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Luther on Predestination as Preparation for Grace

Luther famously stated that “the best and infallible preparation for grace and the sole disposition toward grace is the eternal … predestination of God” (Disputation against Scholastic Theology, Article 29). This was to combat the Ockhamist doctrine “that God does not deny his grace to the one who does what is in him.” Erasmus updated this Ockhamist teaching with his definition of free choice as “the ability of one to apply himself to the things that lead to eternal salvation” (Diatribe on the Freedom of Choice). Luther saw this as a revival of Pelagianism and argued that predestination rather than free choice determines who receives grace. This paper will argue that for Luther predestination creates the “disposition” that prepares for grace according to his doctrine of the hiddenness of God. For Luther, the hiddenness of God stirs up predestination anxiety and creates the “disposition” that drives one to God revealed in Christ who relieves this anxiety. This is because Christ is God in the flesh who is “for us” and thus is merciful to us. I will demonstrate that Luther’s initial experience of predestination created this “disposition” in him and shaped his interpretation of predestination as “preparation for grace” and faith as movement away from the Hidden God toward Christ as the Revealed God. This can benefit the church in its teaching of predestination as it promises to resolve predestination anxiety by pointing believers to “predestination in Christ” the Revealed God (See Ephesians 1:11).

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Recent Publications

The Spirit and Renewal (Part 1): Definitive & Progressive Sanctification - Sherif Fahim

'New Creation' in Paul - Sherif Fahim

Justification, Sanctification, and Union with Christ: Fresh Insights from Calvin, Westminster, and Walter Marshall - Sherif Fahim

Death in Second-Century Christian Thought The Meaning of Death in Earliest Christianity - Jeremiah Mutie

The Quest for Early Church Historiography From Ferdinand C. Baur to Bart D. Ehrman and Beyond - Jeremiah Mutie

The Book of the Twelve - David Fuller

Early Witnesses to the Syriac Text of Acts 15 with an Investigation into the Text of Acts 15 in the Didascalia Apostolorum and with and Appendix on the Western/Jacobite Peshitta Manuscript Tradition for Acts - Daniel McConaughy

The Star and the Magi in Jacob of Serugh and the Early Syriac Tradition - Daniel McConaughy

Saved by Grace through Faith or Saved by Decree? A Biblical and Theological Critique of Calvinist Soteriology - Geoffrey Robinson

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