on why
some are saved while others are lost. God has not seen fit to reveal
these mysteries. And since reason cannot search or fathom God, man's
quest for an answer is both presumptuous and vain. That is to say, we
are utterly unable to uncover the divine counsels, which would show that
the mysterious judgments and ways proceeding from them are in complete
harmony with the universal grace proclaimed by the Gospel.

Yet Lutherans believe that the hidden God is not in real conflict with
God as revealed in the Bible, and that the secret will of God does not
in the least invalidate the gracious will of the Gospel. According to
the _Formula of Concord_ there are no real contradictions in God; in Him
everything is yea and amen; His very being is pure reality and truth.
Hence, when relying on God as revealed in Christ, that is to say,
relying on grace which is pure grace only and at the same time grace for
all, Christians may be assured that there is absolutely nothing in the
unknown God, _i.e._, in as far as He has not revealed Himself to them,
which might subvert their simple faith in His gracious promises. The
face of God depicted in the Gospel is the true face of God. Whoever has
seen Christ has seen the Father as He is in reality.

Indeed, also the hidden God, together with His secret counsels,
unsearchable judgments, and ways past finding out, even the majestic
God, in whom we live and move and have our being, the God who has all
things well in hand, and without whom nothing can be or occur, must, in
the light of the Scriptures, be viewed as an additional guarantee that,
in spite of all contingencies, the merciful divine promises of the
Gospel shall stand firm and immovable. Upon eternal election, says the
_Formula of Concord_, "our salvation is so [firmly] founded 'that the
gates of hell cannot prevail against it.'" (1065, 8.) As for us,
therefore, it remains our joyous privilege not to investigate what God
has withheld from us or to climb into the adyton of God's transcendent
majesty, but merely to rely on, and securely trust in, the blessed
Gospel, which proclaims grace for all and salvation by grace alone, and
teaches that whoever is saved must praise God alone for it, while
whoever is damned must blame only himself.

Regarding the mystery involved in predestination, the _Formula of
Concord_ explains: "A distinction must be observed with especial care
between that which is expressly revealed concerning it [predesti