# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_October 1856_S316
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

316 On the Doctrine of the Election of Grace and Some Related Matters, etc.

things, inwardly and outwardly, must accommodate themselves salutarily to their advancement therein, Romans 8:28-29, Ephesians 1:9,11; it is the cause why the knowledge of the truth becomes a savor of life unto life; all things without exception are ordained beforehand for the honor of Christ and His kingdom, so that those in whom the counsel of love of the divine will is carried out and fulfilled actually come to faith, are kept in it, have all hindrances to their salvation overcome, and have all adversities turned into advantages for them; for "the eternal election of grace of God, or predestination, not only foresees and knows the salvation of the elect beforehand, but also, out of the gracious will and good pleasure of God in Christ Jesus, is a cause which creates, works, helps, and promotes our salvation and what belongs to it, and upon this our salvation" is so founded that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, etc. (Formula of Concord, p. 1096; Latin, p. 799f.) Out of the dark, unfathomable ground of eternity, everything comes forth bright and clear for them — the thoughts of peace which make all the members, in the work of their salvation from election onward to glorification, necessary and inseparable parts of a whole, since the one conditions the other, so that purpose and calling in general, and those elements that bear a particular relation to the predestined, are, in a certain sense, distinguished from each other. From every single moment in time along this chain onward — since the gift of grace comes to those already prepared beforehand (Ephesians 2:10) — they accordingly learn and know how to find their bearings in everything that befalls them in this life, whatever is allotted or measured out to them, be the change great or small, be it even a deep fall or manifold stumbling; already the crown of righteousness is laid up for them, which, after the completed fight of faith and a course run more or less well, they shall receive from the hands of their Savior; for whom He has called, them He has also justified; and whom He has justified, them He, before whom there is no time, has beforehand also glorified, Romans 8:30. It is not assumed at this point that there is some perfectly equal number of those who are called, justified, and glorified, such that there are exactly as many of the former as of the latter, and as many of these as of the last group; nor is it denied at all that a believer may yet fall away between his particular calling and his glorification, nor likewise that many are called who nevertheless do not attain to justification (chapter 11:22, Matthew 20:16) — no, what is taught here, for the eternal comfort of all the elect, is that God Himself, so far as it depends on Him, leads them from one stage to the next.

(To be continued.)