OnederWoman said:
Well... I believe the question concerning the Armenian, Calvinist and Luthern view can still be answered here.
I am mostly intersted in learning about the Lutheran view... since I think that that may be the one I know the least about.
Well, I pretty much hold to the Lutheran view, modified a little.
The idea is based first of all on the understanding that original sin completely negates any chance of man cooperating in his election to salvation. The picture most useful is that of a dead man being resurrected. The dead man is powerless to bring himself back to life, so it takes God's intervention and activity to bring him to life. Thus, to Luther, man is elected to salvation and by God's grace alone, is brought to life, not of his own action, but only by God's. God's means of the spiritual rebirth is faith, which is bestowed as a gift to man and renews his heart making him a new creation. This gift of grace and faith comes through means, the means being the Word of God, found in the Gospel and the Sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. One cannot be saved without the means of grace, as God has placed the means of grace where we can find it and be assured of our salvation by them. The life of the Christian must be evident and is necessary to complete one's journey to salvation- in Lutheran doctrine you can fall from grace. The believer must lead the life of the new obedience out of love for His Saviour and to show forth the good works God has prepared for him to do or his faith is null.
In Lutheran doctrine, one cannot seek to be saved outside of the Gospel and Sacraments. The sacraments are in fact considered the Gospel (forgiveness of sin) in the sacramental elements. The Gospel is in baptism, where the water is joined to the Word of God. Luther commented symbolically that if we could see the waters of baptism with the eyes of faith it would not be clear in colour, but as crimson from the blood of Christ. Likewise, the body and blood of Christ is applied to us in the Lord's Supper and given to us in a real, true, and actual way. To Luther, it is the same as being able to walk up to the cross itself on that Good Friday and receive the blood from the wounds of Christ physically. Lutheran doctrine sees the necessity of the genuine, true,and real application of the Gospel of forgiveness as being essentially the difference between assurance and uncertainty. If one knows for sure one has received God's forgiveness one cannot doubt one's election and will live according to that faith. One is assured of receiving that grace through the sacraments and the promises of God in them, which is in itself the Gospel.
Hope that helps as a primer.
Lutheran Theology Website (very useful and extensive)
