According to Holy Scripture, God has not elected all men (error of Samuel Huber, f 1624) nor the steadfast believers (finaliter credentes) together with the temporary believers (error of the Tuebingen school and some modern theologians, J. A. Osiander, f 1697; Frank), but only those who are actually saved (praedestinatio est particularis). This follows from the clear teaching of Scripture that all the elect shall surely be saved (praedestinatio est immutabilis et infallibilis), Matt. 24, 24; Rom. 8, 28—30. The Formula of Concord writes Thor. Decl., XI, 23: “God has in grace considered and chosen to salvation each and every person of the elect who are to be saved.”
Those who deny the immutability and infallibility of election, teaching that the elect may be lost, make of predestination a mere divine foreknowledge (praescientia), which is determined by, or conditioned upon, man’s conduct in time. They thus deny the Scriptural doctrine of election in toto.
Hence the term election is not used in Scripture, as some erroneously claim, in a widest sense (all men are elect), a wider sense (such as will be saved and temporary believers), and in a narrow sense (such as will be saved), but only in one sense, that is to say: “The predestination, or eternal election, of God extends only over the godly, beloved children of God, being a cause of their salvation” Epit., XI, 5.
Quite generally those who used the term election in a wider or a general sense erroneously confounded God’s eternal plan of salvation with His eternal election of grace.
God’s general counsel of grace (Gottes allgemeiner Gnadenwille, benevolentia Dei universalis) certainly extends over all sinners, 1 Tim. 2,4; but His eternal election of grace extends only over such as will be saved, Matt. 20,16; 22,14.
The claim that also the Formula of Concord teaches an election in a wider sense is based upon the misunderstanding of those paragraphs Thor. Decl., XI, 15—22 in which it describes the ordo salutis embraced in God’s eternal election. (Praedestinatio non est dbsoluta, sed ordinata, i. e., fundatur in Christo.)
When determining the objects of eternal election, some dogmaticians erroneously claimed that God’s eternal predestination consists in the general principle, or decree: “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved,” Matt. 24,13. While this general principle, or decree, is a truth which Scripture urges with much emphasis, John 3,18. 36, it must not be confounded with the divine decree of election, since according to Scripture not general principles, but persons have been chosen to salvation (2 Thess. 2, 13: you; Eph. 1, 4: us).
For this reason we reject also the following claims: a) that God’s eternal election is the ordination of the means of grace (ordinatio mediorum, called by some election in a wider sense); and b) that the object of God’s gracious election is the Church in general (Hofmann, Luthardt, Yilmar, Thomasius). The last claim involves a contradiction, since the Church is properly the “communion of saints” and therefore consists of individual persons.
Holy Scripture, without any qualification whatever, describes all true believers as elect saints of God, Eph. 1, 4; 2 Thess. 2, 13; 1 Thess. 1, 4; 1 Pet. 1, 2. Hence all sincere Christians should regard themselves as God’s elect through faith in Christ Jesus, Rom. 8, 33. 34. All those who claim that they cannot know whether they are chosen or not or who doubt their election should examine themselves if they really believe in Christ as their true and only Savior, 2 Cor. 13, 5.
It is true, the believer can never become sure of his election and salvation as long as he considers the question from the viewpoint of God’s bare foreknowledge, since no one can definitely know just what God foreknew or foresaw in him (intuitu fidei finalis). The opinion that God has elected men in view of their final faith (ex praevisa fide finali) is neither Scriptural nor comforting. It is not Scriptural, since there is not a shred of Scripture proof for it. It is not comforting, since it takes the believer into the domain of God’s inscrutable and hidden will. For all practical purposes it is an impossible doctrine, lying, as it does, in the province of the unknowable.
The Formula of Concord rightly argues with respect to the intuitu fidei finalis Thor. Decl., XI, 54. 55: “There is no doubt that God most exactly and certainly foresaw (praeviderit) before the time of the world, and still knows (et hodie etiarn norit), which of those that are called will believe or will not believe; also which of the converted will persevere in faith and which will not persevere. . . . However, since God has reserved this mystery for His wisdom and has revealed nothing to us concerning it in His Word, much less commanded us to investigate it with our thoughts, but has earnestly discouraged us therefrom, Rom. 11, 33 ff., we should not reason in our thoughts, draw conclusions, nor inquire curiously into these matters, but should adhere to His revealed Word, to which He points us.”
This admonition is very pertinent; for we are sure of our election and salvation only if in true faith we cling to Christ, who has promised to receive all sinners and to give them rest, Matt. 11, 28. It is only by faith in Christ that we may be sure of our election and salvation.
Again, the believer cannot become sure of his election and salvation as long as he doubts or limits universal grace (gratia universalis). The Formula of Concord rightly says Thor. Decl., XI, 28 : “If we wish to consider our eternal election to salvation with profit, we must in every way hold sturdily and firmly to this, that, as the preaching of repentance, so also the promise of the Gospel is universalis (universal), that is, it pertains to all men, Luke 24, 47.”
All who deny the gratia universalis (Calvinists) have no foundation on which to rest their faith; for if the promises of the Gospel are limited to only a few (the elect), how can we know whether or not we belong to the chosen few?
However, not only the Calvinists limit the gratia universalis, but also the synergists, though in theory they acknowledge the universality of divine grace. Actually, however, the synergists limit God’s saving grace to those who do not maliciously resist the Holy Spirit or who cooperate in their conversion. Hence neither Calvinism nor synergism can make any one sure of his election and salvation.
Lastly, the believer cannot be sure of his election and salvation as long as he accounts for the difference why one is saved and the other is not (Cur alii, alii non?) by a “different conduct in men” (aliquid in homine, aliqua actio dissimilis in homine).
This was the mistake of Melanchthon, who taught (Loci, 1548): “Since the promise is universal, and since there are no contradictory wills in God, some cause of discrimination must be in us why Saul is rejected and David accepted; that is, there must be some dissimilar action in these two.”1 So also Pfeffinger (Quaes - tiones Quinque, Thesis 23): “We are elected and received because we believe in the Son.” Compare also the synergistic argument in general: “Since man’s contempt of God’s Word is the cause of his reprobation, man’s acceptance of God’s grace must be regarded as a cause of his election.” (Cp. Dr. Bente’s “Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books,” Concordia Triglotta, p. 195 ff.) This synergistic conception of election makes predestination a priori an election of merit and not of grace, Rom. 11, 5—7.
Against the synergistic error the Formula of Concord writes Thor. Decl., XI, 88: “Therefore it is false and wrong conflicts with the Word of God when it is taught that not alone the mercy of God and the most holy merit of Christ, but that also in us there is a cause of God’s election (verum etiam aliquid in nobis causa sit electionis divinae) on account of which God has chosen us to eternal life. For not only before we had done anything good, but also before we were born, yea, even before the foundations of the world were laid, He elected us in Christ.”
However, while neither Calvinism (denial of the gratia universalis) nor synergism (denial of the sola gratia) can render any person certain of his election and salvation, such certainty is fully obtained by faith in the universal Gospel-promises of free grace; for these most gracious promises offer to all men most seriously and efficaciously (gratia seria et efficax) forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation for the sake of Christ, who shed His blood for the sins of the world, 1 John 2, 2; 4, 10. In other words, every Christian should surely believe on the basis of Scripture that Jesus Christ has redeemed him, a lost and condemned sinner, purchased and won him from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil . . . that he may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. With respect to the gracious promise of God in Christ Jesus (John 3, 16—18) he should say with true faith: “This is most certainly true!” and rejoice in his election and salvation.
That is the line of argument which St. Paul points out in Rom. 8, 32. 33, where he writes: “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.”
Following the apostle’s line of argument, every believer should confidently confess: “If God by grace has given me His only begotten Son to be my Savior and has renewed my heart by His Holy Spirit through faith, pardoned my sins, and justified me by His grace, who shall prefer against me the charge that I am not His elect? Since Ood has justified me in Christ Jesus, I believe with all my heart that He has chosen me in Christ Jesus.”
The certainty of election and salvation which follows such trust in the divine promises is of course not an absolute certainty in the sense that it rests upon a direct or immediate revelation of the Holy Ghost, but it is a certainty of faith and so a most blessed certainty; for divine faith is not doubt or uncertainty, but a most positive assurance wrought by the Holy Ghost through the Gospel (fides divina).
This divine certainty St. Paul describes in these memorable words: “I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord,” Rom. 8, 38. 39. The true believer is persuaded of his election and salvation because the Holy Ghost Himself persuades him of this by faith through the Gospel, 2 Tim. 1, 12.
With respect to the numerous warnings against apostasy, which Holy Scripture addresses also to the believers, we must remember that they pertain to Christians only inasmuch as they are flesh (σάρξ). Hence these warnings and admonitions belong to the preaching of the Law, which works knowledge of sin also in the believer, Rom. 3, 20. But they do not pertain to the believer inasmuch as he is a new creature in Christ (2 Cor 5,17: καινὴ κτίσις) and as such "presses towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,” Phil. 3,12—14.
As a new man in Christ (καινὸς ἄνϑρωπος), who longs for eternal life, Phil. 3, 20. 21, a Christian must entirely forget the threatenings of the divine Law, 1 Tim. 1, 9, and comfort himself with the gracious promises of the Gospel, Rom. 10,4; Gal. 3, 13; 2, 19; Rom. 6, 14. The warnings of the Law apply to him only inasmuch as sin still cleaves to him, Rom. 7, 18—25; 1 Cor. 10, 12, or inasmuch as he is still inclined to set aside the goal of eternal salvation and to love this present world, 1 Cor. 10, 1—6; 1 John 2, 14—17.
As warnings of the Law we must consider also the frequent references in Scripture to temporary believers, Luke 8, 13; Hos. 6, 4; 2 Tim. 4, 10. Temporary believers fall from grace because they disbelieve the Gospel, by which the Holy Ghost engenders and preserves faith, 1 Pet. 1, 5. Hence the fault of their damnation is theirs and not God’s, 2 Tim. 1, 13. 14 ; 2 Thess. 3, 3. God’s unqualified promise to all believers reads: “Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed,” Rom. 10, 11.
For this reason Christians should never doubt their election and salvation, but through diligent use of the means of grace hold fast to the hope of eternal life which is in Christ Jesus, John 10, 27. 28.