Walther as Theologian – Part 15:Election of Grace

Continued from Part 14.  Table of Contents will be in Part 1 when all installments are finished.
The Doctrine of Election can be a minefield for a Christian.  Pieper especially highlighted Walther's own comment on this:

Walther calls the road which leads between the errors regarding the doctrine of election “narrow indeed”.

So what is a Christian to do when confronted with a doctrine of the Bible that has caused so many to stumble or fall in their faith, especially Calvinists and modern theology in general?  Turn to the teachers of the Church who taught the pure Gospel, the right Doctrine of Justification: Luther, Walther, and Pieper (also Martin Chemnitz).  Below you will get the teaching that avoids the looming errors and, not only that, your faith will be strengthened by the Doctrine of Election of Grace.  Avoid all the smart alecks who think they can tackle this doctrine on their own – especially most of those writers in today's LC-MS.

Highlighting and text in green are my additions.  Underlining is in original.

Hyperlinks within this document should be opened in a new tab (or window).

If the reader has not already done so, please purchase the recent publication The Formula of Concord – Core and Highlights; The Doctrine of Election in Questions and Answers from Lutheran News, Inc. (2012).  (See my original post of August, 2012)  The second portion, pages 121 – 159, especially brings out Walther's teaching in a very easy to follow question–answer format.
(Further quotes and comments may be added at a later date).

The next post is Part 16 – Election and Faith.