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Question 5

Luther is quoted saying that without believing absolute predestination “there can be neither faith nor worship of God,” and that ignorance of this means ignorance of God; what picture of God’s character and what definition of “faith” are operating in that claim, and why would early Christians (as Bercot frames them) likely resist it?

Another way to ask: If Luther says you can’t truly have faith or worship without believing absolute predestination, what kind of God is he picturing, and what does he mean by “faith”? Why would early Christians (as Bercot describes them) likely push back on that?

Direct Answer In Luther’s claim, God’s character is pictured as one who “foreknows and wills all things… necessarily and unchangeably,” and faith is defined as confident trust that rests on that deterministic certainty. Bercot implies early Christians would resist because Luther’s Augustinian framework is presented as a move away from “primitive Christianity,” which treated obedience and human response as meaningful.

Support from Transcript:

Luther’s quote insists that if absolute predestination is not known, “there can be neither faith nor worship of God,” and ignorance of it means ignorance of God.
Luther frames God as willing all things “not contingently but necessarily and unchangeably,” tying confidence in God’s promises to this view.
Bercot says Luther “argued that salvation is entirely a matter of predestination” and that humans can’t even “have faith in God” unless God gives it.
The chapter’s larger thesis says the Reformation was “no return to the spirit and teachings of early Christianity,” and Luther “erroneously equated Augustinian teachings with early Christian teachings.”

Discussion Follow-ups Does your assurance rest more on a system you can define or on knowing God through obedience and trust? How do you tell the difference?

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