3. Attributes of saving grace.

3. Attributes of saving grace.

a. Grace in Christ. The grace according to which God is gracious to sinful people condemned by the law is, according to Scripture, not an absolute grace, but a grace in Christ or for Christ's sake, that is, a grace acquired through Christ's vicarious satisfaction (satisfactio vicaria). We may well be justified without works on our part, dbwpedv ty abtov yapitt, but—the Apostle immediately adds—o1d Tic GOALTPHOEWS THs EV

should be drawn to the various uses of the word grace. In Sacred Scripture, grace is also called that which is worked through God's grace in man, that is, what is in man. That someone loves God's Word, avoids sin and walks godly is also God's grace, a gift of grace. Now the question arises as to whether the word 'grace' should be taken to mean when we say: a person is justified by grace. The answer is:...no. Here the word grace has a completely different meaning. It denotes the gracious disposition, the ‘favor’ (favor) of God, which Christ brought about and as a result of which God now offers sinners free forgiveness of sins. It says Rom. 3:24: ‘Being justified freely by his’—namely God's—‘grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus’. This meaning of the word ‘grace’ is certainly to be held fast in the doctrine of justification. This keeps one off the right track, whereas one immediately falls into Papism as soon as one confuses grace and the effects of grace. That is why, in addition to the ‘by grace’, the ‘by faith alone’ must be held fast against the Papists. For the by faith alone’ forces the right understanding of the word ‘grace’. If we become righteous by faith alone, grace must consist in the fact that God, in Christ's merciful spirit, promises forgiveness of sins in the Word of the Gospel.

ipsis concedatur, confitendum omnino est, Deum jure (according to his power perfection) potuisse nobis peccata nostra ignoscere, nulla pro ipsis vera satisfactione accepta. [If we would not grant God less than we grant men themselves, we must by all means admit (Praelect. theol., c. 16. Cf. Calov, Socinianismus profligatus, p. 370. Quenstedt II, 436.) Thomas Aquinas also expresses the same opinion, arguing that God has no one superior to him, cum non habeat superiorem. (Summa III, qu. 46, art. 2.) Xptot@ Inood, Rom. 3:24. God's gracious disposition must therefore not be thought of without the redemption that has happened through Christ. *° An attempt has been made to think of the redemption through Christ as liberation in general and not as a ransom. But in doing so, one takes one's standpoint outside the Scriptures. *’ Scripture explicitly mentions as the purchase price for which grace is available to men the fact that Christ came for men both under duty,*® and under the curse of the divine law given to men. *) The further thetic and antithetic exposition of satisfactio vicaria takes place in the teaching of Christ's work. Here, the reference to Christ's merit is necessary in order to bring the scriptural concept of saving grace into light. According to Scripture, human merit and God's grace are completely mutually exclusive, Rom. 11:6: & yapitt obKETL ODKETL EE EPy@v [If by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace’], but Christ's merit and God's grace are not mutually exclusive, but inseparably connected. Or what is the same: the gracious attitude that God now has toward the world of sinners does not exclude, but rather includes the satisfaction of the demanding and punishing justice of God through Christ's vicarious satisfaction. * At this point it is a question of affirming or denying the Christian concept of grace. As grace is nullified (otKétt yivetat yapic, Rom. 11:6) when the merit of man's works is attempted to be bound with it, so it is nullified when it is attempted to be detached from the vicarious satisfaction

01a. TH anoAvTpaaEeas tHS Ev Xpioty Tyood [We are indeed justified by grace (Rom. 3:24); not, however, by an absolute grace, because the Apostle states, ‘through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus’]. (Systems, II, 774.) Good also David Brown in Commentary Critical, etc. zu di Ths oOADTPMGE OOc KTA.[pg.228]: A most significant clause, teaching us that though justification is quite gratuitous, it is not a mere fiat of the divine will, but based on a redemption, i. e., the payment of a ransom in Christ's death."

activa).

xatapa (obedientia passiva).

righteousness’’]. According to the context (616 Tyv Tape TOV TOV TPOYEYOVOTOV OLAPTHUATOV Ev Ev BEov avoyT TOV TH), Sukatoovvn Beov can only describe the demanding and punishing justice of God. So rightly Meyer, Philippi, Thomasius etc. Cf. especially also Stéckhardt in the commentary, p. 154 ff. of Christ. Grace conceived without this satisfaction is a non-ens. Whoever believes it believes in the air and has entered into pagan territory, for it is—as Luther rightly observes—a characteristic of paganism that it wants to believe in God without the "cost" of redemption that has come through Christ. >!) The Christian concept of grace is also falsified by the very fact that grace is only partly based on Christ's vicarious satisfaction, by assuming that Christ's merit is not in itself, according to its intrinsic value, but only according to God's estimation or decree, a satisfaction for the sins of man (Acceptilation Theory: Scotists, Arminianer etc. >. It can certainly be stated that Scripture bases grace not only partly but entirely on Christ's merit. All grace that is present is 614 Tig GMOAVTIpmoEws TH Ev Xpiotoe. [through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.] >») The message of the grace of God, Acts 20:24, and the message of Christ crucified, 1 Cor. 2:2, are, according to Scripture, interchangeable terms and completely coincide. By even a partial detachment of grace from Christ's merit, the grace extra Christ is remembered, Christ is moved from the center of his work of redemption, while Paul says: I determined not to know anything among you, si p) ‘TInootv

to reach God, but that the cost must also be there. The Turk and Jew also believe in God, but without means and without comfort. Now what is the cost? This is indicated by the Gospel... Christ here teaches us that we are not lost, but have eternal life, that is, that God so loved us that He was ready to pay the price of thrusting His only, His dearest Child into our misery, hell and death, and having Him drink that up. Tn that way we shall be saved. Quenstedt: Dei misericordia et Christi meritum arctissimo nexu cohaerent et divinus amor salvificus in Christi intercessione, sponsione et merito est fundatus, Joh. 1:17; Rom. 8:39; 1 Cor. 1:4; 1 Tim. 1:14 Recte Chemnitius in Harm. Ev., c. 28, p. 152: Extra Christum nulla gratia et misericordia Dei erga peccatores, nec debet, nec potest recte cogitari. Errant igitur Sociniani, qui amorem Dei erga homines peccatores extra et citra satisfactionem Christi ponunt. [God’s compassion and Christ’s merit are most closely bound together, and the saving divine love is founded in Christ’s intercession, pledge, and merit (John 1:17; Rom. 8:39; 1 Cor. 1:4; 1 Tim. 1:14). Chemnitz rightly says in the Harm. Ev., c. 28, p. 152: ‘Outside Christ no grace and mercy of God toward sinners should or can be thought of. Therefore the Socinians err, who assume a love of God for sinful man outside and without the satisfaction of Christ’] (Systema II, 6.)

anoAvTpH®oEws [redemption] as liberation, "which the liberating person lets himself be costly": No, the concept of the purchase price, and indeed the equivalent, lies in the modo vicario which takes the place of the liberated person. Xptotov kai TodtoOv EotavpwMpévo" [save Jesus Christ and Him crucified’], 1 Cor. 2:2, and to speculations about the will of God except Christ. Luther impresses tremendously that we should not worry about God's grace without Christ's vicarious satisfaction. He says: So grace is given to us gratuitously, that it costs us nothing, but it has nevertheless cost_another much for us, and has been acquired with incalculable, infinite treasure, namely through the Son of God himself.°>’ Questions like these: whether God, by virtue of his divine perfection of power, as supreme judge etc, that is, without the vicarious satisfaction of Christ, can be gracious to men, are also completely useless, since the fact that God is gracious to sinful men only for Christ's sake is established by the revelation of Scripture. °® The Christian Church is the fellowship of those who believe in Christ,

I, 17, 1) asserts that Christ's merit as the merit of a human being (!) is not of sufficient value, but receives its value by God's ordinance (ordinatio). Thus the Christian concept of grace is abandoned and the basis for speculation about the absolute God is laid.

revelatione constat. [Google] (Systema II, 436.) Luther sharply rejects all human speculation about God's ability when there is a revelation in Scripture about God's actual will and action. He writes against the objection of the enthusiasts, that the faith of Christians can be sufficiently strengthened by the preached gospel without the body of Christ in the Lord's Supper: "Yes, that would be done apart from the sacrament. Is it true that it may also be done without the body of Christ at the right hand of God; should Christ at the right hand of God not be? Again, it might happen without the Gospel, because who would have wanted to hinder God if he would have wanted to redeem us by his [sovereign] deed, and would not have let any of it be preached or become man? Just as He created heaven and earth and still does everything without preaching and does not become man for that reason: should the gospel therefore be nothing? And now he will give it to you through the humanity of Christ, through the Word, through the bread of the Lord's Supper, who are you, arrogant, ungrateful devil, who may ask why he does not do it? Will you set and choose the way and the measure for him? "You should leap for joy that he does it by whatever means he chooses, only that you may obtain it." (XX, 882 f.) that is, believe that they have a gracious God for Christ's sake, Eph. 1:7: ev @ (scil. Xpiotp) &youev thy anodbtp@oLy O14 TOD Aiatos abTOD THY ApEolv THV mapantw@patoy [In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins] > b. General grace. God's gracious disposition in Christ extends not only to a part of humanity, but to all people without exception. Or what is the same: the saving grace is a general grace. Gratia Dei erga homines lapsos non particularis, sed universalis est. [The grace of God towards fallen men is not particular] The statements of Scripture can be divided into three groups in relation to particularism: a. Scripture explicitly mentions all human beings as the object of grace (love, mercy etc.) of God in Christ, Tit. 2:11: Exeqavy yap 1 apis Tod Osod owtpios T&ow avOpamotc; the world, Jn. 3:16: Obtw> yap NyanNoEV 6 OEdc TOV KOGLOV HoTE TOV YiOV TOV povoyevi E5axKev; the whole world, 1 Jn. 2:2: avtdc (Christ) tAaondc éotiv MEPL TOV ALAPTLOV NLAV Ov TEpi TOV NMETEPOV SE LOVOV GAAG Kai mEpi GAOD tod Kdopov. The restriction of Joh. 3:16 to "the world of the elect" prohibits v. 18, according to which the world of which we are speaking also includes, b. Scripture explicitly says that the gratia universalis also refers to all single individuals, 2 Petr. 3:9: (6 KOptoc) pt BovAdpEVds Twvac; and when God swears Hezek. 33:11: I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked", it is expressed that God's will of salvation extends to ever individual who is called "the ungodly", yii33, [HEBREW], c. ay. Christ's merit extends to them too,

their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. [Trigl. 45] The Large Catechism states that "redemption" through Christianity is to be understood from Christ's vicarious satisfaction (454, 31 [Zrigl. 685, 31]), and faith in this satisfaction is to be understood as belonging to the Christian Church (456, 43 ff. [Trigl. 689, 43 ff.]); all who wish to obtain God's grace through their morality are "outside Christianity" (extra christianitatem) (458, 56; 460, 66 [Trigl. 693, 56; 695, 66]). Cf. Luther's truly classical account of the "horrible, terrible conception and error of those who think that God "may forgive the sufferings of Christ without his sufferings, and not count sin" (XII, 261 ff.). Cf. F. Pieper in L. u. W. 47, 322 ff.: "The Essence of Christianity according to Prof. Harnack", See also 1902 Missouri Synod convention essay, 1903 book by the same name; English translation: What Is Christianity?, 1933] 1 Cor. 8:11: The weak brother will perish, "for whom Christ died", 51 dv Xptotéc dnévdavev; Rom. 14:15: dbrép od Xpiotdc dné8avev; **) the false teachers who bring damnation upon themselves denying the Lord "the Lord that bought them", 2 Petr. 2:1. No less extends the will of God to the lost, which is directed to their conversion, Matt. 23:37: nSéAnou émtovvayayetv Té TEKVA COD... KA OVK He~eAnoats. > Gerhard is rightly says in regard to the general grace, that the Scriptures testify to it with words, Christ with tears, God himself with an oath. The gratia universalis is the teaching of the Lutheran Church. The Lutheran confession holds the generality of saving grace in its entirety. It teaches the threefold universalism of the love of God, the merit of Christ and the earnest efficacy of the means of grace in all hearers of the Word. ©! The particular will of grace is explicitly rejected in the

all (according to Shedd, Dogmatic Theology IU, 481), destroys the whole argument of the apostle.

is a universal one; it encompasses all people, 1 Tim. 2:4: 6¢ mévtac avOpmmouc OéAEt owbjvat, the entirety of the apostate generation, Joh. 3,16: especially Rom. 11:32; he excludes no one from salvation, 2 Petr. 3:9, not even those who reject it, just as Christ died for those who reject and reject him, Rom. 14:15; 1 Cor. 8:11; 2 Petr. 2:1" (Dogmatics, 2nd ed. I, 423).

beneficam illam Dei voluntatem, qua serio omnium conversionem et salutem expetit, quam beneficam voluntatem Scriptura verbis, Christus lacrymis, Deus ipse juramento testatam fecit. Google Translate

hold firmly and sturdily to this, that, as the preaching of repentance, so also the promise of the Gospel is universalis, that is, it pertains to all men, Luke 24:47. For this reason Christ has commanded ‘that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations.' ‘For God loved the world and gave His Son,’ John 3:16. Christ bore the sins of the world, John 1:29, gave His flesh for the life of the world, John 6:51; His blood is ‘the propitiation for the sins of the whole world,’ 1 John 1:7; 2:2. Christ says: ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,’ Matt. 11:28. ‘God hath concluded them all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all,’ Rom. 11:32. ‘The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.’ 2 Pet. 3:9. And this call of God, which is made through the preaching of the Word, Lutheran Confession. ° Of course, the synergists have reproached the Lutheran confession for actually abolishing the gratia universalis, because it so resolutely teaches the sola gratia alongside the gratia universalis, ascribing to those who are saved not better but also evil behavior and the same guilt in comparison with those who are lost, and therefore declaring the question why the one is converted and becomes saved before the other to be indissoluble in this life and counting it among the incomprehensible judgments and unfathomable ways of God. °°) This accusation that the doctrine of the Formula of Concord of sola gratia factually annuls the gratia universalis was not only made at the time of the writing of the Formula of Concord by the Synergists, but has also been strongly repeated in our time by the German and American Synergists. © But all this argument is based on the fundamental error that the measure of Christian doctrine is not the statements of Sacred Scripture, but human opinion of a "unified system. Luther also testifies powerfully, along with the universality of the love of God and salvation through Christianity, so does the earnest calling of all hearers of the Word. © That Luther's we should not regard as jugglery, but know that thereby God reveals His will, that in those whom He thus calls He will work through the Word, that they mav be enlightened, converted, and saved.

error: 1. as when it is taught that God does not want all men to repent and believe the Gospel; 2. item, when God calls us to Himself that He is not serious about all men coming to Him; 3. item, when He calls us to Himself that He does not want all men to come to Him. 3. item that God does not want everyone to be saved, but, regardless of their sin, solely on the basis of God's counsel, intent and will, condemns them to damnation, so that they cannot be saved.

salvation, obedience of faith, conversion..., then however Predestinatianism (the denial of the gratia universalis) would be inevitable. (Die Lehre vom freien Willen, p. 276.) Details are in the doctrines of Conversion and Election of Grace.

the Son of God will lower himself so low and take my sin on his back, yes not only my sin, but also the whole world, which is done from Adam to the very last people, which he wants to have done and also suffer and die for it, so that I may be without sin and attain eternal life and happiness... And the text is the Word of God, and not our word, distinction between voluntas revelata and abscondita leaves the gratia universalis intact will be explained in the section Ecclesiastical Terminology in Relation to God's Will of Grace. In view of the so clear scriptural testimony for God's general grace in Christ, one should hardly think it possible that within the Christian church the gratia universalis would ever have been questioned. Yet it has happened. Augustine, as far as we can see, did not exactly fight directly against the general grace; but the denial of the gratia universalis is in the background, and he therefore tinkered with various impossible interpretations of Scripture such as 1 Tim. 2:4: God would have all men to be saved. © He did nor devised by us, that God slew this lamb for this purpose, and that the little lamb, out of God's obedience to the Father, took upon himself the sins of the whole world. But the world will not go..... What more should the lamb do? He says, You are all condemned, but I will take your sin upon myself; I have become the whole world having received the person of all men from Adam; that if any man received sin from Adam, he will give us righteousness for it. Then I should say: I want to believe that.... But that they believe not, that it is not because of the fault of Christ's Lord, but that the fault is mine. If I do not believe, I am damned. In short, I must say that the Lamb of God has borne the sin of the world, and I am earnestly commanded to believe and confess it, and die upon it. Yes, would you like to say, who knows whether he also bears my sin? I do believe that he bore St. Peter's, St. Paul's and other holy sins, they were pious people, even if I were St. Peter or St. Paul! Can't you hear what St. John says here: "This is the Lamb of God, who bears the sins of the world"? Now you cannot deny that you are also a part of the world. If you are in the world and your sins are a part of the world's sin, then the text is written here: All that is called sin, world and sin of the world, from the beginning of the world to the end, that is from the Lamb of God alone; and because you are and remain a part of the world, you will also enjoy what the text says of this place. (VII, 1717 ff.)

gratia, c. 14), soon into omne hominum genus [many men (Enchir. ad Laur., c.

formulate the words: tanquam diceretur, nullum hominem fieri salvum, nisi quem salvum fieri ipse (Deus) voluerit. [Google] St. Augustine feels that with these interpretations he has not grasped the meaning of the passage. Therefore he finally says in despair: Et quocxmque alio modo intelligi potest, dum tamen credere non cogamur, aliquid omnipotentem Deum voluisse fieri factumque non esse. He has lost sight of the truth of Scripture that God works through the means of grace, he can be resisted, Matt. 23:37; Acts 7:51. not succeed in finding the completely scriptural position with respect to Pelagius. ® In Gottschalk's dispute in the 9th century (Gottschalk + 869) both sides were groping in the dark about the same time. But Gottschalk's error is clearly evident in that he limits God's will of salvation and Christ's merit to the elect. ®’ — Not only is the gratia universalis in the Calvinist- Reformed church fellowship denied, but in part fiercely fought against, and against it the threefold particularism of the saving grace is asserted in the harshest form: neither God loves all people, nor has Christ redeemed all, nor does the Holy Spirit want to convert all. ©) Practically without significance

in the fact that, in contrast to Pelagius, who denied the renewing power of grace, he brought the gratia infusa into the foreground in such a way that the first and most excellent concept of grace, grace as the expiation of sins (favor Dei propter Christum), at least strongly receded into the background in his theologizing. For him, justification is not only God's judgment of justification, but also the infusion of powers of [divine] grace.

peccatores, quos proprio fuso sanguine Filius Dei redimere venit, hos omnipotentis Dei bonitas ad vitam praedestinatos irretractabi liter salvari tantummodo velit: et rursum illos omnes impios et peccatores, pro quibus idem Filius Dei nec corpus assumsit, nec orationem, ne dico sanguinem fudit, neque pro eis ullo modo crucifixus Juit, quippe quos pessimos futuros esse praescivit, quosque juStissime in aeterna praecipitandos tormenta praefinivit, ipsos omnino perpetim salvari penitus nolit. [Google Translate] (By Gieseler I, 1. 101.)

(amyraldism) the Formula Consensus Helvetici 13: Christ... in tempore novi foederis sponsor factus est pro iis solis, qui per aeternam electionem dati ipsi sunt ut populus peculii, semen, et haereditas ejus. Pro solis quippe electis ex decretorio patris consilio propriaque intentione diram mortem oppetiit, solos illos in sinum paternae gratiae restituit, solos Deo patri offenso reconciliavit et a maledictione legis liberavit. 16: haec omnia quum ita se omnino habeant, haud sane probare possumus oppositam doctrinam illorum, qui statuunt, Christum propria intentione et consilio tum suo, tum Patris ipsum mittentis mortuum esse pro omnibus et singulis, addita conditione impossibili, si videlicet credant. Beza is also particularly clear: Nullum tempus fuit vel est vel erit, quo voluerit, Felit aut voliturus sit Deus singulorum misereri. [Google Translate] (Respons. 2. ad acta Colloq. Mompelg., p. 194; in Quenstedt II, 11.) Friedr. Spanheim: Sententiae nostrae summa est: Nec voluntatem omnium et singulorum hominum miserendi ad salutem, Deo adscribi posse; nec voluntatem omnes et singulos per Christum redimendi, neque voluntatem omnes et singulos for the question of the gratia universalis is the difference between supralapsarians (God has decided to create a part of human beings to damnation ™ and infralapsarians (God has decided to leave a part of human beings in the damnation that has come upon all human beings through the Fall, or to pass them by with His grace). Also the so-called hypothetical universalism of the Amyraldists, according to which grace is present for all people through Christ, but God wants to work faith only in the chosen ones, comes practically to the denial of the gratia universalis. ’ — Particularism in all its forms has per Christum vocandi: adeoque gratiam universal nec statui debere nec defendi posse. [Google Translate] (Disp. de gratia univers., thes. 5, p. 231; by Quenstedt II, 11.) The Westminster Confession of Faith: Neither are any other redeemed Christ, effectually called... but the elect only. (Chap. III, 6.)

damnatio aeterna praeordinatur. Itaque prout in alterutrum quisque conditus est, ita vel ad vitam vel ad mortem praedestinatum dicimus. Inst. Il, 21, 5. Also UI, 24, 12.

550 ff.) and most of the Reformed Confessions. According to the Dordrecht resolutions, God is said to have decided to "in communi miseria, in quam se sua culpa praecipitarunt, relinquere nec salvifica fide et conversionis gratia donare". [to leave them in the common misery into which they have plunged themselves by their own fault, and not to give saving faith and the grace of conversion] (l.c., p. 555.) So also the Westminster Confession of Faith: "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. (In Schaff II, 610.) The American Presbyterians in their Confession of Faith have not yet changed this wording. However, a Declaratory Statement and a Letter Statement of the Reformed Faith were adopted by the General Assembly in 1903. Both documents have the tendency to grant Arminianism, in addition to Calvinism, domestic authority with the Presbyterians. The documents are printed in E. F. Karl Miiller, Die Bekenntnisschriften der ref. Kirche. 1903, p. 941 ff. For an assessment see L. and W. 48, 182 f.; 49, 187 f.

Saumur. Cf. A. Schweizer, Zentraldogmen II, 292 ff. The latter about Amhraut in RE.? (retained in RE.*): "Amyraldism holds on to real particularism, so much so that an ideal universalism is added. The main proposition is this: There is a will in God that all men become saved under the condition of faith, a condition which they could well afford in themselves, but which they inevitably disdain in view of the its foundation not in the Scriptures, but in a human speculation about the will and activity of God. Just as Reformed Christology finally sets a philosophical proposition against all Scriptural statements which refer to the communion of natures and the communication of attributes in the person of Christ: Finitum non est capax infiniti, the Reformed denial of the doctrine of the gratia universalis is ultimately and decisively based on a philosophical proposition, namely on the sentence: "What God seriously intends must in any case actually happen". Now, not all people actually become saved. Consequently, God has never loved the world, Christ has never reconciled the world, and the Holy Spirit never wants to work faith in all hearers of the Word. Calvin argues in this way in the four chapters of his Institutiones, in which he sets out his doctrine of predestination. 7) He rejects the scriptural statements that are based on the general will to grace, with the recurring remark that the extension of the divine will to grace must be judged by the result. Thus a recent Reformed, Bohl, argues against 1 Tim. 2:4: "If according to this passage the will of God were such that God wanted to save everyone, head by head, this would also happen, or there would be nothing more fragile and frail than the will of God, which has not yet been realized in the greater number of people from Adam until now.">’ Thus Charles Hodge argues: "It cannot be supposed that God intends what is never accomplished; that He purposes what He does not intend to effect; that He adopts means inherited corruption that is now inherent, so that this general will of grace does not make a single one factually saved. In addition, there is a particular will in God, by which he has eternally fixed that a certain number of certain persons should be saved, but all others should be passed over with this grace'". Quenstedt's judgment is correct: Calvinistae hypothetici categoricis merito sunt annumerandi. (The Hypothetical Calvinists must be put in the same class with the Categorical Calvinists] (Syst. IL, 11.)

does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked convert from his nature and live, Ezekiel. 33:11, Calvin counters: Experientia docet, ita velle (Deum) resipiscere quos ad se invitat, ut non tangat omnium corda. From the objection that then, however, the general promises were not to be trusted, he answers: Quamlibet universales sint salutis promissiones, nihil tamen a reproborum praedestinatione discrepant, modo in earum effectum mentem dirigamus. [Google]

for an end which is never to be attained. This cannot be affirmed of any rational being who has the wisdom and power to secure the execution of his purposes. Much less can it be said of Him whose power and wisdom are infinite. [f all men are not saved, God never purposed their salvation and never devised and put into operation means designed to accomplish that end. We must assume that the result is the interpretation of the purposes of God." And specifically with regard to the merit of Christ, Hodge adds: "If a 1 76) designed for all men, it must secure the salvation of al Ret ee eer Scripture teaches, however, "that God intends what is never accomplished". Scripture teaches that God intends to save the world through Christianity, Jn 3:17: "God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but wa owt 6 KdcpL0¢6 bu avtov, and yet God's purpose is not achieved in one part of the world, v. 18: But he that believeth not is already judged, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Scripture teaches that Christ also died for those who are lost, Rom. 14:15: pn to Bpmpati cov andAAvE andAAve vTEp Ov Xpiotos dnévave; also 2 Petr. 2:1-2. Also by numerous examples, Scripture teaches that God wants the happiness of those on whom He does not achieve His will. With regard to Jerusalem, Christ declares: NHOEANCA ELIOVVAyaYyEIV TH TEKVA GOV... Kai ODK NOEANoaTE, Matt. 23:37. It is said of the Pharisees and scribes that they denied the will of God (thv Bova tov be0v), who also wanted their salvation, HOétoav, Luke 7:30. The Jews of Antioch were also able to reject the salvation intended for them by God and offered to them in the word of the gospel, as the apostle explicitly explains: "Yuiv Hv dvayKaiov mpOtov AANOFvat tov AOyov tod Osod ExE107) GmMOEioVe AdTOV Kai ODK AElovs KpivEeTE EAVTODS Tic ai@viov Cars KtA [Acts 13:46]. The sentence: "We must assume that the result is the interpretation of the purposes of God" is thus to be described as a human thought that stands in stark contrast to the statements of Scripture. According to this

ALApTIOV naw according to Mark. 1:4. human thought contrary to Scripture, however, the representatives of the gratia particularis now reinterpret the statements in Scripture, which refer to the gratia universalis, by using the following for the general concepts: "all people", "world", "whole world" etc. they use, contrary to the context and the meaning of the words, the particular ones: "all kinds of people", "the chosen ones", "the Church" etc. and declare the general will of grace expressed in the word of Scripture to be a mere voluntas signi, which is to be understood according to the voluntas beneplaciti, according to which God wants the salvation only of the chosen ones. 7 That the grace of God, although it does not achieve its goal with all men, is nevertheless rightly to be called a gratia seria et efficax, [earnest and effective grace] and where it comes from that men with their finite power can successfully resist the will of the Almighty God, is explained in the following section. c. Ernest grace. The gracious attitude of God in Christ is not an idle watching of God (otiosa complacentia, nuda velleitas), but a serious and effective one (gratia seria et efficax). This is the quality that we must testify to by the grace of God on the basis of Scripture: 1) because Christ has commanded the Church to go into all the world and proclaim to all the world the Gospel, which is the fact that God is gracious to all men for Christ's sake; ™ 2. because the Holy Spirit wants to work faith in the Gospel in all who hear the Gospel. This is especially clear in Matt. 23:37, where God's intention of grace in relation to Jerusalem that remains unbelieving is described with the words: n8éAnou éxiovvayayeiv Th TEKVA OOD. Emovwvayaysiv means to gather together spiritually, to bring to faith; and that Christ did not merely want to gather the children of Jerusalem outwardly and superficially,

singulis personis sermo est. [It is a matter of classes of men, not of individual persons.] Also in Jnstitut. Ill, 24, 16. Shedd refers (Dogmatic Theology II, 479) to the church all the passages that testify to the redemption of the world through Christianity. Chamier: Etsi Deus velit omnes homines salvari voluntate illa sive signi sive conditionata sive non efficaci, at non vult tamen omnes salvari voluntate illa beneplaciti sive absoluta sive efficaci. (Panstrat. II, 7, 6; in Quenstedt II, 13.) Cf. in L. u. W. 44, pp. 65-166, F. Pieper: Are Lutherans embarrassed in view of the scriptural passages dealing with predestination? Here all the objections with which the Reformed want to transform the universal statements of Scripture into particular ones have been addressed, and at the same time it has been demonstrated that all the scriptural passages cited by the Confession of Faith for the gratia particularis do not prove this.

but wanted to gather the children of Jerusalem very earnestly and urgently, is further expressed by the addition: " wings". *° Likewise, Scripture teaches that God's will and effect of grace extends not only to the first creation but also to the maintenance and completion of faith, Phil. 1:6: 6 évap&épEevoc Ev dpiv Epyov wyabov EMITEAECEL GYPL HEPA Xptotod Inood; 3. because the Scriptures attribute the fact that many hearers of the gospel actually do not come to faith not to a passing by with grace and a lack of the earnest effect of God's grace, but to resistance, whereby people persistently oppose the effect of the grace of the Holy Spirit, Matt. 23:37: nOéAnou éxiovvayayeiv... Kai ovk NOEAnoate; Acts 7:51: ast tO mvevpatt To Gyiw Gvtmititets. If one does not want to refrain from extracting. 8) For, however, the effect of God, by which he wants to bring faith to man, can be resisted (gratia resistibilis). The possibility of

he can compare himself to a hen.... It is not a bird, or even an animal, that takes care of its young or chicks so warmly and so seriously as a hen. See how she lives and does for her chicks, so that she even gains another voice and cry when she guides her chicks. See how she adorns herself and spreads her wings, and may even fly at your neck, so that no animal has such an affect as a hen has.... Therefore the LORD imagines Christ himself, and has often proved with his work that he is like a hen that burns. For Moses was the first to gather the people together under the divine Word and its protection. So David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all the prophets also did that they were all feathers and wings, under which wings God would have liked to gather the Jewish people together. But Christ says here: You have driven David away, slain Isaiah, driven Eliam away, and killed all the other prophets, and you did not want to put them under these wings. So now I and my apostles are also hens, we cluck and call: Hear us, crawl under our wings etc.! And if God still sends preachers and gives his Word, he spreads out his wings so that we should crawl under them and seek shelter, protection and help against the pond, the devil, and all his angels.

human resistance to divine efficacy cannot, of course, be explained, as has been recently attempted again, by the fact that the effect by which God produces faith in man is not an effect of divine omnipotence. * The effect of omnipotence is very clearly taught by Scripture when it is quoted by the Christians. Eph. 1:19-20 says: miotebovtas Katd tiv EVEpyEelav TOD KpaTOUG Thc isyboc adtod fv évipynkev év TH Xpiotd éysipac adtov ék vexpdv. 8) But we must say on the basis of Scripture that the activity of God, which takes place through the means of grace, has the characteristic of being able to resist it, even though it is also an effect of omnipotence. Luther's sentence is in accordance with Scripture: God, working through means, can be resisted; God, working without means in revealed majesty, cannot be resisted. When Christ acts and speaks to people through His Word: Agvte mpdc pe nmavtec, Matt. 11:28, resistance is possible, because Christ reports: ovK n9eAnoate, Matt. 23:37. But when Christ appears on the Last Day, in revealed glory (év ™ 50En avtod), all resistance is excluded, as Christ also reports: ovvaySyoovtat Eumpoodev avtob mavta TA KTA. The statement of the representatives of the gratia particularis that God, where He works earnestly, cannot be resisted, is therefore to be corrected on the basis of Scripture so that God, working by means, can be resisted even if He works earnestly. *°)

"Resistible and Irresistible Grace" L. u. W. 1887, p. 117 ff.

extolli supra Deum, quatenus est praedicatus et cultus, id est, supra verbum et cultum, quo Deus nobis cognitus est et nobiscum habet commercium. The supra Deum non cultum nec praedieatuin, ut est in sua natura et majestate, nihil potest extolli, sed omnia sunt sub potenti manu ejus. [Google Translate] (Opp. v. a. VII, 221 sq. St. L. XVII, 1794.) This is the biblical concept of "divine self-limitation", the knowledge of which is missing in Luther and in F. C. (Cf. Ottingen, Dogmatics II, 1, 591.) The newer synergists speak erroneously of a "divine self-limitation" in the sense that God refrains from acting alone, without human assistance, to promote faith in the Gospel.

But with that the whole Calvinist argument that "success" is the right interpretation of the will of God is lost. The divine act of hardening is not a proof against, but for the gratia seria et efficax, if hardening is understood according to Scripture. According to Scripture, hardening is not an absolute decree, but it takes place at the root of human guilt, that is, resistance to God's word and will. Obduracy is God's judgment of wrath against those who despise the grace offered to them and resist the working of the Holy Spirit. As Rom. 11:9 explicitly states, it is done "for retribution" (ec Gvtarddou1a). °° This also emerges from the context of the passages in the Gospels where it is reported about hardening, blindness, concealment of grace etc.: Joh. 12:40; Matt. 13:14-15; 11:25-26; 23:38 etc. The words Joh. 12:40: " He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart" etc. are preceded by the words (v. 35-37): "He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart.... While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. 37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him." Matt. 11:25: amexpouyac TAVTA UO COPMV KAI ODVETOV, is preceded by a report of the most urgent offering of grace from God, v. 20 ff: "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not" etc. And by describing the persons to whom the concealment happened as ooo kai ovvetoi, it is expressed that here a judgment of punishment is carried out on people who opposed the divine revelation of grace with their own wisdom. ® The report of the withdrawal of grace,

what they have done, namely by rejecting the faith in Christ.

right to hide his secrets from these wise and prudent people, because they themselves want to be above, not below, God. Not that he hides them in deed or by will, since he commands that they be preached publicly under all heaven and in all lands, but Matt. 23:38: dgietat duiv 6 oikoc DU@V <EpNLOg), is immediately preceded by the words, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets.... How often have I wanted to gather your children together... and you would not." So when Jews were hardened, what Stephen had told them was preceded by Acts 7:51 "You always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did, so do you.

But the gratia seria et efficax must hold the Christian Church not only against the Calvinists, but also against the Synergists, in so far as they allow the effect of divine grace to extend only to the possibility, not to the reality of faith. It is true that the Arminians and the synergistic Lutherans say of grace that it is seria, efficax, sufficiens, indeed that everything works. But then they add that the divine effect of grace in the means of grace is not sufficient to bring about faith. For the actual coming into being of faith human cooperation is necessary. Some call that on which faith, in addition to the divine effect of grace, is to depend, almost human cooperation (cooperatio) and the exercise of natural free will. °°’ Others call that he has chosen such a sermon, from which the wise and prudent have an abhorrence by nature, and which is hidden from them through their own fault. because they do not want to have it, as Isaiah 6, 9: See it and do not perceive it. Behold, they see that is, they have the doctrine which has been preached openly and publicly, and yet they do not see because they turn away from it and do not want it. Thus they hide the truth from themselves through their own blindness."

recent times, obstinacy has been cited as proof of the particular grace and effect of grace of the Holy Spirit, while it proves just the opposite.... We would like to extend Gerhard's statement above a little. We would like to say: to prove God's general earnest will of grace: the words of the Scriptures, the tears of Christ, the oath of God and - the judgment of wrath, of hardening, that is, the wrath of God against those who despise his hot love in Christ and resist the Holy Spirit. Also Luther to Matt. 13:15: "I wanted to help them, He (God) says, because of this I send them My Son; but the hardening of their heart is against My will and their happiness. (VIL,

sense that the statuary gratia habere ex se sufficient vim ad pro- it is the "self-decision" made possible by grace, the right human " conduct" or yielding to grace, the cessation of willful reluctance etc. °° The meaning remains always the same, namely that the divine effect in the means of grace is not sufficient to produce faith itself. But Scripture teaches that grace not only makes faith possible, but also makes it real, or gives not only the strength to believe, but also the act of faith, Phil. 1:29: duiv éyapioOn... To gig AVTOV MLOTEVELV. Admittedly, when on the basis of Scripture both the gratia universalis, seria et efficax and the sola gratia are recorded, a question arises which has always been the crux theologorum, namely the question: Why then are not all people converted and saved? Both the Calvinists and the Synergists have an answer to this question, as is evident from the above. The Calvinists answer this question by denying the universalis gratia, and the synergists by denying the sola gratia. Both solutions contradict Scripture. The Lutheran Church recognizes at this point a mystery that is insoluble in this life and teaches that the universalis gratia and the sola gratia are to be kept side by side without rational mediation, or, which is the same thing, that on this question all thoughts must remain within these limits: he who is saved is saved by grace alone, not as a result of a lesser debt or a better attitude towards grace; he who is lost is lost through his own fault, not as a result of a lack of God's grace and action of grace.?) ducendum assensum in voluntate, sed, quia vis illa partialis est, non posse exire in actum sine cooperatione liberae voluntatis humanae, ac proinde ut effectum habeat, pendere a libera voluntate. [that it may be established that grace has of itself a sufficient force to produce assent in the will, but, because that force is partial, it cannot be brought into action without the cooperation of the free human will, and therefore depends on the free will to have its effect.] (Cf. Winer, Comparative Darstellung etc., 3rd ed., p. 81 f.)

Glaubenslehre 1898, S. 441 f. — Lutheran Standard of February 28, 1891: "According to the revealed order of salvation the actual final result of the means of grace depends not only on the sufficiency and efficacy of the means themselves, but also upon the conduct of man in regard to the necessary condition of passiveness and submissiveness under the Gospel call. See F. Pieper, Grunddifferenz etc., p. 19 ff.

Grunddifferenz etc., pp. 12-26. The various attempts to solve this problem do not reveal theological maturity, but theological immaturity. The general grace is and remains an article of faith. Nor should we be moved by the fact that not all the peoples of the earth and not all the individuals within a people have had the Gospel, to call into question the gratia universalis et seria so clearly taught in Scripture. As the Formula of Concord reminds us, these are incomprehensible judgments of God when God punishes contempt for the Gospel even on the descendants. °) The Formula of Concord has written reason for this in Rom 11:33 f. In order to save general grace from the forum of human understanding, it was partly thought that the Gentiles for Christ's sake would be saved even without faith in the Gospel on account of their aspirations for virtue,**) partly assumed that even after this life an opportunity to hear and believe the Gospel would be offered. **) But these are human thoughts, which have no basis in Scripture. Scripture knows of no salvation for men without faith in the gospel. °°) Nor does Scripture know of any opportunity for faith after this life. 1 Petr. 3:18 ff. (totic ev pvAaKh OvAAKT TvEvpLaoL TOpEv9sic Exnpvée) does not deal with the proclamation of the gospel, but rather with the proclamation of judgment to those who had and despised the word of God here on earth. The detailed discussion of this passage is in the section on the Doctrine of Christ's Descent into Hell [p. 374]. Therefore, if we want to keep the Scriptural ground under our feet, there is only one thing left to us: we must believe the universality of saving grace on the basis of the clear Scriptural testimony. Historical experience seems to contradict it. But it does not behoove us

in a country appears only with the preaching of the Gospel. Isaiah 9:1 ff.; 60, 1 ff.; Acts 13:47 ff. Large Catechism 460, 66 [LC 4, 66; Trig/. 697, 66]: For all outside of Christianity, whether heathen, Turks, Jews, or false Christians and hypocrites, although they believe in, and worship, only one true God, yet know not what His mind towards them is, and cannot expect any love or blessing from Him; therefore they abide in eternal wrath and damnation. For they have not the Lord Christ, and, besides, are not illumined and favored by any gifts of the Holy Ghost. to interpret the clear Scriptures according to the historical workings of God, which are not clear to us. In eternal life, where our knowledge of God and divine things will no longer be fragmentary (€k Lépovug [in part], Cor. 13:12), this darkness will also be light.