1. The concept of eternal election.
Quite apart from what the Scriptures teach about eternal election, we already know that Christians do not owe their entire Christian state according to beginning, middle, and end to any good condition, merit, or any action on their part, but that it is God alone who calls, converts, justifies, sanctifies, and sustains them in the faith by His grace in Christ through the action of the Holy Spirit, which is accomplished through the means of grace. This was demonstrated in the
1665) So also A. L. Gräbner, Doctrinal Theology, § 61 [or here].
1666) So Quenstedt, Hollaz etc.<w:t>1667) So Baier. [Ed. — 3:531 ff. ?]
1668) Rom. 11:1-10; Matt. 24:22.
1669) Eph. 1:3 ff; 2 Thess. 2:13-14 etc.<w:t xml:space="preserve">1670) II, 499 ff.
536 > Eternal election. [English ed. ~ 473-474]
presentation of said doctrines as Christian doctrine revealed in Scripture. To this the Scripture now adds this revelation that God has already intended to do to Christians from eternity what he is doing to them in this time. This and nothing else is the scriptural doctrine of Eternal Election. We can therefore describe the Election of Grace thus: Eternal election is the act of God upon Christians whereby God has provided them from eternity by grace for Christ's sake with calling, conversion, justification, sanctification, and preservation. This description is scriptural. Scripture traces the acts of grace which God does to Christians in time — their calling, conversion, justification, sanctification, and preservation in the faith — to an act of God prior to the creation of the world, that is, in eternity, namely, to their eternal election. Paul confesses 2 Tim. 1:9 in the name of all Christians: "God has saved us and called us out with a holy calling" and then continues: "not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ before the time of the world" (οὐ κατά τά εργα ημών, άλλα κατά ιδίαν πρσϑεοιν και χάριν την δοΰεϊσαν ήμΐν εν Χριστώ Ίησοΰ προ χρόνων αιωνίων). Acts 13:48 says of the heathen who came to faith through the apostle's sermon: "They believed, όσοι ησαν τεταγμενοι εις ξωην αιώνιον. Paul addresses 2 Thess. 2:10-12 of those who are lost through the seduction of the Antichrist because they have not embraced the love of the truth. In contrast, Paul thanks God that the Christians of Thessalonica will not have a sad but a blessed end. He gives as a reason for their eternal election: "But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, that God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation in the sanctification of the Spirit and in the faith of the truth, into which (εις ὃ) he called you through our gospel to the glorious possession of our Lord Jesus Christ." The whole of the spiritual blessing that is granted to Christians in time, the apostle Eph. 1:3-6 to their eternal election with the words: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heaven through Lord, even as (καϑώς) he hath chosen us through him before the foundation of the world" (προ καταβολής κόσμον). In Rom. 8:28-30 Paul announces
537 > Eternal election. [English ed. ~ 474-475.]
to the Christians, as far as they are subject to suffering and weakness in time: "To those who love God, everything is for the best, because they find calling according to purpose" (τοϊς κατά πρό'ϑεσιν κλητοϊς ονσιν). What resolution (πρόϑεσις) this was we need not guess. The apostle immediately describes this resolution in more detail as God's foreknowing (προγινώσκειν; Luther: Foreseeable), which includes in itself the predestination (προορίζειν) to glory (δτι οϋς προέγνω και προώρισε σνμμόρφονς τής είκόνος του υΐοϋ αυτόν). But with the predestination to glory three things are inseparably bound: The calling, the justification, and the making glorious (οϋς δε προώρισεν, τούτους και εκάλεσεν, καί ους εκάλεοεν, τούτους και εδικαίεοοεν; ους δε εδικαίωοεν, τούτους και εδόξασεν). Details to be discussed later. Two things should be pointed out here, so that the scriptural concept of eternal election may be held: 1. Eternal election does not extend merely to a part or even only to the final part of the way of salvation (to the granting of salvation after Christians have brought away the end of their faith, electio intuitu fidei finalis), but to the whole way of salvation which Christians are led by God, from the calling to the introduction into glory. This concept is also held by the Formula of Concord when it says (706, 8 [Trigl. 1065, Sol. Decl., XI, 8 🔗]): "The eternal election of God not only sees and knows the salvation of the elect beforehand, but is also a cause of God's gracious will and good pleasure in Jesus Christ, so that our salvation and all that belongs to it is created, worked, helped, and promoted; and our salvation is also based on this, so that the gates of hell will not be able to oppose it, as it is written: 'No one will snatch my sheep out of my hand'. And again: 'And there were believers, as many as were ordained unto eternal life.'" 2. In the doctrine of eternal election, only those who have already abandoned the Christian doctrine of the general way of salvation can stray. Whoever, for instance, thinks that conversion and salvation depend not only on God's grace, but also on self- conditioning, self-decision, right conduct, lesser guilt in comparison with other men, etc., will also teach that God has not only chosen to salvation by grace for Christ's sake, but from eternity in view of the things mentioned (the aliquid in homine).
538 > Eternal election. [English ed. ~ 475-476]