Monday, May 4, 2015

Sola Fide or Sola Electio?



“…in the Swiss town of Zurich, a more radical social as well as religious Reformation was influenced by Zwingli, who disagreed with Luther on a number of points, including interpretation of the words ‘this is my body’ in the Eucharist, leading to the Swiss notion of communion as a symbolic memorial service in contrast to the more literal Lutheran conception. In Geneva, the Frenchman John Calvin developed an altogether more logical, rational system of theology. Calvinism constituted a ‘second Reformation’ to complete what was perceived as only a partially effected reformation under the first generation of reformers. While there were different theological currents with Calvinism, it has chiefly come to be seen as distinct from Lutheranism with respect to the key notion of predestination. In Calvin’s views, not only could one not achieve salvation by good works (as in the Catholic view); one could also not achieve it by faith (the Lutheran view). Rather, the omnipotent God had predestined every individual to be either one of the elect (the saved) or among the damned; there was nothing mere mortals could to influence their predetermined destiny.”

 
[an excerpt from Mary Fulbrook’s “A Concise History of Germany” – on the Reformation happenings in Germany and its environs in the 16th century; italics mine]

So where does all this talk of sola fide from Calvinistic circles come from?  If they truly subscribe to the idea of double predestination then instead of sola fide, is it more accurate to say that Calvinists subscribe to sola electio?

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