Syllogism practicus

The syllogism practicus , the conclusion from the life practice to the state of election, is a peculiarity of the old Reformed theology.

On the basis of biblical passages such as 1 John 2, 3, 1 John 2.5, 1 John 3:14 and 1 John 5: 2, the following conclusion was drawn:

• Major sentence: According to the Bible, only believers have the testimony of the Holy Spirit that their lives produce fruits of sanctification and good works.
• Bottom: I cannot deny that by God's grace of the Holy Spirit I have been testified that I have fruits of sanctification and good works.
• Conclusion: I belong to the believers.

The prerequisite was the doctrine of the double predestination : God, in his sovereignty and omnipotence, had decided the fate of every single person and determined some for eternal salvation, some for rejection. Jean Calvin advised seeing a sign of being chosen in one's own faith. But he rejected the syllogism practicus . Théodore de Bèze, on the other hand, found the connection between election and good works quite naturally: "The counsel of God is known from its effects."

In response to question 86, the Heidelberg Catechism explains why Christians do good works: Out of gratitude for God's favors and “that we are certain of our own faith from its fruits”. Even John Knox said that there were objectively identifiable marks by which the believer could ensure his election.

The Westminster Confession in Article 16.2 contains the syllogism practicus : Good works are the fruits and evidence of a living faith. By doing good works, the believers increased their certainty.

Max Weber advocated the thesis that the old reformed doctrine of predestination in Puritanism had developed a great dynamic in terms of personal lifestyle. They have led to constant self-control and inner-worldly asceticism. Hard work, renunciation of pleasure, obligation through possession were desirable, and cultural goods with no religious connotation were devalued. The result: "Capital formation through ascetic pressure to save." Matthias Zeindler denies that the English Puritans were driven by fear of predestination, as Weber postulated. In diaries and autobiographies there is constant self-observation and self-control, but God appears in them as a "close, almost calculable father figure" whose benevolence one was quite sure of.

The Synod of Dordrecht in 1618/19 listed the "infallible fruits of election": faith in Christ, fear of God, repentance of sins, hunger for justice. Good works are not mentioned in this context. The show, as Hendrikus Berkhof , as in the 16th century the religious interest of the syllogism practicus the syllogism mysticus have shifted: no longer objectively identifiable good deeds guaranteed the election, but inner faith experiences. Dordrecht heralded a time marked by pietistic introspection, which Berkhof sees critically.

literature

• Wilfried Joest: Dogmatics , Volume 2: The way of God with man . 3rd, revised edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1993. ISBN 3-525-03264-1 .
• Matthias Zeindler: Election: God's way in the world . TVZ, Zurich 2009. ISBN 978-3-290-17516-0 .
• Joel R. Beeke: The Assurance Debate: Six Key Questions. In: Michael AG Haykin, Mark Jones (Eds.): Drawn Into Controversie: Reformed Theological Diversity and Debates Within Seventeenth-Century British Puritanism . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011. ISBN 978-3-52556945-0 . Pp. 263-283.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Joel R. Beeke: The Assurance Debate. Göttingen 2011, p. 274.
2. ↑ Wilfried Joest: Der Weg Gottes mit dem Menschen , Göttingen 1993, p. 665.
3. ↑ Institutio Christianae Religionis 3, 14, 18-20.
4. ^ Matthias Zeindler: Election. Zurich 2009, p. 58.
5. ^ Matthias Zeindler: Election. Zurich 2009, p. 59.
6. ^ Matthias Zeindler: Election. Zurich 2009, p. 61.
7. ^ Matthias Zeindler: Election. Zurich 2009, p. 62 f.
8. ^ Hendrikus Berkhof: The Catechism as an Expression of our Faith , in: Bard Thomson et al., Essays on the Heidelberg Catechism . Wipf & Stock, Eugene 2016, pp. 93–123, here p. 116.