The second of the five posts comparing Lutheranism to Calvinism and Arminianism will deal with the doctrine of election. In Calvinism, there is the U in the TULIP, which stands for unconditional election. The Arminian Remonstrants counted with Conditional Election.
The first blog in the series is found here:
Lutheranism, Calvinism, Arminianism: Depravity
If you are looking for a quick, short, and spot-on Lutheran evaluation of the 5
points of Calvinism, my friend Pr. Jordan Cooper has done an excellent short
work on this topic over at his blog. The work can be found here:
Lutheran Evaluation of the 5 Points of Calvinism - Pr.
Cooper
This blog feels a bit redundant to me because I recently posted two other blogs pertaining to this topic. There is one that compares Lutherans to Calvinists that can be found here:
Predestination in Lutheranism and Calvinism
And the other one dealt solely with the Lutheran rejection of the Calvinism doctrine of reprobation, whch is found here:
Reprobation: All On You
The first link shows the clear differences between the Calvinist and Lutheran doctrines. For the sake of comparison though, I'll post some of the confessional statements here.
Calvinist Predestination
WCF, III, 3: By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory,
some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others
foreordained to everlasting death.
WCF, III, 7: The rest of
mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of his own will,
whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy, as he pleaseth, for the glory of his
sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by; and to ordain them to dishonor
and wrath for their sin, to the praise of his glorious
justice.
Belgic Confession, Art. 16: We believe that
all the posterity of Adam being thus fallen into perdition and ruin, by the sin
of our first parents, God then did manifest himself such as he is; that is to
say, merciful and just: Merciful, since he delivers and preserves from this
perdition all, whom he, in his eternal and unchangeable counsel of mere
goodness, hath elected in Christ Jesus our Lord, without any respect to their
works: Just, in leaving others in the fall and perdition wherein they have
involved themselves.
John Calvin,
Institutes, Book 3, 21.5: By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God,
by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to
every man. All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to
eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been
created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to
life or to death.
Therefore, in Calvinism, we can see that the overriding principle in predestination is the absolute sovereignty of God put forth in His immutable decree. Christ came to save those elect persons and them alone. As in clearly seen from the confessions, as well as the writings of John Calvin, God predestines the elect to heaven and passes over the rest of humanity, thereby foreordaining or predestinating them to hell. The controlling factor in everything is God. There is a real sense in which this is an admirable stance.
Predestination in Arminianism
Remonstrants, Article I: That God, by an eternal, unchangeable purpose in Jesus Christ, his Son, before the foundation of the world, hath determined, out of the fallen, sinful race of men, to save in Christ, for Christ's sake, and through Christ, those who, through the grace of the Holy Ghost, shall believe on this his Son Jesus, and shall persevere in this faith and obedience of faith, through this grace, even to the end; and, on the other hand, to leave the incorrigible and unbelieving in sin and under wrath, and to condemn them as alienate from Christ, according to the word of the Gospel in John iii. 36: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him," and according to other passages of Scripture also.
John Wesley, Predestination Calmly Considered:
XLII. Our blessed Lord does indisputably command and invite "all men
everywhere to repent" [Acts 17:30]. He calleth all. He sends his ambassadors, in
his name, "to preach the gospel to every creature" [Mk. 16:15]. He himself
"preached deliverance to the captives" [Lk. 4:18], without any hint of
restriction or limitation. But now, in what manner do you represent him while he
is employed in this work? You suppose him to be standing at the prison doors,
having the keys thereof in his hands, and to be continually inviting the
prisoners to come forth, commanding them to accept of that invitation, urging
every motive which can possible induce them to comply with that command; adding
the most precious promises, if they obey; the most dreadful threatenings, if
they obey not. And all this time you suppose him to be unalterably determined in
himself never to open the doors for them, even while he is crying, "Come ye,
come ye, from that evil place. For why will ye die, O house of Israel" [cf.
Ezek. 18:31]? "Why" (might one of them reply), "Because we cannot help it. We
cannot help ourselves, and thou wilt not help us. It is not in our power to
break the gates of brass [cf. Ps. 107:16], and it is not thy pleasure to open
them. Why will we die? We must die, because it is not thy will to save us."
Alas, my brethren, what kind of sincerity is this which you ascribe to God our
Saviour?
XLIII. So ill do election and reprobation agree with the truth and sincerity
of God? But do they not agree least of all with the scriptural account of his
love and goodness: that attribute which God peculiarly claims wherein he glories
above all the rest? It is not written, "God is justice," or "God is truth"
(although he is just and true in all his ways). But it is written, "God is love"
[1 Jn. 4:8] (love in the abstract, without bounds), and "there is no end of his
goodness" [cf. Ps. 52:1]. His love extends even to those who neither love nor
fear him. He is good, even to the evil and the unthankful; yea, without any
exception or limitation, to all the children of men. For "the Lord is loving"
(or good) "unto every man, and his mercy is over all his works" [Ps. 145:9,
B.C.P.].
Thus in Arminianism, God predestines the church as a whole. It is a corporate election. Who is part of that church depends on the individual responses of persons to God's grace. The Arminian view of election is commonly called 'Conditional Election' and Arminians of all stripes reject the Reformed view of unconditional election to salvation as well as the doctrine of reprobation. Therefore, the overriding principle in Arminianism regarding election is the response of the individual to the work of Christ. Very clearly, the Reformed and Arminian views are opposed ot each other. In Calvinism, God predestines the actual individuals through nothing else than His choice and grace. In Arminianism, God predestines those who accept Christ of their own free will in response to God's prevenient grace.
Predestination in Lutheranism:
Solid Declaration, XI, 8: The eternal election of God, however, 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; and upon this [divine predestination] our
salvation is so founded that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it,
Matt.
16:18, as is written John 10:28: Neither shall any man
pluck My sheep out of My hand. And again, Acts 13:48: And as many as were
ordained to eternal life, believed.
Solid Declaration, XI, 23: And [indeed] 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 He will, by His grace, gifts, and
efficacy, bring them thereto [make them participants of eternal salvation], aid,
promote, strengthen, and preserve them.
Solid Declaration, XI, 78-82: But the reason why not all who hear it believe, and some are therefore
condemned the more deeply [eternally to severer punishments], is not because God
had begrudged them their salvation; but it is their own fault, as they have
heard the Word in such a manner as not to learn, but only to despise, blaspheme,
and disgrace it, and have resisted the Holy Ghost, who through the Word wished
to work in them, as was the case at the time of Christ with the Pharisees and
their adherents.
Hence the apostle distinguishes with especial care the work of God, who
alone makes vessels of honor, and the work of the devil and of man, who by the
instigation of the devil, and not of God, has made himself a vessel of dishonor.
For thus it is written, Rom. 9:22f : God endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, that He might
make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore
prepared unto glory.
Here, then, the apostle clearly says
that God endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath, but does not say
that He made them vessels of wrath; for if this had been His will, He would not
have required any great long-suffering for it. The fault, however, that they are
fitted for destruction belongs to the devil and to men themselves, and not to
God.
For all preparation for condemnation is by the devil and man,
through sin, and in no respect by God, who does not wish that any man be damned;
how, then, should He Himself prepare any man for condemnation? For as God is not
a cause of sins, so, too, He is no cause of punishment, of damnation; but the
only cause of damnation is sin; for the wages of sin is death, Rom.
6:23. And as God does not will sin, and has no pleasure in
sin, so He does not wish the death of the sinner either, Ezek.
33:11, nor has He pleasure in his condemnation. For He is
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,
2 Pet.
3:9. So, too, it is written in Ezek. 18:23; 33:11: As I live, saith the Lord
God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn
from his way and live.
And St. Paul testifies in clear
words that from vessels of dishonor vessels of honor may be made by God's power
and working, when he writes thus, 2 Tim.
2:21: If a man, therefore, purge himself from these, he
shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the Master's use, and
prepared unto every good work. For he who is to purge himself must first have
been unclean, and hence a vessel of dishonor. But concerning the vessels of
mercy he says clearly that the Lord Himself has prepared them for glory, which
he does not say concerning the damned, who themselves, and not God, have
prepared themselves as vessels of damnation.
What can we gather from the Lutheran Confessions here? First, it's very clear that grace in Lutheranism actually saves, apart from our 'acceptance.' We must receive it, to be sure. Yet this receiving is passive and is given by God alone (monergism) not in response to our willing (synergism). The main principle in Lutheranism regarding election is Christ crucified for us, given to us by grace alone in Word and Sacrament. Christ is all in all. Thus, in terms of election to salvation, we concur with the Calvinists. The elect are saved, by God's choice, by grace alone through faith alone. The Solid Declaration is clear that election is itself a cause. (SD, XI, 8)
We do not, however, accept the Calvinist doctrine of reprobation, as the Solid Declaration makes abundantly clear. (SD, XI, 78-82) Whereas election to salvation is all of grace and all of God, reprobation is all of sinful man and the devil, not of God. There is no reprobation to perdition in Lutheranism.
Nor do we agree with the Arminians here. We reject synergistic conditional election vehemently.
Overall, we once again agree much more with the Calvinists here as pertaining to salvation in a positive sense. But we just as strongly reject the doctrine of reprobation. In this way, salvation is accomplished by grace alone by God alone, apart from our merits altogether. Yet, grace is truly universal.
We are in effect neither Calvinists nor Arminians here in total; while agreeing with the Reformed on election to final salvation.
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