The Reformed never really left. Now they control The Love Shack through Church and Change.
Mrs. Ichabod, who is well trained in German literature, has pointed out that the German word General in General Justification means "each and every one." That harmonizes with those quotations from the Synodical Conference where every single person on earth--and those in Hell--have the status of guilt-free saints. WELS apologists like to say that some go too far in their UOJ statements, but that is a poor defense for false doctrine.
My fellow students, now that we have studied the progress of Pietism at Halle, where Hoenecke studied under Tholuck, and having stared in wonder at Bengel's concept of the blood of Christ, let us turn to Hoenecke himself. For clarity I have put the quotations he has cited in bold print:
Translation - Adolph Hoenecke, Dogmatik, III, p. 354-5
“Justification is an activity of God, which takes place in a different time and manner for each individual sinner. But there is also a general justification which came upon all men, in the time of—and indeed, in—Christ’s passion and resurrection (Romans 5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Romans 4:25). Our dogmaticians have not written much in particular about this general justification, but have made only occasional mention of it. For example Gerhard (Loci, l.c. XXXIII, p. 31):
‘It must be noted that Christ concurred most capably with our justification under three headings:
1) meritoriously, he himself obtained the grace of justification with his own most holy and perfect merit.
2) effectively, not only did he free us from sin, death and the Devil, and acquire for us the righteousness which avails before God, but he also offers that good, precious grace acquired so dearly in the word of the Gospel and applies it through faith.
3) Formally, in its application, for we are justified by no other thing before God than by the righteousness acquired by Christ and imputed to us through faith:’
Gerhard again (Annotations on the Epistle to the Romans, Jena Edition, 1666, p. 156):
‘By His resurrection [God] absolved Him, since our sins had been imputed to Him, and also in the same manner absolved us in Him, so that in this way the resurrection of Christ may be both the cause and the complete guarantee of our justification.’
Gerhard again (Theological Disputations, Jena Edition, 1655, XX, p. 1450.):
‘Because we have been absolved from our sins in the resurrection of Christ, so they cannot condemn us any more in judgment before God.’
And Ph. D. Burk* (Rechtfertigung und Versicherung, p. 41) rightly said:
‘The difference between general justification and the more common usage of the term justification can be expressed as follows. The latter takes place precisely upon the appropriation of the former.’
An emphasis upon general justification is necessary in order to safeguard the material content of the Gospel.
We need furnish no extraordinary proof in regard to the justification of the individual sinner; let us suffice with the story of the publican. Justification takes place in the one who appeals to the grace of God, but it does not take place in the Pharisee. And the entirety of Scripture demonstrates that he who believes is always justified; this applies to every individual, the moment that faith is kindled in him.”
***
*Burk was Bengel's son-in-law. Burk worked closed with Bengel, edited and expanded his work, and published extensively on his own.
