Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: aruanan; Cronos; MarkBsnr; xzins
That excerpt from Luther certainly does support double predestination.

DOUBLE OR NOTHING: MARTIN LUTHER'S DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION

Ultimately, single/double/triple...it's all the same thing. In single predestination, God gives some men grace and doesn't give other men grace. Therefore, those who do not receive grace will not come to Him in repentance and faith , believe and be saved. Those given grace, will. And grace is a free gift of God, not of works, lest we boast.

Either men are written in the Book of Life from before the foundation of the world, or they are not. If they are there, the Holy Spirit will lead them to faith. If they are not there, they will not want to be led to faith. And they won't be.

As God wills.

Here's Luther on predestination...

"I frankly confess that, for myself, even if it could be, I should not want 'free-will' to be given me, nor anything to be left in my own hands to enable me to endeavour after salvation; not merely because in face of so many dangers, and adversities, and assaults of devils, I could not stand my ground and hold fast my 'free-will' (for one devil is stronger than all men, and on these terms no man could be saved) ; but because, even were there no dangers, adversities, or devils, I should still be forced to labour with no guarantee of success, and to beat my fists at the air. If I lived and worked to all eternity, my conscience would never reach comfortable certainty as to how much it must do to satisfy God, Whatever work I had done, there would still be a nagging doubt' as to whether it pleased God, or whether He required something more. The experience of all who seek righteousness by works proves that; and I learned it well enough myself over a period of many years, to my own great hurt. But now that God has taken my salvation out of the control of my own will, and put it under the control of His, and promised to save me, not according to my working or running, but according to His own grace and mercy, I have the comfort¬able certainty that He is faithful and will not lie to me, and that He is also great and powerful, so that no devils or opposition can break Him or pluck me from Him. `No one,´ He says, `shall pluck them out of my hand, because my Father which gave them me is greater than all´ (John 10.28-29). Thus it is that, if not all, yet some, indeed many, are saved; whereas, by the power of ´free-will´ none at all could be saved, but every one of us would perish.

"Furthermore, I have the comfortable certainty that I please God, not by reason of the merit of my works, but by reason of His merciful favour promised to me; so that, if I work too little, or badly, He does not impute it to me, but with fatherly compassion pardons me and makes me better. This is the glorying of all the saints in their God." -- Martin Luther, "Bondage of the Will" -- (xviii) Of the comfort of knowing that salvation does not depend on free-will' (783)


2,945 posted on 02/02/2011 4:41:14 PM PST by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2929 | View Replies ]


To: Dr. Eckleburg
That excerpt from Luther certainly does support double predestination.

Who disagreed and claimed it did not?
2,946 posted on 02/02/2011 4:43:10 PM PST by aruanan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2945 | View Replies ]

To: Dr. Eckleburg
David Copperfield would be proud of this little effort to pull something out of nothing.

Your excerpts do not indicate that Luther thought that men were predestined to hell. There is nothing that says this in your quote. Do you have more?

2,967 posted on 02/02/2011 5:29:16 PM PST by MarkBsnr (I would not believe in the Gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2945 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson