See also Scrinium/Will, Free
Deut. 7.6-11; 14.2
Ps. 65.4, 135:4–6
Jer. 10.23
Hosea 13.9
Matt. 16:18
Matt. 22.1ff
Matt. 25.31-45
John 1.13; 6.29, 37-40, 44, 60, 65; 10:28; 15.3
Acts 13:48
Rom. 8.16, 8.26, 8.29ff; 9-11
1 Cor. 1.7, 26-31 (esp. v. 30 Greek)
Gal. 1.15
Ephesians 1
1 Thess. 5.9
2 Thess. 2.11ff (contrasts reprobation and election)
2 Tim. 1:9
2 Tim. 3.16
1 Peter 1:20
Rev. 13:8
SD XI.6: the Lord governs all [even wicked] things for the glory of His name and the salvation of His elect and to the undoing of the ungodly
SD XI.8: God's election is the cause of our salvation and everything that pertains to it! (cf. 44, 45)
SD XI.12: If you cause impenitence or despair you are misusing the doctrine of election
SD XI.23: God elects not only in general, but also elects and saves individuals
SD XI.30: The elect are discerned because they hear Jesus voice (John 10.27ff); “they hear the Gospel, believe in Christ, call up God and give him thanks, are sanctified in love, persevere in hope, patience and consolation under the cross. And though all these good gifts still be tenuous and weak in them, they still hunger and thirst for righteousness [Matt. 5.6]…Thus does the HS bear witness to the elect that they are the sons of God”
SD XI.43: The doctrine of predestination wonderfully confirms the article of justification; it is truly by grace alone
SD XI.44: Indeed this doctrine overturns all false notions and errors regarding our natural ability to choose, for it is manifest that God in his counsel, before the ages of the world, decreed and ordained that he, by the power of his Holy Spirit (through the word) wants to effect and work everything that pertains to our conversion.
SD XI.54: God knows the number of the elect and the damned; there is a fixed number
SD XI.56: God knows the time, hour, and circumstances of everyone’s conversion; we don’t, so we preach the word and leave that up to him.
It has therefore been well said that in the doctrine of election a theologian takes his final examination. This Scriptur[al] doctrine sweeps the last remnants of Pelagiansim and rationalism out of one’s theology (Pieper III.503).
Accordingly, Luther says [in the Preface to the Epistle to the Romans]: Follow the Epistle to the Romans in its order, concern yourself first with Christ and His Gospel, that you may recognize your sins and His grace; next, that you contend with sin, as Paul teaches from the first to the eighth chapter; then, when in the eighth chapter you will come into [will have been exercised by] temptation under the cross and afflictions, this will teach you in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters how consolatory predestination is (quoted by SD XI.33).
Luther, close of Bondage of the Will (AE 33:292): Let us take it that there are three lights—the light of nature, the light of grace, and the light of glory, to use the common and valid distinction. By the light of nature it is an insoluble problem how it can be just that a good man should suffer and a bad man prosper; but this problem is solved by the light of grace. By the light of grace it is an insoluble problem how God can damn one who is unable by any power of his own to do anything but sin and be guilty. Here both the light of nature and the light of grace tell us that it is not the fault of the unhappy man, but of an unjust God; for they cannot judge otherwise of a God who crowns one ungodly man freely and apart from merits, yet damns another who may well be less, or at least not more, ungodly. But the light of glory tells us differently, and it will show us hereafter that the God whose judgment here is one of incomprehensible righteousness is a God of most perfect and manifest righteousness. In the meantime, we can only believe this, being admonished and confirmed by the example of the light of grace, which performs a similar miracle in relation to the light of nature.
Luther (AE 75:53) great quotes on not being concerned with who does and doesn’t believe
Ambrose, De vocat. gent., bk. 2, ch. 10: “The apostle teaches (Ephesians 1) that the gift and work of grace have always existed in eternity in the counsel of God and that all the sons of adoption were called not just in the time period when they lived but were chosen even before the world was created. In election whatever person is not foreknown in Christ will by no means have fellowship with Him. You see, all who are going to come into the kingdom of God by their calling at whatever time have been sealed in that adoption which antedates all ages. Just as no unbeliever is numbered among this lot, so also none of the devout have been separated from this lot. The foreknowledge of God, which cannot fail, loses nothing from the fullness of the members of the body of Christ, and the whole cannot be diminished by any loss since it has been foreknown and preselected in Christ from eternity past.”
Comfort when doubting one’s election (Gerhard, Locus on Election): Therefore, for our part, we shall respond from the Word of God, 1 John 3:20: “Whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything. "
In regard to election, therefore, we say that one must consider it both by reason of its causes and by reason of its signs. The causes of election are the grace of God and the merit of Christ. This grace of God of itself is universal. No one has been excluded from it by some absolute decree. The merit of Christ is of itself universal. No one has been excluded from its benefit by an absolute decree. The sings of election are either internal or external. The internal ones are (1) the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, “who is the guarantee of our inheritance,” (Eph. 1:14), and “who bears witness to our spirit that we are the children of God,” (Rom. 8:16). (2) Faith, for, 1 John 5:10, “whoever believes has the testimony in himself.” (3) True invocation [of the Lord] which the Spirit of grace and of prayers stirs up. Rom. 10:13: “Whoever invokes the name of the Lord will be saved.” (4) A zeal for holiness. Eph. 1:4: “God has chosen us to be holy.” 2 Tim. 2:19: “God’s firm foundation stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and ‘Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.’ " The external sign of election is the cross. Rom. 8:29: “Those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” If anyone still should doubt whether the grace of God and the merit of Christ apply also to Him, we point him to the call and to the universal promises. Matt. 11:28: “Come unto Me, all you.” 2 Pet. 3:9: “God does not want anyone to perish.” We also point him to the sacraments, to wit, to baptism, which is “the appeal for a good conscience,” 1 Pet. 3:9; Gal. 3:27: “As many as have been baptized have put on Christ;” and to the use of the Holy Supper, by which we are strengthened as with a seal of the promise of grace and the forgiveness of sins. After all, we receive that very body which was given into death for our sins, and we receive that very blood which was shed on the altar of the cross for our sins.
Gerhard, Locus on Election, §210: God has made us certain but not carnally secure about our salvation. The unfailing promises of God free us from doubt. The threats and exhortations of God free us from carnal security, and thus the ship of our faith follows the polestar of the Word and holds a midcourse between the Scylla of constant doubt and the Charybdis of absolute security. We trust in God because of the wonderful, unfailing promises He has given us; at the same time we also fear God because of the weaknesses and temptations of our flesh. We therefore ask God for the gift of perseverance with our earnest groanings, and we trust that we shall certainly receive it. Meanwhile, however, we cast out carnal security and ask that our faith be strengthened by our meditation on the Word and by our use of the sacraments, and we are eager to advance daily in the course of piety.
Gerhard, 212, citing Thomas to affirm that the number of the elect is fixed: Thomas, [ST,] part 1, q. 23, art. 7: “The number of the elect is fixed not only formally, e.g., that one hundred will be saved, but also materially, e.g., that these one hundred will be saved. It is also fixed not only with regard to knowledge but also with regard to a certain determination.”