_Christian Theology by Milton Valentine, D.D., LL.D Copyright 1906, Lutheran Publication Society Printed Philadelphia, PA. by The United Lutheran Publication House_ Volume II Pages 1-22 -------------------------------------------------------------------- PART II. REDEMPTION: OR THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD IN CHRIST FOR HUMAN SALVATION. This brings us to the central reality in Christian theology. It is that which determines its entire view. Its consideration must include, _I. The Source of Salva- tion; II. The Person of Christ; III. The States of Christ; IV. The Work of Christ_. The discussion of these topics, together with that which comes in Part III., viz.: the _Application of Redemption_, will take us through what is known as Soteriology, _i.e._, the entire doctrine of salva- tion. Soteriology, it will thus be seen, presents two sides of saving work, one objective and the other subjective: the objective being the work of Christ in His offices of redemptive atonement and provision; the subjective, the inner work of the Holy Spirit, awakening faith, renewing the heart, and sanctifying the life of men. Both together issue in a divine recovery of men from sin and their restoration to eternal life. ---------------End of Page 1------------------------------ DIVISION I. THE SOURCE OF SALVATION. This must be viewed in connection with the great truth of the Trinity of God--the adorable Three in One and One in Three. For it includes the relation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to the grace which furnishes salvation and makes it real. It is well to observe and fix in mind how this doctrine of the Trinity supplies the very basis on which the whole movement of salvation comes into view. We cannot understand the gospel of redemption unless we keep in mind this divine mystery of the Trinity of God, and adjust our conception to it. I. What then does the source of salvation include? (_a_) _The free love, good-will or grace of the Father in giving and sending the Son to be the Saviour of the world_. The Son Himself states it: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John iii. I6; also I John iv. 9, I0, I4). The fountain of grace flows from the Eternal Father's heart. This grace of the Father is not, how- ever, to be thought of as excluding the equal gracious love of the Son, but as involving it, according to the Saviour's own words: "I and My Father are one." "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do; for what things soever He doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner" (John x. 30; v. I9). ----------------End of Page 2---------------------------- This union of the Father and the Son in the fountain- head of salvation has been made, by some theologians, the ground for inserting in their theology the idea of a special "covenant of redemption" between the Father and the Son. The representation is connected with the Augustinian or Calvinistic conception of an eternal election and predestination of a portion of the race to eternal life. It teaches that these elect were covenantly given by the Father to the Son, that He should, in human nature, obey and suffer redemptively for them and bring them all to eternal life. The Scriptures quoted for it are chiefly John xvii. 2-I2; Isa. liii. I0-II; Ps. lxxxix. 3. For this concurring _love_ of the Son for the sin-ruined race, the Scriptures are clear, but for the intrusion of a limitation of that love to an elect few, in any such specific covenant, the passages are no adequate proof. _(b) The voluntary incarnation and work of the Son for the redemption of mankind_ (John i. 14; x. I7-I8; I Tim. iii. I6; Heb. i. 3; Phil. ii. 5-II. Though Christ appeared only nineteen centuries ago, His relation to salvation is not so late a thing, but was before the foun- dations of the world (Eph. i. 4; I Pet. i. I8-20; Rev. xiii. 8). His coming was promised, from the lapse of man into sin, as the "seed of the woman" who should bruise the serpent's head (Gen. iii. I5), and became the determining truth for all the revelatory movement, guid- ing the whole providential plan and progress of sacred history (Matt. viii. II; Luke xv. 4-6; xix. I0). _(c) The free gracious work of the Holy Spirit_, carrying Christ's work into effect (John xiv. I5-I7; xv. 26; xvi. 7-I4; Rom. viii. 4; Eph. iv. 30). This inclusion of the Holy Spirit's coming and work in the source of -------------End of Page 3----------------------------- salvation needs always to be borne in mind. That source is the love of the whole Godhead. 2. This love or good-will of God as the source of salvation _is properly distinguished as both general and special_. Such distinction is required by the whole tenor of the Scripture statements on the subject, and is clearly brought to view in I Tim. iv. I0: "We trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of them that believe." It rests in the fundamental fact that men, as the subjects of salvation, are free-agents and may thwart the actualizing of the full aim of that love. _(a)_ God's _general_ love or benevolence is, thus, the action of His goodness in which, moved by compassion for the whole race, _He has made provision_ for forgive- ness and recovery to true life. This provision is for all, and is the basis for a universal, unrestricted gospel call and offer of grace. Its characteristics, as represented in the Scriptures, are: _First_, it rests on no merit in those for whom it acts. It is self-moved in its own compassion, in view of the need-not deserts--of the race as fallen under the dominion and curse of sin. _Secondly_, it provides for _all_ men a free, full salvation, and offers it, not in appearance only, but in reality of saving aim or purpose, without respect to the number or individuals that may accept it. "God so loved the world," etc. (John iii. I6). _Thirdly_, inasmuch as this general love actually forms and executes a scheme of provision to save all who accept it, Christ becoming the "propitiation for the sins of the whole world," and "tasting death for every man," it is rightly called also the "_general will_" of ----------------End of Page 4-------------------------- God, in the sense of a real desire, _i.e._, it is His "will" that _all_ should be saved. Ezek. xxxiii. II, "As I live I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked," etc. I Tim. ii. 4, "Who will have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth." _Fourthly_, it is _conditionate, i.e._, it wills salvation only as men in their personal freedom shall consent to or comply with the conditions on which it is possible and is offered. It is not an absolute force or compulsion, but a relative provision and persuasion. The salvation is founded in _Christ_, with issue dependent on securing, on the human side, the needful conditions or relations for the provisions passing into saving effect. It means the putting of all men into a "salvable," though not neces- sarily a "saved," state. _Fifthly_, it is rightly called antecedent love or will, as it goes before the application of its provisions to men, and is irrespective of the number or particular persons who may accept them. _(b)_ The _special_ love or will of God appears in the grace which _actually bestows_ salvation upon those who in faith accept the provided forgivenes and reconcilia- tion. While the divine love, in earnestly desiring the salvation of all men, has prepared the way to it for all without exception, yet that same love accomplishes a further special work in and for those who yield assent to its offered grace and submit themselves to its saving aim. God's universal love provides salvation for all; His special love confers it on those that do not reject or neglect it. "For this is the will of My Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son and believeth on Him should have eternal life" (John vi. 40). "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that ----------------End of Page 5-------------------------- _whosoever believeth_ on Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John iii. I6). "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life" (John iii. 36). This special or particular love or will of God is, therefore, the same as His electing or predestinating love or will. Like the general benevolence, it is marked by distinct char- acteristics. _First_, it is, as usually and rightly described, _consequent_ will, as based on the divine foreknowledge of the faith which accepts the proffered salvation. "Elect accord- ing to the foreknowledge (_prognosin_) of God" (I Pet. i. 2). "Whom He did foreknow (_proegno_) He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son" (Rom. viii. 29). This characteristic harmonizes the action of His loving will with the essential constitution and nature of man, whose faculty of self-determination is an indestructible element of the "image of God" incorporated in his being. The divine action does not set aside the intrinsic nature of men in ethically sav- ing it. _Secondly_, it is _limited_, because the number foreseen as believing is smaller than the whole number of those for whose salvation provision has been made. This limita- tion is proved by the various Scriptures which assure, on the one side, the universality of the redeeming provision, and, on the other, the condition of its passing into effect, as John iii. I6; 2 Thess. ii. I2; 2 Pet. ii. I. _Thirdly_, it is an _approving_ or _complacent_ love or will, in contradistinction from God's general love, which is primarily compassionate. While compassion continues in this special love, there is in it a divine complacency ------------------End of Page 6-------------------------- in the believer's faith, an approval of his new relation to right and duty. It is the love of the Father that clothes and jewels the recovered son. This approval, as over against the condemnation of the sinner's previous state, is implied in John xiv. 22-23; Rom. viii. 33, 38, 39; John xvi. 27. _Fourthly_. This special love is _fixed, immutable, eter- nal_. The theology of absolute predestinarian teaching claims advantage for its view in that it excludes all the uncertainty, the possible change or failure of salvation thought to be involved in its being made contingent on men's faith and perseverance. It assumes that the _aboluteness_ of the eternal election or fore-ordination, its entire separation from the contingency of human free-will, is necessary to the believer's proper assurance of hope. But there is no need to break with the Script- ure truth that conditions salvation upon its free accept- ance by the human will that is at the same time able to neglect or refuse. For the salvation of all believers is eternally and immutably sure apart from that kind of fore-ordination. It is easy to see this by keeping in view the twofold truth in the relation between the general or universal and special will of God. (I) God's purpose, which expresses the plan and end of the redemptory provision, viz.: to _save_ every one that believeth, is _fixed and immutable_. This is set forth in all the Scriptures that explain the scope and terms or way of salvation. The "purpose" is that which in Eph. iii. II is declared to be "eternal." When "the called according to His purpose" are spoken of (Rom. viii. 28) we are not war- ranted in interpreting the phrase as referring to a certain number of individual persons arbitrarily appointed to be saved, but to such as accept salvation according to the only --------------------End of Page 7-------------------------- rule or order in which the whole Gospel conditions its pos- sible realization. The "eternal purpose," as we have seen, has the breadth of a "propitiation for the sins of the whole world," a Saviour `tasting death for every man,' opening a way to "have mercy on all," expressing the divine "will that all should be saved," but nevertheless mov- ing in an orderly way (_kata taxin_) to its consummation, according to the essential law of faith and submission. (2) The persons chosen in this special love are _un- changeably certain_, in that God's knowledge or fore- knowledge which sees in advance who will believe, is _infallible_. To suppose that election or predestination on the basis of foreseen faith and perseverance in faith might leave the salvation of believers uncertain or insecure, would imply that God did not correctly foresee their faith. But since it is His eternal and immutable pur- pose to save every believer, and His foreknowledge of those who believe is infallible, His special love to all of them is eternally and immutably certain and fixed. This _certainty_ is, thus, not to be viewed as something grounded in an arbitrary appointment, from eternity, of the individual to salvation, irrespective of the use or exercise of his personal will under the call and working of provided grace. It is to be viewed as the foreseen result of the gracious provision and offer as the issue turns upon human acceptance or rejection. The fore- knowledge is intuitional, _not causative_. To know, or foreknow, is one thing--to cause is quite another. This is a psychology of even human experience every day. Prescience and causation are not identical. This special love or will, which becomes identical with the changeless certainty of the believer's salvation rests-- ----------------End of Page 8--------------------------- so it is meant--in foreknowledge, not in an arbitrary absolute fore-ordination. It is true that Calvinistic theology has maintained that "foreknowledge is not mere vision, but includes a purpose which is the ground of what if foreseen."[1] It is said that "the divine decree is the necessary con- dition of the divine foreknowledge. If God does not first decide what shall come to pass He cannot know what will come to pass."[2] But we are here face to face with the whole subject of _Predestination_, about which earnest controversy has been carried on in almost all periods of the Church, and the different interpretations of which have largely influ- enced the type of theological systems. Considered in itself, or without regard to other features of doctrine which tend to associate themselves with the differing views, there are but two great systems of teaching on this point in the theology of Christendom. The two systems are distinguished by the answer they give to the question: Are the divine decrees or ordinations by which certain individuals are elected to eternal life and others doomed to eternal misery, _respective_ or _irrespective, conditional_ or _unconditional_, based on _foreknowledge_ or _not_? The systems separate as they answer affirmatively or negatively. Prior to Augustine, although the subject had not yet specially come into speculative theology, the Church Fathers were wont to view election as based on the divine pre- science. Ausgustine, in the fifth century, contrary to his own earlier view, developed an unconditional predesti- nation. It was a distinct innovation in the Church's ------------------------------------------------------ [1] H. B. Smith, "System of Christian Theology," p. I20. [2] Dr. W. G. T. Shedd, "Dogmatic Theology," I., p. 396. ---------------End of Page 9---------------------------- teaching and his own. His ability and eminence secured a large following, and his innovation has had a wide sway in theology ever since, especially as reorganized by Calvin and incorporated in various Protestant Confes- sions. The Lutheran Church, however, while adopting the characterizing features of Augustine's exposition of original sin and of anthropology in general, declined to accept his doctrine of absolute predestination, and fol- lowed the concensus of the earlier Chruch writers--fore- ordination based on foreknowledge of faith. From the midst of Calvinism though not without contact with the already developed Lutheran position and influenece, there subsequently arose a reaction, known as Arminianism, against the system of irrespective predestination. In itself this is not, indeed entitled to the rank of a third view; yet because of its prominent place in modern the- ology, and of its having, by peculiar doctrinal alliances and developments, become a somewhat distinctive desig- nation, it seems proper to give it a separate consider- ation. We must, therefore, look at these three forms of presentation. THE CALVINISTIC VIEW OF PREDESTINATION. Those who hold the view thus designated frame it with some variations in elemental features. Calvin himself went beyond the definitions of Augustine, and formu- lated the theory in a fullness and rigor of specifications that make his presentation a guide to the extremest forms of the system. It will be enough to see the sys- tem, irrespective of modifying variations. It sweeps away the whole distinction we have traced between the general benevolent will of God and His special or par- ticular will, as involved in the source of salvation. It ---------------End of Page 10------------------------------ disallows a twofold conception and relation of His will. It includes these points: I. Predestination means the absolute decree of God, from eternity, by which, of His own will He freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass. 2. Election is part of predestination, another part being preterition or reprobation. 3. The true and only source of salvation is the pre- destinating election of certain particular individuals of the race to eternal life. Everything that comes after this, _i.e._, the incarnation and work of the Son and the work of the Holy Spirit, justification by faith, sanctifi- cation, etc., is but the eternally and immutably fixed steps of progress through which the divine decrees pass into accomplishment. 4. This election and predestination are not in view of any foreseen faith or anything else in the elect person, but solely and purely our of God's good pleasure and free grace. 5. These particular persons so elected or chosen are then redeemed by Christ, effectually or irresistibly called or brought to Him, and preserved in Him to final sal- vation. These are the _only_ ones redeemed by Christ or effectually acted on by the Spirit. 6. The rest of mankind are passed by or reprobated in God's sovereign plan and choice, and ordained to wrath for their sins. In this system, therefore, the relation and destiny of each and every man is fixed and settled from eternity to eternity by the secret, sovereign, immutable predestinat- ing will of God--a predestinating will not based on any foreknowledge of either faith or unbelief, but becoming itself the reason and reality of foreknowledge. The --------------------End of Page 11----------------------- reason why some are not saved is that it is not God's will to save them. THE ARMINIAN VIEW. This is best exhibited in the five articles of the _Remon- strance_, prepared and presented by the followers of James Arminius to the Synod of Dort (I6I8-I6I9). It came as a natural reaction against the one-sided and excessive development of Augustinianism by Calvin and his adherents--a development that denied the gracious aim of redemption with respect to all men. The points of Arminian teaching may be condensed thus: I. God, by an eternal purpose in Jesus Christ, has determined to save every one who, by grace, shall believe in Him, and to condemn the unbelieving or incorrigible. 2. Agreeably to this, Christ died for all men, obtain- ing for them, if they so believe, forgiveness and redemp- tion. 3. Man is, in and of himself, utterly helpless to save himself, and needs to be born again of God in Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, in order to think, will, and work what is truly good. 4. While, for the beginning, continuance and accom- plishment of the regenerating and saving work, preven- ient, assisting, awakening, and co-operating grace is indispensably necessary, yet such divine grace is not irresistible. 5. To those who are, by true faith, incorparated in Christ is given power to continue in the Christian life, overcoming sin and Satan and all temptations to the end. The question whether they are capable of neglecting grace so as to become again void of grace and perish, is -----------------End of Page 12------------------------- left for further consideration in light of Holy Script- ure.[1] This is the view of primitive Arminianism as it shaped itself in revolt against the Cavinistic formula- tion of predestination, and began to mark the doctrinal position of churches on this question. In large measure the primitive form continues to express the faith of the churches classed as Arminian. But at times, in some countries, churches and organizations assuming the Arminian profession have impaired its integrity by questionable or malforming adjuncts. It is not from these occasional and exceptional depravations from its true and pure self, that the _system_ is to be conceived or judged. In its early form it allied itself closely to the conception prevalent in Lutheran theology. THE LUTHERAN VIEW. The Augsburg Confesssion is silent on this subject. It is, however, presented at length in the Form of Concord, and elaborated by our dogmaticians from the Reformation to the present. The Lutheran view in- volves essentially the following distinct points, which are held to express fundamental and explicitly revealed truths of the Gospel. I. On the basis of the numerous passages of Scripture which state the substance and offer of the Gospel, it dis- tinguishes between the _general or universal benevolent will of of God_ toward all men, and His _special will_ toward all the individual persons who yield to the offered grace. The general or universal will, which is understood to be the "eternal purpose" of Eph. iii. II (_prothesin ton aionon_), provides salvation for the whole world in --------------------------------------------------------- [1] Schaff's "Creeds of Christendom," Vol. III., p. 545. --------------End of Page 13----------------------------- and through Christ's mission and work, opening it to the free acceptance of all and assuring it to every one that believes. This "purpose which He purposed in Christ" includes the entire system of means for offer- ing it to men without distinction and making it effectual in those that accept--an eternal purpose formed out of God's own pure, free grace in view of no merit in man. This, at the very beginning makes salvation _wholly_ "of grace." The word "predestination" is sometimes used in the wide scope of this full purpose.[1] That is, His "eternal purpose," as purposed in Christ, _includes_ the action of _His universal_ benevolence, making redemptive provi- sion for all men, truly desiring and seeking the salvation of all who will yield to the divine love and permit the renewal of grace--as taught by Christ Himself, and in many emphatic Scriptures: "God so loved the world that He gave," etc. (John vi. 5I; xii. 27; Ezek. xxxiii. II; Rom. xi. 32; v. I8-2I; 2 Cor. v. I4, I5, I9; I Tim. ii. 4-6; iv. I0; Heb. ii. 9; I John ii. 2). The bearing of these and other passages will be traced specifically here- after in another connection. In a narrower sense the word predestination is applied to God's _special_ will, _i. e._, the ordination of each and every "believer" to salva- tion. In this use it becomes equivalent to "election" or "fore-ordination" (Rom. viii. 29; I Pet. i. 2). 2. The Lutheran view maintains the essential and necessary distinction between God's _foreknowledge_ and _fore-ordination_ or _predestination_.[2] It accepts the state- ment in Rom. viii. 29: "Whom He did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son," and I Pet. i. 2, "Elect according to the fore- --------------------------------------------------------- [1] "Form of Concord," Sol. Dec., xi. I4. [2] Ib., Sol. Dec., xi. 3-8. ---------------End of Page 14----------------------------- knowledge of God," in their plain and necessary sense. This foreknowledge is not causal, but purely prescient, knowing beforehand what will come to pass in the free action of moral and responsible agents. It neither necessitates the things it foresees, nor rests on any pre- destination of them. For the apostles, in the words recited from Rom. viii. 29, and I Pet. i. 2, clearly dis- tinguish between `foreknowledge' and `predestination,' and set the one in relation to the other. And they both base the predestination or election on the fore- knowledge.[1] Prescience and fore-ordination are thus discriminated as distinct and definite parts of the divine action, and their relation to each other is clearly revealed. 3. God's electing predestination is in foreview of _faith_ and obedience of faith, or the sinner's yielding to the call and provided grace of redemption. The Script- ures already quoted distinctly affirm predestination in foreview of _something_. When we ask the Word of God _what_ it is that thus underlies election or predestina- tion, the answer comes from a thousand passages, `_Faith_.' "He that believeth shall be saved." Everywhere througout the Gospel, this is emphatically declared to be the thing on which the sinner's salvation hinges. The doctrine of predestination is thus seen to be in clear and complete harmony with the gospel message and the responsibility of men with respect to acceptance of it and obedience to it. Predestination according to foreseen faith (_intuitu fidei_) is vital in the Lutheran view, being organically involved in the determinative prin- ciple of justification by faith. The "_eternal purpose_" (_prothesis_) to provide and give salvation, and the `_fore- ------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Hutter, "Loci Theologici," Loc. C. 803. -----------------End of Page 15------------------------------ knowledge_' (_prognosis_) of those who would believe, and the _predestination_ (_proorismos_) are all related. The predestination is based on and in the purpose, through foreknowledge. That is, the "purpose" ex- presses the plan in its provisions and necessary require- ments, the "foreknowledge" the prescience of its acceptance, and the "predestination" the election as based on the foreknowledge. The divine predestina- tion, in this its specific and true sense in relation to personal salvation, is thus no "_secret decree_," but the open declaration of the Gospel, that "whosoever believ- eth shall be saved." The Form of Concord simply re- iterates the Scripture truth when it says: "Predestination is not to be sought out in God's secret counsel, but in the word of God in which it is revealed."[1] 4. Predestination has respect only to _believers_.[2] This is according to "Whom He did foreknow," _i.e._, as be- lieving, "He did predestinate," etc., and "elect accord- ing to foreknowledge." "For God hath not appointed us to wrath" (I Thess. v. 9). 5. The whole of man's salvation is truly and purely "_of grace_." Not only in this that the entire scheme and all its parts are of God's pure mercy and unmerited love, but that faith itself, in which the believer fulfills the conditions of salvation, is God's "gift," _i.e.,_ as the result of all the provisions and movement of God in His saving work and action. Man is naturally and truly helpless. The faith becomes possible only by enabling grace. 6. _Condemnation_ comes only as a result of refusal or neglect of men to _exercise_ the faith for which God --------------------------------------------------------- [1] Epit. xi. 6; Sol. Dec., xi. I3, I8, 26, 54. [2] "Form of Concord," Epit., xi., 4; Sol. Dec., xi., 5. ---------------End of Page 16---------------------------- affords the needed grace.[1] "The reason is that they either do not at all hear God's word, but willfully despise it, close their ears and harden their hearts, and in this manner foreclose the ordinary way to the Holy Spirit so that He cannot effect His work in them, or when it is heard, they consider it of no account, and do not heed it. For this [that they perish], not God or His election, but their wickedness is responsible."[2] "The cause of this contempt of the word is not God's knowledge, but 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 who works through the word, as Christ says: `How often would I have gathered thee together and ye would not.'"[3] Grace labors in vain upon a resisting material.[4] The human will, in and of itself, helpless to believe and obey, is mighty enough to resist or neglect. COMPARISON OF THE LUTHERAN AND CALVINISTIC VIEWS. A comparison of the Lutheran and Calvinistic views shows them strongly antithetic, in the following features: (I) The Lutheran makes predestination _relative, re- spective_, or _conditional_; the Calvinistic, _absolute or unconditional_. (2) The Lutheran distinguishes between _foreknowledge_ and _predestination_; the Calvinistic either identifies them, or makes predestination conditional for foreknowledge. (3) The Lutheran makes "God's eternal purpose" _causal for salvation only_; the Calvinistic ------------------------------------------------------------- [1] "Form of Concord," Epit. xi., I2; Sol. Dec., xi, 4I. [2] Ib., Epit., xi. I2. [3] Ib., Sol. Dec., xi., 4I. [4] Martensen, "Christian Dogmatics," p. 369. ------------------------End of Page 17----------------------- makes it the cause of both _election and reprobation, or preterition_, finding the sole explanation of the different destinies of the saved and the unsaved in the absolute causality of God's sovereign will or good pleasure.[1] (4) The Lutheran holds grace to be provided, free and open for all, but not irresistible; the Calvinistic, that it is a real provision only for the elect, and as to these the grace is irresistible. (5) The Lutheran view makes the certainty of the believer's salvation unchangeably sure through God's foreknowledge; the Calvinistic, through the absolute decree of predestination or fore-ordina- tion. The exegetical principle under which Lutheran the- ology determines the Scriptural conception of predesti- nation is that the great fundamental explicit provision and message of the Gospel should decide for us the sense in which the terms fore-ordination and election are in various places used. The emphatically declared pro- vision, with the terms of proclamation, as the "revealed" Gospel, must be held as both _basal and true_, as over against any conception of "secret decrees" that would limit it and make it something less. To interpret the comparatively obsure Scripture statements about elec- tion or predestination into conceptions that qualify and diminish the literal and ever-resonant offer and promise is arbitrary and illegitimate. The actual truth of the Gospel on this question cannot be approached and reached by any interpretation assuming that God has a secret will in conflict with the revealed message and promise. And what do we find this message and promise to be? Clearly and unequivocally: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, --------------------------------------------------------- [1] See "Westminster Confession," ch. iii., sec. 7. ------------------End of Page 18------------------------ that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John iii. I6); "He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins," and "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (I John iv. I0; ii. 2); "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Him- self," etc. (2 Cor. v. I9-2I); "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. xi. 28); "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John vi. 37); "God hath concluded them all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all" (Rom. xi. 32); "The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter iii. 9); "Jesus. . . should taste death for every man" (Heb. ii. 9). And in view of His own sufferings and death, Christ's direction is "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached among all nations" (Luke xxiv. 47). In view of this explicit Gospel, the Form of Concord is fully justified in saying that the Scripture, "`Many are called, but few chosen' cannot be rightly interpreted as if it meant God were saying: `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 greatest part of those whom I call through the word should not be enlightened or converted, but be and remain lost, although through the word in the call I declare to them otherwise.' For this would be to assign to God contra- dictory wills. That is, in such a manner it would be taught that God, who is, however, Eternal Truth, would be contary to Himself"[1] The analogy of faith must guide where questionable interpretation of some passage -------------------------------------------------------- [1] Sol. Dec., xi. 34-35. ---------------End of Page 19---------------------------- would set the meaning of God's message so untrue to the required form of deliver. As specific reasons for clinging to the teaching of our Chruch on this subject, as against the Calvinistic contention, we may justly fix these chief points in memory: I. It is most thoroughly and consistently Scriptural, as the few passages quoted indicate. During the first four centuries of the church the interpretation of the Scriptures did not discover the doctrine of an absolute predestination, with its limitation of the aims of grace. Augsustine's teaching of it was an innovation in theology. Though given large currency through his pre-eminent leadership and influence, and put into favor in connec- tion with his great service of overthrowing the unscript- ural anthropology of Pelagius, this absolute predesti- nation has never been part of the Church's oecumenic interpretaion or doctrine, but, on the contrary, has been largely dissented from even in the times of its greatest sway; was increasingly rejected throught the scholastic period; never recognized in the Greek Church; has been almost eliminated in the Roman Catholic; rejected in the Lutheran from its organization at the Reformation; and in the Reformed Churches of Protestantism, whose the- ology, mainly throught he contructive and dogmatic force of Calvin, it has specially dominated, the reac- tion expressed by Arminianism has come with widening prevalence, and has demanded and secured revision and softening modifications. We are sustained by the im- mense preponderance of the Church's Biblical exegesis. 2. It magnifies the _grace of God_ in the redemptory work and message when we understand the scope of His "eternal purpose," according to which men are called, -----------------End of Page 20------------------------- as a "purpose" that has made full and real provision for the salvation of all men and desires its acceptance by all on equal conditions of assent or faith, instead of a dwarf-purpose to save only a favored few through a pro- vision made for them alone. Without doubt, it is "of grace," the unmerited goodness of God, that He opens the way to salvation and rescues even a part of mankind or a single soul from guilt and sin. But the grace of God is enlarged and exalted to its supremem richness, fullness, and glory, when, as the Scriptures represent it, the Gos- pel is viewed as a divine call to a free, full provision for all who do not refuse that call and the Holy Spirit's illumination and persuasion through it. 3. It enables us to preach a _free_ Gospel, to offer and urge a really provided salvation, a redemptive prepara- tion and opportunity intended for the acceptance of every one. 4. It throws the _responsibility of failure_ of salvation clearly and wholly on the rejecting and neglecting sinner. Through the remaining power of "will" in corrupt human nature for "_resisting_" the gracious call and its enabling grace, the tremendous reality of responsibility becomes a fact. The responsibility connected with "neglect" of so great salvation needs to be pressed upon men. The sin of unbelief is one against "light" meant for personal guidance. This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men do not respond. But it is difficult for men to appreciate their responsibil- ity upon a point that is unchageably settled by the eternal decree of God--the guilt of failing to accept what has never been provided or meant for them. 5. In the Lutheran view is seen the best and fullest vindication of both the goodness and justice of God: ------------End of Page 21--------------------------- His goodness in a love that desires the salvation of all men and has made redemptory provision for forgiveness and eternal life for all; His justice or righteousness in the ruin that results from the rejection or neglect of the grace to which men are called by Christ and the enabling work of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel (John iii. I6-I9; xv. 22-24; Heb. x. 28-29). Man having his essential being in a free moral agency, his return from sin cannot be reached except through the consent of his will. God has done all that Love can do to secure that consent. --------End of Chapter on Page 22----------------------- 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