act of divine wrath. It does not,
however, set in absolutely, that is, without a cause, but rather for “a
recompense unto them,” εἰς ἀνταπόδομα (Rom. 11:9), in retribution, that is, it results
from man’s resistance to God’s Word and will and to God’s gracious visitation.
See “Serious and Efficacious Grace,” Vol. II, 28 ff.
To substantiate
his claim that God “has created” (creavit)
those ultimately lost, “to a life of shame and a death of destruction,” to that
end either “depriving them of the opportunity of hearing the Word” or “by the
preaching of it increasing their blindness and stupidity,” Calvin also appeals
to 1 Cor. 4:7: “Who maketh thee to differ from another [τίς σε διακρίνει]? And what hast
thou that thou didst not receive?” (Inst.
III, 24, 12.) We answer: Of course, the Christians recognize their advantage of
having the Word of God while others are without it. They also see their
advantage of believing the Word, while others do not believe. They acknowledge
that they have blessings which others do not possess. But at the same time they
realize that they are equally guilty with the rest and still often act
reprehensibly toward God’s Word; and when comparing themselves with the lost,
they find that they are “most similar to them” (et quam simillimi deprehensi), and thus they “learn the more
diligently to recognize and praise God’s pure [immense], unmerited grace in the
vessels of mercy,” as the Formula of Concord states it (Trigl. 1083, ibid., 60).
But this is the
surprising thing about the teaching of Scripture regarding the salvation of men
that though the vessels of mercy must praise God’s unmerited grace, God
nevertheless did not pass by the vessels of wrath, the lost, with His grace and
salvation, but earnestly sought entrance to their hearts. We saw this clearly
in the case of the stubborn Jews, Acts 13:46, who thrust the Word offering them
grace and salvation from them and judged themselves unworthy of eternal life,
contrary to God’s intention. The same
fact appears in the words with which Stephen reveals the true situation to the
stiff-necked Jews: “Ye do always resist
[ἀντιπίπτετε] the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye”
(Acts 7:51). The “resisting” (ἀντιπίπτειν, flinging oneself
against Him) presupposes a pressing, aggressive activity of the Holy Spirit. In
short, according to the teaching of Scripture, God prefers those ultimately
saved in such a manner that He meanwhile does not neglect those ultimately
lost, does not by-pass them with His
effort to convert them. The same truth is taught in Rom. 9:22–23, where the Apostle places in juxtaposition the “vessels of wrath” and the “vessels
of mercy.” When Paul here says that God endured the vessels of wrath “with much
long-suffering” (ἐν πολλῇ μακροθυμίᾳ), he is
thereby declaring that God sought to convert and save them too.26
A closer study of
Rom. 9:22–23 shows clearly that the election to salvation has no predestination
to damnation as its corollary. In two respects the vessels of wrath differ
radically from the vessels of mercy. 1. While it is said of the vessels of
mercy in the active voice that God had afore prepared them unto glory, the
passive voice is used of the vessels of wrath: κατηρτισμένα εἰς ἀπώλειαν, ready, ripe for destruction.
The passive construction is not to be regarded as accidental, but as intended,
since the vessels of wrath and the vessels of mercy are here compared. The more
we note how the words “Which He had afore prepared unto glory” (ἃ προητοίμασεν) emphasize God’s
work in the vessels of mercy, the more it strikes us that in regard to the
vessels of wrath, in so far as they are “fitted to destruction” (κατηρτισμένα εἰς ἀπώλειαν), there is no mention
whatever of any “doing” by God. Thus the use of the active in regard to the one
group and the passive in regard to the other indeed indicates that the
preparation for glory and the fitting unto damnation do not have the same
author. The fitting unto destruction is not traced back to God.
The Formula of
Concord, too, points out this truth: “Hence the Apostle distinguishes with
especial care the work of God, who
alone makes vessels of honor, and the work of the devil and of man, who by the
instigation of the devil, and not of God, has made himself a vessel of
dishonor. For thus it is written, Rom. 9:22 f.: ‘God endured with much
long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, that He might make known the riches of His glory
on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory.’ Here, then,
the Apostle clearly says that God endured with much long-suffering the vessels
of wrath, but does not say that He made them vessels of wrath; for if this had
been His will, He would not have required any great long-suffering for it. The
fault, however, that they are fitted for destruction belongs to the devil and
to men themselves, and not to God.” (Trigl.
1089, 79 f.)
2. While the προ (afore) in προητοίμασεν traces the
preparation of the vessels of mercy back to eternity, the προ is missing before κατηρτισμένα εἰς ἀπώλειαν, “fitted to destruction.”
Here, then, is taught an eternal preparation for glory or for salvation, but no
eternal preparation for destruction.27 In connection with this
text, Bengel correctly points to Matt. 25:34, compared with v. 41, and to Acts
13:48, compared with v. 46. In this latter passage the faith of the Gentiles is
traced to their eternal election, but the unbelief of the Jews is not
represented as a consequence and result of their foreordination to damnation,
but as a consequence and result of their resistance to God’s gracious will and
operation. In Matthew 25 Christ says of the Kingdom of Glory
that it was prepared for the blessed of His Father from the foundation of the
world, hence from the beginning intended for them. Of the fire of hell,
however, Christ says that it is prepared for the devil and his angels. If men
go to hell, they go to a place originally not prepared for them. “Hell was
originally not built for men.”
Against this fact
it is urged that in the eternal and immutable God one cannot possibly speak of
a first and a second will, an original and a later purpose. True, but the God
in whom there is no prius and no posterius and who is swayed by no cause
outside Him is God in His majesty far transcending human comprehension.
Nevertheless, since He wants to be known of us, God became man, as in Christ so
also in Scripture, as Luther often reminds us. And we must look only to this
revelation of God in Christ and in Scripture if we would have a salutary
knowledge of God. Christ Himself teaches us in John 3:17–18 that God first of
all intends to save all men, and only secondarily intends to condemn those who
through not believing on the name of the only-begotten Son leave Him no other
choice. It is a mark of folly rather than wisdom to bring in at this point the
eternal, immutable God, whom no cause outside Himself determines or influences.
Scripture pays tribute to this majestic God,
saying, for example, Rom. 11:36: “Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all
things.” But from the context it is plain that this passage states a truth
transcending human comprehension (“For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or
who hath been His counselor?”) and gives the reason why there are judgments and
ways in God which we human beings cannot explain in this life, that is, cannot
understand and search out (“How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways
past finding out!”). See “Terminology Regarding the Divine Will of Grace” and
the discussion of a “change of mind in God,” Vol. II, 34 ff.; 367, footnote 69.
Calvinists argue
furthermore that there must needs be an election of wrath, a praeteritio, or an eternal
predestination to damnation in view of the historical fact that so many nations
did not have the Gospel and the further fact that of a hundred hearers, who are
all alike in total depravity, only about twenty per cent are converted.28
Recent Calvinists say: “The result is the interpretation of the purposes of
God.” Here, however, we must maintain that God wants His will toward us determined
by His revealed Word, which assures us that His grace is universal, and not by
the history of His dispensations upon whole nations or individuals. These ways
of God recorded in history—that one
nation has the Gospel, another not; that, though all who hear the Word are
alike guilty, some are converted and the others not—Scripture classes with
God’s judgments, unsearchable for men, and with His ways that are past finding
out (Rom. 11:33–36). Calvin and his followers commit the folly of attempting to
extract a doctrine of predestination to damnation from the historical facts
which Scripture expressly declares to be incomprehensible and unfathomable for
us. They pretend to have a knowledge which they cannot possibly have.
And as for the
Formula of Concord, it does not occupy “untenable ground,” but takes the
doctrinal position of God’s revealed Word by saying: “Likewise, when we see
that God gives His Word at one place, but not at another; removes it from one
place, and allows it to remain at another; also, that one is hardened, blinded,
given over to a reprobate mind, while another, who is indeed in the same guilt,
is converted again, etc.—in these and similar questions Paul (Rom. 11:22 ff.)
fixes a certain limit to us how far we should go, namely, a) that in the one
part we should recognize God’s judgment. For they are well-deserved penalties
of sins when God so punishes a land or nation for despising His Word that the
punishment extends also to their posterity, as is to be seen in the Jews. And
thereby [by the punishments] God in some lands and persons exhibits His
severity to those that are His [in order to indicate] what we all would have
well deserved, and would be worthy and worth, since we act wickedly in
opposition to God’s Word [are ungrateful for the revealed Word, and live
unworthily of the Gospel] and often grieve the Holy Ghost sorely, b) in order
that we may live in the fear of God, and acknowledge and praise God’s goodness,
to the exclusion of, and contrary to, our merit in and with us, to whom He
gives His Word and with whom He leaves it, and whom He does not harden and
reject.… c) When we proceed thus far [eo
usque] in this article, we remain on the right [safe and royal] way, as it
is written Hos. 13:9: ‘O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is
thine help.’ However, as regards those things in this disputation which would
soar too high and beyond these limits [extra
hos limites], we should, with Paul, place the finger upon our lips, and
remember and say, Rom. 9:20: ‘O man, who art thou that repliest against
God?’ ” (Trigl. 1081, ibid., 57–63.)
Also the words
(Rom. 9:18): “Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He
will He hardeneth,” are incorrectly adduced as proof for a predestination to
damnation. They do not mean that in God’s heart there is no mercy for a part of
mankind, namely, for those who are finally lost. The Apostle expressly says the
very opposite (ch. 11:32): “God hath concluded them all in unbelief that He
might have mercy upon all.” And this mercy the Apostle does not conceive as a
“will of complacency,” that is, a will without any intention of securing its
fulfillment, for in ch. 10:21 he quotes God as saying: “All day long I have
stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.” Why not
take note of the scope of the text? The words, Rom. 9:18, “Therefore hath He
mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth,” are not
directed against the universal grace of God, but against work-righteousness,
that is, against the delusion of man that by works he can merit something
before God, and against the conceit that he can by works make God his Debtor.
This scope of the passage is evident from the entire preceding and subsequent
context, particularly also from the words: “I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So,
then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy.”
It
may be well to add a remark with reference to Rom. 9:18, since this text has
suffered much at the hands of exegetes. Quite generally they are ready to let
this statement stand: “Whoever is saved, is saved only by grace; whoever is
lost, is lost by his own fault.” Now, the words that God has mercy and hardens
according to His will do not in their meaning go one inch beyond the sentence
that the critics are ready to accept. The clear teachings of Scripture must, of
course, be upheld, that those ultimately lost are not lost because of a lack of
grace, but solely through their own fault, because of their wicked conduct
toward God’s Word and gracious operation, as we have shown; and that
furthermore such as are saved are equally guilty with the others and no better
in their conduct. In these two truths we have the substance of Paul’s words:
“Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He
hardeneth.” The Formula of Concord states the meaning thus: “For no injustice
is done those who are punished and receive the wages of their sins; but in the
rest, to whom God gives and preserves His Word, by which men are enlightened,
converted, and preserved, God commends His pure [immense] grace and mercy,
without their merit” (Trigl. 1083, ibid., 61). There is but one deduction
of which we must beware, which the Calvinists as well as the synergists take
the liberty to make contrary to Scripture, to wit, the inference that the
affirmation of the sola gratia has as
its “necessary reverse” the denial of the gratia
universalis et seria.
The Cause of Error in the Doctrine
of Election
The cause of aberrations from the Scripture doctrine of election is the
attempt to unravel a mystery in this life the solution of which we can expect
only in eternal life. This topic has been discussed under Universal Grace and
Universal Redemption, as also under Conversion and Preservation in Faith (Vol.
II, 21ff.; 379ff.; 486ff.; Vol. III, p. 98). Therefore a brief summary here
will suffice. Why, with the same divine grace for all and the same total
depravity in all men, not all mankind, but only a part, is saved is beyond our
limited ken in this life.
The attempt to
solve this mystery has given birth, on the one hand, to Calvinism (denying the universalis gratia), and on the other,
to synergism (denying the sola gratia). Correctly Thomasius says:
“The Reformed teaching solves the problem facing us by amputating the one side
(universal grace)” (Dogmatik, 2d ed., III, 464). With the same end in view,
synergism amputates the other side, the sola
gratia.
The
fact that the synergists are intent on solving the mystery indicated becomes
apparent from their whole Melanchthonian argumentation. The heart and core of
all their multiform arguments is always: It is necessary (necesse est, Melanchthon) to assume a difference among men with
regard to their conduct and their guilt before God. If there were no difference
among men before God, but an equal guilt and an equally contrary behavior, we
would not be in a position to explain why not all men believe and are saved or,
in other words, why some believe and are saved and others not.
This statement of
course is true. We cannot explain this mystery. In the light of the facts
clearly revealed in Scripture, that the grace of God is universal, and that all
men are alike totally depraved, we cannot answer the question: Cur non omnes? Cur alii, alii non? Cur alii
prae aliis? But Scripture directs us to hold our tongue. The question
should remain unanswered. Scripture (Rom. 11:33), speaks of God’s “unsearchable
judgments and ways past finding out” in His guidance of individuals and
nations; and the Scriptural reason for the incomprehensibility and
inscrutability of these judgments and ways is the fact that no one has first
given something to God, for which God should recompense him.
Luther teaches
that in this matter there is an inexplicable mystery, the solution of which we
can expect only in eternal life. Cf. Vol. II, 49, note 93. The Formula of Concord
teaches the same mystery by maintaining equal guilt and equally wicked behavior
on the part of those who are saved, and by instructing us not to attempt in
this life to go beyond this boundary of human knowledge: Whoever is saved, is
saved by God’s grace alone; whoever is lost, is lost solely by his own fault.29
This mystery is taught also by the Lutheran dogmaticians of the 16th century
before the intuitu fidei theory
appeared. Cf. Vol. II, 487, note 64. This mystery the Missouri Synod as
well as the entire Synodical Conference taught in the controversy on the
doctrines of conversion and election, and thus, on the one hand, it upheld
the universalis gratia over against
Calvinism, and, on the other hand, it resisted the denial of the sola gratia inherent in the opposite
contention that conversion and salvation, and therefore also eternal election,
depend not only on God’s grace, but are contingent on the different conduct and
the lesser guilt of man. Cf. Vol. II, 490, footnote 69.
It
has therefore been well said that in the doctrine of election a theologian
takes his final examination. This Scripture doctrine sweeps the last remnants
of Pelagianism and rationalism out of one’s theology. The sola gratia many praise bona
fide as the very heart of the Christian doctrine. But the moment they come
face to face with the question whether those who are saved are, compared with
those who are lost, equally guilty before God and equally contrary, they feel
constrained to predicate a better conduct and a lesser guilt on the part of
those who are saved and thus to deny the sola
gratia. Again, many bona fide
praise Scripture as the only source and norm of Christian doctrine. But as soon
as you expect them to cling to both the universalis
gratia and the sola gratia
without any rationalistic compromise, simply because Scripture teaches both,
then also some professed Lutherans abandon the Scripture principle and reason
themselves, with the later Melanchthon, into the synergistic camp. Goeschel
remarks on Article XI of the Formula of Concord: “This article certainly makes
it clearer and clearer how the Formula of Concord, without regard of persons,
forcefully assails all rationalism, also the subtlest, the rationalism of
believers. That is the very reason why it draws the criticism of so many to
this day; it is opposed to rationalism of all sorts, and for that reason
rationalism of every kind has an antipathy to this Confession, also that
rationalism which does not regard itself as rationalism.”30[5]
A.C. The Augsburg
Confession.
F.C., Th. D. The Formula of Concord.
Thorough Declaration.
A.C. The Augsburg
Confession.
Apol. Apology of the Augsburg
Confession.
F.C., Th. D. The Formula of Concord.
Thorough Declaration.
[1] Edward
Wilhelm August Koehler, A Summary of
Christian Doctrine: A Popular Presentation of the Teachings of the Bible,
electronic ed. (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 67–71.
F.C., Th. D. The Formula of Concord.
Thorough Declaration.
F.C., Th. D. The Formula of Concord.
Thorough Declaration.
F.C., Th. D. The Formula of Concord.
Thorough Declaration.
F.C., Th. D. The Formula of Concord. Thorough Declaration.
[2] Edward
Wilhelm August Koehler, A Summary of
Christian Doctrine: A Popular Presentation of the Teachings of the Bible,
electronic ed. (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 181–188.
F.C., Th. D. The Formula of Concord. Thorough Declaration.
F.C., Th. D. The Formula of Concord. Thorough Declaration.
F.C., Th. D. The Formula of Concord. Thorough Declaration.
[3] Edward
Wilhelm August Koehler, A Summary of
Christian Doctrine: A Popular Presentation of the Teachings of the Bible,
electronic ed. (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 176–181.
20 See the full historical discussion of
this contrast in the sections “Universal Grace” and “Serious and Efficacious
Grace,” Vol. II, 21 ff.; also “Terminology Regarding the Divine Will of Grace,”
Vol. II, 34–52, where it is shown, too, that Luther and Calvin agree only in
certain expressions, but differ entirely as to substance.
21 Cp. the résumé (ch. 9:30–33) and the
further discussion (ch. 10:1–13), also the Apostle’s polemics against the
Gentile Christians in so far as they were inclined to regard themselves as
better than the Jews. (Ch. 11:18 ff.)
22 Recently again Dr. Schmidt in Distinctive Doctrines, 4th ed., p. 230,
energetically promotes the idea that man, stirred by grace, still has “an
option between obeying the call and yielding to the saving influences of God’s
Spirit, on the one hand, and refusing to do so, on the other hand.”
23 See Luther’s exegesis of 2 Pet. 1:10
in Vol. II, 544; Luther’s disputation on Luke 7:47 in St. L. VII:1461, thesis
57.
[4] Francis
Pieper, Christian Dogmatics,
electronic ed., vol. 3 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953), 490–494.
24 Hodge (Syst. Theol. II, 325) expresses the same thought.
25 [This is admitted, practically,, in
the action,, recently taken by the Presbyterians. In May, 1938, the daily press
reported: The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States
voted 151 to 130 today to omit two sections of its Confession of Faith, which
some speakers said formed the comerstone of the church code. The sections
omitted concerned the predestination of man by divine election. These sections
were criticized by several ministers as an “overstatement’ of the Scriptures
which ‘keeps our ministers constantly on the defensive.’ ”]
26 Stoeckhardt (Roemerbrief) correctly comments: “God endured the vessels of wrath
with much long-suffering before venting His wrath on them. This patience does
not merely mean, as Hofmann holds, that God postponed wrath and punishment. ‘A
mere prolongatio irae, delaying the
judgment, is after all no long-suffering., Weiss. The μακροθυμία of God always has as its aim the
repentance and improvement of the sinner. ‘The Lord … is long-suffering to
usward, μακροθυμεῖ εἰς ἡμᾶς,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,’ 2
Pet. 3:9.… We have shown above that the judgment of obduration, on which the
extreme wrath follows, is brought upon men by themselves, always has as its
necessary antecedent condition the self-hardening of man. God has previously
offered grace to those whom He ultimately hardens and condemns and has
earnestly sought to save them, but they would not. And now Paul stresses in our
passage that God has been very patient and long-suffering toward the vessels of
wrath, that He not merely once, but repeatedly urged and invited them to repent
and be converted. And note that God even then endured the vessels of wrath with
much long-suffering when they were already fitted to destruction.”
27 For a full discussion see Stoeckhardt,
Roemerbrief, p. 432 ff. [mimeographed
translation by Kochlinger, p. 131 ff.].
69 A great many theologians refuse to say that “a change
was produced in the mind and disposition of God.” They say with Ihmels: “That
term would necessarily create the impression as though reconciliation were
extorted from God and, what is more serious, the impression as though God
were subject to a change in His sentiments.” “Extorted“? One who knows the
teaching of Scripture and of the Church should not use such a term. Scripture
and the Church teach that God was not affected by any external influence, but
was moved by His love to forego His wrath against the τέκνα ὀργῆς, on account of the Vicarious
Satisfaction. See John 3:16; Rom.
5:8; 1 John 4:9–10. Luther: Gods Lamb (John 1:29) is the Sacrifice ordained by
God Himself for the sins of the world.” And Ihmel’s second argument, taken from
the changelessness of God, directly charges the Holy Ghost with using
misleading language in Scripture. To be sure, God is not subject to change (Ps.
102:24–27). But since we mortals, due to the finiteness of our powers of
comprehension, cannot grasp the eternal immutability” of God and can think only
in terms of time and space, Scripture itself instructs us to think of a before and an after in the immutable God. Scripture throughout speaks of a
beginning and a ceasing both of God’s wrath and of God s grace. Thus God has
revealed Himself, graciously condescending to our human power of understanding.
Dare any mortal, pleading the “eternal immutability” of God, brush aside this
self-revelation of God? The old theologians have devoted much time to the study
of the “problem” of the immutability of God and His “entrance into history,”
and the conclusion which they reached, namely: “In God [that is, God in His
unchangeable and to us incomprehensible majesty] there are no causes formaliter causantes; nevertheless,
there are causae virtualiter sive in
puncto rationis [according to our way of looking at things] causantes, is in perfect accord with
Scripture (see Baier-Walther, II, p. 33; J. R. Reusch, Annotationes, p. 175 sqq.). According to Scripture, a change in the
mind of God, His wrath changing into grace, took place 1900 years ago, when
Christ died for us. At that time the wrath of the changeless God was replaced,
“before His forum,” by His grace. One who calls these thoughts “misleading”
renounces the teaching of Scripture concerning the redemption which Christ
accomplished in the fullness of time.
28 Calvin: “The same sermon is addressed
to a hundred persons; twenty receive it with the obedience of faith; the others
despise, or ridicule, or reject, or condemn it” (Inst. III, 24, 12; Allen, II, 191).
93 De Servo
Arbitrio: “Let us therefore hold in consideration the three lights, the
light of nature, the light of grace, and the light of glory. This is the common
and very good distinction. By the light of nature it is insolvable how it can
be just that the good should be afflicted and the wicked should prosper; but
this is solved by the light of grace. By the light of grace it is unsolvable
how God can damn him who, by his own powers, can do nothing but sin and become
guilty. Both the light of nature and the light of grace here say that the fault
is not in miserable man, but in the unjust God; nor can they judge otherwise of
that God who crowns the wicked freely without any merit, and yet crowns not,
but damns another, who is perhaps less, or at least not more, wicked. But the
light of glory speaks otherwise and will in the hereafter show God, whose
judgment now is one of incomprehensible justice, to be of the most righteous
and most manifest justice. Only that we should for the time [in this life]
believe it, reminded and confirmed by that example of the light of grace, which
accomplishes a like, miracle in regard to the light of nature.” (St. L.
XVIII:1965 f.) Dorner: “Luther does not assume a contradiction [between the
revealed and the hidden will of God]; he rather demands that one believe this
contradiction to be only a seeming one” (Geschichte der protestantischen Theologie,
p. 206).
29 Trigl.
1083, ibid., 61, 62. Frank is
mistaken, therefore, when he (Theol. d.
F. C., I, 124) opines that the Formula “withholds judgment as to whether a
scientific harmonization is possible or not.”
64 The Strassburg Formula of Concord of 1563: “However, why this grace, or
this gift of faith, is not bestowed on all by God, while He calls all to
Himself, and, according to His infinite goodness, calls them with serious
intent, this is a mystery that is hidden from us and known to God alone. It
cannot be searched out by any man’s reason and must be reverently contemplated
and worshiped, as is written: ‘O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowlelge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding
out!’ (Romans 11.) And Christ thanks God the Father because He has hidden those
things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes (Matthew 11).
Still, we are not to be offended at these hidden ways of the divine will when
we are troubled in conscience, but we must look at the will of God that has
been revealed in Christ, who calls all sinners to Himself.” (Cp. Loescher, Hist., mot., II, p. 288.) Joachim
Moerlin: “It has been revealed to us that God will save only those who believe
in Christ and that unbelief is of our own doing. However, the judgments of God,
viz., why He converts Paul, but does not convert Caiaphas; why He restores
fallen Peter, while He leaves Judas to despair, are hidden from us.” (Cp.
Schluesselburg, Catalogus Haereticorum,
V., p. 228.) Chemnitz: “What, then, is the
reason why Judas is not received and does not obtain forgiveness of sin? Did he
not repent of what he had done? What is there lacking in his contrition and
repentance that he cannot obtain grace? He had no faith in Christ, he did not
believe that God is gracious and forgives sin. For that reason was he lost; for
where there is no faith, there is no grace of God nor forgiveness of sin. Now,
our Catechism says in the Third Article of our Christian Creed that no man can
by his own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, or come to Him, but the
Holy Ghost must create this faith in him, for faith is a gift of God. How,
then, does it come that God does not implant such faith in the heart of Judas,
that he, too, might believe that Jesus Christ could help, him? At this point we
must put a stop to our questions and say (Romans 11): ‘O the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His
judgments and His ways past finding out!’ We cannot and may not search out this
matter, which is too far beyond us. Rather, the story of Judas should warn us
against sinning intentionally and thus tempting God, lest God withdraw His hand
from us and permit us to sink and Perish. For otherwise we shall fall into sin
upon sin and become enmeshed in sin so deeply that it will be impossible for us
to return and regain our former standing, as happened to Judas.” (Passionspredigten,
IV, p. 17 f.) Apology of the Book of Concord (Chemnitz, Selnecker, Kirchner), Dresden, 1584: “Nor does
the Book of Concord deny that there is a reprobation in God or that God casts
some away. Hence it does not go counter to the statement of Luther, in his
treatise De servo arbitrio against
Erasmus, that this is the highest degree of faith to believe that this same God
who saves so few persons is nevertheless the most gracious God, but Luther is
careful to point out that God is not the real cause of this rejection and
condemnation of men, as our adversaries teach, and that when this question is
mooted, all men should put their fingers on their lips and declare, first, with
the Apostle Paul (Romans 11): ‘Because of unbelief they were broken off,’ and
(Romans 6): ‘The wages of sin is death.’ Secondly, however, when this question
is raised why our Lord God does not convert all men by His Holy Spirit (which
He could certainly do), we must again say with the Apostle: ‘How unsearchable
are His judgments and His ways past finding out.’ But we must by no means make
God the Lord the determining and actual cause of the reprobation and damnation
of the unrepentant. However, if they urge this point, viz.: If you accept the
predestination of the elect, you must also grant that in God Himself there is
from eternity a cause why men are cast away, even regardless of their sin,
etc., we reply that we are in no wise minded to make God the cause of
reprobation (which really has its origin, not in God, but in sin), and to
ascribe to Him the real cause of the damnation of the wicked, but we shall take
our stand on the saying of the Prophet Hosea, chapter 13, where God says: ‘O
Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine help.’ Nor shall we
try—as we heard Luther say above—to search out our heavenly Father as far as He
is a hidden God and has not revealed Himself. For, though we try, it is too
high for us, and we cannot comprehend it. The more we engage in such
questioning, the farther we get away from our loving God, and the more we gin
to doubt His gracious will toward us. Likewise, the Book of Concord does not
deny that God does not operate in all men alike; for in all ages there have
been many whom He did not call through the public office of the ministry. But
our adversaries shall never succeed in making us believe, as they try to do,
that God is the real cause of the casting away of these people and that He has
decreed in His bare council to reprobate and cast them away eternally even
regardless of sin. For it is sufficient that in approaching this depth of the
mysteries of God we say with the Apostle Paul in Romans 11: ‘His judgments are
unsearchable,’ and 1 Corinthians 15: ‘Thanks be to God, which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ All that is beyond this truth will be
revealed to us, by our Savior Christ Himself in the life everlasting.” (Fol. 206
f.) Setnecker: “Though God could make willing all who are unwilling, yet He
does not do so, and He has the most righteous and wise reasons why He does not,
which reasons it does not behoove us to search out. We rather owe Him most
heartfelt thanks that He has called us by the preaching of the Gospel, to the
communion of the life everlasting and enlightened our hearts by faith.” (In Omnes Epp. D. Pauli Apost. Commentar.,
1595, fol. 213.) Timotheus Kirchner: “Since, then, faith in Christ is a special
gift of God, why does He not bestow it on all? We reply: We should reserve the
discussion of this question until life eternal, and we should meanwhile be
satisfied to know that God will not have us seek out His secret judgments
(Romans 11): ‘O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God! How unsearchable are His judgments!’ ” (Enchiridion, p. 143.)—The following statements will show how
Melanchthon s proposition was received by the Lutherans of that time. Andreae
said at the colloquy at Herzberg: “The Loci
Communes of Melanchthon are valuable. But as to the Locus ‘De libero arbitrio’ one cannot help saying that the
pronouncements are, to say the least, dubious and ambiguous. And what about the
four paragraphs which were inserted after the death of Luther? We read there:
‘There must be in us a reason for the discrimination why Saul is rejected and
David received.’ ” (Cp. Lehre und Wehre, Vol. 28, p.
446.) Konrad Schluesselburg enumerates eight “principal errors of the
synergists,” and the second reads: “That there is a cause in us why some assent
to the promise of the Gospel and others do not assent.” Just as emphatically
Hutter renounces Melanchthon’s proposition as expressive of the synergistic
error (Explicatio F. C., pp.
200–201).
69 Guerieke, Symbolik, 3d ed., p. 395 f.: “Both
Churches [the Reformed and the Lutheran] declare emphatically: ‘Whoever is lost
is rejected solely through his own fault, as a sinner.’ But while the Lutheran Church in humble resignation stops at
this point, the Reformed Church, obedient to the demands of consistent
reasoning—refusing to bow even before the Word of God in its unbelieving
adherence to the rigid laws of logical thinking—does not hesitate to apply what
was said above also to the lost.… The Lutheran Church recognizes from this that
it does not behoove mortal men to seek to penetrate into this mystery of divine
justice and in humble submission desists from answering a question which, as it
(the Church) well knows, can be answered consistently by us weak mortals only
in a blasphemous manner. Our Church teaches that he who is saved, is saved
solely by God’s grace in Christ, without any merit of his own; he who is lost,
is lost through his own fault, because he persistently resists the divine
grace. The reason why the resistance to the grace of God in the case of the
former, and not the latter, is finally broken, is not the merit of the former,
though it is the fault of the latter; the inward disposition of man underlying
this difference also comes indeed, in so far as it is good, solely, from God;
in so far as it is evil, it does not come from God. Man, however, with his dim,
darkened reason cannot explore this deepest depth of the divine workshop. It is
greater wisdom to acknowledge the divine mystery than blasphemously to solve
it.”
30 Die Konkordienformel, etc., p.
144 f.; cp. Pieper,Grunddifferenz, p. 12 ff., espec, p.
28, note 3; F. Pieper, Zur Einigung, 2d ed., p. 29 ff.
[5] Francis
Pieper, Christian Dogmatics,
electronic ed., vol. 3 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953), 494–503.
