LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Brock University

28 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW XV
a glorious consolation in this salutary teaching, that we know how we have
been chosen for eternal life in Christ out of sheer grace, without any merit of
our own, and that no one can tear us out of his hand [John 10:28-29].” 39
There are four errors regarding predestination that the FC rejects: one, the
teaching that God does not want all men to repent; two, that God is not in
earnest in calling men to repentance; three, pointing to the error of Zwingli
and Calvin, that God arbitrarily predestines some to damnation; and four,
that the cause of election is apart from Christ.
The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther (1483-1546) appeared in 1526,
almost half a century before the Book of Concord, but I place it here in the
discussion because in Lutheran theology the Confessions take precedence
over the writings of Luther, though several works of Luther—the Small and
Large Catechisms and the Smalcald Articles—are included in the Book of
Concord. Simply put, Luther does not teach double predestination,
though some scholars claim to see this idea in Luther’s work. For
example James Greenbury says that in the Bondage of the Will, “Luther went
beyond Augustine in espousing double predestination.” 40 He tries to establish
a first-rate pedigree for Calvin’s teaching as well by arguing that in the
Institutes, “Calvin enlarged and codified the predestinarian insights of
Augustine and Luther.” 41 Similarly Kyle A. Pasewark, in a very muddled
argument, says he finds double predestination in Luther. 42 So does James
McGoldrick, who tries to prove from the Bondage of the Will that Luther
teaches double predestination, citing J. I. Packer’s translation: “God
foresees, purposes, and does all things according to his own immutable,
eternal, and infallible will.” 43 Well, yes, Luther says that, and yes, God does
that, but this does not establish double predestination in either God or
Luther. The Reformer here is talking about God’s general omnipotence, as
we will see. Interestingly, McGoldrick says that Bondage of the Will “exerts
far more influence among Reformed believers than among those who bear
the name of its author.” 44
Robert Kolb, one of the few Lutheran theologians to address this subject,
gets it right when he notes that Staupitz pointed Luther to “the wounds of
Christ and the blood that was shed for you. From these predestination will
39 FC Ep XI:13. Kolb-Wengert, 518.
40 Greenbury, 121.
41 Greenbury, 122.
42 Kyle A. Pasewark, “Predestination as a Condition of Freedom”, Lutheran Quarterly 12.1
(1998): 57-78.
43 James E. McGoldrick, “Luther’s Doctrine of Predestination”, Reformation & Revival
Journal 8.1 (1999): 91.
44 McGoldrick, 101.