Deeper understandings Predestination
Theologian tackles tough topic in response to reader requests Editor’s note: This series is intended
to be a public conversation among teach- ing theologians of the ELCA on various themes of our faith and the challenging issues of our day. It invites readers to engage in dialogue by posting comments online at the end of each article at www.
thelutheran.org. The series is edited by Philip D.W.
Krey, president of the Lutheran Theologi- cal Seminary at Philadelphia, on behalf of the presidents of the eight ELCA seminaries.
By Erik M. Heen P
redestination has been a sub- ject of intense theological inter- est throughout the centuries.
The concern, as it is often presented, begins with foundational claims about the nature and attributes of God. God’s sovereignty is assumed, as
well as God’s omniscience (infinite knowledge, including perfect fore- knowledge) and omnipotence (all powerful). From this perspective “God’s will” directs everything that happens. As the Westminster Con- fession of Faith puts it, God “freely and unchangeably ordained whatso-
Author bio: Heen is the John H.P. Reumann professor in
biblical studies at the Lutheran Theo- logical Seminary at Philadelphia.
ever comes to pass.” More disconcerting than the
belief that all things occur according to a prearranged script is that such assumptions about God’s unbending will are often joined with biblical pas- sages that focus on God’s foreknowl- edge as well as God’s wrathful judg- ment upon disobedience or unbelief. What results is sometimes called “double predestination.” As theologian John Calvin said of
Romans 9:14: “Before men are born their lot is assigned to each of them by the secret will of God.” One common expansion of this
notion goes something like this: 1) because God is all powerful and has foreknowledge of all things, every- thing occurs according to God’s will; 2) some people are righteous in the ways of God while others are not; 3) therefore “some men and angels are predestinated unto ever- lasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death” (Westminster Confession). The characterization of God that
results from this logic is akin to one whose unpredictable actions result in royal favor toward a few and suffering and death for most. To discern mercy in such a God is difficult at best. One wonders also how the gospel
of Jesus Christ—“the power for sal- vation for all who believe” (Romans 1:16)—might function within a cos- mos driven by such a God, where for- tune or the providence of God or fate has predetermined the lot of every- one before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). What indeed would be the point of preaching the gospel in such a house of horrors
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(Romans 10:14-17)? For Lutherans, guidance can be
found in Article 11 of the “Epitome” as well as the “Solid Declaration” of the Formula of Concord, a confes- sional document of the 16th-century Lutheran Reformation. In these two related texts, biblical passages that are seen to inform the topic are inter- preted. But this is carried out within a very different theological ethos than that described above. For, as the introduction to the “Epitome” of the article “Concerning the Eternal Predestination and Election of God” states, this “is an article of comfort when properly treated.”
Wise advice The church is repeatedly cautioned not to seek “the secret counsel” of God in this matter. That is wise advice. One should not try to think the thoughts of the transcendent God regarding predestination simply because one cannot but get it wrong. Rather, the Formula teaches, we
should cling to the word of God that, in turn, leads us to Christ, who is the “book of life” (Epitome 11:7). It notes: “Whoever conveys this teaching con- cerning the gracious election of God in such a way that troubled Chris- tians gain no comfort from it but are thrown into despair by it, or in such a way that the impenitent are strength- ened in their impudence, then it is undoubtedly certain and true that this teaching is not being presented according to God’s Word and will but rather according to reason and at the instigation of the wicked devil.” A biblical text that is referred to often in the Formula to refute the
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