AG7a: 1880 Pastoral Conference (Election vs Justification: no analogy; unspeakable damage)

      This continues from Part AG7 (Table of Contents in Part AG1a) in a series presenting Walther's essays to the Western District that supported his theme "That Only Through the Doctrine of the Lutheran Church is All Glory Given to God Alone". — This publication was not one of Walther's essays to the Western District, but was precipitated by some of them, specifically those on the Election of Grace. (See this blog post about the CPH translations on these "Pastoral Conferences".) It provides a rare look into the actual discussions within the Synod caused by some unrest among some members over Walther's biblical, confessional teaching. Because the opponents were learned men and knew the language of the Bible and the Confessions, they could present some persuasive arguments for the notion that there is something in man that caused God to elect certain ones to eternal life. But Walther remained firm in the biblical doctrine, and that is how one can come away from these discussions with an even firmer faith, if one throws away their own rationalizing ideas and remains with the Bible. Of particular interest is the discussion below on the relationship of Election to Justification.

Notable quotes:

1880 Chicago Pastoral Conference:

All quotes by Walther except where noted.

11 (54): (see here, on Confessionalism): "…for the Book of Concord must be interpreted by itself, just as Scripture must be explained by Scripture. … For whoever would say that we must interpret the Formula of Concord according to Scripture would be saying that the Formula of Concord cannot be trusted and must first be corrected according to Scripture."

20 (62): "Nor must we allow ourselves to be led away from the Formula of Concord by the arguments of later theologians, who are not heretics…"

39 (81): "Therefore faith is not to be introduced here as the cause; for that is the point, whether I can also be certain of my salvation."

44 (86): "This morning it was said that there is a similarity between justification and election. … To this I say: From this I can conclude nothing other than that Prof. Stellhorn has either no election of grace at all or a general election of grace."

46 (87): Walther explains UOJ to Prof. Stellhorn: Prof. Stellhorn: I must confess: Then I did not know what subjective justification is.  I always thought that subjective justification was a special judicial act of God.

Dr. Walther: Objective justification is nothing more than the acquisitio of justitia or the acquisition of righteousness, and the gift from God is also there. But what good is the gift if I do not take it?  Faith must be added to this.  When God says: Your sins are forgiven (and this is what God said to all people through the resurrection of Jesus Christ), everyone can see that this does not help me if I do not believe and accept it.  It is given to me, but if I do not grasp it, I do not have it.

47 (88 ): "I believe that there is no analogy to be sought here with justification.  For if I am saved by faith, God has already actually done what you say he has yet to do.  That cannot possibly be predestination." [No false analogy between Justification and Election of Grace.]

50 (91): "We are not talking here about a subjective judgment, but about a special judicial act of God in subjective justification.  I say that objective justification is just as much an act of God's judgment as subjective justification.  Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has pronounced a judicial verdict; but the world has not recognized it.  As soon as I accept the justification granted to me in faith, I have it.  I ask: How can this be called an election when it is taught that God foresaw that certain people would remain in the faith until the end, and now, having foreseen this, he has decided:  They shall be saved."

54 (94): "For if we do not agree on what election is, then it will be useless to discuss other matters."

55 (96): "Let us pray, let us sigh to God day and night, that he will not leave our dear brothers in their opposition to us; for we all stand on one foundation, praise God! but they believe we stand on a false one."

57 (97): "Now I ask: Does this definition not take away this consolation? If election by grace is nothing more than a judicial application of the way of salvation to the elect, then the consolation mentioned in §§ 46-47 [FC XI] is lost."

57 (98): "It is impossible for an elect person to be damned."

67 (106): ''we do not grasp the election of grace by faith, as we grasp righteousness by faith.  The righteousness of Christ belongs to the whole world and therefore we can and should grasp it by faith.  Election, however, does not concern the whole world, but extends only to the children of God."

67 (107): "As soon as you allow faith to be the cause on the part of man, you make it a work."

68 (107): "You do not want to admit in a childlike manner the testimonies of Holy Scripture, but want to insert faith to be able to explain the mystery of which God’s Word is silent."

73 (111): "Be careful not to confuse the general counsel of salvation with election. This is where understanding usually fails." ["Bill": "no theological sense whatsoever"]

74 (112): Walther on Andreae, Chemnitz, Kirchner and Selnecker; Andreae commits error

79 (116): Pieper: "One only has to start from the correct anthropological proposition, which our Formula of Concord also places in the middle, namely that man can do nothing for his salvation, but everything for his damnation."

80 (118): Pieper: "How will an elected one know that he has been redeemed if it is not told him: “All mankind has been redeemed”? How will he know that God is gracious to him if he does not hear that God earnestly desires to call everyone? Thus the universal way of salvation must be described if the way is to be described upon which the elect go."

82 (119): "God has revealed to us why people are not elect, despite the fact that God wants all people to be helped, despite the fact that the Good Shepherd calls all the world to himself. They just did not want to. That is the cause. But not so with election; there the cause lies only in God, not in man."

88 (124): Pieper: "The doctrine of the election of grace is an extremely delicate thing. You cannot get away with mere dogmatic formulas. The same man [Apostle Paul] who is certain of his election and salvation says in another respect, if he still has flesh in him: I must fight that I may not be rejected. … And I think that here we are struck by the observation of a difference, namely the difference between the Law and the Gospel. Whoever does not distinguish between Law and Gospel in this case will spoil all possible scriptural statements, both those dealing with certainty and those dealing with the admonition to fight. He who does not distinguish here between Law and Gospel stirs up a general mash of exhortations to certainty and fear; there is half fear, half certainty, i.e. no certainty at all."

92 (128): "If we agree on the doctrine of conversion, then our dispute over the doctrine of election of grace will soon be over." [Excellent Walther page]

93-94 (129): "Not only what man can do by virtue of free will [liberum arbitrium] is to be excluded here, but also what is worked by grace. They [17th century dogmaticians, "intuitu fidei" Gerhard, etc.] have not gone as far as our dear opponents. I beg you! If a Gerhard, a Quenstedt and others had received the definition of election by grace that has been presented to us, they would have thrown up their hands in disbelief."

95 (131): "Indeed, if I do not now believe that I am an elect person, then I do not consider God to be true."

100 (135): "How many ungodly preachers there are, and how many preachers of weak knowledge, who hold people so exceedingly short in consolation! Think of the Methodists, the Reformed, the United [Unirten]! Oh, how little comfort flows there, and yet we believe that people are saved there too."

"How many godless preachers are there and how many preachers of weak understanding, who cut comfort exceedingly short! Think of the Methodists, the Reformed, and the Unionists! How sparse the comfort flows there, and yet we believe that people are also saved there."

107 (141): Conference: "we will not tolerate anyone who is a member of our Synod writing against us in foreign journals." [As Jaroslav Pelikan did in a German paper in 1952.]

111 (144): On Pastor Allwardt: "the unspeakable damage that has been done to our Synod"

The following is the full text of my English translation:

Download DOCX file >> HERE <<; German text file >> HERE <<.

In the next blog post Part AG7b, we present the General Pastoral Conference from 1881.

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To view my discussion of a comment I received from "Bill" about 10 years ago against the doctrines of Universal and Objective Justification, and how it relates to Election of Grace, see the following:

AG7: 1880 The Election of Grace III: Justification; against synergism

      This continues from Part AG6 (Table of Contents in Part AG1a) in a series presenting Walther's essays to the Western District that supported his theme "That Only Through the Doctrine of the Lutheran Church is All Glory Given to God Alone". — This essay concludes Walther's 3-part teaching on this doctrine. Walther shows us how Election of Grace corroborates the doctrine of Justification. He also was the strongest opponent of any form of Synergism: 

Notable Quotes:

20-1 (328): "the vast majority …have never heard of election by grace. They think that one must be most fearful of this doctrine, for many thousands have already fallen into great distress of soul… it is therefore best not to speak of it at all. But this is a great error."

21 (329): "the Savior … says: 'You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you'"

22 (330): "In the first place, the doctrine of justification is confirmed and placed in the right light precisely by the correct presentation of the doctrine of election by grace"

23 (330): "…because the main thing for us has always been the doctrine of justification. …justification will be the sun that shines before us on our path; it will remain the golden thread that runs through all our sermons. But when opponents attack a doctrine, then of course we must defend ourselves, then we must stand up for God's Word and God's honor." [i.e. "All Glory to God"]

23 (330): Opponents "say that the way we present it [Election] is not Lutheran, but Calvinistic…accuse us of being crypto-Calvinists".

24 (331): "if he does not know that he has been pardoned forever, he will always lie there in fear and terror."

25 (332): Calvin "wants to bring them to faith through an irresistible grace, so that no matter how much they resist, He will still force them to believe …but those who are not elect are not meant by the gospel; God does not call them seriously"

26 (333): "Why are we accused of Calvinism?… because we teach that the election of grace is a cause of our salvation [and] because we teach that the cause of election to grace is only twofold, namely, the mercy of God and the most holy merit of Christ"

29 (335): "but He said: I want all men to go to heaven; therefore I will send my Son to die for all, I will call all without exception"

29 (335): "Acts 13:48, it is so clear that the election of grace is a cause of our salvation"

30 (335): "unbelievers do not come to faith as a result of their persistent resistance, not because God did not want to give them faith"

33 (338): "Thus repentance, conversion, faith, justification, sanctification, patience in the cross, perseverance to the end is a realization of election, and not the other way around. [See this 2013 blog.]… rationalistic peddlers [say] 'I have been converted to Christ, I do all kinds of good works, and therefore God has elected me'"

36 (340): "In the seventeenth century the doctrine became established in the Lutheran Church that God did not choose for the sake of faith, but nevertheless in view of faith" [I.e. the erroneous "intuitu fidei"]

37 (342): "If anyone asks: Why are certain persons damned? The answer is: Because of their own fault."

39 (343): "God remains the cause and never becomes the caused" [See also 1877 Western p. 86]

40 (344): Predestination "confirms the article very powerfully, that we are justified and saved without all our works and merits, purely by grace, for Christ's sake alone"

40 (344): "The election of grace is not a general one, like justification, but a particular one, …for the Savior says: 'Many are called, but few are chosen.'"

42 (345): "It is therefore no small thing, but something very important, to make faith the cause of election; for our church calls this a terrible and blasphemous doctrine."

43 (346): "The Formula of Concord speaks of an election of grace in the narrower or proper sense of the word, and not of an election of grace which comprehends in itself the general order of salvation and grace. [This is the talking point in the “Pastoral Conferences” of 1879 and 1880 - see the next 2 blog posts.] … when the Formula of Concord says that the election of grace of which it speaks concerns only the pious, it testifies that it speaks of an election of grace in the proper sense."

48 (349): "not because of faith, but through faith"

48 (350): "to remove the offense which reason takes at this doctrine": "what God has seen in man" (Synergists) or "making God the cause of reprobation" (Calvinists)

49 (351): "the first to teach synergism was Melanchthon." [See 1879 Western, p. 116; Bente, Introduction, p. 129]

50 (352): "…the word: "by grace you have been saved". Every other religion refers man to his goodness, to his good works"

53 (355): Small Catechism: "I cannot believe in Christ Jesus my Lord or come to him by my own reason or strength."

57 (359): "But I should not do as the Turks [Muslims] do, … they think: If I am not to die, I will not die; but if I am to die, I may do as I please, I must die. Their priests tell them: Everything is predestined by God, and everything will happen as God has ordained; therefore, do what you want, nothing can harm you. That is why these people go to war so calmly, because they think: If my hour has come, I must die, I may be in battle or sitting at home; if it has not come, all the cannons in the world may be pointed at me, but I will not die."

60 (361): "we are in no way minded to make God the cause of condemnation (which is not really in God, but in sin)"

      Now I present my English translation of the full complete essay, with missing portions restored, all emphasized wording retained, and with hyperlinks for reference and navigation:

Download text file with no highlights here; German text file here.

     The 1877, 1879, and now the 1880, Western District essays largely closed the book on the Doctrine of Election. There was much controversy from opposing parties over these essays, even within the Synod. But Walther pointed out the scriptural teaching as opposed to an intrusion of rationalism. 

      For those that want to dig even deeper into this explosive controversy, we present 3 publications that preceded and followed these Western District essays. Two Pastoral Conferences, held in 1880 (Part AG7a) and 1881 (Part AG7b), were limited to the controversy within the old Missouri Synod, leading to the departure of some professors and pastors to opposition synods. Then we present a short extract from the 1868 Northern District report (Part AG7c) that several LC-MS historians ridiculed, but this was almost certainly Walther's teaching! Lastly (Part AG7d) we call out Prof. Mackenzie's so-called "second error in Walther's citing of Luther".

      After all of these in which the subject of Election had been covered, Walther could now return to his original sequence of topics, in the next Part AG8, on the Invocation and Worship of God, or about Prayer.

AG6: 1879 Western: Election of Grace, Part II: The proper use of Election of Grace

      This continues from Part AG5 (Table of Contents in Part AG1a) in a series presenting Walther's essays to the Western District that supported his theme "That Only Through the Doctrine of the Lutheran Church is All Glory Given to God Alone". — This segment in Walther's series that the Lutheran Church gives all glory to God addresses how the doctrine of Election should be used: to comfort people, especially those needing consolation in their faith: 

Notable Quotes:

26 (241): Calvinists "teach an absolute, i.e. unconditional, election…also to damnation"

28 (242): "A Calvinist cannot comfort an oppressed person; on the contrary, he plunges him deeper and deeper into despair. The latter thinks he has no faith; but the Calvinist teaches that the elect feel faith in their hearts. For they do not base it on the Word and Sacrament, as we do according to Scripture"

28 (243): "We know that even if a Christian does not feel his faith, he still has it, for faith by its very nature is not a feeling, but a turning to Christ with confidence."

29 (243): "…all men are redeemed and shall have life through faith in Christ; I am one of them. This is Lutheran consolation; no papist, no Calvinist, no fanatic can give it" [This is why I am a Lutheran.]

30 (245): "That is why God so often calls out to us: 'Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling!' … because we can so easily lose our salvation through our own fault."

31 (246): " the Baptist John Bunyan, the well-known author of 'Pilgrim’s Progress'…" [see other blog post]

32-34 (247-248): Luther's and Walther's counsel to one contemplating suicide.

34 (248): Luther vs. Calvinists: "It is something quite wonderful how purely, powerfully and comfortingly Luther teaches the universality of God's grace; therefore it is a shameful blasphemy of Luther to say, which also occurs here in America, that Luther was a particularist, i.e. that he denied the universality of God's grace, while no one emphasized it so powerfully as he did."

38 (252): "Many dogmatists… do not want faith to be described as a fruit, but rather as a cause of predestination"

39 (252): "This, then, is the final purpose of election, that I may be saved, and that I may already here be assured of my salvation."

40 (253): "This does not mean that anyone who is not certain that he belongs to the elect is not a Christian… But we should also lead a Christian to the point where he becomes certain of his salvation."

42 (255): "If someone asks: how can you know, have you seen God in your heart? then we can answer: yes, I have seen God in my heart. In the Bible, that's where I find it."

44 (257): "Luther is saying that if the election of grace consisted in God saying that these should go to heaven and those to hell, then he would not have needed to send his Son into the world." [This refutes LC-MS historian Roy Suelflow who stated in his 1946 Dissertation, p. 69, that "No matter how much we admire Luther, there is some truth in this statement: "We do list him …as a teacher of absolute predestination." Suelflow's advisors were "Walkout" pioneers W. G. Polack, Th. Graebner, W. Arndt.]

47 (259): "So one must not say, as some do, that I base my election of grace on my behavior. As soon as one does so, he bases it on the Law."

49 (262): "Methodists…claim that Christ appeared to them and that they heard a voice from heaven."

52 (264): "That is the terrible thing about the Calvinists, they only talk about the mystery, and instead of pointing a listener to the Scriptures, they point him to reason, and then Calvinistic predestination comes out."

56 (267-8): "If the good God had not determined from eternity to save me, I would not go to heaven.…I can find out from Scripture whether I am an elect person or not.…The election of grace is only held out to believers for their comfort, not to the world."

61 (273): "Your cross is a sign that you are elect, for God has also elected us to bear with Christ all the suffering and weakness in this world."

63 (274-5: "But the flesh must always falter, for we still have to fight with the world and the devil, and in such a battle the flesh is shaky. But, of course, only he who believes is in this struggle; therefore, if the faltering is gone from you, it is to be feared that you no longer have faith either."

64 (275): "For whoever wishes that Jesus is his Savior already believes that Jesus will save him; for whoever does not believe this does not wish it either; for no one wishes to believe something to be true that he considers to be a lie."

64 (275): "If I am certain of my salvation by faith, I am certain of it with fear and trembling…I am certain of my salvation a posteriori, namely, because I believe". 

65 (276): "my comfort is not that I have seized Christ, but that he has seized me"

66 (277): "…(we should also believe according to love that all our church members are elect), and [Paul] is not at all concerned about the temporary believers.…do not concern yourself with them"

67 (278): Luther: The elect "can be deceived, but finally they come out again, before they depart from this vale of tears; as I often use the example of St. Bernard"

72 (282): "our glory, … namely, that we make our hearers firm and certain of their salvation. Even German theologians have found in this the explanation of the incomprehensibly rapid spread of our dear [Missouri] Synod."

73-4 (284): "It is true that election is different from justification; I say: you are all redeemed, justification is acquired by all men, you are now all to appropriate it. I cannot speak of election in such a way that I say: all men are elected"

80 (289): "It would be terrible if we were to be deprived of the certainty of our salvation for the sake of those who fall away."

81 (290): "One must not think that when the old theologians also add in the words: you also should pray diligently, watch, use the means of grace faithfully, they mean to say: therefore election is uncertain, dependent on a condition that may not be fulfilled."  [Cp. Prof. Eggold's charge against Walther L09a]

85 (294): "God has absolute certainty, we do not." [I.e. We are not to have "carnal certainty".]

86 (295): "even if I should stumble once, the good Lord will seek me again. This is not a carnal certainty, but a reliance on the promises of God."

89 (298): "Judas was of the number of the chosen apostles, but never of the number of the elect to be saved."

92 (300-1): "Hope is what distinguishes a Christian from the pagans.…Who has not noticed that worldly people envy Christians because of their certain hope of salvation?" [See this blog post]

96 (303): "If you are now an elect person, you will say: Lead me, God, as you will, give me good or bad days, peace or discord…"

99 (306): "[Paul] gives as the reason for his certainty a reason that all Christians have, namely that Christ died and rose again and ascended to heaven and is making intercession."

100 (308): "Because God does not want the light of faith of the elect to go out, he uses such warnings and admonitions, even threats. God does it here just like a doctor."

104 (311): "The believers alone are the elect, therefore only the believers can be certain of their election."

107 (314): A pious fear is "a fearful shyness to offend God and an earnest endeavor to avoid sin, combined with humility, conscientious care, love and invocation of God."

111 (317): "Election by grace, is by no means a resting-place for those who want to use the gospel to continue in their sin"

114, 116 (320, 322): "Our church rejects and condemns those who teach that not only God's grace in Christ is the reason for our election, but that there must also be a cause for it in man… The reason why the Formula of Concord bears this witness is that Melanchthon introduced this error." [See this blog]

      Now I present my English translation of the full complete essay, with missing portions restored, all emphasized wording retained, and with hyperlinks for reference and navigation:

Download text file with no highlights here; German text file here.

In the next Part AG7, the third of 3 essays, delivered in 1880, on the Doctrine of Election of Grace.

AG5: 1877 Western: Election of Grace, Part I

      This continues from Part AG4c (Table of Contents in Part AG1a) in a series presenting Walther's essays to the Western District that supported his theme "That Only Through the Doctrine of the Lutheran Church is All Glory Given to God Alone". — At the end of Walther's 1876 essay, the following resolution was made: "It was resolved to begin with point 12 of thesis III (doctrine of the Election of Grace) at the next Synod Assembly." Although he had addressed this in his 1873 essay (see Part AG1c) in a limited way, now, in 1876, it was becoming quite important for Walther to address the intense controversy in a more thorough way. — From the convention report, pp. 20-109:

Notable Quotes:

22 (162-163): "…our ingenuity has always much more pleasure in troubling itself with these matters than with that which God has revealed to us in His Word."

24 (164): "almost all recent theologians who have written dogmatics deny [eternal election]."

25 (165): "The elect are thus taken out of humanity, indeed, out of the number of nominal Christians. How absurd it is, therefore, to speak of election and to refer it to the whole of humanity" [i.e. Election is particular.]

26-27 (166): "The whole of modern Christianity is designed to make people think that they are great saints…I do not hope to be saved because I think I am a hair's breadth better than the greatest sinners"

29 (168): "What fools, therefore, are those who think that the doctrine of election is a dangerous doctrine!"

32 (171): "even Thomasius himself allows election to be based on God's general will of grace… But this is the order of redemption, not that of election." [False analogy to redemption.]

34 (172): "the doctrines of the Word of God, of providence, of justification, of the means of grace, etc. These are all teachings that are for all people. But now we come to a doctrine which relates only to the elect"

36 (174): "For an elect person can certainly lose faith, but he cannot die without first having been restored to it again…a Christian can always be joyful and confident, for he knows that the God who has chosen him will not abandon him in the weakness of his flesh, but will keep him in faith to the end."

39 (177): "When Gerhard writes here that our election to eternal life is entirely due to divine mercy alone, we also learn how he wants to be understood when he speaks of election 'in view of faith'." [Or "intuitu fidei". Walther shows that the use of Gerhard's term by the opponents was incorrect and against Gerhard.]

41 (179): "But there is a vast difference between mere foreknowledge and predestination."

43 (180): "God's providence is not mere foreknowledge, but a provision for salvation"

48: (185): "The Arminians  [Methodists, Pentecostals, Free Will Baptists, the Church of the Nazarene, holiness movement] also deny our thesis [Election is cause of our salvation.]. Although Calvinists by birth, they are known to reject their master's doctrine of predestination. At first they were quite Lutheran, but because they were not pure in the doctrine of justification, they fell into a Pelagian doctrine of election of grace and ascribed to man a participation in salvation."

54 (189): "I do not come to the Word, but the Word comes to me."

56 (191): "…there is nothing in us that could have moved God to choose us for eternal life."

56-57 (192): "The Jews had sought righteousness with the greatest zeal, the Gentiles not at all. The latter received it, the former lost it: truly a clear proof that there is no cause of election in us."

58-59 (193): "Consider well, you can neither convert yourselves nor keep yourselves in the faith. Now God gives you grace, therefore use it well!"

61 (195): "…it is quite unbearable for a self-righteous man to hear that he should not be a hair's breadth more worthy than another who is wallowing in the dunghill of sin"

63 (197): "The good Lord treats us human beings like a kind father treats his little child…He leads us by the hand, makes beautiful writing, and pays us for it. Oh, what love, what fatherly kindness!"

65 (199): "For the greater the good that God wants to give us, the more certain it is that we cannot earn it; precisely because we are dealing here with a good that cannot be comprehended in its greatness and glory, it cannot be otherwise: it must be given to us by free grace."

70 (202): "He who is truly awakened has come from death to life; Christ has become his life."

73 (205): "If you ask them [Methodists etc.]: What must I do to be saved? they answer: "You must pray until you hear a voice in your heart that says to you: Now you have grace"

75 (207): "Then we should say to them: Well, my dear fellow, be of good cheer, you are already in the faith; for it is impossible for me to long for the faith without already believing."

80 (211): "Every man has so much strength by nature that he can say: I will go to church, or not; I will read the Bible, or not; I will be baptized, or not. But that is not what conversion is all about."

86 (216): "This is an important axiom: God remains the cause and never becomes the caused."

86-102: Thesis IV: Walther's great Bible lesson: on God's mercy on all (unbelieving) mankind. Especially on Romans 9:22-23, pp. 90-93.

88 (218): John 3:16: "…it means "gave"; the Son of God has therefore already been given to the whole world; the whole world has not received him, but he has been given to it. So whoever receives Christ in faith does not presume anything, no! he only takes what has been given to him"

88 (218): "it is a denial of the Gospel that the Methodists and the false pietists, for example, so often say: "Examine yourself to see whether you are allowed to take hold”. This is proof that they have no real understanding of the gospel."

90: (219): "God does not harden anyone who has not first hardened himself" [against "irresistible grace"]

92 (221): On Rom. 9:22-23: "This is very important! For from this we see that all who are saved are prepared for salvation by God before the foundation of the world, whereas the vessels of wrath, i.e. those who are damned, are also prepared for damnation, but firstly, not beforehand, and secondly, not by God, but by the devil and their own evil will." [Walther says to read the Greek text on this passage, beyond Luther's translation (see this translation). Refutes the Calvinists!]

97 (225): "Many people now do not want to believe that he [Luther] taught the universality of God's grace for the whole world of sinners; on the contrary, they want to make him a Calvinist."

102 (230): "Incidentally, the Calvinist error basically dominates the whole of modern pantheistic philosophy. After Calvin had made God the author of sin, it was only one step further to deny the existence of sin altogether"

103 (231): Mysteries of God: "Scripture teaches that God loved all people and wants to save them. And yet we find that whole nations have had no Word of God for centuries…All mysteries that reason cannot solve!"

104-5 (232): Germany: "Doesn't our dear Germany come to mind? How splendidly it stood there more than a hundred years ago! Now most of the pulpits are occupied by seducers. There one hears of us. But we must be an abominable sect. Beware of them, they call out to those who are preparing to move to this country. So the poor people come over here and think: Just not to the Missouri Synod!" [Now America!]

      Now I present my English translation of the full complete essay, with missing portions restored, all emphasized wording retained, and with hyperlinks for reference and navigation:

Download text file with no highlights here; German text file here.

In the next Part AG6, the 1879 Western District essay, the second part of Walther's 3-part teaching on the Doctrine of the Election of Grace.

AG4c: Means of Grace: Immutability; Conversion, Antichrist

      This continues from Part AG4b (Table of Contents in Part AG1a) in a series presenting Walther's essays to the Western District that supported his theme "That Only Through the Doctrine of the Lutheran Church is All Glory Given to God Alone". — The Western District conventions were where  Walther delivered some of his most notable convention essays. One could almost say this series provides the basics for a dogmatics text book, much like his Baier-Walther Compendium series, (which I am working on now). — This blog covers point 4. on the Means of Grace, then a short section on Conversion (pp. 63-71):

1. Foundation (pp. 25-29)
2. Validity (pp. 29-41)
3. Power (pp. 42-56)
4. Immutability (pp. 56-63)

On pp. 56-63, Walther "calls a spade a spade", i.e. "the Pope is the Antichrist", just as the Lutheran symbolic books do:

Notable Quotes:

Immutability (& Antichrist):

56: "no man…can change the means of grace as God has ordained them"

56: "it is self-evident that if God decrees something, the creature cannot change it…But this is what the papacy has actually done.…has put the stamp of the Antichrist on itself…this happened at the Council of Constance."

58: "The papists…do not violate what they have ordained [one form], but what the Lord Christ has ordained [both forms, bread and wine] they think they may change."

58: The Pope "cannot say otherwise, because he does not believe that the Bible is God's Word"

59: "it is called a Missourian quirk that we teach that the pope is the Antichrist"

60: Papists: "claimed to be the Church of God, and yet consciously departed from the commands of God."

60: "The Lord expressly says that the Holy Spirit would not teach them anything new, so those words of the papists were also a blasphemy of the Holy Spirit."

60: Luther "did not want to suffer the honor of God to be taken away from Him with regard to the immutability of the means of grace."

61: "Where it was necessary to give God the glory, Luther did not remain silent"

61: "Where is there a hell for the rascal [the Pope] who…pretends to have the power to make something wiser and better than Christ?"

62: "But an anti-Christian spirit is also revealed in the fact that the modern theologians 

• make God's Word uncertain, 
• deny the Lutheran doctrine of the inspiration of Holy Scripture, 
• leave the decision of doctrinal disputes not to the Word of God but to the pronouncement of the Church, and 
• turn the teachings of Scripture into open questions."

62: Modern theologians "do not believe that the Bible is God's Word". [See p. 58 above on the Pope]

62: "that is the terrible thing, that they [papists] admit it [inspired Word], and yet ascribe to themselves the power to depart from it. In this way they elevate themselves above everything that is called God"

Conversion: 

63: "Lutherans "maintain that God converts man all by Himself."

63: "God must be the cause that so many are not converted and saved. So says our reason…"

64: "If man wants to do anything for his conversion, it is all in vain, indeed, only an obstacle to it"

64: "this much we know: they willfully resisted, for if they had not willfully resisted, they would certainly have been converted"

65: A Christian: "I have not acquired it [my salvation] by my own doing, I have not prayed for it, I have not fought for it, it has come upon me in this way!"

65: "Just as a fish is caught with a hook, so people are caught by the Word of God"

65: "This is biblical doctrine, this is also Lutheran doctrine, which gives all glory to God alone"

65: Lutheran doctrine, "an abomination and an annoyance to all Pharisees in the world, even to those who rail against the Pharisees" [I. e., the "enemy of my enemy is [not necessarily] my friend".]

66: "Baptists and Methodists, talk so much about grace…but that is nothing but empty talk, it is not true…they may say so with their mouths, but basically they attribute everything to themselves"

67: "Many people imagine conversion to be like being placed at a crossroads…now man is given the choice"

68: "as soon as man is so far advanced that he can use the divine powers of grace, he is also converted"

68: "there is no middle ground [of the Pietists] between death and life. Either a person is still dead in sin, or he is awakened from his death of sin"

68-69: "God stands before the heart of man, as it were, like a general standing before a castle he wants to conquer…[the man] always lets God's bullets hit his inner being, and he resists, until finally God conquers the castle of his heart, then he cannot help it, he must surrender to the victor; that is conversion."

69: "Holy Scripture compares conversion with creation"

69: "All those who ascribe to man a part in conversion therefore overturn the whole teaching of Scripture on conversion"

70: "It is indeed God's work alone if a person is converted; but it is only man's work if he remains unconverted."

70: "Even passages such as: 'choose whom you will serve' [Joshua 24:15]…do not contain any synergism. They are to be taken in the same way as when the Savior says: 'Lazarus, come forth.'"

      Reading Walther's characterization of God's action against a stony heart can drive a Christian to plead with Him in prayer for those in his family who are unconverted. — 

      Now I present my English translation of the full complete essay, with missing portions restored , all emphasized wording retained, and with hyperlinks for reference and navigation:

Download text file with no highlights here; German text file here.

In his "Postscript", editor Suelflow stated at the end of the 1981 translations book: 

"The entire series of essays which Walther delivered between 1873 and 1886 on the topic: The Doctrine of the Lutheran Church Alone Gives All Glory to God, an Irrefutable Proof That Its Doctrine Alone Is True, would constitute several volumes."

In the next Part AG5a…, we pick up where that 1981 CPH book ended, at the 1877 convention, beginning Walther's 3-year series of essays on the Doctrine of the Election of Grace, or Predestination.