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."
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."
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"]
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.]
The following is the full text of my English translation:
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:
I had a comment come in on a previous blog 10 years ago that vehemently denied Universal, Objective Justification – from "Bill". And another correspondent in the past expressed some confusion between Objective Justification and Subjective Justification. So these have given me the perfect opportunity to again publicize a great Pastoral Conference, something I have wanted to do for quite some time – the Chicago Pastoral Conference of 1880, extended to Fort Wayne 1881. (See this blog for downloads) The proceedings of both conferences were published in German by Concordia Publishing in their time. — Ostensibly this conference was to settle the highly charged dispute in the Missouri Synod regarding the doctrine of Election (of Grace) or Gnadenwahl. Oh, but it reveals something much greater! It is my prime example of how C.F.W. Walther is to be honored for steering the Lutheran Church back on course. But how? By keeping not only the doctrine of Election, but also Universal, Objective Justification (UOJ) from false teachings and false analogies [See here.]!
You will find similar comments to Bill's comment among the opponents of Walther's teaching at this Pastoral Conference. It is strikingly similar to one made by an opposing synod professor at the 1880 Pastoral Conference, Prof. Stellhorn [BTL, CPH Predestination, p. 87]:
"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."
Stellhorn's misunderstanding is where others have been confused about this teaching. To this statement Synod president Walther replied concerning the difference between "objective" and "subjective":
"Objective justification is nothing more than the acquistio of justitia or the acquisition of righteousness, and the gift from God is also there. But what does the donated thing help me if I do not take it? Then faith must be added. When God says: Your sins are forgiven you (and thus what God has said to all men through the resurrection of Jesus Christ), so each one sees: that doesn’t help me if I do not believe and accept it. It is indeed given to me; but if I do not seize it, then I do not have it."
Here we have in brief Walther's great teaching that keeps the Lutheran Doctrine of Justification pure, even against false analogies to the Doctrine of the Election of Grace. And Walther's teaching is also the teaching of the Formula of Concord and the Lutheran Church.
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