Lehre und Wehre St. Louis, Missouri — November 1856, Seite 325

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Cited in Eckhardt's Reallexikon (1907) under: Gnadenwahlslehrſtreit. —— 33

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Zu der Lehre von der Gnadenwahl und einigen damit zusammenhängenden ꝛc. 325

Deum respectu praevisae fidei elegisse homines? Quidni statuerem, quum scriptura sacra hoc ipsum dilucidissime affirmet? Thesis I. Deus aeterno suo consilio decrevit, quod praeter eos, qui filium ejus Jesum Christum vera fide agnoscunt, neminem velit salvum facere. Ergo: thesis 2. Deus elegit hominem ad salutem respectu fidei praevisae.“ Man beachte unter seinen dictis probantibus besonders Joh. 17, 20., 2 Thess. 2, 13., Jak. 2, 5. Ihm folgten die einfachen dogmatischen Bestimmungen: Forma electionis Dei in prothesi, prognosi et proorismo consistit; prothesis, propositum, est voluntas Dei, ut, quicunque credit in Filium (sc. perseveranter s. ad finem usque), habeat vitam in aeternum; prognosis, praescientia, est, qua ab aeterno praevidit singula individua in Christum (sic) creditura; proorismus, ipsa praedestinatio, qua iisdem dedit vitam aeternam — electio facta est secundum Dei propositum et praescientiam simul. Vgl. Eph. 1, 5. 9. mit 1 Petr. 1, 1. 2.

Satz III.

Ganz anders gestaltet sich die Schwierigkeit in dieser Frage, wenn man das göttliche Vorherwissen von einer Vorherbestimmung ableitet oder als mit derselben identisch betrachtet. So gewiß der ewige Vorsatz des Dreieinigen von unsrer Seligkeit, obschon das ganze menschliche Geschlecht in Christo angesehen, umfaßt und gesegnet worden ist, nur auf die Erwählten seinem Vollzug nach zurückgeführt werden kann, weil sie allein bis an's Ende beharren, von ihnen allein es Gott vor aller Zeit bekannt war, Er sie allein dazu erschaffen, berufen und von Ewigkeit prädestinirt hat, so daß Gott, sich vorsetzend durch den Glauben (als die allein mögliche, denkbare Form der Aneignung) selig zu machen, zugleich beschloß auch solches durch die Erwählten, von denen Er das Zukünftige voraussah, in der Zeit zu realisiren, weshalb die Schrift die Prothesis als in dem weitern Begriff des Willens eingeschlossen auf sie allein bezieht, (vgl. Eph. 1, bes. V. 11. 3, 11., Röm. 8, 22., 2 Tim. 1, 9:) so folgt doch aus diesem Allen nicht, daß ihrem eigentlichen Grunde nach die Prädestination als ein ewiger Akt der Allmacht, welcher über der Gnade walte und diese absolut bestimme, gleichermaßen auf den vorhergewußten verdammenden Unglauben ausgedehnt werden dürfe, so daß der Charakter des allgemeinen Rathschlusses, eben durch die Gabe des Glaubens die Menschheit zu beseligen, verletzt würde, und Wissen und Wollen oder Wirken in Gott ein und dasselbe sei oder Er nur wisse, was Er wolle; die Spekulation über Gott und die Mysterien Seines Wesens hat überhaupt mit dem geoffenbarten Weg des Heiles nichts zu schaffen. Der Wille und der Vorsatz Gottes sind allerdings stets unabänderlich zu denken; aber niemals ist Sein Erkennen damit also zu verbinden, daß Er nur darum Alles wisse, weil Alles was geschieht, aus unbedingter Nothwendigkeit der Prädetermination hervorgehe: sondern obschon Er Alles, was Er selbst thun will, unwandelbar vorherbestimmt, geschieht doch Vieles, was zugleich nach einer Seite hin von Ihm selbst nicht gewirket ist und darum auch, inwie⸗

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On the Doctrine of the Election of Grace and Some Matters Connected Therewith, etc. 325

"Deum respectu praevisae fidei elegisse homines? Quidni statuerem, quum scriptura sacra hoc ipsum dilucidissime affirmet? Thesis I. Deus aeterno suo consilio decrevit, quod praeter eos, qui filium ejus Jesum Christum vera fide agnoscunt, neminem velit salvum facere. Ergo: thesis 2. Deus elegit hominem ad salutem respectu fidei praevisae." (Did God elect men out of respect for foreseen faith? Why should I not hold this, since Holy Scripture itself affirms this very thing most plainly? Thesis I. God, by His eternal counsel, decreed that, apart from those who acknowledge His Son Jesus Christ with true faith, He wills to save no one. Therefore: thesis 2. God elects man to salvation with respect to foreseen faith. — Note, among his supporting proof-texts, especially John 17:20; 2 Thess. 2:13; James 2:5. There followed for him the simple dogmatic determinations: the form of God's election consists in prothesis, prognosis, and proorismos; the prothesis, or purpose, is God's will that whoever believes in the Son (namely, perseveringly, even to the end) should have eternal life; the prognosis, or foreknowledge, is that by which He foreknew from eternity which individuals would come to believe in Christ (thus); the proorismos, predestination itself, is that by which He gave the same ones eternal life — election having been made according to God's purpose and foreknowledge together. Cf. Eph. 1:5, 9, with 1 Pet. 1:1–2.

Thesis III.

Quite differently does the difficulty in this question shape itself when one derives the divine foreknowledge from a predetermination, or regards it as identical with the same. However certain it is that the eternal purpose of the Triune God concerning our salvation — although the whole human race, viewed in Christ, has been embraced and blessed by it — can, in its actual execution, be traced back only to the elect, because they alone persevere to the end, because of them alone it was known to God before all time, and He alone created, called, and from eternity predestined them to this end, so that God, purposing to save through faith (as the only possible, conceivable form of appropriation), at the same time also resolved to realize this in time through the elect, of whom He foresaw the future — for which reason Scripture, in the broader concept of the will in which the prothesis is included, refers it to them alone (cf. Eph. 1, esp. v. 11; 3:11; Rom. 8:22; 2 Tim. 1:9) — it nevertheless does not follow from all this that predestination, by its own proper ground, as an eternal act of omnipotence that rules over grace and determines it absolutely, may likewise be extended to the foreknown, condemning unbelief, so that the character of the general counsel — namely, precisely through the gift of faith to bless mankind — would be violated, and knowing and willing, or working, in God would be one and the same thing, or He would only know what He wills; speculation about God and the mysteries of His being has, in general, nothing to do with the revealed way of salvation. God's will and purpose are indeed always to be thought unchangeable; but His knowing is never so to be connected with this as though He knew everything only because everything that happens proceeds from the unconditional necessity of predetermination: rather, although He unchangeably predetermines everything that He Himself wills to do, much still happens which, at the same time, on one side is not itself worked by Him, and therefore also, to what ex…