LutherQuest (sic) has a rave going, on the topic of Universal Objective Justification. Cardinal Cascione started the thread.
The learned commentary is hilarious. Especially egregious are the pronouncements of Heidenreich, who once understood how blasphemous UOJ was.
Do they touch upon the Formula of Concord (as in Concordia Seminary, Concordia Publishing House, Concordia College - all LCMS)? No, they simply engage in free associating with various terms they have borrowed or invented.
When they read from the source of UOJ, they may be a bit red-faced. That will have to wait.
One hint: the source is not Lutheran.
UOJ and Church Growth go together like apple and pie, like Cascione and Werning, like Kelm and Fooler Seminary.
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13] 6. Also, we reject and condemn the error of the Enthusiasts, who imagine that God without means, without the hearing of God's Word, also without the use of the holy Sacraments, draws men to Himself, and enlightens, justifies, and saves them. (Enthusiasts we call those who expect the heavenly illumination of the Spirit [celestial revelations] without the preaching of God's Word.)
4] 2. Accordingly, we believe, teach, and confess that our righteousness before God is (this very thing], that God forgives us our sins out of pure grace, without any work, merit, or worthiness of ours preceding, present, or following, that He presents and imputes to us the righteousness of Christ's obedience, on account of which righteousness we are received into grace by God, and regarded as righteous.
5] 3. We believe, teach, and confess that faith alone is the means and instrument whereby we lay hold of Christ, and thus in Christ of that righteousness which avails before God, for whose sake this faith is imputed to us for righteousness, Rom. 4, 5.
6] 4. We believe, teach, and confess that this faith is not a bare knowledge of the history of Christ, but such a gift of God by which we come to the right knowledge of Christ as our Redeemer in the Word of the Gospel, and trust in Him that for the sake of His obedience alone we have, by grace, the forgiveness of sins, are regarded as holy and righteous before God the Father, and eternally saved.
7] 5. We believe, teach, and confess that according to the usage of Holy Scripture the word justify means in this article, to absolve, that is, to declare free from sins. Prov. 17, 15: He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the righteous, even they both are abomination to the Lord. Also Rom. 8, 33: Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
