# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1892_S25
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1892. 25

gracious will of God. But if God is not to blame that those who are lost do not come to faith and persevere in faith to the end, then this must necessarily be traced back to those who are lost themselves, just as necessarily as from the fact that Scripture declares faith to be God's work it follows that faith is not the work of believers and that they have not themselves to thank for it. That those who are lost are themselves to blame for their unbelief is to be demonstrated in connection with the third thesis. Its wording is as follows:

Thesis 3.

The unbelief of those who are lost is to be traced back to themselves, because God himself wills to work and sustain faith in them through the means of grace.

As a consequence of the corruption of original sin, those who are lost are wholly unable of themselves to come to faith. Already in the presentation of the first thesis the consequences were pointed out which original sin has had for the whole of human nature: that through it it has died to everything good and become inclined to everything evil. As such spiritually dead persons, as persons whose understanding is darkened, who by nature perceive nothing of what belongs to the Spirit of God, whose will is perverted and set in hostility against God, they cannot give themselves faith, cannot accept in faith the Gospel preached to them, which is indeed something good and spiritual. Original sin would then have to be no original sin, and its consequence not the deep, inexpressible corruption of the whole of human nature. Therefore our Church also confesses in the Formula of Concord II, p. 589: "That in spiritual and divine matters the understanding, heart and will of the unregenerate man, out of his own natural powers, can altogether and in no way understand, believe, accept, think, will, begin, accomplish, do, work or cooperate, but is wholly and altogether dead and corrupted to the good, so that in man's nature, after the fall and before regeneration, not a spark of spiritual powers remains or is present, by which he could prepare himself for God's grace or accept the grace offered, nor be capable of it of and by himself, or by his own powers could help, do, work or cooperate in his conversion anything, either in the whole, or in half, or in any, the least or smallest part, of himself, as of himself, but is a servant of sin, John 8, and a captive of the devil, by whom he is driven, Eph. 2, 2 Tim. 2. Therefore the natural free will, according to its perverted manner and nature, is strong and active only toward that which is displeasing and contrary to God."