Thoughts on the Doctrine of Election

As a Confessional Lutheran living in what some in the Lutheran blogosphere have called the "desert of American Evangelicalism," one gets accustomed to being ignored. No one quite knows what to do with Confessional Lutherans. Consequently, we usually get left out of the debates, and our doctrine is not well-known. We look like Roman Catholics, most of the time. We talk about baptism a LOT, and how salvation comes only by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Most American Evangelicals don't know what to do with us, if we're even on their radar at all.

Mostly, we are not.

This is evident when the discussion turns to something like the doctrine of Election. You've got your Calvinists, and you've got your Arminians; your predestination people and your free will guys. Either God has predestined everybody for where they're going or we all have to make a decision for Jesus and pray the sinners prayer.

Then there are the Lutherans. We don't fit into either of those categories.

We acknowledge that man has free will, but only in matters that do not pertain to salvation. Where conversion is concerned, we acknowledge that scripture teaches we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1ff.).

We also understand that God has predestined the elect to salvation in Christ before the foundation of the world. However, - and here's where we lose the Calvinists - we acknowledge that scripture teaches that a believer can fall away.

Calvin wrote that salvation is not preached to all people equally. The reason why, he says, is a mystery. Calvin defines predestination as the doctrine that some people are chosen by God to be saved, and others are chosen by God to be damned. This is quite different from how the doctrine of election is understood from Holy Scripture by the Lutheran reformers. Calvin admits that this teaching might sound scary and confusing at first, but it is, in fact, "useful and pleasant." (Calvin, 1526) Calvin writes that the doctrine of election shows man that salvation is truly monergistic. To him, the fact that God gives salvation to some and withholds it from others, Calvin says, simultaneously glorifies God and humbles man. (Calvin, 1526)

Calvin and the Lutheran Confessions both agree that the doctrine of election is, in Calvin's words, "useful and pleasant"; that it is intended to be a comfort, and to showcase the glory of God. But Christianity does not teach fatalism. Fatalism is the idea that nothing you do makes any difference because everything is pre-ordained. Christian faith is knowing God works all things, even the ones we think are bad, for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose in Christ. And here we come to the first and greatest difference between a Reformed and a Confessional Lutheran understanding of election: it can only be understood in Christ.

Calvin says that God reveals His will to men, and that we must not seek that which God has kept hidden. Calvin says that we find the revealed will of God in God's word. This is true, and the Lutheran Confessions agree. Calvin, however, seems to go beyond what Scripture says when he teaches that God has created some men specifically for damnation.

To Calvin, God is the cause of salvation to those who are saved; God is also the cause of damnation to those who are damned. This is what Calvin means when he writes that all are not "created on equal terms." (Calvin, 1536) In other words, Calvin teaches that God created some people specifically to be saved, and other specifically to be damned. Those so created have no chance either to fall if they are the elect, or to be saved if they are the reprobate.

Calvin cites Deuteronomy 32:8-9 to show that God does not reveal the reason He saves certain people and damns others. As God declared to the Israelites through Moses, Calvin says, God chose the Israelites because He wanted to; it was not because of anything God saw in them, or that they merited God's favor. Calvin says that here God keeps the reason the elect are chosen a secret, but this isn't entirely true. God does indeed reveal how and why the elect are saved: they are saved by God's grace through faith in Christ alone.

Moreover, scripture also declares that the lost are damned because of their lack of faith, not because God predestined them to be lost and condemned.

When discussing eternal election, the Lutheran reformers make a distinction between God's eternal election and God's eternal foreknowledge. God's foreknowledge means simply that God sees and knows all things before they happen. Foreknowledge applies to all creatures. Election does not apply to all creatures. Election only applies to those people who are in Christ. (McCain, 2005)

God's eternal election simply means those whom God has predestined to salvation in Christ from before the foundation of the world. Election, therefore, does not include the wicked. On the contrary, it only includes the godly, i.e. those people who have faith in Christ. Those who are predestined to salvation are those who are in Christ.

Here we enter the territory of another fundamental difference between Reformed and Confessional Lutheran theology: paradox. Confessional Lutheran theologians do not feel the need to resolve paradox when it is found it Holy Scripture. Reformed theologians make the rational argument that if God chose one group of men to be saved, then that means he chose the remaining group of men to be damned by default. That is not, however, what the Bible says. In short, Scripture teaches the following paradox: 1) God wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth; 2) God is completely responsible for working repentance and faith in men by the means of His word; 3) Some men reject God's gracious gift and are not saved; 4) Those men who are lost are responsible for their own damnation, not God.

Part of the problem is that Calvin does not seem to recognize that the lost are lost because of their own sin; because of their own failure to believe in Christ, and not because God decreed them to be reprobate. Consider the fact that Non-Israelites could become a part of the nation of Israel. People like Rahab the prostitute were accepted as part of God's chosen people, not because of their bloodline, but because of their faith. Again, consider Saul. He was the annointed king of Israel, yet he was rejected by God  because he was unfaithful.

Calvin sees the choosing of Israel by God as a sort of general election. The explanation he gives for why most of Israel fell away even though they were part of the elect nation and only a remnant remained is troubling. Calvin explains that, while God did elect the entire body of Jacob's descendants, He did not immediately give all of them the Holy Spirit. According to Calvin, this withholding of the Spirit is why most of elect Israel fell away and only a remnant was caused to persevere. (Calvin, 1536) 

Where Calvin found such a horrifying notion is anyone's guess. It does not come from Scripture.

But Calvin continues, asserting that God is not unjust to choose some men to reprobation. Indeed, He would not be unjust if that were the case. All men are, after all, in a fallen state. God would have been justified in destroying the entire fallen creation, and starting over again. But Calvin also ascribes man's corrupt and fallen state to God's will. (Calvin, 1536)

Scripture tells us that isn't the case. God is not the source of evil, nor is God the cause of sin. Rather, Adam's will and the will of the devil are the cause of mankinds fall, and the introduction of sin and death into creation.

God may not be the cause of man's fall into sin as Calvin says. God did, however, allow the Fall to happen. And, along with everything else, God works those things to the good of those elect in Christ.

Calvin says that God issues His call to faith by the preaching of the Gospel. According to Calvin, however, though the Gospel goes out to the elect and to the reprobate alike, God only makes it effectual in those whom He has elected. Those who are reprobate, therefore, do not have the opportunity or the ability to believe; God, according to His will, has rendered the power of the Gospel ineffective in them. (Calvin, 1536)

Predestination is not a trick. God does not say outwardly that salvation is for all people, but secretly not mean it. This would mean that God had two contradictory wills, which cannot be because Scripture tells us so. (McCain, 2005) God punishes such duplicity. He does not reward it.

God would indeed be a liar and a hypocrate if His invitation was extended to all people through His word, but secretly in His heart He knew there were some people He would damn anyway, no matter what. God condemns this type of wickedness (Psalm 5:9; 12:2-4). Man is, on the contrary, responsible for his own damnation by resisting and rejecting the Holy Spirit as He works through God's word.

God reveals His will by His call to preach the Gospel to all people. He works through that word to enlighten, convert, and save. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation; God wants men to receive, believe, and obey His word. Christ merited the redemption of the entire human race on the cross. Through word and sacrament Christ gives us the benefits of what He has merited. That is to say that the Holy Spirit working through those means works conversion; works repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins in us. Moreover, the Spirit will justify, sanctify, and protect those in whom He has done such work if we do not abandon Christ and His Word. (McCain, 2005)

He will save eternally at the Resurrection on the Last Day those who persevere. ###

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Works Cited

Calvin, John. 1536. "Institutes of the Christian Religion." Chapters 21-24. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. 

https://ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes/institutes.v.xxii.html.

McCain, Paul T., et. al., eds. 2005. "Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. A Reader's Edition of the Book of Concord." First Edition. Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration XI. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

For God so loved...The Elect? A Confessional Lutheran on Limited Atonement

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

The Limited Atonement is the notion, in a nutshell, that Jesus did not die for everyone, but only for those whom the Father chose from his sovereign will. This teaching is intimately tied together with the Calvinistic teaching on predestination, sometimes called “double” predestination – that God chose some people to be saved, and others to be damned. I mean, it only follows logically that if God the Father predestined you to Hell, Jesus certainly didn’t die for you. One of the problems with the idea that Jesus did not die for all people, however, is the biblical evidence that, well…Jesus died for all people.

I suppose I should, in good Lutheran fashion, write, “For God so loved the world” on a table with a piece of chalk and simply point to it whenever anyone suggested that Jesus didn’t die for all mankind, and call it a day. Since, however, I am a Confessional Lutheran, and I have always found it difficult to keep my trap shut, you shall, therefore, not be spared a wordy explanation of what I believe, teach and confess, and what I reject and condemn. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise…

It seems an exercise in futility to argue with any Calvinist regarding what their theology calls the “limited” atonement. Calvinists would have us understand that the word “world” in John 3:16 means “elect”, just as they insist that the word “is” in the Matthew account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper means “represents”[1]. In both of these instances, the plain reading of the text is rejected because it just doesn’t make sense to human reason. If God picked some to be saved, logic dictates that he picked others to be damned. If Jesus’ body is in heaven at God’s right hand, logic dictates that it can’t be in the bread and wine of communion, last will and testament of the Christ notwithstanding[2][3].

This issue comes up now because I recently heard a wonderful lecture given by a Calvinist lecturer, and his “limited atonement seed” got stuck in my proverbial craw. During the lecture it became apparent that this man giving the talk was as happy and theologically satisfied to be a Calvinist as I am to be a Lutheran. Consequently, as background material for his topic (which, for the purpose of this little diatribe, is immaterial) he discussed several doctrinal issues: “double” predestination, the total depravity of the human nature, his disdain for the concept of baptismal regeneration (which shall receive its own treatment in due course, I can assure you), and, of course, the limited atonement.

As a member of a confessional Lutheran church body I find it frustrating that the Lutheran voice is so seldom heard in this theological debate in America. Luther preferred the designation Evangelical because of their focus on the Gospel, to the term “Lutheran”, which was used by his adversaries derisively (Lutheranism). To call one’s self an “Evangelical” today, however, doesn’t even bring to mind Luther, Lutheran theology, or even the “Solas” of the Reformation[4]. Instead, you get images of fire-and-brimstone tent revival meetings (Arminianism), some variety of the Reformed churches (Calvinism), or some sort of big-box mega-church. 

Both Calvinism and Lutheranism claim to hold to the sola scriptura principle of the Reformation – scripture alone is the only rule and norm by which all teachings and teachers are to be evaluated. Calvinism, however, seems at least in practice, to change the maxim to read “sola scriptura…plus human reason”. Lutheranism excludes human reason from the formulation of doctrine. On first reading that might seem to be a knock against Luther and the rest of the boys, particularly in light of our modern culture which exalts the human reason and science to the point of idolatry. It is, however, one of the greatest characteristics of Lutheran theology, particularly when one understands that Christian doctrine is not human teaching, but God’s teaching given to man in the written word of Holy Scripture.

The Lutheran reformers took great pains to make sure that they were not theological innovators, but rather codifiers of Biblical doctrine. They meticulously documented in the 1580 Book of Concord how the doctrines contained therein were drawn from Holy Scripture, and were the same teachings that had always been taught in the church, going back to the ancient fathers[5]. They put down for the record in the Book of Concord that they were simply reforming what had been corrupted in the church during the Middle Ages, and they make a well-documented and compelling case. This was done in reaction to Rome’s attempt to classify them along with Calvin and Zwingli, as well as with the so-called “radical” reformers such as Muenzer, Karlstadt, Schwenkfeld, Franck, and others (McCain, Baker and Veith).

The Lutheran reformers did not advocate the abandonment of reason and thought, but rather that human reason and intellect was useful only if it was employed within its proper sphere. We have a brain with which to decipher Holy Scripture, which was handed down to us by God through men in human language, and in a real historical context. Doctrine (which is just a fancy word for “Teaching”) is to be drawn from scripture alone, using human reason and intellect to apply the rules of grammar and logic, subservient to the text, with the Holy Spirit as guide (Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation). By contrast, Christian Doctrine is not to be reasoned out according to what makes sense or feels good to us. In short, Lutherans are ok with taking God at his word, even if that word, in places, does not seem to jive with human logic. Lutherans affirm the words of Holy Scripture, even when they seem to us paradoxical. Good Lutheran theology simply says what God’s word says and, where God stops explaining, Lutheran theology stops explaining and gives glory to Him.

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles… Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves (1 Timothy 2:1-7; Ephesians 1:3-6).

The apparent contradiction that God wants all men to be saved, and that God has elected a definite number of people to salvation from eternity simply cannot be rectified by human reason. It is an apparent paradox. I say “apparent”, because all of these things we cannot now grasp will be made clear in eternity, as St. Paul wrote:

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Luther and the reformers understood the doctrine of election (predestination) as St. Paul described it – through Christ[6] ^{(McCain, Baker and Veith)}. Holy Scripture teaches that God, from eternity, elected (or predestined) believers in Christ his Son to be his own, without regard to any merit on their part, but simply by God’s grace. There is no mention of any election to damnation. The election is to be understood only through Christ. The key words there are “in Him” and “through Jesus Christ”. The elect are elect, not because God picked his favorites and wrote them down on a “saved” list, and decided to damn all the rest. He chose his elect “in Him” – those who believe/did believe/would believe in Christ would constitute the elect. This is also what St. Paul writes about in Romans:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified (Romans 8:28-30).

To Calvin, for God to elect some to eternal life and others to “reprobation” reveals God’s glory by showing his justice, as well as by impressing upon the elect God’s infinite mercy to them (Craig). The problem is that Scripture does not say that. This is philosophy. This idea is a product of the rational human mind which is, along with mankind’s nature, (to borrow a Calvinist-ism) “totally depraved”.

There is nothing in the surrounding context of John 3:16 which would suggest that “the world” about which Jesus speaks refers only to a group of The Elect, rather than to the plain meaning of the phrase “the world” – the whole of humanity. The Greek word used for “world” in John 3:16 is the same Greek word used for “world” in John 1:10:

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husbands will, but born of God (John 1:10-13).

To whom did Jesus come? He came to the whole of humanity but, because of their depravity, the “world” did not recognize him. By whom was he subsequently rejected? By a smaller group out of the whole of humanity, the Jews, called in this passage, “his own”. To whom did he give the right to become children of God? To those of “the world” who believed in his name. By what means are these Children of God born? They are born by the will of God. How does that work, and by what criterion does God make Children? Through faith in Jesus. That’s as far as we can go, because that’s as far as Scripture goes.

In spite of the rejection of Christ by “the world”, Jesus came into the world to save us from our sin by his death and resurrection. St. Paul seems to echo John when he writes:

For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all (Romans 11:32).

It is not surprising that, following this very passage and ending his longer discussion of God’s sovereignty and eternal election through the three previous chapters in the book of Romans, St. Paul concludes with this doxology:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen (Romans 11:33-36).

Thanks be to God that he has given us all that we need to have faith, and to understand that which he wants us to know in Holy Scripture, by the power of His Holy Spirit – that Jesus Christ, the God-man, died on the cross and rose from the dead to reconcile mankind with God by bearing the guilt of our sin.

Works Cited

Craig, Edward, ed. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Questions to Sociobiology. Vol. 8. New York: Routledge, 1998. 10 vols. 1 May 2014. <Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Questions to Sociobiology>.

Hesselink, I. John. Calvin's First Catechism: A Commentary. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997.

"Lutheranism." n.d. Wikipedia. 1 May 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutheranism>.

Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1986.

McCain, Paul Timothy, et al., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. Trans. William Hermann Theodore Dau and Gerhard Friedrich Bente. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2005.

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[1] Matthew 26:26

[2] Christ’s words in the Sacrament must be taken at face value especially because these words are the words of a testament, and even and ordinary person’s last will and testament may not be changed once that person has died (1 Cor. 11:25; Gal. 3:15) (Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation).

[3] Calvin: Accordingly, body and blood are represented under bread and wine, so that we may learn not only that they are ours, but that they are life and food for us…The sharing in the Lord’s body, which, I maintain, is offered to us in the Supper, demands neither a local presence, nor the descent of Christ, nor an infinite extension of his body, nor anything of that sort; for, in view of the fact that the Supper is a heavenly act, there is nothing absurd about saying that Christ remains in heaven and is yet received by us. For the way in which he imparts himself to us is by the secret power of the Holy Spirit, a power which is able not only to bring together, but also to join together, things which are separated by distance and by a great distance at that (Hesselink).

[4] Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura (Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone).

[5] The Catalog of Testimonies was appended to several early editions of the Book of Concord to show that Lutheran teaching about the two natures of Christ is thoroughly in line with the historic and universal faith of the Christian Church…Christology makes justification what it is: a powerful present joyful reality through Word and Sacrament by means of which the God-man, Jesus Christ, is present with us, and for us according to both His divine and human nature, giving us forgiveness, life and salvation. Reformed theologians…accused Lutherans of making up new understanding about the two natures of Christ. Therefore, it was necessary for Lutherans to refute these claims and show that their doctrine is, in fact, thoroughly in keeping with Scripture and the Ancient Church Fathers, who taught the same things (McCain, Baker and Veith).

[6] FC Ep. XI. 4; FC SD XI. 

Eternal Election

Martin Luther

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2: 1-7).

 

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen (Romans 1:18-25)

 

No, I am not writing about Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Thanks be to God, that election is not eternal, and Americans will decide on November 6 who will be the President of the United States for the next four years. This idea of Eternal Election is an important Biblical doctrine that should comfort Christians during difficult times and trials. Our salvation in Christ is so sure and certain that our relationship with God was known by Him before the foundation of the world (McCain, Baker, Veith, & Engelbrecht 2005). Unfortunately, trying to make sense of Eternal Election can sometimes be as frustrating and confusing as the Presidential election. I would like to examine Eternal Election, particularly in light of the two passages of Scripture presented above, as this has recently become the topic of conversation between me and one of my dearest friends.

 

John Calvin

Although there was no controversey among early Lutherans regarding what is commonly referred to as "God's Eternal Foreknowledge and Election", the doctrine was addressed in the Book of Concord in response to the ideas formulated and advanced by John Calvin and his followers. Calvin developed a doctrine known as double predestination. Briefly stated, this doctrine teaches four main points: 1) Christ died, not for all people, but only for the elect; 2) God created most people for eternal condemnation and is unwilling that they be converted and saved; 3) The elect and regenerate cannot lose faith and the Holy Spirit and be condemned, even though they commit great sins and crimes of every kind; 4) Those who are not elect must be condemned, and cannot attain salvation, even though they are baptized a thousand times, daily go to the Lord's Supper, and also live as holy and blameless as ever possible (McCain, Baker, Veith, & Engelbrecht, 2005).

 

This question of eternal election and predestination is one of the most difficult for us to resolve. And, by that I mean it is a question we will be unable to resolve. Simply put, the Bible teaches that 1) God desires all people to be saved and, 2) salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ, which is entirely and completely a gift from God, independent of any work we could ever do. In fact, because of concupiscence, our natural inclination since the Fall is to turn away from God, as you know. Not only does salvation come to us as God’s gift, it MUST be God’s work if it is to happen, because we are inclined toward sin and away from God. To the rational human mind these things are irreconcilable. If we work these things out by pure human reasoning, we must necessarily come to the place where Calvin went, and say that God chooses some to be saved, and some others to be condemned. That isn’t a place where I wish to go, as Scripture expressly says otherwise. The conclusion to which I have come after years of wrestling with this idea, is that we should merely state what God teaches in his word regarding these things, and leave it at that. So, let’s have at it…

 

God resolved before the foundation of the world that those whom he would save, he would save by his grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.[1] Faith is a gift of God[2], kindled in the hearts of men by the working of the Holy Spirit[3], through his means, which is God’s word.[4]

 

This includes all people of all times – New Testament believers in Christ who heard the Gospel and believed, and also Old Testament saints, such as Abraham, as well. The Old Testament faithful, who believed that God would send a redeemer, had faith in God’s promise just as New Testament believers, but from a different perspective.[5] Old Testament saints trusted God’s promise to send a Messiah, whose name they did not know, after hearing God’s word. They were looking forward to the fulfillment of the promise. New Testament saints had/have faith in God’s promised Messiah, whose name they know to be Jesus of Nazareth. They are looking back toward that same fulfillment.[6]

 

God wants all people to be saved.[7] Many people, however, reject the word and thereby resist they Holy Spirit who attempts to work in them.[8] God will harden those who persist in their resistance of the Holy Spirit’s work through the word.

 

Just as an ungrateful birthday boy may turn up his nose at a gift he does not appreciate or understand, man is able to reject God's gift of a Savior. The natural state of mankind since the fall is to turn away from God.[9] The Pharisees, who loved their position in life and praise from men more than God, rejected the gift. They hardened their hearts to God's Holy Spirit, as St. Stephen tells them. They, along with all those who do the same, will receive their wages for their labor. [10] The Holy Spirit, however, continues to work in men as long as the word is present with them. St. Peter calls us believers a chosen people[11]. This, I believe, means that we who have heard the Gospel and believe it are elect. That may sound like a simple cop-out, but it is what the Bible says. The Holy Spirit calls us all through the Gospel, which St. Paul says is the power of salvation to everyone who believes[12]. St. Paul writes in Ephesians chapter one:

 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will – to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves (Eph. 1:3-6).

 

The key words there are “in Him” and “through Jesus Christ”. The elect are elect, not because God picked his favorites and wrote them down on a “saved” list, and decided to damn all the rest. He chose his elect “in Him” – those who believe/did believe/would believe in Christ would constitute the elect.

 

This is how God worked in Pharaoh through Moses.[13] The Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration uses this example:

 

“God did harden Pharaoh’s heart. In other words, Pharaoh always sinned again and again and became more hardened the more he was warned. That was a punishment of his earlier sin and horrible tyranny that in many and various ways he acted inhumanly toward the children of Israel against his heart’s accusations. God caused his Word to be preached and His will to be proclaimed to Pharaoh. Nevertheless, Pharaoh willfully stood up immediately against all rebukes and warnings. Therefore, God withdrew His hand from him, Pharaoh’s heart became hardened and stubborn, and God executed His judgment on him” (McCain, Baker, Veith, & Engelbrecht, 2005).[14]

 

God, standing outside of linear time, knows all things before they happen (foreknowledge).[15] Therefore, he has known since before the beginning of time who would, after being called by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel, believe in Christ.[16]

 

That is not to say that God only called certain individuals because of his foreknowledge.[17] He, being God, and therefore not being bound by time and space as we humans are, simply knows all things before they happen.

 

In this way, believers in Christ, the promised Messiah are – and have always been – elect from all eternity.[18] This is true in both the broad and narrow sense. Broad, because God elected that all believers would be saved in Christ Jesus from eternity; Narrow, in that God, as a result of his foreknowledge, knows each individual who has been or will be a believer in Christ. Therefore, each individual believer has also been elect from eternity. The key is that the Elect are elect in Christ. That is, the reason the elect are the Elect is because they are elect in Christ.

 

From the human perspective, people can come to faith, and they can fall from grace. From God’s perspective outside of time, since he had determined the method by which he would redeem mankind, and since he knows the outcome of all things, to God all things have been determined since before the beginning of time.

 

As for what St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians “Dead” does most certainly, I believe, mean dead, but in terms of our spiritual state before we are “given the paddles”, so to speak, and are shocked to life by the Almighty Paramedic. Luther used the analogy of a corpse. A corpse can do nothing to resurrect itself and come back to life, and we, likewise, have zero power to effect in ourselves a spiritual resurrection (Luther, 1991). The Lutheran Confessions, in the Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration explain this Scriptural teaching by saying, “The Scriptures teach that a sinful person is not only weak and sick, but also finished and entirely dead” (FC SD II 10). To summarize it all, we are truly dead in our transgressions, which is to say that we stand outside of God’s forgiveness and salvation because of sin, and there’s nothing we can do to change that situation, just like that corpse is powerless to change – or even be aware of – its situation (Engelbrecht, et al., 2009). That is why St. Paul also writes:

 

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching (Romans 10:14)?

 

Paul’s questions are designed to teach that by God’s design, faith is created only through the Word proclaimed (Engelbrecht, et al., 2009). The process used by the Holy Spirit to effect that change is not explained, and is, frankly, none of our business.

 

The fact that we are, spiritually speaking, a smelly rotting corpse, describes the unregenerate state we are in before God converts us. This is the very thing St. Paul is describing in Romans chapter 1. Because of this, our spiritual state, we act as St. Paul describes. In our unregenerate state, left to our own devices, we are unrighteous and therefore turn away from and suppress the truth. Always. We can’t help it. The remedy to this is faith, which comes through hearing, and hearing comes through the word of Christ[19]. The forgiveness of sins is secured for us by Christ’s work on the cross, but it cannot come to us any other way than through the Word[20]. I don’t know how the Holy Spirit uses this tool of the Word to create faith in people who believe, I just know that that’s the tool he uses. The Lutheran reformers liked to point out that the Holy Spirit works, “when and where he will.” That is why it is important for all people to hear the Gospel – the Word.

 

Go back to the analogy of the birthday boy and his present for a moment. His natural inclination is to not accept the present. If the Giver just set the present in front of him, he would cross his arms and turn away from it all day long. This in spite of the fact that he sees the birthday cake and decorations and, therefore, knows it is his birthday, and that he should bow to social convention and accept the gift. The Giver, therefore, must order him to take the present and open it. “You take that present right this instant,” the Giver might say. “Now, open it. Open it and use it; it’s for your own good.” So, the little punk takes the gift and opens it, but it certainly isn’t of his own free will that he does so. He did not cooperate in receiving the gift. If he did a “verb” at all, the one we would have to conjugate would be “to submit”. And, after opening the gift, his whole attitude is changed. That might seem like a cooperation of sorts, or a good work, but I don’t think that it is.

 

And, if we want to carry the scenario even farther, let’s say he opens the gift, takes one look at it and heaves it on the floor. This would be analogous, I think, to those described in Romans 1 who, having seen what God has shown them, rejected His gift anyway. That would certainly be in keeping with the birthday boy’s nature. The Giver will offer the gift again and again through repeated exhortations to accept it but, at a certain point – we don’t know when – he will give the birthday boy over to his nature if he continues to be a jerk and will take the gift away. This is pure conjecture, though, and perhaps this whole exercise is a cheap word game. I haven’t decided for certain yet. The analogy is obviously flawed, but I think it goes a long way to make my point. Unfortunately, in this sinful, fallen world, we are forced to use verbs – action words! – to describe this process throughout which we are passive, if we intend to discuss it in human language.

 

These are wonderfully mind-bending things to think about and discuss. I would be remiss, however, if I did not point out that the whole of our entire discussion, after all is said and done, must be focused through the lens of (at least) three passages of Scripture:

 

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?...Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!...Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it (Romans 9:20-21; 11:33; Luke 18:17).

 

The God whose Christ died only for the elect and not for all people is not the God who has made himself known to us in Holy Scripture. Neither is the God who created most people for eternal condemnation, and is unwilling that those people be converted and saved as Calvinism teaches. Calvin, in order to get to the place where the above statement is truth, had to ignore Scripture and rely on his own rational mind for guidance in working these things out to their logical conclusions. If we do that, we will embark upon a pathway that leads to another destination at which I have no desire to arrive. In the end, we must necessarily wind up back where we began – God’s Word. This is not a thing we are going to understand while still on this earth. We must agree with Luther (of course!) when he says, “Even as I now believe in Christ my Savior, I also know that I have been chosen to eternal life out of pure grace in Christ without any merit of my own and that no one can pluck me out of His hand (Luther, 1991).” There again, as before, the key phrase is “in Christ”. It is always “in Christ” that we find our answer.

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Engelbrecht, E. A., Deterding, P. E., Ehlke, R. C., Joersz, J. C., Love, M. W., Mueller, S. P., et al. (Eds.). (2009). The Lutheran Study Bible. Saint Louis, Missouri, USA: Concordia Publishing House.

 

Luther, M. (1991). Kleine Katechismus, English. (C. P. House, Trans.) Saint Louis, Missouri, USA: Concordia Publishing House.

 

McCain, P. T., Baker, R. C., Veith, G. E., & Engelbrecht, E. A. (Eds.). (2005). Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. (W. H. Dau, & G. F. Bente, Trans.) St. Louis, MO, USA: Concordia Publishing House.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

End Notes

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[1] Matthew 13:34-35; Ephesians 1: 4-6

[2] Ephesians 2: 8-9

[3] 1 Corinthians 6:11; 12:3

[4] Romans 1:16; 10:17; 2 Thessalonians 2:14

[5] 1 Peter 1: 10-12

[6] Hebrews 11

[7] Ezekiel 33:11; Matthew 11:28 Luke 24:47; John 1:29; 3:16; 6:40; 6:51; Romans 10:12; 11:32; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9 1 John 2:2;

[8] Matthew 22: 1-10; 23:37; Luke 14: 16-24; Acts 7:51

[9] Psalm 51:5; Romans 3: 9-18

[10] Romans 6:23

[11] 1 Peter 2:9

[12] Romans 1:16; 2 Thess. 2:14

[13] Exodus 4:21; 7:3; 7: 13-14; 7:22; 8:15; 8:19; 8:32; 9:7; 9:12; 9: 34-35; 10:1; 10:20; 10:27; 11:10; 14:4; 14:8; 14:17

[14] Paul T. McCain, Robert C. Baker, gene E. Veith, Edward A. Engelbrecht eds., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House), 2005.

[15] Psalm 139:16; Isaiah 37:28; Matthew 10:29

[16] Romans 3:22

[17] i.e., that God knew that certain people would not resist the Holy Spirit, so he called them, and left the other people without hope of redemption.

[18] 2 Timothy 2:10

[19] Romans 10:17

[20] LC V 3