Robert Preus Repudiated Faith-less Justification (UOJ)

Many Lutherans think of objective justification as another way of speaking about the atoning death of Christ. However, this term has been used with some variation (general, objective, universal, and even universal objective justification) to express a concept alien to the Scriptures, the Book of Concord, and the Christian faith – that God declared the entire world free of sin, without guilt, the moment Christ died on the cross, or alternately, the moment He rose from the dead, absent any Scriptural text, Church father citation, or Book of Concord passage to support this concept of universal absolution, grace without the Means of Grace, forgiveness without faith. The sainted Robert Preus once taught this opinion, during the heyday of Church Growth at Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne. Three influences may have impacted the 1981 essay:
1. Walther’s promotion of the Easter absolution,
2. Missouri’s debt to Pietism, and
3. The Norwegian Lutherans’ historic fondness for this opinion.
However, Preus clarified the true meaning of justification in his final book, Justification and Rome, which was published posthumously. Preus wrote this definitive comment:

"But the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the sinner takes place when the Holy Spirit brings him to faith through Baptism and the Word of the Gospel. Our sins were imputed to Christ at His suffering and death, imputed objectively after He, by His active and passive obedience, fulfilled and procured all righteousness for us. But the imputation of His righteousness to us takes place when we are brought to faith." (Robert D. Preus, Justification and Rome, St. Louis: Concordia Academic Press 1997, p. 72.)

Preus immediately followed the statement above with a quotation from Quenstedt, one of his favorite orthodox Lutheran authors:

"It is not just the same thing to say, “Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us” and to say “Christ is our righteousness.” For the imputation did not take place when Christ became our righteousness. The righteousness of Christ is the effect of His office. The imputation is the application of the effect of His office. The one, however, does not do away with the other. Christ is our righteousness effectively when He justifies us. His righteousness is ours objectively because our faith rests in Him. His righteousness is our formally in that His righteousness is imputed to us." (Ibid., p. 73. The citation reads “Systema, Par. III, Cap. 8. S. 2, q. 5. Observatio 19 (II, 787)".

Preus also quoted Abraham Calov with approval:

"Although Christ has acquired for us the remission of sins, justification, and sonship, God just the same does not justify us prior to our faith. Nor do we become God's children in Christ in such a way that justification in the mind of God takes place before we believe." ([Apodixis Articulorum Fide, Lueneburg, 1684] Robert D. Preus Justification and Rome, St. Louis: Concordia Academic Press 1997, p. 131n. The Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Synod, and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod chose to follow Walther’s notion of an Easter absolution for the entire world, a declaration that everyone forgiven. "For God has already forgiven you your sins 1800 years ago when He in Christ absolved all men by raising Him after He first had gone into bitter death for them. Only one thing remains on your part so that you also possess the gift. This one thing is--faith. And this brings me to the second part of today's Easter message, in which I now would show you that every man who wants to be saved must accept by faith the general absolution, pronounced 1800 years ago, as an absolution spoken individually to him." C. F. W. Walther, The Word of His Grace, Sermon Selections, "Christ's Resurrection--The World's Absolution" Lake Mills: Graphic Publishing Company, 1978 p. 233. Brosamen, p. 138. Mark 16:1-8.)