Jay Webber, M.Div. Ft. Wayne, has pasted some quotations on LutherQuest (sic), trying to prove that Lutherans have always believed in justification without faith.
Roman Catholics use the same arguments. The Church, they claim, has always taught the Assumption of Mary, the Immaculate Conception of Mary, and the infallibility of the pope.
Has the Lutheran Church always taught Receptionism? The error of Receptionism is based on the same fundamental problem of UOJ, denying the efficacy of the Word. The Christian Church has always taught the efficacy of the Word and justification by faith.
Notice that Webber has not quoted from the Book of Concord. The problem with the stray Luther quotations is manifold. One is the translation, which can always be debated. More importantly, Lutherans do not subscribe to the Weimar Edition or the Corpus Reformatorum. They subscribe to the Book of Concord. Otherwise pastors would be praying to Mary because Luther prayed to Mary in his otherwise fine commentary on the Magnificat.
Justification in the Bible and in the Book of Concord = justification by faith.
Another problem with Webber's argument is his failure to offer the other side of the question. That is a logical fallacy called special pleading. The UOJ Stormtroopers quote the same sources over and over, then quote one another, creating an impression of unanimity. In Thy Strong Word I mustered every UOJ statement I could find, and that has convinced more than one pastor that forgiveness without faith is a base falsehood. They were appalled at the UOJ position when it was laid bare.
I am suprised Webber did not quote the ELS statement on UOJ: the whole world is saved, too, a natural consequence of everyone being forgiven.
Robert Preus
Robert Preus, PhD, taught Webber, so let us pay attention to Dr. Preus instead of Master Webber:
From Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant (second edition):
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."
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 ours formally in that His righteousness is imputed to us.
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.
Justification by faith, in the original sense, was taught in the official catechism of the Missouri Synod, and then was gradually changed:
#305 Why do you say in this article: I believe in the Forgiveness of Sins? Because I hold with certainty that by my own powers or through my own works I cannot be justified before God, but that the forgiveness of sins is given me out of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also true justification. Psalm 130:3-4; Psalm 143:2; Isaiah 64:6; Job 25:4-6 (Q. 124).
