"On Preaching" from the Confessions (#24)

Affirmative position regarding "God's Eternal Foreknowledge and Election":

12. The Christian is to concern himself with the doctrine of the eternal election of God only in so far as it is revealed in the Word of God, which shows us Christ as the “book of life.” Through the proclamation of the Holy Gospel, Christ opens and reveals this book for us, as it is written, “Those he predestined, he also called.” In Christ we should seek the eternal election of the Father, who has decreed in his eternal counsel that he would save no one except those who acknowledge his Son, Christ, and truly believe on him. The Christian should banish all other opinions since they do not proceed from God but are inspired by the evil foe in an attempt to weaken for us or to rob us entirely of the glorious comfort which this salutary doctrine gives us, namely, that we know that we have been elected to eternal life out of pure grace in Christ without any merit of our own, and that no one can pluck us out of his hand. God assures us of this gracious election not only in mere words, but also with his oath, and has sealed it with his holy sacraments, of which we can remind ourselves and with which we can comfort ourselves in our greatest temptations and thus extinguish the flaming darts of the devil. (Tappert, The Book of Concord. Fortress Press: Philadelphia, 1959, p.496; FC Epitome XI: 13)