EC14: Conversion (Northern District 1873)

     This continues from Part EC13 (Table of Contents in Part EC1), a series restoring availability of English translations of several of Walther's convention essays that have seemingly been abandoned by Concordia Publishing House. — The Foreword to the 1992 CPH translation (by Prof. Arand?) of this 1873 Northern District essay had this first paragraph:

“As Walther rightly points out, the subject of a person’s conversion is one of those touchstone articles of faith which will demonstrate the purity and Scriptur­alness of one’s entire theology, since this locus has points of contact with nearly everything pertaining to a believer’s salvation. Accordingly, Walther treats the subject with the thorough, careful, and reverent study it deserves and which characterizes all his work. The end result is an essay that can serve as a helpful com­panion to Art. II of the Formula of Concord, which treats the very same topic under the heading “Free Will.” Wal­ther organizes his theses around four crucial questions: (1) What is conversion? (2) What are the means of conversion? (3) How much time is necessary for a per­son to be converted? and (4) What part does the Chris­tian play in conversion?”

Notable Quotes:

20: "The means by which a person is converted is the Word of God heard or read."

21: "there is no more mysterious subject than this very doctrine [of Conversion]."

23: " conversion is not a change of works, nor a change of moral principles, but a transfer from the state of sin and wrath to the state of faith and grace."

24: "But the natural man cannot contribute to his salvation, but only to his damnation".

24: "Even Philipp Melanchthon erred in this doctrine by establishing three causes of conversion. But despite all respect for his great merits, our church decisively rejected his error [of synergism]." [See Bente's Introduction]

26: "on God's side the baptismal covenant is eternally firm; but man loses the new life received in holy Baptism through reigning sins… If baptism is not to be a condemnation to us, we must seize daily the gifts of grace given to us in it."

27: "The means by which a person is converted is the Word of God heard or read.… For the intention of the author of the Thesis is to show that adults take no active part in their conversion."

27: "an adult must be born again before Baptism if he is not to receive it for damnation."

28: "No one can pray for conversion who is not already converted, for God does not hear sinners".

32: "The Word of God loses none of its power when it is proclaimed by a layman."

33: "That the mere reading of the Word of God is also a means of conversion, the Formula of Concord testifies…: "…namely, through His holy Word, when men hear it preached or read it…".

34: "Baptism is therefore to be denied to adults who are obviously unbelievers."

35: "God himself has commanded that His Word be read to all the people, including women and children."

36: "The Weimar Bible can therefore be warmly recommended to all Christians".

36: "conversion itself happens at any time in an instant".

38: "For there is no other power of conversion than the Word."

39: "For the Law does not bring about repentance for having offended God, but for having earned hell with one's sins."

40: "God must first bring man to a standstill and to the realization that he must concern himself with the salvation of his soul."

41: "as soon as a significant distinction is made between revival and conversion, synergism is the inevitable result."

43: "…man can certainly hinder it [conversion] in himself, but cannot contribute to it".

44: "our Confession ascribes the conversion of man to the Holy Spirit alone and rejects all human participation."

46: "…we owe it to God's grace alone if we are saved, and that we are lost through our own fault if we are damned."

48: "Righteousness does not precede conversion, but follows it."

50: Young children: "experience teaches us that even small children can resist and thus commit real sin."

52: "He who goes to church to find the way of salvation is already converted".

53: "…there is no middle state between unbelief and faith, death and life."

54: "Almost no one today believes that man cannot contribute to remorse before his conversion."

57: "Synergism is basically nothing other than papist leaven; for the papacy is nothing other than hierarchism on the one hand and Pelagianism on the other."

In the following, underlining follows Walther's emphasis, which is sometimes missing in the 1992 CPH translation. Paragraph breaks follow the 1992 translation, many hyperlinks added:

 

The file may be downloaded >> here <<; the German text >> here <<.

In the next Part EC15…