LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Brock University

36 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW XV
In these theses Walther draws not only upon the theology of the Lutheran
Confessions, but also upon the teaching of Luther, Melanchthon, and
Gerhard. The line of orthodox Lutheran theology on predestination is
continued by Walther’s disciple, Francis Pieper (1852-1931).
Pieper sums up the teaching of the Church on predestination in a succinct
and elegant way. He observes that “God does not seize His elect by the ears
or the neck, but took hold of them in eternity … by means of the
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, in the same way as He lays
hold of them here in time.” 69 Here he is obviously alluding to II
Thessalonians 2:13, which we discussed previously, in tying predestination
to Christ and to the sacraments of the church. Pieper draws on the Solid
Declaration in showing that eternal election is not identical with God’s
foreknowledge. We have touched on this before. According to His divine
nature, God is omniscient and knows all things before they happen.
However, many if not most of the things that happen in this fallen world are
not His will. It is not His will that any should perish, but that all men should
repent and come to the knowledge of the truth. Yet many if not most refuse
to repent and are lost for eternity, even though it breaks God’s heart to have
to damn them. Election concerns only the elect, the redeemed, the children
of God, the communion of saints. Those are the ones He has chosen from
eternity, and arranged all things to bring them to faith and cause them to
persevere in it.
Along this line, Pieper helpfully notes that “in eternity faith was neither
anterior or posterior to God’s decree of election.” 70 Here he refutes
theologians who assert that God chose only those whom He foresaw would
one day believe, as well as Calvin who taught that faith follows election as
part of an absolute degree of God. The truth is that God did not choose
arbitrarily or absolutely, but chose through the means of grace, the
“sanctification of the spirit” referred to in II Thessalonians 2:13.
In Pieper we see the same pastoral concern for souls as we did in the
Confessors. The purpose of the doctrine of election is to confirm sola gratia
and thus bring comfort to Christians who are often beset by weakness,
troubles, and sins on every side. The elect is just as bad a sinner as the
unbeliever, except that he is forgiven and saved by grace alone. Thus the
doctrine of predestination leads to gratitude and penitence, and acts as a curb
to prevent the Christian from becoming a complacent and self-righteous
Pharisee.
Calvin, Pieper shows, has no scriptural support for his doctrine of double
predestination. In all cases, those who are lost are responsible for their own
69 Francis Pieper, “Eternal Election,” in Christian Dogmatics, vol. 3 [1920] trans. Walter W.
F. Albrecht (St. Louis: Concordia, 1953): 476-77.
70 Pieper, 3:485.