Martin Luther on Predestination, Election and Eternal Security
Perhaps the most often endorsed and one of the least understood persons of the Reformation would be Martin Luther. He was born November 10, 1483 and passed from this life February 18, 1546.
The Hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is our God" was written by Luther. Within those lines is the Doctrine of Eternal Security which Luther also wrote and preached powerfully in his day as the Truth which was being totally denied them. Rome was and still is great on "faith plus works". As you will see, Luther preached this was false teaching.
Luther said all such teaching was from the first false church: the "Church of Cain".
Many sing Luthers' hymn bravely and loudly, but have never really been supplied with very much knowledge of what he actually wrote or taught. In-depth study of Doctrine is not emphasized, instead, there is a focus on Luthers' 95 Theses against Indulgences or historical events in his life.[1]
On the one hand, Luther is well spoken of by certain ones, and rightly so. But on the other hand, few, if any, are told about his true teachings, except perhaps "he taught Faith" or the posting of The 95 Theses. There has been, to put it mildly, very poor scholarship by those who profess to be "teachers" and who should have known better. Either that, or they are aware of Luthers' teachings and there is a deliberate attempt to deceive people.
THE HIDDEN AGENDA
Those that attack Eternal Security most vehemently many times have a hidden agenda. Their teaching against Eternal Security is actually a veiled attack upon Predestination and Election as the Reformers taught it, for after all, who could be more Secure than His Chosen who were Pre-Ordained to be Saved from before the foundation of the world? And who could be more Secure than persons who were taught it as Truth?
RAILERS AGAINST "CALVINISM"
Most opponents of Eternal Security will rail against "Calvinism" and "T.U.L.I.P." as things "totally invented by Calvin out of thin air" and may say they are "doctrines of devils" for instance. Most of them are not even at all aware that Luther (about 20 years earlier) wrote of and preached about the very same things that Calvin later did, and that Martin Luther read and Fully Endorsed Calvins' teachings on all these same subjects!
Then there are the deceivers who know full well what Martin Luther wrote about and try to switch the blame to "Calvinism". Why do they do that you may ask? Because they know from past experience that Martin Luthers' arguments are too powerful to refute. They tried it before and were totally unsuccessful.
Here is where we unmask these false and hypocritical teachers.
So sit back. Here, in Luthers' own words, is "the rest of the story" my friends.
LUTHER ON THE BOOK OF ROMANS
"The Answer: The free will (without grace wholly enabling)[3] has absolutely no power to achieve Gods' Righteousness, but of necessity it is sin. Therefore blessed Augustine is correct in his book Against Julian when he calls it "a bound rather than a free will". For when we possess grace, then the will is actually made free, especially with regard to salvation. To be sure, it (mans' unregenerate will without grace) is free in a natural way, but only with respect to those things which are under its power and lower than itself, but not with respect to things above it, (such as Gods Will) since it is captive in sin, and now cannot choose (by itself) what is Good in Gods' eyes.
"The Second Argument is that '"God desires all men to be saved." (I Timothy 1:4), and He gave his Son for men and created men for eternal life.' Likewise: 'all things exist for man, and he himself exists for God, that he may enjoy Him, etc.'
"These points and others like them can be refuted as easily as the first one. For these verses must always be understood as referring to the Elect only, as the apostle says,
"The Third Argument: 'God condemns no one without sin, and he who is necessarily in sin is unjustly condemned.'
"The Answer: We are all of necessity in sin and damnation, but no one is in sin by force and against his will. For he who hates sin is already beyond sin and belongs to the Elect. But those whom God hardens are those to whom He gives voluntarliy to will to be and remain in sin and to love iniquity. Such people are in sin by the necessity of immutability but not by force.
"Fourth, (they say) 'Why does He command what He does not want people to do? And what is worse, He hardens the will, so that men prefer to act contrary to His Law. Thus the Cause is in God that men sin and are damned.'
"This is the strongest and primary objection. And to it the apostle replies principally when he says that God Wills it so and in so Willing He is not evil. For all things are of Him and the clay is the potters'. Therefore He gives commands that the elect might fulfill them and the reprobate be enmeshed in them, so that He might show both His anger and His mercy.
"Then 'the prudence of the flesh' says, 'It is harsh and wretched that God should seek His glory in my misery.' Note how the voice of the flesh is always saying. 'my,' 'my'; get rid of the 'my' and rather say, 'Glory to Thee, O Lord!' And then you will be saved. For the prudence of the flesh is such that it seeks only its own (and gathers also with such of its own mind), and it fears its own misery more than failure to glorify God, and thus it seeks its own will rather than Gods' Will. And thus we must have a different mind toward God than toward man. For He owes nothing to anyone. Thus He says to Job (Job 4:11) 'Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.' The apostle cites this passage at the end of Chapter 11: 'Who has first given to Him that he should be repaid?'(Romans 11:35)
"Although this matter is very hard for 'the prudence if the flesh' which is made even more indignant by it and brought even to the point of blasphemy, because here it is strangled to death and reduced to absolutely nothing, it understands that Salvation comes in no way from something working in themselves, but from something outside themselves, namely, from God, Who Elects (Chooses). But those who have 'the prudence of the spirit' delight in this subject with an ineffable pleasure, as the apostle makes clear here, and as seen in the case of Hannah, the mother of Samuel in I Samuel 2. Among those are those people in the middle, who have begun to turn away from 'the prudence of the flesh' or are coming close to 'the prudence of the spirit' people who gladly want to do the Will of God, but they are pusillanimous and tremble when they hear these teachings."
though they had done nothing either good of bad. Romans 11:11
"This is a harsh answer for the proud and those who think they know everything, but for the meek and humble it is sweet and pleasing, because they despair of themselves; and thus God takes them up.
"For the fact is that there neither is nor can be any other reason for His Righteousness than His Will. So why should man murmur that God does not act according to the Law, since this is impossible? Or will it be possible for God not to be God? Furthermore, since His Will is the Highest Good, why are we not glad and willing and eager to see it be done, since it cannot possibly be evil? But do I hear you say, 'It is evil for me'? Perish the thought! It is evil for no one. But because we cannot affect His Will, nor cause it to be done, this becomes an evil thing for men. For if they were willing to do what God Wills, even if He should Will that they be damned and reprobated, they would have no evil. For they would will what God Wills, and they would have in themselves the Will of God in Patience." (Martin Luther. Commentary and Scholia on the Book of Romans.)
Martin Luther did not particularly please the Roman Catholic Church of course, and was declared outlaw for his teachings, not the least of which were Predestination and Election. The Roman Catholic Church rejects Luthers' teaching on these subjects to this day.
Those that embrace Romanism also reject anyone who dares teach it today.
MORE FOLLOWING SOON!
FOOTNOTES
[1
There has also been much written about some of his anti-Jewish writings. His friend Melancthon recorded that Luther greatly repented later in life of everything that he had written or said against the Jewish people.
Your "teachers" deny this? Then let them hear Luthers' own words:
"If I had been a Jew, and seen such stupidity and such blockheadedness rule in the Christian Church, I would rather have been a pig than a Christian. They have treated the Jews as if they were dogs, not men; and have done nothing but revile them. They are blood relations of our Lord; therefore, if it were proper to boast of flesh and blood, the Jews belong to Christ more than we...Therefore it is my advice to treat them kindly." Martin Luther. (from: Graetz, H. History of the Jews. Vol IV. p. 470.)
Luther had a positive change of heart toward the Jewish people at the end of his life and this quote fully supports that.
[2
[3
[4
ibid. Contra Julian.
ibid. Contra Pelagius.
Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. 1559.
The Council of Orange. 529 A.D.
Graetz, H. History of the Jews. Jewish Publication Society of America. 1956.
Lex Rex. 1644.
The London Confessions of Faith of 1644.
Luther, Martin. The Bondage of the Will. 1525.
ibid. Luther's Works. The Gospel of John. Saint Louis, Missouri. Concordia Publishing House. 1957.
ibid. Lectures on Romans.
The Westminister Confession of Faith. 1646.
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