Upvote:1
In my study, I have noticed a heavy Calvinist influence on Lutheranism. In fact, Lutheranism is basically medieval Catholicism, which stresses that the sovereignty of God is absolute over all that is. Guess what? That is the exact first point to Calvinism.
Calvinism logically explorers the idea that the sovereignty of God is absolute. The result is basically this:
God has all power over all things, therefore, whatever happens God either
1) Let it happen, but it was the doing of a freewill being or reality separated from Him by sin (eg earth)
2) Stopped it from happening
3) Made it happen entirely.
Because of this logic, if you claim that God has absolute sovereignty over all that is, you must also claim that all that happens is ordained by God. Most Christian denominations will claim this, but quite a few do quietly, so as not to disturb the complacency of the congregation. Lutheranism is more vocal about it, but like most, has become quieter and quieter over the last century and a half.
As for the problem where you might find a paradox, where God is not the author of sin yet he ordains it by this logic is called antimony, which is actually not a paradox. A paradox is manufactured where an antimony is an observation of two facts, although logically derived in this case, that are seemingly irreconcilable, yet both undeniable. Basically, the Calvinist, and subsequently the Lutheran, is willing to admit this seeming contradiction, but is not willing to abandon the entire theology because it starts with "The sovereignty of God is absolute and over all that is," because it is too well supported in the Scripture.