5. Membership in the Kingdom of Glory.
Christian Church on earth through faith in the Gospel and were preserved in this membership by faith through the power of God (1 Peter 1:5) will be transferred to the kingdom of eternal glory at the Last Day. Both the unity and the diversity of the two kingdoms have already been demonstrated in the royal office of Christ. In both kingdoms, the same human persons are to be found. But the manner of their communion with God is quite different. Here on earth, fellowship is mediated only through the Gospel and faith. This is even the case with the unio mystica, as we saw. In the kingdom of glory, the Word ceases to be a means of presentation on the part of God and, accordingly, faith ceases to be a means of perception and reception on the part of man. In place of word and faith there is tpdo0@mav mpoc mpdcamov, 1 Cor. 13:12. God presents Himself in revealed glory, and the salvation of the saved accordingly consists in the seeing of God. ''4° The other side of eternal salvation, eternal damnation, consists in the eternal rejection of God's face, which rejection has its reason in the rejection of the Gospel.!!*) Between militant and triumphant lies death for the faithful who do not experience the Last Day. In order to reassure them about the fact of death, the Savior tells them that they will not perish in death. The believers in Him do not lose life, but gain it through death.'!* As for the condition of the souls of the faithful between death and resurrection, Scripture gives us little information about this. The eyes of the faithful are directed in Scripture primarily to eternal life as it appears with the Last Day.!!**) But Scripture clearly reveals to us so much that the souls of the faithful between death and resurrection are not in purgatory, but in Paradise!!**) and with Christ!!*>- More can be said about death, resurrection, transformation, as well as about the faithful as objects and subjects of the Last Judgment in the individual presentation of the "last things".
avtov KaOdc éotw [We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is,]. Beatitudo consistit in perfecta Dei visione et fruitione, with which, because man is created to God, freedom from all evil and being filled with unspeakable joy (1 Peter 1:8) is given.
the Kingdom, the gospel), éxBANnOjoovtat Eig TO OKdTOG TO EETEpov. Damnatio consistit in aeterna separatione a visione Dei, whereby because man is created to God, a state of terrible torment (6 KAavOpLWdG Kai 6 Bpvypds THV OSdvT@v) is set.
Joh. 3:2.
statement obv Xptot@ civat is based on the state before the resurrection, because the world is thought to still exist. In an overview of the doctrine of the appropriation of salvation, the doctrine of eternal election must not be missing. Eternal election would have nothing to do with the Christians’ appropriation of salvation, but would only have the meaning of a subsequent ratification, if the doctrine of the later Lutheran dogmatists of eternal election "in view of faith held to the end" (intuitu fidei finalis) was really scriptural. According to this theory, eternal election consists in the subsequent acceptance of those who, according to God's foreknowledge, have remained in faith until the end, that is, who have already happily, rebus bene gestis, completed the path of salvation. But this view of eternal election is based, as will be explained in more detail later, on an interpretation of npoywaokew [foreknew] (Rom 8:29) that is contrary to Scripture, in the sense of "foreknowledge" or "foresight". Scripture is quite different. Scripture teaches Christians that they must regard their temporal Christianity in its entirety and in its individual parts as a consequence and effect of their eternal election.!!*® This causal nexus between eternal election and the entire temporal Christianity is also taught in the Lutheran confession.!'4) To the general characterization of the doctrine of the election by grace the following belongs: On the one hand, this doctrine is something very simple and self-evident to those who are within the order of salvation, that is, in faith in the Gospel (in Christianity, in justification); on the other hand, it leads to questions that cannot be answered even by Christians in this life. The self-evident thing is this: The self-evident thing is this: When Christians consider their state of grace, namely, that God has blessed them by grace for Christ's sake with all kinds of spiritual blessings, they find it self--
TMVEVLATUKT] EV TOIc ELOVPAVioIc Ev Xptotd 4 KaOmMc EEEréEato Hutic Ev adTH TPO KataBoArjs Koopov. In detail the Scripture mentions Rom. 8:30 of God as the temporal consequence of the eternal election diuxka1otv—doEaCew—2 Tim. 1:9 of God kKoAsiv—sdtkatotv—soEaCew, Acts 13:48 of the Christians motetew.
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 (causa) which procures, works, helps, and promotes our salvation and what pertains thereto; and upon this [divine predestination] our salvation is so founded (fundata) 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’. Also 708, 23; 713, 43-51 [Trig/. 1069, 23; 1077, 43-51]. evident, and believe without further explanation on the divine proclamation that God has not only in time but already from eternity provided them with his grace in Christ. For this reason Paul does not wait until the Christian congregations grow older and more mature before proclaiming the doctrine of eternal election, but rather immediately proclaims their eternal election to those gathered together in the congregations, when they have become Christians: 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14: God hath from the beginning (G’ apyijc) chosen you" (the Christians of Thessalonica) to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel; Eph. 1:3 ff: God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world (xpoxataBoArs Koouov).; 2 Tim. 1:9: "God has made us blessed and called us with a holy call" (that is: God has placed us in the Christian state) "not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before the time of the world" (po ypovev atwviov). That is why the designation "chosen one" is already in the addresses of the letters addressed to Christians (exAEKtoic mapemidnpotc, Petr. 1:1), and Christians are simply called éxAsktovc BEedv (Matt. 24:31; Rom. 8:33 etc.). — In addition, however, a question arises in the doctrine of eternal election that cannot be answered in this life (in lumine gratiae, Luther).!'*®) The question arises when comparing or juxtaposing the chosen with the lost. This point is dealt with in Scripture primarily in Rom. 9-11. Since the grace of God is general in Christ, and men are in the same total ruin, the fact remains misunderstood that the Formula of Concord describes it with the words: "One is hardened, blinded, given over to a reprobate mind, while another, who is indeed in the same guilt, (and in the same evil, § 54-60 [Zrig/. 1081, F. C., Sol. Decl., XI, 54—60]), "is converted again. This fact must be written in a non liqueur, because Scripture teaches nothing more than that the saved sola gratia become saved and the lost sola culpa are lost, and furthermore it refers to God's "incomprehensible judgments", because there is no difference among men (Rom 11:35).
141. Those who want to be wise beyond divine revelation at this point receive their well-deserved punishment partly in the form of Calvinism, that is, through the anti-scriptural delusion that God's nearness in Christ does not extend to all people, partly in the form of synergism, that is, through the anti- scriptural opinion that Christians owe their conversion and salvation not to God's grace alone but also to their "right" (in comparison with others: more right) behavior. Hence the admonition of the Formula of Concord to carefully avoid all thoughts that go beyond the limits covered in Hos. 13:9 [O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine help.]. Further details, especially the difference between Luther and Calvin, have already been explained in the teaching on grace.!'4) A detailed presentation of the doctrine of the choice of grace in contrast to the multiform error will follow later. Here in the overview we should point out a double point: 1) In Scripture the doctrine of the choice of grace is not taught as a central article, but as an auxiliary article for the doctrine of grace.!!5° This is not only clear from the passages where the eternal election is taught as something self- evident, namely that the grace experienced in time is attributed to the grace given from eternity in Christ (Eph. 1:3 ff.; 2 Tim. 1:9-10; 2 Thess. 2:13-14), but this is also the intention of the three chapters (9-11) in the Epistle to the Romans. Here too the apostle brings the election of grace in contrast not to the gratia universalis,'!>" but to the liberum arbitrium, according to which the adoption as children of God is not to be based on grace but on the law, works and human merits. Because of the disregard of this point of view (and the point of view of the majestic omnipotence of God, chap. 11:36 "!!5- these three chapters of the Epistle to the Romans have been so grossly maltreated by most theologians.
ff.
that without all works and merit we become righteous and saved by grace alone for Christ's sake.
to general grace that he also expressly teaches the latter (10, 21; 11:32), which prompted interpreters such as K6llner and Fritzsche to speak here of a self- contradiction of the apostle. (Cf. note 115.)
incomprehensible divine majesty, p. 44 ff. (2) The challenges with regard to eternal election—and especially serious Christians have something to say about such challenges—come from a lack of understanding, which the Calvinists expressly teach, and which even serious Christians practice all too easily. (F. C. 706, 11 [Zrigl. 1067,
thing as an election that happened nude, that is, an election as if God had first carried out the eternal election absolutely and then, in order to carry it out, had sent Christ and given the gospel. As soon as one gets rid of this folly, and on the other hand holds on the basis of Scripture that the eternal election év Xpiato [in Christ] and ev Gytaop@ avEebLatOs Kai TiatEL GAnYeias [through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.’’] has taken place, then one is merely holding on to Christ or the Gospel when it comes to the question of one's own election, and so recognizes through faith in the Gospel of Christ his ‘eternal election’. "Accordingly" — says the Formula of Concord (717, 66 ff. [Zrig/. 1083, 66])— This eternal election of God is to be considered in Christ, and not outside of or without Christ. For in Christ, the Apostle Paul testifies, Eph. 1:4 ff., He hath chosen us before the foundation of the world, as it is written: ‘He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.’ This election, however, is revealed from heaven, through the preaching of His Word, when the Father says, Matt. 17:5: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.’... However, Christ as the only-begotten Son of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, has announced to us the will of the Father, and thus also our eternal election to eternal life, namely, when He says, Mark 1:15: ‘Repent ye, and believe the Gospel.’ Whoever believes the gospel, which also promises to be preserved in faith (1 Cor. 1:8), also believes his eternal election. No one, on the other hand, can believe his gracious election as long as he lives without repentance and faith in the Gospel, or even transfers the choice of grace to the territory of the law, thinking that conversion and salvation, and therefore also eternal election, depend not only on God's grace in Christ, but also on the correct behavior of man. For the latter, the election of grace, precisely because it is a election of grace, is a nuisance. But for those who have lost confidence in themselves as far as the attainment of happiness is concerned (Oida yap 6t1 obK Oikei Ev Eloi, Todt’ got év TH oapki Lov, &yabdv, Rom 7:18), it is comforting to know that their happiness is not based on their behavior, but on God's hand of grace. (F. C.. 714, 46. 46 [Trigl. 1078, 46]) Arrangement of the individual parts of the order of salvation. The arrangement of the individual parts of the order of salvation. With regard to the arrangement of the individual doctrines to be dealt with in the acquisition of salvation, the oldest Lutheran teachers, and especially the Formula of Concord, are said to have done all sorts of evil things. Nitzsch-Stephan speaks of a "chaos" in the Formula of Concord and in the writings of the oldest Lutheran dogmatists. '!°? Only Hiilsemann, Calov and Quenstedt are said to have brought "some order" into this chaos. Gass finds in the "older writers" a "loose way of linking the material belonging to the appropriation of salvation. An "exact description of the path of salvation" is said to have been far from the older writers. These and similar judgements are factually incorrect. As for the Formula of Concord, it would be unfair to expect a "dogmatic structure" of the doctrines in it. As a confessional writing, it had to set forth the doctrines that were challenged by erring teachers. Besides, the Formula of Concord, like the oldest theologians, shows the firm, inner connection of the doctrines that we are accustomed to assemble under the title "Salvation Order". The oldest theologians and the Formula of Concord are convinced of the fact of objective reconciliation, namely, that through Christ's substitutionary satisfaction for all men, grace or forgiveness of sins is fully present. Thus the Gospel is the divine message of this fact for them, and the faith brought about by the divine message is the means of accepting the fact, as it is expressed in the justification that takes place sola fide. Everything else that can be done in and on a Christian is the consequence of justification by faith. We would not know how a more solid inner order of the "ordo salutis" would be conceivable. We recall once again the "ordo", which the Formula of Concord insists on holding on to: First faith is kindled in us in conversion by the Holy Ghost from the hearing of the Gospel. This lays hold of God's grace in Christ, by which the person is justified. Then, when the person is justified, he is also renewed and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, from which renewal and sanctification the fruits of good works then follow (619:41 [Trigl. 929, F. C., Sol. Decl., I,
Arrangement of the individual parts of the order of salvation. not "chaos", but clear, transparent "circumscription of the path of salvation". The Formula of Concord also expressly rejects the "loose connection" when it adds that it has ordered these individual ordine causarum et effectuum, antecedentium et consequentium, i.e. according to cause and effect, and "as one proceeds one from the other or succeeds".!!°4 The same ordo salutis is inculcated by Luther in both the Small and the Large Catechism in the Explanation of the Third Article, and elsewhere where he describes the doctrine of justification as the central doctrine to which all Christian teachings relate as antecedens and consequens. '°°) Of course, among the oldest teachers, there are sometimes great differences in the external order of the teachings in the textbooks. For example, while in Luther's Small and Large Catechism, the Ten Commandments come first, Brenz begins his large catechism interpretation!'°® with the faith in Christ and with the doctrine of baptism. The interpretation of the Decalogue follows only after the interpretation of the Apostolic Symbol and the Lord’s Prayer. At that time, people were all the less concerned about the external order of the doctrines, since they were fully aware of the content and the inner coherence of these. But the situation is this: If someone really holds the satisfactio vicaria, the media gratiae and the sola fide, he holds the right inner context, even if it is outwardly somewhat awkward. Whoever, on the other hand, together with the modern theologians has abandoned the satisfactio vicaria as too "juridical" and "material", may externally arrange "the material belonging to the order of salvation" as he wants to, the individual parts
"modus" consequendae salutis in the article on the choice of grace, when it rejects the nude consideration of the choice of grace and shows that God leads the elect to salvation by the path of salvation determined by him. The presentation comprises the so-called "eight points": renee rte) the means of grace, the action of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace, justification by faith, sanctification, preservation in challenge and on the way of grace, glorification. According to this, the assertions must be qualified (e.g. Luthardt, Dogmatik, p. 273) that the concepts of vocation, conversion etc. have only been brought under the concept of salutis consequendae modus since Calov and under the concept ordo salutis since the Pietist period.
Kaspar Grater, Franks. 1551, Arrangement of the individual parts of the order of salvation. put it here or there - the whole thing is chaos, a right 199) 377-[HEBREW: Genesis 1:2 — void, formless]. In the denial of vicarious satisfaction, all the terms that are brought under the order of salvation: means of grace, faith, justification, sanctification, etc., have lost their written meaning, as has already been demonstrated.!°) We consider that the external arrangement which we have provided in our coherent presentation can pass as a proper one. But we do not argue with anyone about any other external arrangement as long as he keeps the inner context according to Scripture. '>®) — We would like to remind you here of a few more details. It has been discussed whether the doctrine of the means of grace should be placed before or after the doctrine of the Church. In both places there is a suitable place for the means of grace, because the Church is both the product of the means of grace and the fellowship of those who are commanded to use the means of grace. It has also been thought that the doctrine of the work of Christ, especially the doctrine of ‘objective reconciliation’, should be immediately followed by the doctrine of subjective reconciliation, that is, the doctrine of justification. This, however, provides an excellent context, insofar as. But in this arrangement, then, the doctrine of the means of grace is presupposed, because the faith that takes hold of the objective reconciliation is worked through the gospel and has the gospel as its object. So a reason can be given for dealing with the means of grace and the origin of faith (de conversione) before justification. But the origin of faith and justification must not be allowed to fall apart in time. In Scripture, too, means of grace and conversion are placed before justification,! and it will not be claimed that Scripture allows justification to take a back seat.! Thus, the
analytical method followed more or less consistently by later Lutheran dogmatists.
polemics against the later dogmatists, in so far as they deal with the regeneratio and conversio before the iustificatio, truth and fiction mix. Arrangement of the individual parts of the order of salvation. dogmatist can also act de conversione before de iustificatione, without justification taking a back seat. The precondition for this is, of course, that he keeps the Christian concepts of objective reconciliation and the Gospel and keeps away from synergism in the formation of faith. We would like to put in a good word here for the later dogmatists. Heinrich Schmid!!° has to criticize later dogmatists, for example Quenstedt, for having torn the articles de iustificatione and de fide too far apart, because they act de fide iustificante only after de iustificatione and after the means of grace (as media dotiKé. ex parte Dei). In fact, however, Quenstedt is in fact already acting very emphatically in de iustificatione as well. ''®) Neither Quenstedt nor any other man can explain justification by faith without at the same time acting on the justifying faith. The fact that de fide iustificante is still presented as a special section, whether placed before or after justification, finds explanation and excuse in the fact that, with regard to the concept of justifying faith, a whole series of questions has been raised, the discussion of which occupies a wide area. A special treatment of the fides iustificans therefore has the advantage of relieving the locus de iustificatione. For this reason, we too allow the doctrine of justification to be preceded by a special presentation of both the faith and the origin of the faith. For the dogmatist there is only one way to preserve the scriptural coherence of Christian doctrine. The apostle Paul indicates it with the words od yap éxpwwve T1 sidévat Ev byiv si pw) Inootv Xptotov Kai tobtov éotavp@pévov [I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him Crucified’] (1 Cor. 2:2); and Luther describes this means in
iustificationis nostrae causa organica seu instrumentalis? (II, 788 sq.) words: In corde meo iste unus unus regnat articulus, scilicet fides Christi, ex quo, per quem et in quem omnes meae diu noctuque fluunt et refluunt theologicae cogitations [In my heart there reigns, and shall ever reign, this one article, namely, faith in my dear Lord Christ, which is the sole beginning, middle, and end of all spiritual and godly thoughts which I may have at any time, day or night].!!° Whether the dogmatist, who by God's grace possesses in something this Ikavétm¢ €k tov Sov, precedes analytically the doctrine of eternal life or synthetically the Fall and the first promise in the "dogmatic construction" is relatively indifferent. Saving faith. De fide salvifica. It should not be necessary to say anything more about the nature and concept of faith, insofar as it brings about the forgiveness of sins and. salvation, than has already been said in the summary above. If it is true that God has reconciled the world to himself through Christ, and if the Gospel is the message of this fact, then faith is not to be understood in any sense as a work of the law, as a virtue or moral act, whereby man has first made himself completely prepared for mercy from God, but faith is the opposite of every moral achievement, as Scripture, in its justification, expressly opposes ef Epy@v vopov (Rom 3:28, etc.). Faith on the part of man is the mere means of accepting the absolution pronounced in the Gospel. With this the question: Quid sit fides iustificans? [what is justifying faith?] or, to put it even more precisely: Quid sit fides, qua iustificat? [What is the faith that justifies?] is completely answered. But at this point error has now at all times begun, with great power and in manifold forms. One has changed the object and with it also the concept of justifying faith, and thus, under the name of faith in Christ, within the Christian Church, doctrines of faith have been presented that are actually completely outside Christian doctrine. It is unfortunately the case that within external Christianity with the words: "I believe in Christ" actually little is said, because with these words quite different concepts are connected. Some think that faith, in so far as it saves, has as its object not only the gospel, but the whole word of God, law and gospel, while others rightly teach and hold that the object of faith, in so far as it justifies, is only the gospel, and that the
exercise of faith in the law belongs only to justification. Some describe faith as a mere knowledge of Christ, which even the godless, adulterers, thieves, etc., can have,'!® indeed, as a faith that a person can possess without knowing what he believes (fides carbonaria [faith of the charcoal burner]). Others teach that faith is the knowledge of Christ brought about by the Holy Spirit, or the trust in the forgiveness of sins acquired by Christ, and that this faith is never found in secure hearts, but only in those that are frightened by their sins. Some call the faith by which the sinner confidently relates the forgiveness of sins to his person an impertinence (praesumtio). Others teach that it is God's will that the frightened sinner make the forgiveness offered in the Gospel his own, and that therefore the justifying faith is always personal faith or fides specialis. Some believe that justifying faith is faith in the Christ in us, faith in so far as it allows the effects of the Holy Spirit to take effect and be absorbed into man. Others teach that faith, in so far as it justifies, has as its object only the Christ outside us, the promise of the Gospel, and that, therefore, the justifying faith is always an act of seizure (fides actualis) and, in the will, is a will or desire for the forgiveness of sins (velle gratiam, velle accipere gratiam, desiderium gratiae). Some characterize justifying faith as a moral act, moral conduct, right conduct, self-determination, self-decision, etc. Others teach that faith, in so far as it justifies, is merely instrumental, without any good quality or virtuosity of its own, the very opposite of all that is the work of the law. This is related to the fact that some describe faith as the conscious acceptance of God's grace, while others teach that a person can have justifying faith without being aware that he believes. Some think that a person should only be able to refer to the promise of the forgiveness of sins when he has established that he is in faith. Others teach that faith, in so far as it justifies it, does not have itself as an object, but is directed directly towards Christ or the forgiveness of sins promised in the Gospel. The
claim that justifying faith does not come from the word of the gospel alone and therefore has not only the word of the gospel as its object, but that faith arises primarily through "historical impressions" and has historical impressions and "facts of salvation" as its object apart from and beside God's word. Others teach that every faith except for and beside God's word and promise is rapture. So different is the way in which people in external Christendom speak and talk about faith in Christ. This explains why the ancient theologians inserted special sections de fide iustificante into their dogmatic writings. We too will explain the above-mentioned points in more detail in the face of the error.