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.

AG4b: 1876: Means of Grace: Validity and Power; "better not to have a pastor…?"

      This continues from Part AG4a (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 delivered to the 1876 Western District dealt mostly with the Doctrine of the Means of Grace, where Walther covers four points, of which this blog covers points 2. and 3.:

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

Walther's teaching may seam blunt to some, but he was defending against a combative Reformed element in America:

Notable Quotes:

Validity: [pp. 29-41]

29: "Does something now also depend on man that we really have these means of grace?… Never!"

30: The Lutheran Church teaches "If the one who administers a means of grace only does what God has instituted with it, then no matter what he may be, it is quite irrelevant as to the validity of his action"

30: "The piety of man does not make the action good, and the godlessness of man does not make the action bad."

30: "Even if the preacher is up to his ears in sin, even if he is a wretch, God will not allow this to destroy what he has instituted."

31: "Can we see into his [the pastor's] heart?"

31-32: "…modern Lutherans also abolish the validity of the means of grace with their doctrine of ordination.…they say that he must be properly called.…he must be properly ordained"

32: "these papistic Lutherans teach that ordination is an act which only a preacher can perform"

32: "a shameful, abominable doctrine, this doctrine of ordination, for by it the means of grace are made quite uncertain…That is why the Episcopal Church is such a dangerous sect"

33: "The validity of the means of grace is not based on the holiness of men or angels, but on God's Word."

34: "What the Methodists and sects now teach on this point is…the renewed doctrine of the Schwenkfeldians"

34: "the papists rob their own of all consolation by drawing them away from God's Word and towards human sanctity."

34: "For if the preacher is not a true Christian…he will certainly not rightly divide Law and Gospel"

35: "Even if one commits the most shameful abuse of Holy Communion, for example, if one sells it for high prices, as the Roman clergy do, this does not invalidate Holy Communion"

38: "Jesus alone is therefore the Baptizer"

38: "Pastor Grabau teaches about ordination in exactly the same way as the modern Lutherans".

38: "the means of grace only exist where God's Word is real…the sound does not make the word a word, but the meaning that I give the word."

39: The Reformed " have the sound, but they attach to it an entirely different meaning than is usually connected with it; thus they do not have the thing, namely the body and blood of Christ, for they do not have the word which makes the element a sacrament."

40: "So what a church fellowship teaches and publicly confesses, that is what it gives"

40: "But praise God that we have three means of grace, namely, in addition to Baptism, the Word and the Lord's Supper! These two means of grace [The Word & Lord's Supper] give us forgiveness of sins, life and salvation just as much as Baptism; thus the lack of baptism does not prevent the true believer from his salvation" 

40: "If I cannot go to Holy Communion because there is no orthodox preacher, and I believe, it is just as good as if I had received it, as Augustine also says: crede, et manducasti. [Believe, and you have eaten.]…I have this good of grace in the Word just as well as in the Lord's Supper" [This is my situation, as a Lutheran – "BackToLuther".]

41: "the Zwinglians have, if not the Lord's Supper, at least Baptism…[he] baptizes in the name of the triune God and therefore also has Baptism."

Power: [pp. 42-56]

42: "For the Reformed, the Gospel is nothing more than an instruction, a lesson."

42:  For Lutherans "every preaching of the Gospel is an absolution that God Himself gives to everyone".

43: "for even in the Lutheran Church there are very many preachers who are basically Reformed."

43: "Grace is already in the Word, in Absolution, in Baptism, in the Lord's Supper; faith does not bring it in, but faith takes it out."

44: "To every man, whoever he may be, even to the most wicked mocker of religion, I can say: all the gates of heaven have long been opened to you" [See Pieper's essay "The Open Heaven". (WIC6)]

45: "Only the Holy Spirit can work this [faith in the Gospel], without Him we think it is nothing but a fable. It would be far too comforting, our blind reason thinks, if the way to salvation were made so easy for us"

46: "God…gives forgiveness of sin without any conditions. …when you are in confession, you should rather feel as if the good Lord himself were standing there and telling you that your sins are forgiven"

46: "God has blessed us Lutherans above all other churches on earth, for where else can this doctrine be found?"

47: "If we had all other doctrines pure, and not this one, we would soon lose all doctrines again, for it shows most clearly that we are justified and saved by faith alone"

47: "yet people do not come to believe because we do not preach the power of the means of grace correctly."

48: "Let these hostile thoughts go, do not look at the dear God as if He were not yet reconciled with you"

48: "let no one think: yes, if, if, if — no! Christ has not added an if, He speaks absolutely, not conditionally."

49: "The pope with his false key and all those who do not accept absolution make God a liar"

49: Papists "say: alas, a strange doctrine, a dangerous doctrine, which makes people safe"

49: "The Bible is a document of pardon given by God from heaven for all men"

50: "Preachers do not do enough teaching. They should say again and again: Come as you will, you will be truly absolved."

51: "Whoever therefore does not believe the word of absolution does not believe the Word of God."

51-52: "True inward forgiveness is only there when you have found it outside yourself, in words." [First objective faith, then subjective faith.]

52: Luther: "A king gives you a castle; if you do not accept it, the king has not lied about it, nor has he erred, but you have deceived yourself and it is your fault"

52-53: "Many a man will one day in eternity wonder how countless his sins have been forgiven him, and he has not believed it, how often the castle of heaven has been given to him, and he would not accept it."

53: "[By[the ministry of the gospel, we do not mean a pastor or minister or clergyman… but nothing more than the divine order"

54: "The ministry is not absolutely necessary for a person to go to heaven; but the preaching ministry is absolutely necessary."

54: "It is often much better not to have a pastor, if one has a shameful clergyman;" [What teacher in the LC-MS would teach this?] "but without the preaching office, i.e. without the Gospel, one cannot be saved; this is the ladder to heaven"

Let me repeat that last statement from Walther:

"It is often much better not to have a pastor, 

if one has a shameful clergyman"

That is a Luther-like statement, from the "American Luther"! — In the next Part AG4c, the Immutability of the Means of Grace, then the doctrine of Conversion.

AG4a: 1876: Means of Grace, their Foundation, Validity

      This continues from Part AG3c (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 bulk of this essay deals with the Doctrine of the Means of Grace, then follows that with the Doctrine of Conversion. On the Means of Grace, Walther covers four points:

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

Conversion is covered on pp. 63-71. — Teaching on the Means of Grace is especially needed today with so many of the so-called "Evangelicals" in America who essentially teach Reformed doctrine. And Walther provides the perfect defense for Lutheran teaching. Who does not need a refresher on this doctrine? — This segment will focus on pp. 18-29: 

Notable Quotes: (on Means of Grace)

Introduction: [pp. 18-25]

20: "as long as a man still seeks his own honor, he does not yet have true religion" [Worldly psychotherapy counsels "self-love", as it did for me in my past. Therapist hated Christian counsel.]

20: "If I now know that the interpretation [of Scripture] honors God alone, then I have a summary proof that it is right"

21: "Methodists…place the glory and excellence of their religion above all in the fact that they are the holiest and most pious people there are in the world"

21-22: "Even if it [Reformed Church] uses the words "means of grace" [See this blog post on Dr. Albert Mohler, a Southern Baptist.], it understands something quite different from what God's Word and our church understand by it"

22: Reformed teach "a means to initiate the effects of the Holy Spirit in a person, whereas a means of grace is that which brings me the grace of God."

22: "If…we look for it [grace] somewhere else…by kneeling down in a corner and sighing… then we are going the way of enthusiasts …it is the voice of the devil or of his own flesh."

22: The Word as Means: "'You are now clean because of the Word that I have spoken to you.' John 15:3"

23: "there are also three witnesses of grace on earth, namely the Spirit (the Word of God), the water (Baptism) and the blood (Holy Communion)" [Cp. to 1 John 5:7]

23: "God gives no one his Spirit or grace without, through, and with the preceding outward Word"

23: Enthusiasts: "always teach: if you want grace, you must pray until you feel that it is within you"

24: Enthusiasts "makes for himself a means of grace that God has not made

25: "If the good God spoke to us from heaven, we would believe it; but if he speaks to us through the Bible, we do not believe it, because we do not seriously and truly regard it as the Word of God."

25: "our church does not speak merely of signs of grace, but of means of grace."

Foundation: [pp. 25-29]

25: Smalcald Art.: "The Word of God shall establish articles of faith, and no one else, not even an angel" [Against Prof. Joel Biermann. and his "Scripture and Tradition".]

25-26: "the Papists introduce five other sacraments…: Confirmation, Penance, Matrimony, Ordination of Priests, and Extreme Unction"

26: "Methodists declare prayer to be such a means. But how can there be grace in something we do? Prayer is rather an effect, a fruit of the means of grace"

26: Methodists: "…also make their penitential bench, even their prayer meetings and camp meetings, into means of grace."

28: "Many false Lutherans also teach today that ordination is a sacramental act, especially the orthodox Romanist enthusiast [A. F. C.] Vilmar" [See here for more.]

28: "Among all the Reformed with their sects, the Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, the spirit of Zwingli still prevails today"

29: Zwingli: "But the Spirit needs no vehicle". [I.e. no "means of grace".]

28: Zwingli: "The sacraments are given as a public testimony of the grace that each one has beforehand"

      Along with Walther's thorough treatment of the Means of Grace, one can also read Franz Pieper's treatment of the same doctrine in his book The Foundation of the Christian Faith here. — In the next Part AG4b, the Validity and Power of the Means of Grace.

AG3c: 1875: Good Works; full download

      This continues from Part AG3b (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 section finishes the 1875 essay and follows the doctrine of Sanctification. And Walther offers perfect Christian teaching on a subject that some (maybe me) dread. — From pp. 53-59:

Notable Quotes:

53: "The Lutheran Church is accused of being very zealous in teaching justification, but little about sanctification and especially too little about good works" [Cp. to Dr. Scott Keith's statement here.]

54: "We only call that a good work when we either [1.] do something that God has commanded us to do or [2.] leave something that he has forbidden."

54: "Everything that the papists devise for themselves, fasting, monasticism, pilgrimages, etc., are shameful works; … Such works are nothing but pure sin, since they arise from lust for reward"

55: Luther: "Therefore He joins faith and good works together, so that in the two there is the sum of the whole Christian life."

55: Luther: "Therefore understand this saying most simply, that works are fruits and signs of faith, and that God judges people according to such fruits, which must surely follow,"

55: "If one always hears the message of grace, one can easily fall into the trap of disregarding good works. A true Christian rejoices when he is warned of this danger."

56: "In justification we should trample all works underfoot, but outside of justification we should emphasize works."

56: "So God has, as it were, a book in His hands, in which every good work, every prayer, every Lord's Prayer, every sigh, every tear…"

57: "it is not a question of what we regard as good works, but what God regards as good works. He demands works from us that come from love for Him and gratitude."

57: "Let him who is slow to do good know that he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly."

57: "We should not wrongly rely on God's mercy and neglect works, because 

1. we will easily lose grace; 

2. we will show our ingratitude to God, who requires us to do them; 

3. we will be surprised at what we have in eternal life that others do not have."

58: "The best way to test a good work is to ask oneself whether it benefits one's neighbor or whether one does it only because it benefits himself."

58: "First preach diligently about grace, then you can also preach confidently about the great reward of good works. But if the doctrine of justification is not preached with emphasis, then you can certainly do harm by preaching about works."

58-59: "One such request that we could make to our congregations at the present time [1875] would be for contributions to the new building of our college.…that it [their contribution] would one day be in their account." [Eight years later, in 1883, the new seminary building was dedicated:]

New St. Louis seminary building, 1883 (Denkstein p 206 )

59: "Do not threaten, but ask the people for the sake of God's mercy, and tell them that it is a grace to give something for God's kingdom, and that you want to give them the opportunity to reap a harvest."

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

Download the text file here (8-1/2 x 11, no highlighting); German text here.

      In the next Part AG4a, Walther's essay to the 1876 Western District convention: Means of Grace and Conversion.

AG3b: 1875: The Necessity of Regeneration and Sanctification

      This continues from Part AG3a (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". — Walther now moves on to a topic that typically follows the Doctrine of Justification: Regeneration and Sanctification. How are these subjects to also "Give All Glory to God"? — From pp. 40-53:

Notable Quotes:

40: "we also teach that where this faith is, man also becomes a new creature, which is produced by regeneration"

40-41: "Jesuits maintain that we teach: 'Live as you will, only believe; works are not necessary, neither are rebirth and regeneration'…these rascals know well that they are lying"

41: "it is impossible that, when one has come to living faith, his heart should not become joyful and merry in God"

41: "One can speak with the mouth: I believe, but such mouth-faith brings no one to heaven, but certainly to hell. No, he who believes in this love with all his heart…receives divine powers for a new life."

42: Luther's grand "Faith is not…faith is" passage: "Faith is not the human delusion and dream that some take for faith.…Oh, faith is a living, active, powerful thing, so that it is impossible that it should not work good without ceasing."

43: Luther: "Therefore, without compulsion, man becomes willing and eager to do good to everyone…Ask God to work faith in you, otherwise you will probably remain without faith forever"

43: "With the enthusiasts [Methodists, etc.]…[Christians] find not only good [teaching on regeneration], but also poison, from which they can die eternal death."

43: Roman Church teaches "that only the nature of sin is taken away from original sin, according to them no new creation takes place in Baptism."

43: For enthusiasts, "regeneration is not the production of faith, but they feel something"

44: "Methodists very often accuse us of the error of saying that Baptism is regeneration.…Rather, we teach that it works regeneration"

44: "Baptism should therefore not be made into a new work. What saves us is Christ alone."

45: "the terrible thing about the Methodists, that they accuse us of teaching nothing about the new birth"

45: Methodists: "the Lutherans want to enter the kingdom of heaven without regeneration, without repentance and without conversion; …poor Christians must get the idea: Oh, I will beware of the Lutherans!"

46: "It is also necessary that man should be shown how he is made holy and renewed in the image of God.…God forgives us sin so that we can come out of sin."

47: " The Lutheran Church…also demands sanctification from every Christian."

47: "if the Antinomians had not stood up, Luther would probably never have given such powerful testimony to the necessity of sanctification."

49: "The Antinomians admitted that Christ was the Savior from sin, but that they had to be converted from sin, they wanted to know nothing about"

50: "Insofar as a person recognizes God, he is holy. Here we recognize him only in part"

50: "How terrible it is that the Roman Church has a doctrine of justification which is nothing other than a doctrine of sanctification."

51: "our [Lutheran] doctrine of justification is a mystery to them [Romanists], which they cannot comprehend. That is why they are frightened when we say that we are justified by faith alone."

51: "The thief on the cross is a good example of this. For as soon as he believed, he also began to punish the other evildoer."

Walther's hard sayings, preaching of the Law: (Cp. to Prof. Henry Eggold here)

51: "I must not abandon the doctrine just because someone is offended by it.

51: "I am not at the will of the robber, but try to slip away from him, draw my pistol and say to him: "Come now! I do not value my life so highly, but I am in a state of self-defense, and must not do every street thief's bidding."

51: "Anyone who does not stand against sin as against a robber…is not a Christian."

52: "There is thunder and lightning in the pulpit, that has to happen, otherwise you are not a faithful preacher."

52: "Nor should we refrain from preaching the law in old congregations…" [Cp. to Prof. Henry Eggold here]

52: "We preachers must certainly remember that we Christians are made up of two people, the old and the new" [The basics of distinguishing Law and Gospel in preaching.]

In the next Part AG3c, we conclude the 1875 essay and provide a download link to the full essay.

AG3a: 1875: The Justification of the Sinner

      This continues from Part AG2b (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". — We move on to the following year's 1875 Western District essay where Walther addresses his Thesis III, part 5, a continuation of his teaching on Justification. This is powerful teaching on what the Gospel actually is, and so is worthy of careful study by all who covet their souls salvation. If there is a writing that gives All Glory (AG) to God, this is it. — From pp. 19-40:

Notable Quotes:

20-21: "the doctrine of justification does not say that man is just, but that he is to become just."

21: "there is no sin that has not been atoned for, no matter how great it may be"

21: "but for us he [Christ] fulfilled the law perfectly"

21: "nor did he say: pray, struggle, wrestle until you realize that you have [Christ's righteousness].… if you think you have obtained it in this way, it is only a dream from which you will wake up in horror."

21: "So where do we find God's grace? Answer: In the Word of God and in the Holy Sacraments, nowhere else."

22: "This is what the sects [Reformed, enthusiasts] think. They say that man must do the main thing if he wants to be saved; if he struggles, strives, fights and prays enough…"

23: "if God accepts something from us in grace, which we give him out of gratitude for the grace we have received, God must first give it to us"

23: "But if you say: yes, I don't want to be Lutheran at all, then know that you are not Christian either, for Lutheranism is nothing other than Christianity."

23: "This: “Therefore we hold that a man is justified without the works of the law, through faith alone” [Rom. 3:28, Luther's Bible] is true Christianity, but it is also true Lutheranism."

23: "man was not to become righteous first, but God had already made him righteous when he created him."

24: God "also restores to man the righteousness which He had created for him in Adam, but which he lost in Adam"

24: "when the life-giving Word of God comes to us, we wake up, but most do not want to get up and therefore die again until they go to eternal death"

24: " It is true that Christians must also struggle, pray and fight, but not in order to obtain grace, but in order not to lose it again."

25: "Our Church, however, in the Augsburg Confession, in the Small Catechism, etc., takes this doctrine very seriously."

26: "For what good would it do us if we knew 

• that God is triune, 
• that Christ is God and man in one person, 
• that our flesh will one day be resurrected, 
• and had all the other glorious doctrines of faith, 

but did not have the doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone, without merit of works?"

26: "Just read the songs of the blessed in heaven, as described in the Revelation of John. Do they perhaps praise something in themselves? No,…"

27: "The devil, reason, or other such friends say: 'Do this, do that, if you want to be saved'. But do not listen to those voices!"

28: "The Augsburg Confession excludes all personal merit. What, on the other hand, does the pope do? He curses those who hold to Christ's merit alone".

28: "It is also extremely important to keep this doctrine pure and clear…for the person under attack doubts whether he has grace with God and considers himself unworthy of it because of his sins"

29: "We are also blasphemed…we are called…people who only wage wars over words"

29: The tempted "find strong consolation precisely in the fact that “by grace alone” serves the glory of God"

29: Luther "shows how all false doctrine of justification is contrary to the first commandment"

29: "the Father's declaration before the whole world…that it is now righteous before Him, so that it may believe that it is redeemed and reconciled"

30: The believer "now also calls upon God in all earnestness for strength for sanctification"

30: "Those are greatly mistaken who think that we are opposed to earnest godliness"

30: "where the first commandment is established, the grace of God is established"

31: "Modern theology, too, teaches again the doctrine of works, and indeed the most refined, in that it presents faith as a work by which we acquire grace."

31: "According to them [Jesuits], therefore, faith and love justify." [The damnable word "and".]

32: "It is common to say that God justifies man, but on the condition of faith.…Only those who do not know how to distinguish clearly between condition and means can come up with such ideas."

32: "We are not reconciled with God when we believe, but we are already redeemed, already reconciled with God, so that we believe."

33: "The doctrine of justification can only be correctly understood if faith is presented merely as the hand, as the instrument, by which we appropriate the offered righteousness."

33: Easter: "when God raised his Son from the dead, he did not forgive his own sin, but that of all mankind"

Walther's great preaching of the Gospel:

33: "Thus the whole world has already been justified by the resurrection of Christ, which man must now appropriate for himself through faith." [Objective & Subjective Justification]

33: "Just as the Universalists teach that no man is lost, but that all are saved…The enthusiasts know very well that we do not teach this.…man must now accept what Christ has acquired, otherwise he does not have it, and otherwise God cannot save him either." [Lutherans are not Universalists.]

34: "the Bible the expression “if we believe, we will be saved” is never used in the sense that it indicates a condition."

35: Heerbrand (pic) on the "hand" of faith: "It is only the way of accepting the benefits offered and given through and for the sake of Christ…the hand is not called the condition, but the means and instrument"

35: "Forgiveness of sins is also acquired for the impenitent. It is only their unbelief that prevents justification from being put into effect for them."

36: "Justification is not something that happens in our hearts, but in God"

36: "When the little word “if” is used in Scripture, it is not always necessarily a conditional “if”, but often a syllogistic “if”, which serves to indicate the consequence." [We are saved "if" we believe.]

36: "God asks nothing of us, we are only supposed to take. And since God Himself works faith, it cannot be a cause or condition, but only a means of justification."

37: Carpzov: "It is inaccurate to call faith the instrumental cause of justification.…it is the instrument"

37: "we cannot accomplish anything, not even faith."

37: "Unbelief is the cause of damnation, but faith is not the cause of salvation."

39: "We therefore stand by what the Scripture says: 'This is the work of God, that you believe'. John 6:29"

39: "We will have nothing else to do for all eternity but to offer Him our thanksgiving that He has justified and saved us sinners by grace"

I loved reviewing this powerful essay again as Walther gives the poor sinner, like me, complete assurance in Christ. — In the next Part AG3b…

AG2b: 1874, Reconciliation, Redemption of Human Race, "Crown of all Christian Doctrine"

      This continues from Part AG2a (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 second part of Walther's 1874 essay is one of his most powerful essays, full of comfort, full of defense for the truth, especially against the "enthusiasts". I have quoted from it previously without providing a completely new translation. — From pp. 43-61:

Notable Quotes:

43: "This doctrine is…the crown of all Christian doctrine and the real triumph of the Christian religion."

43: "the Christian religion, on the other hand, teaches not only how people are to be eternally saved one day, but how they are already saved"

43: "Everything has already been done; you are already redeemed, you are already justified before God, you are already saved; therefore you have nothing to do to redeem yourself first"

44: The papists teach "if one sins after baptism, one must then do enough before God"

44: Formula of Concord: "God has decreed in his purpose and counsel, 1. that the human race is truly redeemed and reconciled to God through Christ"

44: "In Christ my sins have already been atoned for; he has done enough for them as my substitute."

45: "Good works should be done, but not to propitiate God…but out of gratitude to Christ"

45: "the damned in hell will one day have to say: I did not go to hell because I was not saved,…but I was cast out because I did not want to accept the salvation I had received from God's hand"

Walther's great Gospel teaching:

45: "We should not say to people: You are saved on the condition that you believe; but the other way around: Because Christ has redeemed you, you can now believe that you have been saved."

46: "It is therefore terrible when the sects say: I have all this on condition that I do something to bring it about."

46: "God is no longer angry with mankind.…For as I believe God, so He is."

47: "…as Luther also says in the 95 Theses. 'The true treasure of the churches,' it says in the 62nd thesis, 'is the holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.'" [Prof. Cameron MacKenzie argues against Luther's 95 Theses as truly Lutheran yet. He also argues against Walther.]

47: "…they are always there for us, even if we do not believe."

48: The enthusiast "is against the means of grace because he does not believe in grace itself. Yes, says the enthusiast, I cannot believe that God gives such great goods through such small, insignificant means."

49: Enthusiasts (i.e. Methodists, Pentecostals etc.) "confess, for example, that they believe in the triune God; but this article is the greatest mystery to human reason."

49: Enthusiasts "do not ask [one]: What do you believe? — but rather: How do you feel?…they go on with the work until he has a feeling as if Jesus is there."

50: "But this is precisely what they lack, and make repentance the means of reconciliation with God" [As the papists do.]

50: "Whoever, at the hour of death, does not keep to the Word but to the "spirit", has only a phantom, a figment of the imagination, and must go to hell."

51: "according to Scripture, the whole Christ, the God-man, died…If only that which was human in Christ had died, then redemption would not be valid"

52: Calvin "…attributes it only to the unconditional eternal counsel of God that God brings a man to heaven, not to Christ's truly perfect satisfaction."

52: "true Reformed do not believe that Christ is true God and man in one person"

53: "if we could not rely on the word of Christ, 'It is finished,' no Christian could say, 'Christ has done enough for every one of my sins.'…Only in the Lutheran Church is this truth taught."

54: "Christ bore all sins, both original sin and all other sins.…the enthusiasts say, [God has] only done something for the redemption of all people…we still have to do something in addition."

54: "the angels at the birth of the world's Redeemer and Reconciler…: "Glory to God in the highest"!"

55: "the Presbyterians confess: 'No other is redeemed by Christ…except the elect alone.'"

56: "the ungodly doctrine of the Romans concerning the sacrifice of the Mass.…the greatest abomination of papism."

56: The devil "preserves and elevates the Mass so powerfully, namely to remove Christ's sacrifice from the church"

56: The Apology: "We teach that the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross was sufficient for the sin of the whole world"

57: "The Mass is therefore the real hellish core of the antichristian papacy."

58: "How are people converted? By giving God the glory he has given himself in the work of redemption"

58: "No doctrine is therefore so…worthy that the preacher should present it in a more attractive and lovely way, than the doctrine of the redemption of the world through Christ"

59: Listeners of modern preachers are "only beaten up, given rules, punished harshly and given a great goal. So it is no wonder that people are reluctant to go to church."

59: "If…a preacher proclaims Christ Jesus, exalts this man, and makes people rejoice from the heart that they have such a glorious Savior, that is the right man, he is an ambassador in God's stead"

60: "as Luther rightly says: Even when the Lord Jesus proclaims woe, he does so in order to be able to save."

60: "It is also a wonderful, fruitful means of preparation for this if the preacher diligently studies Luther." [Compare to Prof. Cameron MacKenzie's unhelpful comment on Walther and Luther:

"Walther overlooks or explains away what others might see as sinful [in Luther]. We do not do either of these things today. We expect our heroes both to have weaknesses and to make mistakes—and they do. Martin Luther and oh, yes, C.F.W. Walther. But Walther is long gone and so is his whole approach to Martin Luther as hero and infallible teacher."]

Reading MacKenzie's statement is like saying "Read Luther to see if you can find his sinfulness, his weaknesses, his fallibility". Of course MacKenzie's charge that Walther ascribed "infallibility" to Luther's person is false. But Luther's doctrine was Scriptural and therefore infallible.

      Now I present my new English translation with all missing portions, and Walther's emphasis of wording, fully restored, and hyperlinks added for navigation and reference:

Download the text file here (8-1/2 x 11, no highlighting); German text here.

— In the next Part AG3a we begin Walther's next essay from 1875 on "The justification of the Sinner".