It is well known to you that we now for several years
have been attacked and accused of teaching false
doctrines regarding election or the election of grace.
Our teaching has been called Calvinistic. The teachings
with which we have been charged are of two kinds: some,
which we have never believed and never taught; these we
have publicly repudiated, but we have continued to be
accused of them anyway; others, which we actually have
taught, because they are expressly taught in God’s Word
and confessed by the Lutheran Church in its public
confessions. Therefore we cling to these in spite of all
attacks. We do not accept as our own a single doctrine
which is not clearly based on the Word of God and which
cannot be shown to be in the Confessions of the Lutheran
Church.
We owe our congregations an accounting for what we teach
and confess;
and although we dare to believe that our hearers both
know our testimony and will judge it by what they hear of
us and not by what others say, we
have still considered it our duty to present to you now
this our common complete accounting, in which we hope no
essential question that concerns the disputed doctrines
has been unanswered.
We present this accounting to you, then, in the name of
the Lord, for testing by the Word of God.
Concerning the Universal Grace of God, our Faith,
Teaching, and Confession is as follows:
1. God will have all men to be saved. He is not willing
that any sinner should perish and is not responsible for
the damnation of any sinner. I Tim. 2,4; II Pet. 3,9;
Ezek. 33,11.
We reject the Calvinistic teaching that God does not
will the salvation of all men.
2. Christ has redeemed all men, and His redemption has
the same content and purpose for all. I Tim. 2,6; II Cor.
5,15; I Joh. 2,2; Matth. 18,11;
John 1,29.
We reject the Calvinistic teaching, that Christ in
reality has redeemed only the elect. II Pet. 2,1.
3. In the Word, God calls all men to repentance, and it
is “His will that in those whom He thus calls He will
work through the Word that they may be enlightened,
converted, and saved.” (Formula of Concord, Thor. Decl.,
XI, 25.) Accordingly this call of God is equally earnest
and powerful over towards all. Acts 17,30; Mark 16,15;
Matth. 23,37; Is. 65,2;
Matth. 22,1-14.
We reject the Calvinistic teaching, that God’s call is
earnest and powerful only over towards the elect.
4. The means of grace always possess their innate power
to work repentance, faith and perseverance (in the faith)
and thus to save the man to whom they come. The means of
grace do not have different powers over towards the
different men. John 6,63; Rom. 10,6-8,17; II Cor.
1,18-20.
We reject the Calvinistic teaching that the means of
grace are powerful and efficacious only for the elect.
5. The power of the means of grace can be resisted and
their saving effect can be prevented by every man and at
every point. Matth. 23,37; Luke 7,30; Acts 13,46; Zech.
7,11-12; Acts 7,51; Heb. 3,7-11.
We reject the teaching of the Calvinists that God’s grace
is irresistible and that the truly regenerated cannot
fall away from the state of grace.
Concerning Conversion, our Faith, Teaching, and
Confession in the disputed points is as follows:
1. The conversion (of the fallen) is “that a man who has
fallen away from the grace of God and is dead in sin is
again by the power of God raised up to a new spiritual
life, reconciled with God by faith and thus entirely
converted and changed.” (Cf. Pontoppidan, Sandhed til
Gudfrygtighed, Q. 677; Epitome, Q. 532.) II Tim. 2,25,26; Jer.
3,1,6,7; Eph. 2,4-6;
Acts 26,18.
2. When the Holy Scriptures call the natural man dead in
sin, it designates thereby also a spiritual impotence and
bondage such that the free use of the faculties of the
soul in purely spiritual things is wholly and completely
lost and gone; “the reason is darkened, the will is
incapable of good and inclined to everything evil, and
the peace of the conscience is disturbed.” (Cf.
Pontoppidan, Sandhed til Gudfrygtighed, Q. 383 [Q.
382-386]; Epitome, Q. 270.) Rev. 3,1; I Cor. 2,14; 1,21;
Matth. 13,11 ff.; II Cor. 3,5; Rom. 3,11,12; 6,20; Gen.
6,5; John 8,34; Eph. 2,1-3; 4,17-18; Tit. 3,3; II Pet.
2,19; Is. 49,9.
3. Being dead in sin, the natural man cannot himself
change this condition of his heart nor cooperate, either
little or much, in effecting this change;
for “the man who is not regenerated resists God
altogether and is wholly and entirely a slave of sin,”
and “he is and remains an enemy of God, until he by the
power of the Holy Spirit is converted, made a believer,
regenerated and renewed, through the Word that is
preached and heard, out of pure grace, without any
cooperation of his own.” (Formula of Concord, Thor.
Decl., 11,44 and 11,2.) John 3,6; Rom. 8,7-9; Eph. 2,4-6;
Phil. 2,13; Jer. 31,18; Hos. 13,9; Matth. 11,27; Deut.
29,4; I Cor. 12,3; Col. 2,12,13;
Matth. 7,17-18.
4. The natural man has freedom and power outwardly to
hear and consider the Word of God or not to do this, but
man cannot cooperate at all in bringing about any inner
change in his heart for good. Col. 2,13; Phil. 2,13; John
15,5; Luke 11,23; II Cor. 3,5; Jer. 13,23; Rom. 8,8.
5. Not to want to hear the Word of God is an effective
and deciding cause for a person’s not being converted.
Rom. 10,14,17.
6. The fact that the unregenerate man outwardly hears and
with his still darkened reason considers the Word of God
is not a cooperating, much less deciding, cause for this
that he is converted, although such hearing is necessary
as a means which God uses for conversion. Matth. 13,14;
Rom. 8,7; 9,16; 10,17; I Cor. 2,14; Matth. 19,22; Acts
28,26; II Tim. 3,1-7;
Rom. 10,21; Heb. 4,2; Acts 16,14; II Cor. 3,14-15.
We reject the assertion that the natural, unregenerated
man, because he can outwardly use the Word of God, can by
this conduct of his cooperate in his conversion.
7. God’s command: Repent ye, Awake, etc., does not prove
that it is possible for the unregenerated man by his own
strength to obey, any more than the command: “Thou shalt
love God above all things,” shows that man is capable of
doing this. Such and similar words are means which God
uses, both to bring a man to recognize his own impotence
and also by the power of the divine Word to produce the
effect intended. Matth. 7,18; Jer. 31,18;
II Tim. 2,25; II Cor. 3,5; Eph. 2,1; cf. John 11,43; Mark
5,41-42.
We reject the Semi-pelagian, papistic misuse of the
Scripture passages named, when by them men seek to prove
that the unregenerated man is of
himself capable of obeying; likewise that, if this were
not the case, then these admonitions and commands would
be meaningless.
8. There is no power left in the will of the
unregenerated man, by which he can assist the work of the
Holy Ghost. Rom. 8,7-8; Gen. 6,5; John 15,5;
I Cor. 2,14; John 6,63; Eph. 2,8-10.
We reject the opposite Semi-pelagian and synergistic
error.
9. The will of an unconverted man is not a cooperating
instrument but is itself the object on which the Holy
Ghost works in order to convert and change him. For,
since the unregenerated man is dead in his sins, “no
modus agendi, or no way whatever of working something
good in spiritual things, can be ascribed to man before
his conversion.” (Formula of Concord, Thor. Decl., II,
31.)
We reject the synergistic teaching that the unregenerated
man, by the help of some divinely bestowed powers, can
himself cooperate in his conversion. This would
presuppose that the unregenerated man who is dead in sin
already had a will, freed from the bondage of sin, to
make use of such powers; but this is contrary to
Scripture. Jer. 31,18,33; Acts 15,9; II Cor. 3,5-6; Phil.
2,13; Ezek. 36,26-27.
10. “This doctrine concerning the inability and
wickedness of our natural free will and concerning our
conversion and regeneration, namely, that it is a work of
God alone and not of our powers, is abused in an
unchristian manner both by enthusiasts and by Epicureans”
(Formula of Concord, Thor. Decl., II, 21); namely, so
that they show contempt for the means of grace, are
indifferent regarding their conversion, yes, even mock
and blaspheme; but this does not give us the right to
pass by, change or limit the express and oft-repeated
teaching of the Word of God concerning it. I Cor.
4,12-15; Jer. 6,10,19; Acts 20,18,21,26-27; I Tim. 1,13;
Rom. 3,8.
11. The preparation of the heart of man for conversion by
preparatory grace is a work of the Holy Ghost, like
conversion itself, and is described in Holy Writ by many
names, such as Calling, Awakening, Inviting, Drawing,
Knocking, etc. Matth. 20,16; II Tim. 1,9; Eph. 5,14; Luke
14,16;
John 6,44; Jer. 31,3; John 12,32; Rev. 3,20.
12. There may be several steps and degrees in this
preparation for conversion, through which men are led,
sometimes in a shorter, sometimes in a longer, time; for
God deals, in his wisdom and love, very differently with
the different men. Is. 48,4; Acts 24,25; I Tim. 1,13;
Acts 26,28-29; Heb. 4,12;
Luke 13,17; Mark 12,34; Luke 24,25; Acts 16,14; 13/18;
Matth. 21,28-29-Luke 11,27-28.
13. Just as the unregenerated man is without ability to
cooperate, but is passive, i.e., is acted upon, when the
Spirit of God first begins to work on him by the Word, so
he is also not active in producing the succeeding
emotions or changes either, but is also then passive,
i.e., is only acted upon, until conversion has taken
place and the will thus has been set free and made
capable of good. (Cf. Pontoppidan, Sandh. til Gudfr., Q. 478, 485, 498, 586.)
We reject the newer synergistic doctrine that every man
to whom God’s call comes receives before regeneration a
liberated will by the operation of the Word, so that the
as yet unregenerated man is assumed to be able to will
the good or to determine that he will turn to God and
thus decide his conversion and salvation himself; and
that a man’s conversion thus depends on his own choice.
It is the teaching of Scripture that the man who does not
become converted, has himself to thank for it; but it
does not teach that about those who are converted. John
3,6; Rom. 8,7: Eph. 2,4-5; I Cor. 2,14;
Phil. 2,13; Gal. 5,17; Rom. 7,18,22,23; James 1,18; I
Pet. 1,23; John 1,5;
Rom. 14,23; 9,16; Hos. 13,9; Luke 11,23; John 1,12-13.
14. When we teach that a man during preparatory grace and
in conversion itself remains passive, it is “not our
meaning that in conversion no new emotion whatever is
awakened in us by the Holy Ghost and no spiritual
operation begun,” (Formula of Concord, Thor. Decl., II,
46); for each of the preparatory operations of the Holy
Ghost may produce even violent emotions and agitation in
the as yet unregenerated man (e.g., terror, distress, and
efforts to make oneself righteous according to the law).
But since the unregenerated man does not as yet know God
as his Savior and is at enmity with God in the depths of
his heart, he cannot truly turn to God with his heart or
contribute anything to the changing of his heart and thus
cooperate in his conversion. Acts 2,37; II Cor. 4,6; Acts
24,25; 16,27-30;
Rom. 7,8-11; cf. the passages under Thesis 3.
15. God’s work is not done on man by force, but by
changing the will. Therefore, as certain as it is that
God alone works conversion, so certain is it also that
man repents and that the man who repents wants to repent.
For the man who repents does not do it by compulsion, but
willingly, although it is God alone who effects this that
a man both wants to do this and does it. For it is not
God, but man who repents of his sin; it is man who ceases
his resistance; it is man who believes and makes good
resolutions and thus decides for God, although all these
things are the operations of grace, which God alone,
without any cooperation of man, has produced in him by
the power of the Word by which He in His grace bends and
determines the will. (See Pontoppidan, Sandh. til Gudfr.,
Q. 585, 586 [Q. 692, 487, 488].) Jer. 24,7; John 1,12;
Jer. 20,7; Ezek. 18,31-32; 36,26; Ps. 51,14;
Is. 55,6-7; Phil. 2,13.
16. Since the unregenerated man is at enmity with God and
resists God altogether, it belongs to the gracious work
of the Holy Ghost to “remove the resistance of the will.”
This removal does not take place by compulsion, but by
the drawing of God; for “the Lord God draws the man whom
he wishes to convert, and draws him in such a way that
his darkened understanding is turned into an enlightened
one and his perverse will into an obedient one. And this
is what the Scriptures call creating a new heart” (Ps.
51,12). (Formula of Concord, Thor. Decl., II, 30. cf.
Pontoppidan, Sandh. til Gudfr., Q. 485; Epitome, Q. 369.)
Rom. 8,7; Acts 7,51; Is. 63,17;
II Tim. 2,25; Acts 9,1 ff.; Ezek. 36,26; John 6,44;
Matth. 11,27.
17. It is God’s gracious will to remove all resistance in
every man to whom His call in the Word comes. Where a man
in spite of this persists in his resistance, this has its
cause not in any lack or insufficiency in the operation
of the Holy Ghost, but in man’s own wickedness. But we do
not have the right, according to Scripture, to deduce
from this that those men whose resistance is removed have
themselves cooperated in any way toward this result which
must be ascribed to the grace of God alone.
We reject the doctrine that the outward hearing of the
Word of God by the unregenerated man constitutes a
cessation of the rebellious opposition of the human heart
and thus a change in his real conduct toward God.
We likewise reject the doctrine that this inner,
rebellious opposition, where it is removed, is removed
not by God but by man himself, either by his own natural
powers or by powers which the unregenerated man is
supposed to have received from God.
I Tim. 2,4; Ezek. 11,19; Acts 7,51; Jer. 7,25-27; Luke
7,30; Matth. 23,37; Hos. 13,9; cf. Thesis 3.
18. When a man does not repent, he cannot rightly excuse
himself with this that he was incapable of doing so. For
it is God’s gracious will to remove this hindrance, as
well as everything which hinders a man’s conversion. The
cause is only this that the man himself would not. Matth.
21,32; 22,4; Ps. 95,8; Is. 55,6-7; Acts 7,51; Is. 65,2.
19. Since it is God’s gracious purpose to remove every
hindrance to conversion by the means of grace, and it
still is possible for a man at every point to continue in
his opposition to God, a man is never without
responsibility over towards the grace of God, although he
may mock and say that, since God is the one who does
everything for our salvation, then a man has no
responsibility himself, as we see in Rom. 9,19. Cf.
Theses 17 and 18.
20. There is only a difference in degree between those
who by preparatory grace are awakened from their sleep in
sin, are restless in conscience and therefore seek to
escape God’s wrath, and those with whom this is not the
case, up to the time when faith enters in. Until this
happens, a man is still carnal and an enemy of God; for
there is no such thing as an intermediate state between
converted and unconverted, regenerated and unregenerated,
believing and unbelieving. (See Pontoppidan, Sandh. til
Gudfr., Q. 498 [Q. 484, 323, 327]; Epitome, Q. 217.) John
3,6; Matth. 6,24; Luke 11,23;
Matth. 7,13-14; Acts 26,18; Heb. 11,6; Eph. 2,5; 5,8.
21. Where the first spark of the true faith is ignited in
a man’s heart, there the man is in truth converted.
Matth. 12,20; Mark 9,24; Luke 17,5;
Heb. 5,13; Is. 42,3; 35,3-4.
22. Although conversion in the strict sense, as a
transition from death to life, must necessarily take
place in an instant, it is still as a rule not possible
in experience to tell when faith is created in the heart,
and thus to notice the transition from the preparatory to
the really converting operations of grace; “for the Holy
Ghost does not work on the human will of man as by
violent jerks, and one cannot put one’s finger, as on a
mathematical
point, on the time when the liberated will begins to
function” (Martin Chemnitz). Matth. 6,24; Luke 11,23;
Eph. 5,14.
Concerning Election -- Introductory Remarks
1. The words: election of grace, election,
predestination, foreordination to salvation, appointment
to eternal life, are expressions which in Scripture and
our confessional writings all denote the same thing. Rom.
11,5; cf. Rom. 8,29-30,33; Eph. 1,4-5,11; Matth. 20,16;
Acts 13,48.
We reject the assertion that in some of the Scripture
passages which treat of and explain election for us, the
words “chosen” (elected) and “choose” (elect) have
another meaning than that which our confessional writings
have found in them, namely, election to eternal
salvation, as our Savior Himself uses the word in Matth.
22,14; 24,22,31; Mark 13,22, etc.
2. The doctrine of election is not a chief article in the
teaching of God’s Word; for a man can be a believing
Christian and be saved, although he has not attained to a
knowledge of this doctrine and appropriated it. But since
Holy Writ treats of it, “we should not neglect or reject
the doctrine of the divine Word on account of abuse or
misunderstanding.” (Formula of Concord, Thor. Decl., XI,
1.) I Cor. 3,2; Heb. 5,12-13; II Tim. 3,16-17;
Acts 20,27.
3. A man comes to repentance and faith not by brooding
over God’s predestination, but by appropriating the
Gospel of God’s universal grace in Christ. No one who has
not already become a true believer by the Gospel can
appropriate the doctrine of election for his comfort.
Luke 13,23-24; Rom. 1,16-17; Matth. 11,28.
We reject the Calvinistic error which makes the doctrine
of election the starting point for the Christian faith.
4. The doctrine of election stands in close connection
with the fundamental chief articles of the Christian
faith, such as: That fallen man is completely corrupted
and dead in sin; that God desires the salvation of all
men; that salvation is by the grace of God alone; and
that it therefore is gained through faith alone without
the works of the law. Eph. 1,3 ff.; Rom. 8,29 ff.; Matth.
22,1 ff.; I Pet. 1,1-2; II Thess. 2,13.
Therefore the doctrine of election can be kept pure only
then when these chief articles of faith are kept in their
purity.
5. While that which is taught us in the Word of God
concerning election is clear and definite, “God has still
kept secret and concealed much concerning this mystery,
and reserved it for His wisdom and knowledge alone, which
we should not investigate, nor should we indulge our
thoughts in this matter, nor draw conclusions, nor
inquire curiously, but should adhere to the revealed
Word. This admonition is most urgently needed. For our
curiosity has always much more pleasure in concerning
itself with these matters than with what God has revealed
to us concerning this in His Word, because we cannot
harmonize it, which, moreover, we have not been
commanded to do.” (Formula of Concord, Thor. Decl., XI,
41-42.) Rom. 11,33-36; Job 38,1 ff.; 40,2; 42,3; Is.
55,8-9.
6. Where we in the Word of God meet with two clearly
taught truths which we cannot reconcile with each other
by our reason, there we shall let them stand side by
side, “bring into captivity every thought,” and believe
both things. Just as we must do this in the doctrine of
the Trinity, in the doctrine of Christ’s person, of the
sacrament and of conversion, so we must do it also in the
doctrine of election. (Cf. Pontoppidan, Sandh. til Gudfr.,
Q. 80 [Q. 15,16].) I Cor. 13,9-12; II Cor. 10,5; cf. Heb.
11,17-19; John 10,35; Eccles. 8,17; Prov. 3,5; I Sam.
1,23.
We reject the opposite procedure as dangerous and
presumptuous.
7. There is no real contradiction between the Scripture’s
doctrine of universal grace and that of election,
although these doctrines cannot be harmonized by reason.
He who seeks to harmonize them before the judgment of our
reason will not succeed in doing so, except by limiting
or changing one or the other of them, and must, on the
one hand, depart from the Scripture doctrine concerning
election, and, on the other hand, from the Scripture
doctrine concerning the universality of God’s grace
(Calvinism) or from the Scripture doctrine concerning
man’s complete corruption (Synergism). Scripture gives us
no other explanation than that in Hos. 13,9: “O Israel,
thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.” II
Cor. 1,18-19; I Cor. 2,12-13; I Tim. 2,4; cf. Acts 13,48;
Matth. 23,37;
cf. Rom. 9,16.
8. Every article of faith must be sought in those
Scripture passages in which the respective doctrine is
specially and thoroughly treated by the holy writers.
Other passages in which the same doctrine is only
incidentally mentioned must be explained in accordance
with these passages. Rom. 12,6;
I Pet. 4,11.
It is therefore an improper way to treat Scripture when
people in the doctrine of election partly set aside more
or less those passages where this teaching is specially
and thoroughly treated, partly want to explain these in
accordance with such passages as either treat this
doctrine only in passing or even do not treat it at all.
9. The passages in Scripture which specially and
thoroughly treat of the doctrine of election are chiefly:
Eph. 1,3 ff.; Rom. 8,29 ff.; Matth. 22,1 ff.;
I Pet. 1,1-2; II Thess. 2,13.
On these passages, therefore, we base our faith and
teaching concerning this matter, which is contained in
the following theses:
10. “In this His counsel, purpose and ordination God has
prepared salvation not only in general, but has in 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 (by the means of
grace and in the order of salvation) He will, by His
grace, gifts, and efficacy, bring them thereto, aid,
promote, strengthen and preserve them.” (Formula
of Concord, Thor. Decl., XI, 19.) Acts 13,48; Rom. 11,5;
John 15,16;
Matth. 16,18; John 10,28; Is. 43,1. Cf. Thesis 9.
11. All those, and only those, who die in the faith in
Christ are the elect. (Cf. the Formula of Concord, XI, 3
and Pontoppidan, Sandhed til Gudfr., Q. 547, Epitome, Q.
426 and 454.) Matth. 24,24,31.
We reject the Huberian error of an election of all men.
Matth. 22,14.
12. The fact that election does not apply to all men is
not due to any unwillingness on the part of God to save
all men. For God has not by any eternal decree either
predestined any man to damnation or passed him by with
His grace. That the many are not chosen has its ground
alone in their resistance or in their renewed and
continued fall from grace; “they have prepared themselves
to be vessels of wrath.” (Cf. Formula of Concord, Thor.
Decl., XI, 52, 53, Pontoppidan, Sandh. til Gudfr., Q. 545,
546.) I Tim. 2,4-6; Matth. 25,41; 23,37; Is. 65,2; Jer.
7,24; Matth. 22,1-14; II Pet. 2,1 ff.;
Luke 11,24-26; Is, 3,9; 5,1-6; Hos. 13,9; Rom. 9,22-23.
We reject the Calvinistic doctrine that God has
predestined some men to damnation.
13. Election is not a mere foreordination to salvation or
“a muster, thus:
‘This one shall be saved, that one shall be damned;’ -- as
though nothing more belonged to it and nothing more were
to be considered in it” (Formula of Concord, Thor. Decl.,
XI, 7). Rather it stands in the very closest connection
with God’s universal will of grace, in that it includes
the whole order of salvation, through which God in
election has determined to lead the elect, and fain would
lead all men, on to salvation. Eph. 1,3 ff.; Rom. 8,29
ff.; I Pet. 1,1-2; II Thess. 2,13.
That presentation which limits election to the bare
decree concerning salvation and which excludes from it
God’s decree concerning the way and means of salvation,
we do not acknowledge as the presentation of Scripture
and the Formula of Concord. (Formula of Concord, XI, 6
and 19.) However, so long as the doctrine of sin and of
grace is kept pure, we do not regard anyone who has used,
or uses, that incomplete concept of election as a false
teacher. Therefore we acknowledge, not indeed as a
complete definition of the concept of election, but still
as a correct presentation of the last part of it, the
answer given to Q. 548 of Pontoppidan’s Sandhed til
Gudfrygtighed, which reads: “That God has appointed all
those to eternal life whom he from eternity has seen
would accept the grace proffered them, believe in Jesus
and persevere in this faith unto the end. Rom. 8,28-30.”
II Tim. 1,13.
This is to be understood in the manner in which it is
developed by John Gerhard in the following quotation:
“The merit of Christ is the cause of our election. But
since the merit of Christ does not benefit anyone without
faith, therefore we say that the regard to faith is a
component part of the decree of election. We confess with
loud voice that we teach: that God has not found anything
good in the man who was to be chosen to the life eternal;
that He has not taken into consideration either good
works, or the use of the free will, or, what is
more, not even faith itself in such a way that he was
influenced by it, or that He has elected some on account
of it; but we say that it is solely and alone the merit
of Christ whose worthiness God has taken into
consideration, and that He has resolved upon the decree
of election out of pure grace. However, since the merit
of Christ is found in a man only through faith, therefore
we teach that election has taken place in view of
Christ’s merit which is to be appropriated by faith. We
say, therefore, that all those, and only those, are by
God in eternity elected unto salvation, of whom he has
foreseen that they by the operation of the Holy Ghost
through the ministry of the Gospel would come to a true
faith in the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and would persevere
in the faith until the end.” (Gerhard, Loc. de electione,
par. 161.)
Therefore, we declare also that we stand in fellowship of
faith with those who like Pontoppidan and Johan Gerhard
teach correctly regarding sin and grace and who, like
them, reject the doctrine that God has been influenced in
electing men by their conduct.
14. The election of grace or predestination is not an act
of judgment, but alone an act of grace. Rom. 11,5-6.
15. The cause of the election of grace is alone the mercy
of God and the most holy merit of Christ, and there is in
us no cause for the sake of which God has elected us unto
eternal life. (Cf. Formula of Concord, Epitome, XI, 20.)
Eph. 1,4-5; Tit. 3,4-7.
We reject the synergistic doctrine that God in electing a
man has been “determined by” or has “taken into
consideration” or has “been guided by” man’s conduct. For
a man’s (good) conduct denotes something which man “does
or omits doing,” or a work of the law; and when one
refers to election unto salvation and the attainment of
salvation, we confess that “our best works are of no
value whatever to that end.” (Cf. Pontoppidan, Sand. til
Gudfr., Q. 325 [323, 327] ; Epitome, Q. 215, 217.) On the
other hand, when one refers to damnation, then we confess
that a man’s (evil) conduct is the cause of it. Eph.
2,4-5,8-9; Matth. 22,5-8; I Cor. 4,7;
John 3,27; 1,17.
16. Although a man’s good conduct (i.e., the works of the
law) cannot contribute anything whatever to his
salvation, it is still on the other hand certain that a
man’s evil conduct unfortunately can only too easily
bring him to perdition. Furthermore, since the only way
to salvation along which God leads the elect is via
repentance, faith, and sanctification, and he accordingly
who would be saved must be found on that way, it is
blasphemous to say that, since our conduct does not help
us to gain salvation, we can then conduct ourselves as we
wish -- which is the ancient offense of the Gospel. Hos.
13,9; John 14,6; II Thess. 2,13; Rom. 3,8; 6,1-2; cf.
Theses 12 and 13.
17. Since everything good in man is God’s free and
undeserved gift of grace, there is nothing in man which
could induce God to elect him. Man’s faith could not
induce God to do this either, for faith is itself a free
gift of grace from God, which He has not been induced to
give to man by
anything good in him, but alone by His mercy for Christ’s
sake; “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”
(Formula of Concord, Thor. Decl., XI, 36). Phil. 1-29;
James 1,17; I Cor. 4,7; Eph. 2,8-9.
Since we are saved by grace and therefore by faith alone
without the works of the law, faith does not come into
consideration here as a work of the law, i.e., as a piece
of good “conduct” on our part. We therefore reject the
synergistic doctrine which gives faith this significance.
Rom. 4,16.
18. Faith must not be excluded from the election of
grace, for there is no election of grace except in
Christ, and man is united with Christ only by faith.
Therefore also faith is included in election as a part of
the order which has been fixed in the decree of election
itself. II Thess. 2,13; cf. Theses 9 and 13.
We reject the Calvinistic teaching that God first has
ordained some people to salvation by an absolute election
and then thereafter has decided to send His Son and
bestow faith as a means of salvation on those men who
were in an absolute manner elected to salvation.
19. Since everything is eternally present for God, the
faith of the elect is also foreseen, and the elect
themselves are foreseen by God as believing, without its
being the case, however, that this foreseen faith in any
way dare be counted among the efficient causes of
election. For “the eternal election of God not only
foresees and foreknows the salvation of the elect, but is
also, from the gracious will and pleasure of God in
Christ Jesus, a cause which procures, works, helps, and
promotes our salvation and what pertains thereto”
(Formula of Concord, Thor. Decl., XI, 6). Cf. Thesis 10.
20. The faith of the elect is not produced by any other
means than by the means of grace which are the same for
all; nor by any special power which is supposedly added
to them by election; for God wanted to lead all men
exactly in the same way and by the same means through the
ordinary order of salvation to eternal bliss. Is. 5,4;
Rom. 1,16; 2,11; Matth. 22,1 ff.
We reject the opposite, Calvinistic doctrine.
21. According to Scripture it belongs to the essence of
grace to be free;
for if grace is not free, i.e., undeserved by any kind of
merit whatsoever in the one who is favored with it, then
“grace is no more grace” (Rom. 11,6), and a man cannot
then trust in the grace of God alone. Rom. 3,23-24,
27-28; Eph. 2,8-10.
We reject the synergistic doctrine that the election in
Christ has not taken place in accordance with a free
purpose of grace by God, and that “salvation in a certain
sense does not depend on God alone.” Eph. 1,11.
22. On the other hand the election of grace is not
absolute:
(1) Because it is conditioned by the merit of Christ, which is the foundation on which it is built, Eph. 1,3 ff.
(2) Because it is determined by the order of salvation fixed by God, which points us to Christ. “In Him we are to seek the eternal election of the Father, who has determined in His eternal, divine counsel that He would save no one except those who know His Son Christ and truly believe on Him” (Formula of Concord, Epitome, XI, 12). II Thess. 2,13.
(3) Because there is no corresponding election of wrath, since no man is predestined by God unto perdition. Matth. 25,41 ff.; 7,22-23; Cf. Theses 9, 12, and 13.
23. Every correct teaching and presentation of the
eternal and saving election of God’s elect children must
“give to God His own glory entirely and fully, that in
Christ He saves us out of pure mercy, without any merits
or good works of ours, according to the purpose of His
will, as it is written, Eph. 1,5: ‘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’” (Formula of Concord,
Thor. Decl., XI, 68).
Every doctrine according to which our election and our
salvation in any part and in any manner are ascribed to
any other source or origin than solely and alone and
exclusively God Himself, robs God of His honor and
depreciates the merit of our Savior.
Therefore, we reject every doctrine which either directly
or indirectly mentions any work of any kind whatsoever in
us men, along side of God’s mercy and Christ’s merit, as
a cause or as a concurrent cause or as an explanatory
cause of our election and salvation. For such a doctrine
conflicts with the First Commandment, robs God of His
honor and robs us of our hope. Gal. 2,21;.5,4; Rom. 8,32;
Is. 42,8; 48,11; Dan. 9,7 ff.
Concerning the Certainty, by Faith, of Preservation (in
the Faith) and of Salvation, our Faith, Teaching, and
Confession is as follows:
1. When a man has been converted to God, he has thereby
received a new spiritual life with desire and power to do
that which is good. II Cor. 5,17; Rom. 7,22; Eph. 2,4-5;
Phil. 4,13; Mark 9,23.
2. The preservation of this new life is, like its
creation, to be ascribed solely and alone to the power
and grace of God. Phil. 1,6; Heb. 12,2; Phil 2,13; Heb.
13,21.
3. Since faith is a new life, the believer is also
willing to do, and be active in, the good by the powers
given him by God, works out his own salvation with fear
and trembling through daily renewal, and strives thus to
keep the faith. Matth. 3,8; Tit. 2,14; II Cor. 3,5; Phil.
2,12; I Cor. 10,12.
4. Where this exercise of the faith ceases, where the
means of grace are neglected, where the mind becomes
worldly and vain, and where a man becomes addicted to
sins of security or malice, there faith is lost, and
since man has the power to do this, he also has the power
to hinder his preservation in the faith. I Tim. 1,19; II
Tim. 4,10; II Cor. 13,5; Luke 8,7,14; I Tim. 6,10.
5. The cooperation of the regenerated man does not,
however, have this
importance for his preservation (in the faith), that it
is a source and cause of it, nor does it merit it; for
“the converted man does good to such an extent and so
long as God by His Holy Spirit rules, guides, and leads
him, and as soon as God would withdraw His gracious hand
from him, he could not for a moment persevere in
obedience to God” (Formula of Concord, Thor. Decl., II,
33). Phil. 1,6; 2,13; Heb. 13,21; Luke 22,32; I Cor. 4,7;
I Pet. 1,5; John 15,5; Ps. 51,10.
We reject the papistic doctrine “that our good works
preserve salvation, or that the righteousness of faith
which has been received, or even faith itself, is either
entirely or in part kept and preserved by our works”
(Formula of Concord, Thor. Decl., IV, 23) ; for from this
would follow that the believer must depend at least in
part on himself. Jer. 17,5; Prov. 28,26.
6. Since it is God’s will to save by faith in Christ the
one whom He calls, He has also promised the believer to
keep him in all temptations by the true faith unto the
end. (Cf. Pontoppidan, Sandh. til Gudfr., Q. 509;
Epitome, Q. 390). I Cor. 1,8-9; John 10,27-28; I Thess.
5,23-24; Is. 41,10-13;
I Cor. 10,13; Luke 12,32; Ps. 55,23.
7. Since the good works which the believer must and will
busy himself with cannot, whether wholly or in part, keep
him in the faith, he must also with reference to his
preservation (in the faith) trust in God alone. (Cf.
Thesis 6.)
We reject the error by which the believer is misled to
trust more or less on the gift and work of God in him
instead of on God Himself alone. (Cf. Pontoppidan, Sandh.
til Gudfr., Q. 56 and 98.) Luke 18,11.
8. Since God has promised His children that He will keep
them in the faith unto the end, the believer trusts in
this promise of God, which is unbreakable and sufficient;
therefore, he has the certainty by faith that he will be
kept in the faith until the end, that God then “will
grant him and all believers in Christ eternal life,” and
that he thus actually will attain and share the (life of)
glory with God. (Cf. Small Catechism, Art. III.) John
14,1-3; Is. 41,10; II Cor. 12,9; II Cor. 1,19-20; II Tim.
4,7-8; Phil. 1,6;
I John 3,2; I Cor. 15,19,49; Rom. 8,31-39; Col. 3,4.
We reject the papistic and synergistic doctrine of doubt
that a believer neither can nor should have a certainty
by faith regarding his preservation and his final
salvation. I John 5,10; Heb. 10,23; Jam. 1,6-7; Matth.
21,22.
9. This certainty by faith is not a more or less
well-grounded assumption or a careless hope, but it is a
faith, i.e., “the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen,” a firm trust in the heart,
because it is based on God’s unbreakable promise. However
it is often “hidden under weakness and temptation.” (Cf.
Pontoppidan, Kort Begreb, par. 35.) Heb. 11,1; Rom.
8,38-39; II Cor. 5,1-2; Phil. 3,20-21; I Thess. 5,24; I
Cor. 1,9;
II Thess. 3,3; I Cor. 10,13; Matth. 8,25-26; Mark 9,24.
The expression, “a conditioned certainty of salvation,”
is ambiguous. If thereby is meant that the certainty by
faith of preservation and salvation is bound up with the
order of salvation, so that only those who are in that
order can have it, then the teaching is correct. Heb.
3,6,14; Rom. 11,22.
But that expression is often used by those who teach the
false doctrine that a man’s preservation and salvation
has its cause more or less in his own works by which,
accordingly, the certainty of salvation is conditioned. A
“certainty” “conditioned” in this way becomes in reality
an uncertainty or a groundless hope. For one can have no
certainty by faith that a condition which a man must
fulfill will really be fulfilled. Rom. 9,16.
10. No man who will not trust in God alone for salvation,
but who thinks that he must himself be able to contribute
something to it, can have any certainty by faith that he
will be saved. Rom. 4,16; 9,16; Eph. 2,8-9;
II Chron. 13,18; Ps. 84,13.
11. The certainty by faith that salvation will actually
be attained is not an absolute certainty, as if it were
impossible for a man to hinder it; for preservation does
not take place by compulsion, and the possibility of
apostasy is, therefore, not removed. Nor are the promises
of God to the believer a prophecy that he will be saved.
Rom. 8,24-25; I Cor. 9,27; Rev. 2,10; Mark 4,17.
12. Recognition of the possibility of apostasy, and the
earnestness which results from it in working out one’s
own salvation with fear and trembling (filial fear), does
not take away the believer’s certainty of salvation, nor
does it limit it, but strengthens it; for that is one of
the means whereby God preserves the believer. For it
compels him continually to seek refuge in God’s promise
of help, which strengthens and preserves him in the firm
faith and hope that the possibility of apostasy shall by
the grace of God not become a reality. That recognition,
therefore, will always accompany the true certainty by
faith of salvation. Where it is forgotten and a man falls
into sinful security, there the grace of God and faith
are lost. (Cf. Pontoppidan, Sandh. til Gudfr., Q.
86,670,514.) Tit. 2,11-13; Phil. 2,12-13; Mark 13,33-37;
I Tim. 1,19; 6,10; Ps. 2,11; I Pet. 1,4,8,17.
13. A man cannot arrive at a certainty by faith
concerning his salvation and election by brooding over
election or by wanting to get that clear first, but alone
by building on the universal grace and the call of God’s
love in Christ. But he who in this way has become a
believer will have, especially in temptation, this
comfort in the teaching of God’s Word concerning
election, that God who in the Gospel has promised him
salvation, has (“since through the weakness and
wickedness of our flesh it could easily be lost from our
hands”) “wished to secure my salvation so well and
certainly that 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).
(Formula of Concord, Thor. Decl., XI, 37.) Luke 16,29;
Rom. 11,34; John 1,12-13; II Tim. 1,9;
I Pet. 2,6; Ps. 9,11; John 3,16.
Note: In the above quotations from the Formula of Concord, we have used the English version of the Concordia Triglotta (St. Louis, 1917).
