_A Summary of the Christian Faith by Henry Eyster Jacobs, D.D., LL.D Copyright, 1905, BY THE BOARD OF PUBLICATION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA. Chapter XIX. Pages 215-221 -------------------- CHAPTER XIV. THE GOSPEL CALL. 1. _What is meant by the Order of Salvation_? The process of the Holy Spirit in conferring faith and working through its activity; or the series of acts, where- by the Holy Spirit confers, sustains and works through, faith. 2. _Where do we find a popular summary of this Order_? In the Catechism, Creed, Part III: "The Holy Ghost hath called me by the Gospel, enlightened me by His gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith, in like manner as He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanc- tifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the true faith." 3. _What are the acts belonging to this Order_? The Call, Illumination, Regeneration and Conversion, Mystical Union, and Sanctification. 4. _What difficulty is experienced in their treatment_? The line between them is not always sharply drawn. They overlap one another. So close, too, is their connec- tion that one act in its wider sense sometimes stands by synecdoche for what in the stricter sense is designated by another term. 5. _What is the Call_? The announcement of men of God's gracious will and --------------------End of Page 215-------------------- the provision He has made for their salvation through the mediatorial work of Christ, accompanied by the invi- tation to accept these blessings through faith (Matt. 22:3-9, 14). 6. _What two things concur in the call_? The presentation through the preaching of the Word of the great truths of the Gospel, as intended for each in- dividual; and the impressing of these truths inwardly upon the heart and conscience, so as to influence a deci- sion of man's will. John 6:44--"No man can come unto me except the Father that sent me draw him." 1 Cor. 12:3--"No man can say Jesus is Lord but in the Holy Spirit." 7. _Is it true, then, that there is a double Word of God, and that besides the outward Word which is offered to all, there is an inner Word which is offered to only a few_? "That many are called and few are chosen is not owing to the fact that the meaning of the call, made through the Word, is as though God were to say: 'Outwardly, through the Word, I indeed call to my Kingdom all of you, to whom I give my Word, yet, in my heart, I intend it not for all, but only for a few; for it is my will that the greater part of those whom I call through the Word should not be enlightened or converted, but be and remain lost, although, through the Word, I declare myself to them otherwise.' For this would be to assign to God contra- dictory wills. That is, it would thus be taught that God, who is eternal truth, would be contrary to Himself; and yet God punishes the fault when one thing is declared and another is thought and meant in the heart (Ps. 5:9; 12:2 sq.)" (Formula of Concord, 655). Cf. Chapter XXIV, 22. 8. _Is there, therefore, an inner presence of the Holy Spirit with the Word wherever preached_? Always. The difference in results in the call do not depend upon differences in God's will, or upon the call --------------------End of Page 216-------------------- having an irresistible efficacy attached to it in one case, and having no efficacy attached to it in the other. The efficacy of the Word and call is constant; the difference in results is determined by a difference in man's attitude towards the call. 9. _How has this been confessionally stated_? The reason why "few receive the Word and follow it, and the greater number despise the Word and will not come to the wedding" is "the perverse will of man, who rejects or perverts the means and instrument of the Holy Ghost, which God offers him through the call, and resists the Holy Ghost who wishes to be efficacious, and works through the Word, as Christ says (Matt. 23:37), 'How often would I have gathered thee together, and ye would not.'" 10. _But does not Rom. 8:28, "Whom he predestinated them he also called," restrict the call to a class, viz., to those predestinated from all eternity, and ultimately "glorified"_? No. Paul does not say that none were called except the predestinated, or none were called except the justified; but he exhibits the succession of acts through which those at last glorified are brought to salvation. These are in the order mentioned, Predestination, Vocation, Justification, Glorification.* 11. _What attributes belong, therefore, to the call_? It is earnest, serious, sufficient and efficacious. Matt. 23:37, cited under Q. 9, furnishes the proof, even though there were none other from the universality of grace (Chapter IX, 10). 12. _To whom is the call addressed_? To those who in this world are not by faith partakers of Christ. -------------------- *See my Commentary on Romans, p. 172. --------------------End of Page 217-------------------- Col. 2:12--"Ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Luke 1:79--"To shine upon them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Matt. 11:28--"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 13. _To what does it urge_? Acts 26:17, 18--"Unto whom I will send thee, to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me." 1 Pet. 2:9--"Who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." 14. _By what means does the call come_? By the external Word as the ever efficacious instrument through which the Holy Spirit works. Rom. 10:14, 17--"How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher? So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ." The office of the Law, as we shall learn, at the proper place, is to prepare the way for the preaching of the Gospel (Gal. 3:24). It is not Law, but Gospel which is the proper means of the call. Rom. 1:16--"The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Matt. 16:15--"Preach the Gospel to the whole creation." The announcement of the grace of God in Christ is Gospel, and not Law. Nor does the Word come only in its general form, but as applied to individuals in the Sacraments. "Christ causes the promise of the Gospel to be offered not only in general, but through the Sacraments, which He attaches as seals of the promise, He seals and confirms it to every believer." 15. _But does the Gospel come to all in the same form or degree_? It is not only God's will that all should be saved (1 Tim. 2:4), but Christ has commanded that the Gospel should be proclaimed everywhere and to all men (Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:15). But that the Gospel is preached at all times and in all lands and to an equal degree cannot be affirmed. Paul says that it is the power of God unto sal- --------------------End of Page 218-------------------- vation "to the Jew first and also to the Greek." It was a dispensation hid in God for ages, and only made known in a late period (Eph. 3:5, 9, 10). Even believers of the Old Testament dispensation received it in a very vague and indefinite form (Matt. 3:17). The call of individu- als of different nationalities proceeds successively. The history of the entire missionary activity of the Church is outlined in Acts 1:8. "Ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth." It is only as the end of the world approaches that the will and command of Christ are absolutely fulfilled. Matt. 24:14--"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations: and then shall the end come." 16. _What results from the consideration of this in- equality_? Difficulties are suggested which we should candidly ac- knowledge we cannot explain. Theology deals with re- vealed facts, not with suppositions. "When we see that God gives His Word at one place, but not at another; re- moves it from one place, and allows it to remain at an- other... in these and similar questions, Paul fixes a limit as to how far we should go" (Formula of Concord, 659). Rom. 11:22--"Behold the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God's goodness, if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou shalt also be cut off." The doctrine of the call comes as a practical matter to those who have heard the Gospel. It is not for them to speculate concerning those who have not heard it, or who have not heard it to the same degree, or under similar favorable circumstances. Deut. 29:29--"The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever." 17. _Does this mean that we are not to be concerned about the fact that there are many millions who have not heard the call_? --------------------End of Page 219-------------------- By no means. But since the call does not come except through the preaching of the Word, and in order that this Word be preached, men must be sent (Rom. 10:14 sqq.), and as, further, it is Christ's command that the call be addressed all men, this becomes the great motive for missionary activity. His will that the call be made uni- versal lays an inevitable duty upon those whom He has called and commissioned as His ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20; Matt. 28:18, 19). 18. _Is there not a preparatory work of the Holy Spirit even prior to and without the Gospel, which is sometimes termed a call or calling_? There are "invitations and incentives to inquire after the worship and people of God," sometimes termed "the indirect call," but not a call in the proper sense. "For they do not have as their immediate end the giving of eternal salvation to man or the knowledge of Christ as Redeemer, but only the bringing of men to the gate of the true church" (Quenstedt). Such are the traces of God's Providential government of the universe, and the voice of conscience. Rom. 1:20--"The invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse." 2:15 --"They show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them." Acts 17:23--"What, therefore, ye worship in ig- norance, him declare I unto you," etc. v. 27--"That they should seek God if haply they might find him." Rom. 10:18--"Their sound went out unto all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." The early apologists of Christianity, following St. Paul on the Areopagus, appealed to these convictions and in- centives, as in the words of Tertullian, "O testimonium animae naturaliter Christianae!" and in what Justin Martyr and others wrote concerning the _Logos sper- matikos_. --------------------End of Page 220-------------------- Another form of indirect influence is through the re- ports concerning Christianity diffused among the heathen. 1 Thess. 1:8--"In every place your faith to Godward is gone forth." 19. _Was the Gospel call addressed those who lived under the Old Testament_? Yes, from Gen. 3: 15 on. The fourth chapter of Ro- mans shows the identity of the mode of salvation under the Old and New Testament. Abraham was justified by faith in the promise (Rom. 4:3). That promise given him, before circumcision, was the basis of the call, trust- ing which he went forth "not knowing whither" (Heb. 11:8). There was a difference in degree of explicit- ness; but call and promise were otherwise the same. (See Chapter XVI, 4.). This promise being accepted so far as then revealed, was the ground of the righteous- ness of the Old Testament saints. Acts 10:43--"To him bear all the prophets witness, that through his name every one that believeth on him shall receive remission of sins." 20. _Was there not a difference between the scope of the call in the Old Testament and the New Testament_? Yes. For while under the Old Testament it was par- ticularistic and addressed only to those who belonged to the chosen people, under the New Testament, it is univ- versal. Eph. 3:4-6--"The mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men as it hath now been revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs and fellow-members of the body and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel." Acts 10:45--"They of the circumcision that believed were amazed, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit." --------------------End of Chapter on Page 221-------------------- This text was converted to ascii format for Project Wittenberg by William Alan Larson and is in the public domain. You may freely distribute, copy or print this text. Please direct any comments or suggestions to: Rev. Robert E. Smith of the Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary. E-mail: smithre@mail.ctsfw.edu Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA Phone: (260) 452-2123 Fax: (260) 452-2126