3. Order of Salvation
In this part of dogmatics will be treated
A. Vocation (call).
B. Conversion (regeneration, illumination).
C. Justification.
D. Sanctification.
E. Preservation (perseverance and election).
F. Mystic union.
A. Vocation
I.God calls and invites sinners to accept and enjoy the fruits of Christ's redemptive work.
1.Human beings have by nature no knowledge of the way of salvation.
a)They are by nature unable to conceive and unwilling to seek salvation by grace.
1)This is the result of original sin.
Note: Consider how this reflects both aspects of original sin: both the lack of true fear, love and trust in God and the presence of natural hostility toward him.
Augsburg Confession, II, p 43: Also they teach that since the fall of Adam, all men begotten in the natural way are born with sin, that is, without the fear of God, without trust in God, and with concupiscence.
2)Scripture is rich in descriptive terms for this natural spiritual condition of mankind.
-a)Scripture pictures it as general depravity.
Psalm 14:2,3 The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. 2 All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Psalm 53:3 Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Romans 3:10-12 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
-b)Scripture calls this condition darkness or blindness.
John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
Acts 26:18 [I am sending you] to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
Ephesians 4:17,18 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
-c)Scripture pictures it as hostility.
Romans 8:7 The sinful mind is hostile (ἔχθρα) to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
Colossians 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
-d)Scripture calls it spiritual death.
Ephesians 2:1,5 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. 5 God made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.
-e)Scripture calls it desire that is diametrically opposed to God.
Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
Genesis 8:21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.”
Galatians 5:17,24 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
James 1:14 But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
Romans 7:8,21,23 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 23 But I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
3)Sinful human beings oppose the gospel of free justification.
1 Corinthians 1:18,23 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 23 But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.
1 Corinthians 2:8,14 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
2 Corinthians 4:3,4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Acts 17:6,7,18 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
Isaiah 53:1-3 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
b)Therefore, if Christ's work of redemption is not to be lost, God himself must bring sinners to acceptance.
1 Corinthians 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
1 Corinthians 2:12,13 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
2 Corinthians 5:19 God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”
2.God proclaims salvation and invites sinners to accept and enjoy it.
a)God's overtures to the sinner are often referred to as a call or vocation.
1)Scripture in several places uses this term specifically.
Romans 1:5-7 Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. 6 You also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:28,30 We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
1 Corinthians 1:9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
Galatians 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.
Galatians 5:8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.
Ephesians 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
1 Thessalonians 2:12 Encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
1 Peter 1:15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
2)God’s call or vocation is often presented in Scripture in the form of an invitation.
Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
John 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”
2 Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Isaiah 55:1,3,5 Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. 5 Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.
Matthew 22:3,9 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. 9 “Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.”
3)Since the preaching of the gospel is always the announcement of the great things God has done for sinners, the call or vocation is practically identical with that preaching of the gospel.
-a)Notice how closely the proclamation of the gospel is connected to the call to faith.
Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”
Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 22:4 Then he sent some more servants and said, “Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.”
-b)If any distinction is to be made, the gospel call is issued on the basis of the gospel proclamation.
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
b)God's means of calling are the means of grace.
1)This is God's ordinary way of calling.
2 Thessalonians 2:14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:14-17 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” 16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
2)God, of course, may call directly.
Acts 9:3-5 As he reached Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.
Quenstedt: That extraordinary call is special and very rare. It was indeed extended in ancient times in the Old Testament and now and then in the beginning of the New. But today, after the gospel has been preached in the whole world and the church has been established through the apostles, it has clearly been set aside (TDP, Pt III, chap. V, sect. I, thesis V, note II, p 462).
3)In a loose sense, anything that causes a sinner to stop and think may be termed a call. This is part of what may often be called “pre-evangelism.”
Acts 17:27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Romans 2:14,15 Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.
1 Kings 10:1 When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relation to the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions.
1 Thessalonians 1:8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it.
Quenstedt: The aformentioned types of call, rather than being a call in the proper sense, are certain invitations and inducements to inquire about the true worship of God and about the congregation in which that worship flourishes (TDP, Pt III, chap. V, sect. I, thesis III, note II, p 461).
c)God is moved to call sinners.
1)Only his grace moves him to extend this call.
Galatians 1:15 God…set me apart from birth and called me by his grace.
2 Timothy 1:9 [God] has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.
Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
2)His grace responds freely to the self- inflicted human misery caused by sin.
Matthew 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
d)When Scripture uses the term “call,” it is usually referring to the effective call that brings a sinner to faith.
Note: The gospel is always efficacious, that is, it is always able to convert,because the power of the Holy Spirit is always at work in it to create and strengthen faith. Yet the gospel is not always effective, that is, it does always work faith because of the stubbornness of human unbelief. Caution: The bare statement that the gospel is not always effective may be confusing.
3.God's call is serious, efficacious, and universal, but not irresistible.
a)His call remains serious, efficacious, and universal even though all who hear that call are not brought to faith.
1)Clearly, not all who are called are saved.
Isaiah 65:2 All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations.
Matthew 22:14 For many are invited, but few are chosen.
2)The fault is always sinful human nature’s resistance to God’s grace.
Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.