Luther on Predestination

...it pleases me to take from this passage the opportunity to discuss doubt, God, and the will of God; for I hear that here and there among the nobles and persons of importance vicious statements are being spread abroad concerning predestination or God’s foreknowledge. For this is what they say: “If I am predestined, I shall be saved, whether I do good or evil. If I am not predestined, I shall be condemned regardless of my works.” I would be glad to debate in detail against these wicked statements if the uncertain state of my health made it possible for me to do so. For if the statements are true, as they, of course, think, then the incarnation of the Son of God, His suffering and resurrection, and all that He did for the salvation of the world are done away with completely. What will the prophets and all Holy Scripture help? What will the sacraments help? Therefore let us reject all this and tread it underfoot.

From the American Edition of Luther’s Works 5:43-50; commenting on Genesis 29:9.

Luther, Calvin and many protestant evangelicals are concerned with the “certainty of salvation” and making our “calling and election” sure. Luther clarifies that the believer becomes certain of their salvation and rewards in heaven through their willingness to receive Christ and continuance in the sacraments and commandments of God and not in spite of them.  If the love of Christ is in us, we will continually strive to obey Him, repent, behave virtuously, improve, love and serve our neighbors.

I would add, that it is not our unwavering positive attitude towards the certainty of salvation alone, that is the manifestation of faith.  Instead, our faith is manifest by our consistent, unremitting desire to approach the perfection of Christ.  This desire will be manifest in our continued strivings, and steady progression towards sactification.  The provess of sanctification will involve a complex mix of anxiety and confidences as the Holy Spirit within us continues to provide assurances when we do right, but also convict us when we do not. 

Luther’s confidence doctrine is in reaction to the notion of “Catholic guilt”. While not an official Catholic doctrine, some Catholics talk about their anxiety of not measuring up to the perfection of God as the sign of their faith. sometimes disattatched from effort. Again, like Catholic guilt, predestination tends to likewise disattatch itself from behavior.  Knowing Satan tempts man from one extreme to the other, in reality, Jeses taught that its not our confidences nor our anxieties alone that are a manifestation of faith, but our moral behavior and love towards others. 

John 13: 34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

“Once saved, always saved” is not a true statement precisely because no one could commit the unpardonable sin by denying the Holy Ghost unless they had first received it and then later turned altogether away from it. 

In the end, when we are fully converted to Christ, we will seek after every gift, receive every ordinance and sacrament,  and live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.