Friday, February 1, 2008

No, No, Nanette




Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS Repeats Two Justifications":

I also believe in UOJ. I believe and teach it the same way you do about the atonement or reconciliation. We're talking about the same exact thing, but using different terms.

***

GJ - Anonymous is a popular name for those who comment.

Sorry - no one can use the favorite labels of false doctrine and say, "I agree with you." Besides, the statement above is too brief to know exactly what the author means.

Some think OJ is another term for the Atonement. I thought that and used the term OJ in Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant (first printing). I corrected that in the second printing.

The assumption of UOJ = Atonement led some to conclude falsely that denying UOJ was denying the universal nature of the Atonement.

UOJ is peculiar to the Walther circle and (as far as I can tell) the Norwegian Lutherans. That is perhaps why Robert Preus stuck with UOJ for a long period of time.

UOJ would make a good dissertation for someone with access to the German Pietistic works.

The essence of UOJ error is this:


  1. That God declared the world free of sin the moment Christ died on the cross or alternately the moment Christ rose from the dead.
  2. That everyone is already forgiven of all sin.
  3. That everyone is already saved.
  4. That people believe once they hear they are already forgiven and saved.
  5. That they are not really, truly forgiven and saved unless they accept that they are.


The Christian Church has always used technical terms as short-hand for conclusions to lengthy conflicts. The term Trinity is non-Biblical but useful. (Many abuse the term nevertheless.) We should avoid terms without a foundation in the Scriptures and Confessions.

Pope John the Malefactor's Malignant Influence



Pope John the Malefactor: "Everyone is forgiven. The Hottentots are forgiven. The residents of Hell are forgiven, guilt-free saints. But if anyone disagrees with my ambiguous, confused, and contradictory doctrinal opinions, I will extend the Left Foot of Fellowship to them. Amen? Amen! Now where are my round-the-world tickets?"

ELS Pastor Jesse Jacobsen, The Plucked Chicken:

GJ - I am taking note of an ELS blog because it deals with UOJ. I know the author from years ago. Unfortunately, Pope John the Malefactor was teaching at at the Frozen Food Seminary in Mankato, laying UOJ thickly and crudely on his students, including Jesse Jacobsen.

I give Pastor Jacobsen credit for dealing with the issue out in the open, not ducking and hiding from the implications of UOJ. If Lutheran pastors continue to do this, they will find that UOJ is untenable and unChristian.

It shouldn't surprise us, but those two points harmonize and reinforce each other rather well:

The lost are condemned not because of the guilt of their accumulated sin, but because they do not believe in Christ.

The Holy Spirit proclaims righteousness upon the world because the Lamb of God has made atonement for all of its guilt.

Someone may object to this terminology for some reason, but at this point I see no problem with calling the unlimited atonement made by Christ "objective justification," especially because His resurrection proves that it was accepted by the Father.

As always, I am open to criticism, though God's Word really isn't.


***

GJ - The Wisconsin Sect and the Little Sect on the Prairie are stuck with their own infallibility doctrine. They are never wrong, have never been wrong, and cannot accept any error among any of their leaders or writers. That leads to obnoxious errors being repeated and defended without thinking them through.

The blog shows that Jacobsen is facing the issue and has made some progress. For example, by quoting John 3:18 in his blog, he has refuted his own conclusion: "The Holy Spirit proclaims righteousness upon the world because the Lamb of God has made atonement for all of its guilt."

KJV John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The foundation of doctrine must be the infallible and inerrant Word of God, not the propositions of Walther's disciples (F. Pieper, J. P. Meyer). Luther and the Book of Concord teach that the Atonement is the treasure, that the Holy Spirit distributes this treasure through the preaching office. Righteousness is declared through the Gospel and received in faith, not absorbed universally via osmosis.

Is it any wonder that the ELS and WELS are confused about the public ministry? Here is their Jedi Master of UOJ:

J-586

I. "Objectively speaking, without any reference to an individual sinner's attitude toward Christ's sacrifice, purely on the basis of God's verdict, every sinner, whether he knows about it or not, whether he believes it or not, has received the status of a saint. What will be his reaction when he is informed about this turn of events? Will he accept, or will he decline?"
J. P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 103f. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

II. "Before Christ's intervention took place God regarded him as a guilt-laden, condemned culprit. After Christ's intervention and through Christ's intervention He regards him as a guilt-free saint."
J. P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 107. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

III. "This applies to the whole world, to every individual sinner, whether he was living in the days of Christ, or had died centuries before His coming, or had not yet been born, perhaps has not been born to this day. It applies to the world as such, regardless of whether a particular sinner ever comes to faith or not."
J. P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 109. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

J-587

“About 300 years earlier Johann Gerhard expressed the same truth in these words: ‘By raising Christ from the dead God absolved Him from our sins, which had been imputed to Him, and accordingly He absolved us also in Him.’ Gerhard was professor of theology in Jena. He did not write a Brief Statement, but he did write a book on Lutheran dogmatics consisting of 20 volumes. He died in 1637.”
J. P. Meyer, “The Holy Spirit Creator,” The Northwestern Lutheran, September 24, 1950, p. 310. [GJ Note how Gerhard is slandered. See the post below. J. P. Meyer was a professor at Northwestern College in Watertown, president of Martin Luther College (nee Dr. Martin Luther College) in New Ulm, professor at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (1920-1964), president of the seminary (1937-1963), and author of the notes used in dogmatics class. He published Ministers of Christ in 1963 and died the next year at the age of 91. WELS cannot admit Meyer was a false teacher, but they stopped printing his little book.]

J-588

“The Judge in heaven examines this evidence. He declares His verdict. It is one of acquittal. Man’s debt of sin is no longer charged against him. Sinful man is free!”
WELS Conference of Presidents, “Every Sinner Declared Righteous,” 1954 tract.

J-585

Letters to the Hartman and Pohlman Families




“Faith Lutheran Church

3215 West Judson Road

Kokomo, Indiana 46901



August 30, 1979



Mr. and Mrs. David Hartman

R. R. #1, Box 90

Kokomo, Indiana 46901



Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hartman,



In response to your letter of August 18, 1979, it is our understanding that your ‘no’ vote on June 20th against supporting the biblical doctrine of the WELS was based at least in part, on your failure to accept the following statement – included in your letter – all of which are in agreement with the teachings of the WELS, namely that:

‘Objectively speaking, without any reference to an individual sinners’ [sic] attitude toward Christs’ [sic] sacrafice [sic], purely on the basis of God’s verdict, every sinner, whether he knows it or not, whether he believes it or not, has received the status of a saint.’
‘After Christs’ [sic] intervention and through Christs’ [sic] intervention, God regards all sinners as guilt-free saints.’
‘When God reconciled the world to Himself through Christ, He individually pronounced forgiveness to each individual sinner whether that sinner ever comes to faith or not.’
‘At the time of the resurrection of Christ God looked down in hell and declared Judas, the people destroyed in the flood, and all the ungodly, innocent, not guilty, and forgiven of all sin and gave unto them the status of saints.’


I trust this is the information you desire.



Sincerely yours in Christian love,



Michael Liebner, Acting Secretary

Faith Lutheran Church Voters’ Assembly”[39]









“Faith Lutheran Church

3215 West Judson Road

Kokomo, Indiana 46901



November 19, 1980



Mr. and Mrs. David Hartman

R. R. #1, Box 90

Kokomo, Indiana 46901



Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hartman,



In accordance with the recommendations of the Southeastern Wisconsin District Panel of Review the voters of the Faith Lutheran Church have approved a resolution terminating your membership in the congregation unless and until such time as you accept the doctrine of justification as practiced by the WELS.



We encourage you to reassess your position on this matter and pray for a favorable decision so that once again we can work together for His Kingdom.



Yours in Christ,



Michael Liebner, Secretary”

***

GJ - I was given xeroxes of the letters to Hartman/Pohlman families in Kokomo. Like I said before, friends, I have been everywhere. The letters are reproduced verbatim above and in Thy Strong Word. The Wisconsin Synod excommunicated the two families for not accepting the Kokomo Statements, then accused the two families of creating a parody of justification. No, the parody is from WELS, defended by WELS, with the Amen Corner in the ELS yelling "Hoo-rah" and deceiving their pastoral students.

UOJ does not bear the weight of careful Biblical study. UOJ is anti-Christian and anti-Lutheran.

The fruits of UOJ are:


  1. Fellowship with Fuller Seminary and Willow Creek Community Church.
  2. Fellowship with ELCA - joint worship and joint religious projects.
  3. Fellowship with the Church of Rome. The same Pope John the Malefactor who marched in a religious procession at Bethany's Frozen Food chapel excommunicated ELS pastors for disagreeing with His Holiness.
  4. Fellowship with the Church of Rome, Part Deux. No one in the ELS objected when a Roman Catholic archbishop gave a public lecture at Wisconsin Lutheran College. How could they object?
  5. Silence on the Church Growth Movement.
  6. Silence about Willow Creek training.

WELS: Stop Slandering Gerhard



J. Gerhard, Post-Concordist, Is Often Accused by WELS of Embracing UOJ


J-559

"The entire Scripture testifies that the merits of Christ are received in no other way than through faith, not to mention that it is impossible to please God without faith, Hebrews 11:6, let alone to be received into eternal life. In general, St. Paul concludes concerning this [matter] in Romans 3:28: Thus we hold then that a man becomes righteous without the works of the Law—only through faith."
Johann Gerhard, A Comprehensive Explanation of Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper, 1610, ed. D. Berger, J. Heiser, Malone, Texas: Repristination Press, 2000, p. 165.

J-560

"Therefore, the fulfillment of this promise to Abraham is in no way to be interpreted to mean that Abraham's seed became righteous and saved without individual faith."
Johann Gerhard, A Comprehensive Explanation of Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper, 1610, ed. D. Berger, J. Heiser, Malone, Texas: Repristination Press, 2000, p. 167.

WELS Repeats Two Justifications



Who killed justification by faith?


Not At Ease with Two Justifications

Q: We are taught that Christ justified us when he was on the cross, and then we are told that we are justified again when God converts us. Objective and subjective justifications confuse me all the more. I thought there was one justification of us. If we were justified at the cross, why do we need justification again? Reading previous posts and questions on this do not make this issue click for me.


---------------------------------

A: Perhaps all that I can do for you is to point you to the Bible statements dealing with this subject and in this way allow the Holy Spirit to grant you contentment along with the awareness of his truth. First focus on Romans 4:25 and 2 Corinthians 5:19. "He [Christ] was delivered over to death for [because of] our sins and was raised to life for [because of] our justification. . . . God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them." These are sample passages that assure us that our justification and that of mankind was reality at the time of Christ's death and resurrection on our behalf.

Then you may focus on passages like Romans 3:28 ("We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.") and Romans 4:5 ("To the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness."). These are sample passages that assure us the individual sinner is also declared righteous as he is brought to grasp Christ's righteousness by faith.

The terms objective (or universal) and subjective (or individual) justification are merely terms coined to let all of Scripture speak to our hearts and to describe the truths clearly revealed. Let the twin truths stand as Scripture does. You simply say, "I thought there was one justification of us." And the Apostle Paul simply says, "We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). May you find contentment in Christ and his Word.


***

GJ - False teachers are consistent from denomination to denomination. They deceive their adiences without any sense of shame. I have noticed that Rolf Preus and others on LutherQuest follow the same deceptive line as the WELS AnswerMan. Notice the citation of Romans 4:25. Why do they isolate that verse from a whole chapter on justification by faith? The Bible does not really feature verse breaks. They were imposed a long time ago. Chapter breaks were also imposed, but they tend to follow theme changes.

AnswerMan claims Twin Truths, but OJ and SJ are not in the Scriptures, the Book of Concord, Luther, Chemnitz, et al.

OJ and SJ are the Twin Peaks of Pietism.

So let's look at Romans 4:24-25, adding just one verse for our focus:

KJV Romans 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

No UOJ Stormtrooper has offered a single verse where God declared the world to be righteous. Oddly, Rolf Preus never wants to deal with my verbatim quotations from his father's last book, a book edited by Rolf and brother Daniel, another UOJ Stormtrooper. Robert Preus was exceptionally clear on one point - that justification is by faith, that righteousness comes to us only through justification by faith.

The UOJ thesis is that righteousness was imputed, declared, given to the entire world the moment Christ died or the moment Christ rose from the dead. The Resurrection Moment is clinched, they claim, by Romans 4:25. But is it really? The verses above link imputation to faith. No one can escape that, so the UOJ fanatics avoid quoting Romans 4:24.

UOJ is a proposition searching for a foundation in Scripture. Everything is avoided that might fuzz up their false doctrine. That is a logical fallacy called Special Pleading. Notice how the 2 Corinthians passage shows that the public ministry is the proclamation of the Atonement (reconciliation). The old things are passed away for the believer, the individual "in Christ." The old things are not passed way for the whole world. But Christ did die for the sins of the world. That is the Atonement Gospel, the Holy Spirit's energy in creating and sustaining faith: the Word of Reconciliation.

KJV 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

Rolf Preus is hilarious in his affirmation of the UOJ heresy. He must not know church history very well. He accuses Luther (and those who agree with Luther) of being an Arminian. That's MDiv for decision theology. The MDivs are always invoking their most obtuse technical terms from THEO 101 to make the laity gape at them for their superior learning. I will link the topic from Wikipedia, to refresh the memory of LutherQuest (sic) denizens. "Apt to teach" is a Biblical requirement for ministers. Blowing smoke is not.

Rolf's favorite false doctrine leads to decision theology, as J. P. Meyer shows so clearly in his seminal UOJ (WELS) book:


J-586

I. "Objectively speaking, without any reference to an individual sinner's attitude toward Christ's sacrifice, purely on the basis of God's verdict, every sinner, whether he knows about it or not, whether he believes it or not, has received the status of a saint. What will be his reaction when he is informed about this turn of events? Will he accept, or will he decline?"[41]
J. P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 103f. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

As I wrote in Thy Strong Word: "This statement, with its question at the end, sounds oddly Baptist: decision theology. Will he accept or decline? One can see that the generic Protestant doctrine behind the Church Growth Movement existed before WELS leaders rushed off to study at Fuller Seminary. It also explains why they love a generic Protestant school that rejects the Means of Grace."