第十一条
论上帝永恒的预知<预定>和拣选
批注：虽然此条款并非回应信义宗内的某个特定的争论，但是将其放在这里是明智的作法。约翰加尔文及其跟随者发展出了一种教导，即大家所熟知的“双重预定论”。这一粗鄙且恐怖的道理宣称：上帝已经预定并安排好了有些人不管怎样就是要下地狱，而其余的人祂则已预定和安排他们上天堂。因此，第十一条款明确地推翻这个可怕且没有圣经依据的教导，同时公开揭露这教导是极大的谬误。圣经中有关拣选的教导，是惟独为基督徒而预备的，此拣选的教义是为了安慰处在艰难困苦和试炼境况中的基督徒。我们知道，我们在基督里的救赎是如此的肯定和确切，因为在这世界被造之前，上帝就已经知道我们与祂的关系了。事实上，也只有那些相信基督的人才会忧虑自己是否蒙了拣选。而那些完全不信的人，或是那些离弃基督教信仰的人，不会去关心这样的事情。因此，当我们在今生受到此困扰的试探时，这一拣选教义条款把上帝恩典的福音应许指给我们看，而这福音应许乃在圣道和圣礼中被担保确实无疑地赐给了我们。（也请参考〈路德小问答〉第二部分；〈协同式宣言全文〉第十一条。）
1在属〈奥斯堡信条〉的众神学家当中，并未对此条款有过公开的争论。但是，既然拣选是一个安慰人的信仰条款－如果我们正确地处理的话，也为了防止这条款在未来出现一些让人受冒犯跌倒的争论，所以我们也在此提出解释。
肯定说明
有关此条款的纯正与确实之教导
[2]1. 首先，应当正确地持守上帝的预知和祂永恒的预定之间的区别。
[3]2. 上帝的预知没有任何其他意思，就是：上帝在万事发生之前，就已经知道一切了，正如但以理书2章28节所记：“只有那在天上的上帝能显明奥秘。祂已把日后将要发生的事指示尼布甲尼撒王。”
[4]3. 这个预知不仅涉及到敬虔者，同样也涉及到恶者；但它并不是造成邪恶或罪过的原因。也就是说，它并不是导致人们犯罪的原因（最初致使人犯罪的原因，乃是由魔鬼和人的败坏与邪恶意志所引起的）。再者，它也并非是造成他们堕落的原因，所以他们自己该为自身的堕落负责。上帝的预知只是管制他们堕落的程度，<这邪恶的堕落要到什么地步>，以及控制它会持续多久。即使这样的堕落本身是邪恶的，但这一切事情的发生，仍然是为了服务上帝的选民得着他们的救恩。
[5]4. 预定，或是上帝的永恒拣选，仅只适用于敬虔者，亦即上帝所爱的儿女身上。这乃是他们得救的因，也是上帝为他们所预备的；同样的，祂也计划与拣选得救有关的一切。我们的救赎是如此坚定地建立在这拣选教义之上，以至于阴间的权势都不能胜过它（约翰福音10：28；马太福音16：18）。
[6]5. 我们不应当在上帝的隐秘旨意中探究此事，而当在祂启示这事的地方，即祂的圣道话语中寻求。
[7]6. 上帝的话语引导我们到基督面前，基督就是“生命册”，所有将要在永恒中得救的人都蒙拣选且写在上面了。因为以弗所书1章4节写道：“因为祂从创世以前，在基督里拣选了我们。”
[8]7. 基督呼召所有的罪人到祂那里去，并应许他们必要得着安息。祂渴望<极其愿意>所有的人都到祂跟前，而且允许每个人都能得到祂的帮助。祂在祂的话语中将自己赐给他们，并渴望他们聆听这道，而不是让把耳朵塞住或是<忽视和>藐视这圣道。再者，为使我们能坚持这永恒的救赎到底，祂应许赐下圣灵的能力与工作，以及上帝的帮助<这样我们就能坚定地持守信心，并得着永远的救赎>。
[9]8. 我们不应以理性或上帝的律法为根基，去思想我们是否已经蒙拣选得永生。因为那样做的话，我们要么跌入粗鄙、放荡、爱奢华享乐的生活方式，要么陷入绝望之中。而且还会在人们心中挑起一些摧毁性的想法。因为人们若跟随自己的理性，他们就不能成功阻止自己有这样的想法：“倘若上帝已经拣选我得救，那么无论我做什么，我都不会被定罪”，或者“倘若上帝不拣选我使我得永生，那么我所行的善事也就无关紧要了，因为这一切都是徒劳无益的！”
[10]9. 有关预定论的真正判断，只能从基督的圣福音中获得，因为其中清楚地证明：“因为上帝把众人都圈在不顺服中，为的是要怜悯众人。”〔罗马书11：32〕因为祂“不愿一人沉沦，而是人人都来悔改”〔彼得后书3：9〕，且都来相信主基督（也请参考以西结书18：23；33：11，18；约翰一书2：2）。
[11]10. 任何人若在乎上帝已启示的旨意，就请他们按照圣保罗写给罗马教会基督徒的书信中所叙述的次序去思想！在此书信中，保罗首先指示众人应悔改〔罗马书1-2〕，认识自己的罪〔罗马书3：1-20〕，信靠基督〔罗马书3：21-5：21〕，并要顺服上帝〔罗马书6-8〕。然后他才说明上帝永恒拣选的奥秘〔罗马书9-11〕。对于按照此方式思想的人，此拣选教义才有益且能提供安慰。
[12]11. “被召的人多，选上的人少。”〔马太福音22：14〕这经文并不是说上帝不愿意人人得救。至于有些人未能得救，其原因如下：他们不仅完全不听上帝的道，还任性固执地鄙视这道，塞住自己的耳朵，且硬着心肠。如此，他们便阻挡了圣灵正常作工的渠道﹝路加福音16：29-31﹞，使祂不能在他们心里运行作工。或者，他们听了到上帝的道，却轻视并忽略这道。因此，他们未能得救<他们灭亡>，是因他们的罪恶，而非上帝或是祂的拣选所造成的（彼得后书2：1-3；路加福音11：49-52；希伯来书12：25-26）。
[13]12. 基督徒应当只在上帝圣道所启示的范围内，<默想>思考与上帝永恒拣选有关的信仰条款。因为祂的道将基督当作“生命册”呈递给我们，而藉着宣扬圣福音，祂将生命册向我们袒露敞开，正如罗马书8章30节所写道：“祂所预定的人，祂又召他们来。”所以我们应当在基督里面寻求天父那永恒的拣选，因为天父已在其永恒神圣的旨意中〔以弗所书1：11-12〕命定：祂只拯救那些认得祂儿子基督并真正相信祂的人。因此其他一切的想法都当“从敬虔者的头脑”中“完全”剔除出去，因为这些想法绝不是从上帝而来，而是来自那恶者仇敌魔鬼的暗示。我们的仇敌企图藉着这些想法，要削弱或完全除去我们从这有益的道理中所拥有的荣耀安慰。换句话说，我们确实知道：完全出于恩典，没有我们自己所付出的任何功劳，我们已在基督里蒙拣选得永生；所以没有任何人可以将我们从祂的手中夺走〔约翰福音10：29〕。再者，祂不仅单单用言语应许了这恩典的拣选，而且也用誓约证明，并以圣礼作为印记。而当我们受到最严峻的试探时，我们<应当>重新思想这些教导，并从其中得到安慰，藉着它们，我们就能扑灭魔鬼那燃烧的火箭〔以弗所书6：16〕。
[14]13. 此外，我们应该按照上帝的旨意生活，并且带着最大的热忱和努力去作工。正如圣彼得在彼得后书1章10节中的勉励：“使你们的蒙召和被选坚定不移。”我们也当特别坚守上帝所启示的道<不做丝毫退让>，因这道不能也不会辜负我们。
[15]14. 藉此对上帝永恒拣选教义的简要解释，我们将荣耀完完全全地归给上帝。因为祂按着自己的意旨救赎我们，惟独出于祂纯全的怜悯，而不是因为我们有任何功劳。再者，此道理并没有给予任何人绝望的理由，或是给人借口去过一个粗俗和无法无天的生活。<那些严重焦虑不安、心灵软弱的信徒，或是那些享乐主义者，都可以扔掉他们的借口了（都可以被此拣选教义所光照苏醒）。>
相反或否定说明
有关此条款的错误教导
16我们相信并坚持这一观点：若任何人在教导上帝恩典拣选得永生的道理时，不但不能使忧虑苦恼的基督徒从中得着安慰，反而使他们更加陷入沮丧或绝望之中，或者是让不知悔改者在其荒唐的生活方式中变得更加刚硬，那么这个拣选的教义，就不是按照上帝的道和旨意处理的<而是邪恶和错误地处理的>。他们的教导乃是追随了理性，是被那受咒诅的撒但蛊惑的结果。正如使徒在罗马书15章4节中所证明的：“从前所写的圣经都是为教导我们写的，要使我们藉着忍耐和因圣经所生的安慰，得着盼望。”因此，我们弃绝以下的谬误：
[17]1. 上帝不愿意人人都悔改信福音。
[18]2. 当上帝呼召我们归回祂自己的时候，祂并不热切期望世人都来亲近祂。
[19]3. 上帝不愿所有的人都得救，所以选择一些人受咒诅沉沦，以致他们无法得救，而且上帝这样做也不在乎他们所犯的罪，纯粹是出于祂的计划、目的和旨意。
[20]4. 上帝之所以拣选我们是因为我们里面所拥有的（美善之事）——并不单单是出于祂的怜悯与基督至圣的功劳，为我们身上的这些美善，上帝拣选我们得永生。
[21]5. 这些所有的观点都是亵渎、可怕和错误的教义，因为它们剥夺了基督徒在圣福音和圣礼使用中所拥有的一切安慰。因此，上帝的教会不应容许这些道理存在其中。
22以上是针对那些有争议性的条款所做出概要性的简短解释。关于这些信仰条款和议题，属于〈奥斯堡信条〉的神学家们也曾有一段时间带着分歧去教导和辩论。也因此，每一位单纯的基督徒才能遵照上帝的圣道和简要的信仰问答，分辨什么才是正确或是错误的。因为在以上的教义陈述当中，不但纯正的道理被表明出来，那些错误和对立的道理也被反驳和弃绝了。正因如此，那些曾经发生过的、会引人跌倒的分歧，也完全获得了解决<和裁定>。
23愿全能的上帝我们主耶稣的父，赐下祂圣灵的恩典，使我们都能在祂里面合而为一，并且坚定不移地持守在这基督信仰的合一中，这是上帝所喜悦的！阿们。
XI. Election.
1 Concerning this article no public dissension has occurred among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession. But since it is a consolatory article, if treated properly, and lest offensive disputations concerning the same be instituted in the future, it is also explained in this writing.
AFFIRMATIVE THESES: The Pure and True Doctrine concerning This Article.
2 1. To begin with [First of all], the distinction between praescientia et praedestinatio, that is, between God’s foreknowledge and His eternal election, ought to be accurately observed.
3 2. For the foreknowledge of God is nothing else than that God knows all things before they happen, as it is written Dan. 2:28: There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.
4 3. This foreknowledge extends alike over the godly and the wicked, but it is not the cause of evil, neither of sin, namely, of doing what is wrong (which originally arises from the devil and the wicked, perverse will of man), nor of their ruin [that men perish], for which they themselves are responsible [which they must ascribe to themselves]; but it only regulates it, and fixes a limit to it [how far it should progress and] how long it should last, and all this to the end that it should serve His elect for their salvation, notwithstanding that it is evil in itself.
5 4. The predestination or eternal election of God, however, extends only over the godly, beloved children of God, being a cause of their salvation, which He also provides, as well as disposes what belongs thereto. Upon this [predestination of God] our salvation is founded so firmly that the gates of hell cannot overcome it. John 10:28; Matt. 16:18.
6 5. This [predestination of God] is not to be investigated in the secret counsel of God, but to be sought in the Word of God, where it is also revealed.
7 6. But the Word of God leads us to Christ, who is the Book of Life, in whom all are written and elected that are to be saved in eternity, as it is written Eph. 1:4: He hath chosen us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world.
8 7. This Christ calls to Himself all sinners and promises them rest, and He is in earnest [seriously wills] that all men should come to Him and suffer themselves to be helped, to whom He offers Himself in His Word, and wishes them to hear it and not to stop their ears or [neglect and] despise the Word. Moreover, He promises the power and working of the Holy Ghost, and divine assistance for perseverance and eternal salvation [that we may remain steadfast in the faith and attain eternal salvation].
9 8. Therefore we should judge concerning this our election to eternal life neither from reason nor from the Law of God, which lead us either into a reckless, dissolute, Epicurean life or into despair, and excite pernicious thoughts in the hearts of men, for they cannot, as long as they follow their reason, successfully refrain from thinking: If God has elected me to salvation, I cannot be condemned, no matter what I do; and again: If I am not elected to eternal life, it is of no avail what good I do; it is all [all my efforts are] in vain anyway.
10 9. But it [the true judgment concerning predestination] must be learned alone from the holy Gospel concerning Christ, in which it is clearly testified that God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all, and that He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and believe in the Lord Christ. Rom. 11:32; Ezek. 18:23; 33:11; 2 Pet. 3:9; 1 John 2:2.
11 10. Whoever, now, is thus concerned about the revealed will of God, and proceeds according to the order which St. Paul has observed in the Epistle to the Romans, who first directs men to repentance, to knowledge of sins, to faith in Christ, to divine obedience, before he speaks of the mystery of the eternal election of God, to him this doctrine [concerning God’s predestination] is useful and consolatory.
12 11. However, that many are called and few chosen, Matt. 22:14, does not mean that God is not willing to save everybody; but the reason is that they either do not at all hear God’s Word, but wilfully despise it, stop their ears and harden their hearts, and in this manner foreclose the ordinary way to the Holy Ghost, so that He cannot perform His work in them, or, when they have heard it, make light of it again and do not heed it, for which [that they perish] not God or His election, but their wickedness, is responsible. [2 Pet. 2:1ff ; Luke 11:49. 52; Heb. 12:25f.]
13 12. Thus far a Christian should occupy himself [in meditation] with the article concerning the eternal election of God, as it has been revealed in God’s Word, which presents to us Christ as the Book of Life, which He opens and reveals to us by the preaching of the holy Gospel, as it is written Rom. 8:30: Whom He did predestinate, them He also called. In Him we are to seek the eternal election of the Father, who has determined in His eternal divine counsel that He would save no one except those who know His Son Christ and truly believe on Him. Other thoughts are to be [entirely] banished [from the minds of the godly], as they proceed not from God, but from the suggestion of the Evil Foe, whereby he attempts to weaken or entirely to remove from us the glorious consolation which we have in this salutary doctrine, namely, that we know [assuredly] that out of pure grace, without any merit of our own, we have been elected in Christ to eternal life, and that no one can pluck us out of His hand; as He has not only promised this gracious election with mere words, but has also certified it with an oath and sealed it with the holy Sacraments, which we can [ought to] call to mind in our most severe temptations, and take comfort in them, and therewith quench the fiery darts of the devil.
14 13. Besides, we should use the greatest diligence to live according to the will of God, and, as St. Peter admonishes, 2 Pet. 1:10, make our calling sure, and especially adhere to [not recede a finger’s breadth from] the revealed Word: that can and will not fail us.
15 14. By this brief explanation of the eternal election of God His glory is entirely and fully given to God, that out of pure mercy alone, without all merit of ours, He saves us according to the purpose of His will; besides, also, no cause is given any one for despondency or a vulgar, wild life [no opportunity is afforded either for those more severe agitations of mind and faintheartedness or for Epicureanism].
Negative Theses: False Doctrine concerning This Article.
16 Accordingly, we believe and hold: When any teach the doctrine concerning the gracious election of God to eternal life in such a manner that troubled Christians cannot comfort themselves therewith, but are thereby led to despondency or despair, or the impenitent are strengthened in their wantonness, that such doctrine is treated [wickedly and erroneously] not according to the Word and will of God, but according to reason and the instigation of the cursed Satan. For, as the apostle testifies, Rom. 15:4, whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Therefore we reject the following errors:
17 1. As when it is taught that God is unwilling that all men repent and believe the Gospel.
18 2. Also, that when God calls us to Himself, He is not in earnest that all men should come to Him.
19 3. Also, that God is unwilling that every one should be saved, but that some, without regard to their sins, from the mere counsel, purpose, and will of God, are ordained to condemnation so that they cannot be saved.
20 4. Also, that not only the mercy of God and the most holy merit of Christ, but also in us there is a cause of God’s election, on account of which God has elected us to everlasting life.
21 All these are blasphemous and dreadful erroneous doctrines, whereby all the comfort which they have in the holy Gospel and the use of the holy Sacraments is taken from Christians, and therefore should not be tolerated in the Church of God.
22 This is the brief and simple explanation of the controverted articles, which for a time have been debated and taught controversially among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession. Hence every simple Christian, according to the guidance of God’s Word and his simple Catechism, can perceive what is right or wrong, since not only the pure doctrine has been stated, but also the erroneous contrary doctrine has been repudiated and rejected, and thus the offensive divisions that have occurred are thoroughly settled [and decided].
23 May Almighty God and the Father of our Lord Jesus grant the grace of His Holy Ghost that we all may be one in Him, and constantly abide in this Christian unity, which is well pleasing to Him! Amen.
(Source: https://bookofconcord.org/epitome/ )