The Grace Of God Towards Fallen Men - A Summary of the Christian Faith by Henry Eyster Jacobs - Chapter 9 - Comfort for Christians:
" The Grace Of God Towards Fallen Men - A Summary of the Christian Faith by Henry Eyster Jacobs - Chapter 9
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Question: What has the Lutheran Church confessed concerning Predestination?
“This is not to be investigated in the secret counsel of God, but to be taught from the Word of God, where it is also revealed. But the Word of God leads us to Christ, who is the Book of Life, in whom all are written and elected that are to be saved, as it is written (Eph. 1:4) “He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.”
(You can find other chapters of Jacobs’ book here.)
Chapter 9 - The Grace Of God Towards Fallen Men
1. What is the natural fruit of sin?
Eternal death. As seen above (Chapter 8:17, 18), this is simply spiritual death at its maturity, or in its culmination.
2. But is not Eternal Death the result of a new act or volition of God?
No. All man’s ruin comes from himself. If any one be lost, he is lost solely by his own fault. No one is lost by God’s will. God permits much that He does not cause (Chapter 5:23).
3. All having sinned, we understand, therefore, that all would have eternally perished, unless God had interrupted the natural order of sin and death?
Such is the clear teaching of Holy Scripture.
4. God, however, had not interfered, and all had been left to the consequences of their sins, could man have complained?
This would have been nothing less than what is just, and what occurred to the fallen angels.
5. If God had interfered to save one man, or a hundred, or a thousand, and had made no provision for the rest, would there have been any injustice?
Every one who has sinned being justly liable to the full penalty, no one can plead any injustice in case God, out of pure mercy, determines to save others involved in the same guilt.
6. But if He were to save the majority of the race, would the remainder be injured?
The answer is the same, even though justice would exact its extreme penalty in but one case, and all the rest escape."
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ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
