# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_October 1858_S309
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

309
The Teaching of the Formula of Concord on the Election of Grace.

That later Lutheran theologians departed from Holy Scripture in the doctrine of the election of grace is, alas, a fact. Among them belongs, among others, Spener, who seeks the cause of the election of grace in the faith foreseen by God. It is false, however, when one, as often happens, ascribes this Pelagian error to the Formula of Concord as well. We read such an insinuation again in the "German Journal for Christian Scholarship" edited by Hollenberg in Berlin. There it says, in the June issue of this year: "He (Elector John Sigismund) denied only what the Formula of Concord had set forth — that the divine election of the graced to eternal life proceeds before God on account of the faith of each individual foreseen by him — because through this the most comforting reformational conviction, that the ground of our salvation by no means lies in the worthiness of man but solely in the free mercy of God, seemed to him endangered."

But where in all the world is there any statement of the Formula of Concord that would justify this charge? The Formula of Concord does indeed maintain that those are elect who believe steadfastly, but not that a man is elect because he believes steadfastly; just as the godly are saved, but not because they are godly. Rather the Formula of Concord speaks thus: "Therefore it is false and wrong (to teach) that not the mercy of God and the most holy merit of Christ alone, but also something in us, is a cause of God's election, for the sake of which God has chosen us to eternal life." And in another place: "But the eternal election of God not only foresees and knows beforehand the salvation of the elect, but is also, out of the gracious will and good pleasure of God in Christ Jesus, a cause which creates, works, helps, and advances our salvation and all that belongs to it, so that our salvation is also so grounded upon it that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, as it is written: My sheep no one shall pluck out of my hand. And again: And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Finally: Those who are punished and receive the wages of their sins are done no wrong; but as for the others — since God gives and preserves his Word, and thereby enlightens, converts, and preserves the people — God's pure grace and mercy, apart from their merit, is praised. If we go thus far in this article, we remain on the right path, as it is written, Hosea 13:9: 'Israel, that you are ruined, the fault is your own; but that you are helped is purely of my grace.'"

It is accordingly false to locate the difference between the Lutheran and the Reformed doctrine of the election of grace in this, that according to the former the ground of election lies in man's faith, while according to the latter it lies solely in God's mercy through Christ. The difference concerns entirely different points, into a discussion of which we cannot enter here.

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