The Twenty-Sixth Sunday of the Pentecost Season
Also known as the Twenty-fourth Sunday after
the Festival of the Holy Trinity – November 08, 2026
Christians Are God’s “Chosen” Ones….
The Doctrine of Divine Election
A funny (at least in my opinion) story has been told about a gathering of theologians who ended up getting into a rather acrimonious debate about the correctness of absolute predestination compared to the teaching of total free will. Things became so heated that they eventually broke into two opposing factions, each separating from the other by moving into adjacent rooms……all of them, that is, except for one individual who stood in between, “straddling the theological fence.” Recognizing that both sides had some Biblical support for their positions, yet also aware that each side was using logic to reach certain unScriptural conclusions, he knew that he could join neither side – for both were correct in some things but were in error on other matters. The “Absolute Predestinarians” were Biblically correct in teaching that man’s salvation is totally due to God causing their salvation, but they erred in logically believing that man’s unbelief and damnation were also due entirely to God’s control or choice. The “Total Free Will-ers” were Scripturally correct in believing that man’s unbelief is totally his fault and his choice. They erred in the “reasoned” teaching that man’s coming to faith must also be due to his personally choosing for God – or at least due to his choosing not to resist God as stubbornly as others.
From his knowledge of Scripture, the man-in-the-middle knew that God is both omniscient and omnipotent – knowing everything and all-powerful over all things. Likewise he knew it is true that God, solely in His grace (and not in any way on the basis of man’s merit), has predestined (or chosen) for eternal salvation those He would bring to saving faith in Him. That’s what the Bible says. And so he knew that God deserves and gets all the glory for man’s salvation. At the same time, He understood that the Bible teaches clearly that all who are lost eternally in unbelief are totally at fault for their going to hell, because they have chosen to reject the Lord. Consequently, the responsibility for their condemnation is obviously and entirely their own. It is not God’s fault or doing in any way whatsoever.
While that man-in-the-middle “got it right,” Albert Einstein, one of the great physicists and intellectuals of the 20th century – perhaps of all time, did not “get it” at all. Einstein felt compelled to give his grudging acceptance to “the necessity for a Supernatural beginning” and eventually, to “the presence of a Superior Reasoning Power.” But he was never able to accept the existence of a personal, loving God. He claimed that two specific obstacles, one of experience and the other of logic, blocked his way. According to what he wrote in his journal, Einstein said that he wrestled with a deeply felt bitterness toward the clergy, toward priests in particular, due to a variety of unsatisfying experiences with them during his life. He also struggled and stumbled spiritually over his inability to resolve the paradox in logic between God’s omnipotence and man’s total responsibility for his wrongs. “If this Divine Being is truly omnipotent,” he wrote, “then every occurrence, including every human action, thought, feeling and aspiration are also His work and responsibility. Consequently, how can He possibly hold men responsible for their deeds and thoughts when He is such an almighty being? In giving out punishment and rewards to men would He not, to a very great extent, be passing judgment on Himself? How can this justice be combined with the goodness and righteousness supposedly also attributed to Him?” Seeing no logical solution to this evident paradox, Albert Einstein, like many other intellectuals through the centuries up to today, stumbled over these two seemingly conflicting, yet very true teachings of Scripture. Einsten chose to rely on his reason to logically rule out the existence of a personal God…..and in so doing he forfeited not only any hope of being brought to faith in the true God, but also any hope for eternal salvation in heaven.
Although “The Doctrine of Election” is, in some respects one of Scripture’s most difficult – and in some ways most “troubling” – teachings (some have even referred to it as the Bible’s “Gordian Knot”), it is not a teaching with which you and I are unfamiliar. Every Sunday here at Grace Lutheran Church (and I would hope this is the case in every Biblically-driven Christian Church), we speak indirectly – and in certain cases, directly – about our specific theme for today: “Christians are God’s Chosen Ones…..The Doctrine of Divine Election” … This wonderful, comforting, and illogical (even a bit confusing) Doctrine of Scripture affirms for us all that God in His extraordinary and incomprehensible love for us (even before the world was formed) personally chose (elected) each of us not only to believe in Him as the true Savior-God, but to one day live eternally with Him in heaven.
Each of us (along with Martin Luther in his explanation to the 3rd article of the Apostles’ Creed) expresses our confident faith in this truth every time we personally or publicly confess: “I know that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but [that] the Holy Spirit has called my by the Gospel, enlightened my with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one, true faith.”
We also regularly express this truth – that God is totally responsible for our salvation and our conversion to faith – in many of our Lutheran-Christian hymns, such as “Jesus, Your Blood and Righteousness.” There in the fifth verse we sing these words: “Lord, I believe were sinners more Than sands upon the ocean shore, You have for all a ransom paid, For all a full atonement made.” Later this morning in our Sermon Hymn, we’ll declare: “Lord, ’tis not that I did choose You; That, I know, could never be; For this heart would still refuse You Had Your grace not chosen me.” Martin Luther also penned the doctrine of election into a hymn we frequently sing here in church (“Dear Christians, One and All Rejoice”) through these familiar words: “But God beheld my wretched state….Before the world’s foundation….And, mindful of His mercies great…..He planned my soul’s salvation…..A father’s heart He turned to me, ….Sought my redemption fervently;…..He gave His dearest treasure.”
Of course we also will see this teaching revealed in each of today’s Scripture Lessons, starting with our First Reading from I Thessalonians. Here Paul gives thanks for the faith of the Christians in Thessalonica…people which God had chosen to believe in the Gospel of salvation, by grace, through faith in Christ. Their faith had become a shining example for many other Christians, as they waited patiently for the day when Jesus would return to take them to heaven. In our Epistle Lesson for this morning Paul assures his readers that, in spite of their sin and the world’s sinfulness, God the Father loves them and has redeemed them through His Son, In fact, He has predestined/chosen them from all eternity to be His children and heaven’s heirs…..and nothing will change that wonderful assurance! Today’s Gospel Lesson is Jesus’ parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. Here, too, we see the amazing grace of our God (in the parable, represented by the vineyard owner), Who offers the same pay (salvation) to all who labor for Him (that is, who believe in Him) – regardless of when they are hired in the day (are brought to saving faith). Note also that it is the vineyard owner who goes out and chooses/finds His laborers – just as God has found/chosen us to believe in Him. In our Children’s Lesson we’ll use the example of someone choosing or picking the right fruit in a grocery store to illustrate how God has also chosen us to be His followers. Finally, in today’s Sermon we’ll be relying on today’s Scripture lessons, as well as our sermon text from Ephesians, to discuss in more detail the doctrine of Election and its significance for each of us. As we talk about “Divine Election” (God’s choosing of those who will inherit eternal life in heaven…even before the world was formed), we’ll talk about how we can know that we – as individuals – have been “chosen” by the Lord for everlasting life. After all, that’s the purpose of the Doctrine of Election…..to provide God’s people with the assurance that, through Christ, they are His beloved children and heaven’s heirs
The portions of God’s that are used in this worship flyer have been taken from The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version Copyright 2019, The Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Music and lyrics, as needed, are used with permission via OneLicense.net #A712831
Pre-service prayer Pre-worship music
Pre-Worship Hymn Singing, starting at 9:25 a.m.
Let Us Praise The Lord
The Greeting and Introduction to Worship
The Invocation
Pastor We begin this service in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our Psalm Reading for Today Psalm 98
P: Oh, Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him.
C: The Lord has made His salvation known + He has revealed His righteousness in the eyes of the nations.
P: He has remembered His mercy and faithfulness to the house of Israel.
C: All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
P: Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, break out in joyful song! Make music!
C: Make music to the Lord with the lyre, + with the lyre and the sound of music.
P: With trumpets and the sound of the horn –
C: shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
P: Let the sea roar, and everything that fills it, the world and those who dwell in it.
C: Let the rivers clap their hands, + let the mountains sing for joy together before the Lord.
P: For He comes to judge the earth.
C: He will judge the world in righteousness, + and the peoples with
fairness.
After which the Congregation will be seated for
Opening Hymn Hymn 230 “Lord Jesus Christ, Be Present Now”
1 Lord Jesus Christ, be present now; Our hearts in true devotion bow.
Your Spirit send with grace divine, And let your truth within us shine.
2 Unseal our lips to sing your praise; Our souls to you in worship raise.
Make strong our faith; increase our light That we may know your name aright
3 Until we join the hosts that cry, “Hosanna to the Lord most high.”
Then in the light of that blest place We shall behold you face to face.
4 Glory to God the Father, Son, And Holy Spirit, Three in One!
To you, O blessed Trinity, Be praise throughout eternity!
After which, the Congregation will be asked to rise for
We Make Confession Of Our Sins To God
Pastor Beloved in the Lord! Let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins to God our Father, asking Him, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to grant us the forgiveness of all our sins.
P: Almighty God, Heavenly Father, we have violated Your holy will through our sinful actions, in our failure to do what You righteously expect from us, with our wicked words, and by our evil thoughts and desires.
We come, O Lord, to Your altar to confess our sins. + We beg for Your mercy, + though we do not deserve it. + Hear our prayer. + Grant us the forgiveness of all our sins, for Jesus’ sake.
Just as I am without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come. (CW 397)
P: Our sins are many….inexcusable, yet inevitable given our weakness and dullness. We have sworn falsely and used Your name to curse, rather than to bless others and to praise You. We have not worshiped You as faithfully as we ought. We have not listened to Your Word as we should. Too often we have conformed our lives – not to Your perfect will – but to the norms and dictates of this sinful world. At times we have lived as though we were “god” instead of humbly submitting everything that we are and have to You, O Lord.
Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fear within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
We have acted spitefully toward friends and strangers. We have fought with our family. We have been impatient with each other, and even with You, O Lord. We have sought superiority over others at work, in the home, at school, and in the church. We have preferred materialism more than we have pursued our spiritual growth. We have committed the very evils that we have self-righteously – and You have properly – condemned.
Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need, in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
P: We have passed by and ignored those who have been in genuine need. We have thought too highly of ourselves and too little of others. Though converted by the Gospel’s power, we have been reluctant and indifferent to bring the Good News to others. We have not readily forgiven those who have sinned against us. We have not loved You and others as You have commanded us to do.
C: Forgive us all our sins, + those known and unknown to us, + according to the mercy of Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. + Pour Your grace upon us, + that we might know the peace which surpasses all understanding, + and that we might share eternal life with Christ, our Lord.
Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Congregation Almighty and most merciful God, + We acknowledge and confess + that we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed; + That we have not loved You with all our heart and soul, + and with all our mind and strength; + and that we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. + We ask You, O God, + to be forgiving of what we have been, + to help us to amend what we are, + and – in Your mercy – to direct what we shall be, + so that the love of what is righteous in Your sight + might always be in our hearts, + that we may always walk blamelessly in Your commandments, + and faithfully follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ to the very end. + Amen.
Pastor Upon this, your voluntary confession, and in accordance with the responsibilities entrusted to me as a called and ordained servant of the Living Word, I assure you that God, our heavenly Father, has forgiven you all your sins. By the perfect life and innocent death of our Lord Jesus Christ, He has removed your guilt and condemnation forever. You are His own dear child – an heir of everlasting life through faith in Christ. May God now give you the strength of faith to live according to His will. Go in His grace and peace. Amen.
The Prayer for Today
Almighty and merciful God, + in Your grace You have called us out of unbelief’s darkness + into the light of saving faith in You. + Indeed, even before You framed the world + from all eternity + You knew and chose each of us + to be Your children and to be heaven’s heirs. + As we meditate on Your Word this morning + fill us with a greater measure of Your Holy Spirit – that we might increase in our faith + and become even more certain of our eternal salvation + which is ours through the merits + and for the sake of Jesus Christ, Your Son our Savior and Lord, Who lives and rules with You and the Holy Spirit as one God, now and forever. Amen.
After which the Congregation will be seated for
We Hear God’s Word
The First Lesson I Thessalonians 1:1-10
Paul, Silas, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We always give thanks to God for all of you as we make mention of you in our prayers, 3 because we constantly remember before God our Father your work produced by faith, your labor produced by love, and your patient endurance produced by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 Dear brothers, loved by God, we know that God has chosen you, 5 because our gospel did not come to you with mere words, but with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction. You yourselves know very well what kind of people we proved to be for your sake, while we were with you. 6 You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, when you welcomed the word during a time of great affliction with the joy from the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 Indeed, the word of the Lord has resounded from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith in God has become known. As a result, we do not need to say anything, 9 because they themselves inform us about what kind of reception we received from you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. 10 They also report how you patiently wait for His Son from heaven, Whom He raised from the dead—Jesus, the One Who is going to rescue us from the coming wrath.
The Epistle Lesson Romans 8:18-39
18 For I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. 19 In fact, creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but by the will of the One Who subjected it, in the hope 21 that even creation itself will be set free from slavery to corruption, in order to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22 For we know that all of creation is groaning with birth pains right up to the present time. 23 And not only creation, but also we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we eagerly await our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24 Indeed, it was for this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for something we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patient endurance.
26 In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we should pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that are not expressed in words. 27 And He Who searches our hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints, according to God’s will.
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to His purpose, 29 because those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the Firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those He predestined, He also called. Those He called, He also justified. And those He justified, He also glorified.
31 What then will we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 Indeed, He Who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also graciously give us all things along with Him?
33 Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the One Who justifies! 34 Who is the One Who condemns? Christ Jesus, Who died and, more than that, was raised to life, is the One Who is at God’s right hand and Who is also interceding for us! 35 What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 Just as it is written: “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
After which the Congregation will rise for
The Gospel Lesson Matthew 20:1-16
“Indeed the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing to pay the workers a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 He also went out about the third hour and saw others standing unemployed in the marketplace. 4 To these he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.’ So they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6 When he went out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing unemployed. He said to them, ‘Why have you stood here all day unemployed?’ 7 “They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ “He told them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ 8 When it was evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group and ending with the first.’ 9 “When those who were hired around the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. 10 When those who were hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But they each received a denarius too. 11 After they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner: 12 ‘Those who were last worked one hour, and you made them equal to us who have endured the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not make an agreement with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last one hired the same as I also gave to you. 15 Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 In the same way, the last will be first, and the first, last.”
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, + and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, + Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost + Born of the Virgin Mary; + Suffered under Pontius Pilate; + Crucified, was dead and buried; + He descended into hell; + the third day He rose again from the dead; + He ascended into heaven; + And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; + From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead; + I believe in the Holy Ghost, + the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints, + the forgiveness of sins, + the resurrection of the body; + And the life everlasting. Amen.
After which the Congregation will be seated for
The Children’s Lesson II Thessalonians 2:13-17
13 But we are always obligated to thank God for you, brothers, loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation by the sanctifying work of the Spirit and faith in the truth. 14 For this reason He also called you through our gospel so that you would obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold on to the teachings that were passed along to you, either by word of mouth or by a letter from us. 16 May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, Who loved us and in His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.
We Have Been Specially Chosen by God !
The Hymn of the Day Hymn 380 “Lord, ‘Tis Not That I Did Choose You”
1 Lord, ’tis not that I did choose you;
That, I know, could never be,
For this heart would still refuse you
Had your grace not chosen me.
You removed the sin that stained me,
Cleansing me to be your own;
For this purpose you ordained me,
That I live for you alone.
2 It was grace in Christ that called me,
Taught my darkened heart and mind,
Else the world had yet enthralled me,
To your heav’nly glories blind.
Now I worship none above you;
For your grace alone I thirst,
Knowing well that, if I love you,
You, O Father, loved me first.
3 Praise the God of all creation;
Praise the Father’s boundless love.
Praise the Lamb, our expiation,
Priest and King enthroned above.
Praise the Spirit of salvation,
Him by whom our spirits live.
Undivided adoration
To the great Jehovah give.
The Greeting
Grace and peace be yours in abundance, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, our Lord. May the God of peace fill you with all joy in believing! Amen.
The Sermon Text Ephesians 1:3-14
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
4 He did this when He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, so that we would be holy and blameless in His sight. In love 5 He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. He did this in accordance with the good purpose of His will, 6 and for the praise of His glorious grace, which He has graciously given us in the One He loves.
7 In Him we also have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in keeping with the riches of His grace, 8 which He lavished on us in all wisdom and insight. 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will in keeping with His good purpose, which He planned in Christ. 10 This was to be carried out when the time had fully come, in order to bring all things together in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In Him we have also obtained an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of Him Who works out everything in keeping with the purpose of His will. 12 He did this so that His glory would be praised as a result of us, who were the first to hope in Christ.
13 In Him, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and in Him, when you also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. 14 He is the down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of God’s own possession, so that His glory would be praised.
God has Elected You To Salvation…Believe It!
following which the Congregation will rise for
The Post-Sermon Blessing
May the God of peace, Who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, now equip you with everything good for doing His will! Amen.
We Bring Our Offerings to the Lord
Our Offerings of Love to our Lord
We will be passing an offering plate through our chapel at this point. For those unable to worship with us in person, if you would like to participate in this offering, we offer you the following suggestions for providing God with Your thank-offerings through our ministry:
1) You can send a check (no cash) in the mail to Grace Lutheran Church (415 N. 6th Place, Lowell, AR 72745)
2) Or, go online to our website (www.gracelutherannwa.com) and use the giving option there.
The Offerings are gathered and presented to our Lord
as the offerings are brought forward the Congregation will rise for
We Come With Our Prayers to the Lord
P: We thank You, Lord and Father, for the rest and peace of the night which You have given us, and for the blessing of sharing another day of worship with Your saints and study of Your precious Word. Enable us to grow in Your grace through the time we have spent today meditating on Your Word.
C: Be with all those in our church family and extended family + who are contending with physical, emotional, material and spiritual problems. + Strengthen them through Your Word + to successfully face the challenging circumstances into which You have placed them, + and – according to Your mercy and in Your own, perfect time – + grant them relief, recovery and restoration as You, alone know best.
P: In particular this morning, we pray for our brother Fred Cusanelli. Lord, in Your mercy and wisdom you recently allowed him to experience a slight stroke, and this past Monday You safely took him through surgery to clear a blockage in one of his carotid arteries. We join Fred in thanking You for the care he has received and the recovery that he is making. Please continue to watch over him as he goes through a process of rehabilitation at Encompass Rehabilitation Hospital in Fayetteville. Allow Fred’s rehabilitation treatments to be successful, by granting him a full recovery, a return to his home soon, and also a swift return to this house of worship and to our church family here.
C: In addition, Lord, please give us all genuine enthusiasm and true wisdom for the tasks You have given us to do in this life. + Keep us from becoming worldly. + Never let us forget that we are men, women and children which You have called + to the “salt” and “light” of Your grace to this sinful world. + Keep all discouragements from us, + and enable us to be pillars of strength and sources of encouragement + for both the people of our church and extended families, + as well as for all those whose lives touch ours.
P: Finally, Heavenly Father, accept our thanks for the privilege of being part of Your Church for today and for all eternity through Your grace to us in Christ, our Savior. Receive and bless this prayer for Jesus’ sake, Who lives and rules with You and the Holy Spirit, as the one, true God, forever and ever. It is in His name that we also join now in praying:
C: Our Father, Who art in heaven + Hallowed be Thy name. + Thy Kingdom come. + Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. + Give us this day our daily bread. + And forgive us our trespasses + as we forgive those who trespass against us. + And lead us not into temptation. + But deliver us from evil. + For Thine is the kingdom + And the power + And the glory + Forever and ever. Amen.
We Leave With God’s Blessing
The LORD bless you and keep you.
The LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
The LORD look upon you with favor, and grant you His peace. Amen.
The Closing Hymn Hymn 213 “Forever With The Lord”
1 Forever with the Lord! Amen! So let it be.
Life from the dead is in that word, My immortality.
2 While time on earth is spent, Absent from him I roam,
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent A day’s march nearer home.
3 My Father’s house on high, Home of my soul, how near
At times, to faith’s foreseeing eye The golden gates appear!
4 Lord, be at my right hand, Then can I never fail.
If you uphold me, I shall stand; With you I shall prevail.
5 So when my dying breath Shall rend the veil in two,
By death I shall escape from death To endless life with you.
6 I’ll know as I am known; How shall I love that word
And oft repeat before the throne, “Forever with the Lord!”
Silent Prayer, Announcements, Post-service music
Excerpted from the Formula of Concord – Epitome
Article XI. Election.
1] Concerning this article no public dissension has occurred among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession. But since it is a consolatory article, if treated properly, and lest offensive disputations concerning the same be instituted in the future, it is also explained in this writing.
Affirmative Theses.
The Pure and True Doctrine concerning This Article.
2] 1. To begin with [First of all], the distinction between praescientia et praedestinatio, that is, between God’s foreknowledge and His eternal election, ought to be accurately observed.
3] 2. For the foreknowledge of God is nothing else than that God knows all things before they happen, as it is written Dan. 2:28: There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.
4] 3. This foreknowledge extends alike over the godly and the wicked, but it is not the cause of evil, neither of sin, namely, of doing what is wrong (which originally arises from the devil and the wicked, perverse will of man), nor of their ruin [that men perish], for which they themselves are responsible [which they must ascribe to themselves]; but it only regulates it, and fixes a limit to it [how far it should progress and] how long it should last, and all this to the end that it should serve His elect for their salvation, notwithstanding that it is evil in itself.
5] 4. The predestination or eternal election of God, however, extends only over the godly, beloved children of God, being a cause of their salvation, which He also provides, as well as disposes what belongs thereto. Upon this [predestination of God] our salvation is founded so firmly that the gates of hell cannot overcome it. John 10:28; Matt. 16:18.
6] 5. This [predestination of God] is not to be investigated in the secret counsel of God, but to be sought in the Word of God, where it is also revealed.
7] 6. But the Word of God leads us to Christ, who is the Book of Life, in whom all are written and elected that are to be saved in eternity, as it is written Eph. 1:4: He hath chosen us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world.
8] 7. This Christ calls to Himself all sinners and promises them rest, and He is in earnest [seriously wills] that all men should come to Him and suffer themselves to be helped, to whom He offers Himself in His Word, and wishes them to hear it and not to stop their ears or [neglect and] despise the Word. Moreover, He promises the power and working of the Holy Ghost, and divine assistance for perseverance and eternal salvation [that we may remain steadfast in the faith and attain eternal salvation].
9] 8. Therefore we should judge concerning this our election to eternal life neither from reason nor from the Law of God, which lead us either into a reckless, dissolute, Epicurean life or into despair, and excite pernicious thoughts in the hearts of men, for they cannot, as long as they follow their reason, successfully refrain from thinking: If God has elected me to salvation, I cannot be condemned, no matter what I do; and again: If I am not elected to eternal life, it is of no avail what good I do; it is all [all my efforts are] in vain anyway.
10] 9. But it [the true judgment concerning predestination] must be learned alone from the holy Gospel concerning Christ, in which it is clearly testified that God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all, and that He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and believe in the Lord Christ. Rom. 11:32; Ezek. 18:23; 33:11; 2 Pet. 3:9; 1 John 2:2.
11] 10. Whoever, now, is thus concerned about the revealed will of God, and proceeds according to the order which St. Paul has observed in the Epistle to the Romans, who first directs men to repentance, to knowledge of sins, to faith in Christ, to divine obedience, before he speaks of the mystery of the eternal election of God, to him this doctrine [concerning God’s predestination] is useful and consolatory.
12] 11. However, that many are called and few chosen, Matt. 22:14, does not mean that God is not willing to save everybody; but the reason is that they either do not at all hear God’s Word, but wilfully despise it, stop their ears and harden their hearts, and in this manner foreclose the ordinary way to the Holy Ghost, so that He cannot perform His work in them, or, when they have heard it, make light of it again and do not heed it, for which [that they perish] not God or His election, but their wickedness, is responsible. [2 Pet. 2:1ff ; Luke 11:49. 52; Heb. 12:25f.]
13] 12. Thus far a Christian should occupy himself [in meditation] with the article concerning the eternal election of God, as it has been revealed in God’s Word, which presents to us Christ as the Book of Life, which He opens and reveals to us by the preaching of the holy Gospel, as it is written Rom. 8:30: Whom He did predestinate, them He also called. In Him we are to seek the eternal election of the Father, who has determined in His eternal divine counsel that He would save no one except those who know His Son Christ and truly believe on Him. Other thoughts are to be [entirely] banished [from the minds of the godly], as they proceed not from God, but from the suggestion of the Evil Foe, whereby he attempts to weaken or entirely to remove from us the glorious consolation which we have in this salutary (saving) doctrine, namely, that we know [assuredly] that out of pure grace, without any merit of our own, we have been elected in Christ to eternal life, and that no one can pluck us out of His hand; as He has not only promised this gracious election with mere words, but has also certified it with an oath and sealed it with the holy Sacraments, which we can [and ought to] call to mind in our most severe temptations, and take comfort in them, and therewith quench the fiery darts of the devil.
14] 13. Besides, we should use the greatest diligence to live according to the will of God, and, as St. Peter admonishes, 2 Pet. 1:10, make our calling sure, and especially adhere to [and not recede a finger’s breadth from] the revealed Word: that can and will not fail us.
15] 14. By this brief explanation of the eternal election of God His glory is entirely and fully given to God, that out of pure mercy alone, without all merit of ours, He saves us according to the purpose of His will; besides, also, no cause is given any one for despondency or a vulgar, wild life [no opportunity is afforded either for those more severe agitations of mind and faintheartedness or for Epicureanism].
Negative Theses
False Doctrine concerning This Article.
16] Accordingly, we believe and hold: When any teach the doctrine concerning the gracious election of God to eternal life in such a manner that troubled Christians cannot comfort themselves therewith, but are thereby led to despondency or despair, or the impenitent are strengthened in their wantonness, that such doctrine is treated [wickedly and erroneously] not according to the Word and will of God, but according to reason and the instigation of the cursed Satan. For, as the apostle testifies, Rom. 15:4, whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Therefore we reject the following errors:
17] 1. As when it is taught that God is unwilling that all men repent and believe the Gospel.
18] 2. Also, that when God calls us to Himself, He is not in earnest that all men should come to Him.
19] 3. Also, that God is unwilling that every one should be saved, but that some, without regard to their sins, from the mere counsel, purpose, and will of God, are ordained to condemnation so that they cannot be saved.
20] 4. Also, that not only the mercy of God and the most holy merit of Christ, but also in us there is a cause of God’s election, on account of which God has elected us to everlasting life.
21] All these are blasphemous and dreadful erroneous doctrines, whereby all the comfort which they have in the holy Gospel and the use of the holy Sacraments is taken from Christians, and therefore should not be tolerated in the Church of God.
22] This is the brief and simple explanation of the controverted articles, which for a time have been debated and taught controversially among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession. Hence every simple Christian, according to the guidance of God’s Word and his simple Catechism, can perceive what is right or wrong, since not only the pure doctrine has been stated, but also the erroneous contrary doctrine has been repudiated and rejected, and thus the offensive divisions that have occurred are thoroughly settled [and decided].
23] May Almighty God and the Father of our Lord Jesus grant the grace of His Holy Ghost that we all may be one in Him, and constantly abide in this Christian unity, which is well pleasing to Him! Amen.