Brett,
Scripture does declare and Confessions repeat that Christ's payment for the sins of the world is forgiveness for the world. Christ's payment for the sins of the world is not forgiveness of the world.
I like this, I will keep it in my pocket.
I just noticed in my insistence to JBFA, they suggested I am being a Calvinist.
I burst into laughter when I read this.
They invented a new fallacy - I call the bogey man fallacy, a specie of guilt by association.
Like them it is the Calvinist who equates the Atonement with Justification.
They have a sickness called - pistisphobia.
They get rashes, when you suggest to them that faith in Christ is the condition for justification.
God bless you and Dr Greg.
LPC
***
GJ - I was called a Calvinist many times on LutherQuest (sic).
4 comments:
"They get rashes, when you suggest to them that faith in Christ is the condition for justification."
Yes, I would have to give the Grand Champion Pistisphobia award to supreme apostate Siegbert W. Becker in his putrid essay entitled, Objective Justification
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerJustification.PDF
Quotes:
"Faith does nothing more than accept the forgiveness proclaimed in the Gospel. It is not a condition we must fulfill before we can be forgiven. It is not a cause of forgiveness on account of which God forgives us. The forgiveness comes first. Faith is merely the response to the message. God says to us, “Your sins are forgiven.” This is objective justification, and God’s message to us is true whether we believe it or not."
The Place of Faith, Page 12, Paragraph 6
"In times of temptation when I am no longer aware of my faith, when my heart tells me that I am an unbeliever, I have no place to turn for assurance if faith must come before forgiveness. But if forgiveness comes first, if it is always there, if it is true whether I believe it or not, I do not need to know whether I have faith or not before I can cling to God’s promise."
The Importance of Objective Justification, Page 13, Paragraph 4
I like Dr. Walter Maier's footnote in his essay A Summary Exposition of The Doctrine of Justification By Grace Through Faith http://www.wlsessays.net/files/MaierJustification.pdf
"Is it correct to state simply that faith is a condition of salvation? Yes, indeed. Some in the Synod today are reticent to answer in the affirmative. Note, however, Dr. Walther’s response to a question similar to this: “The question whether the expression ‘we are justified or blessed under the condition that we have faith’ has no foundation, was answered. If one is speaking of the necessity of faith one might use this expression, but not without previously having forestalled any misunderstanding. When Romans 10:9 says “If you believe in your heart…you will be saved,’ it is, in its form, a conditional manner having forestalled any misunderstanding. When Romans 10:9 says “If you believe in your heart you will be saved,” it is, in its form, a conditional manner of speaking; but since faith itself is a gift of God which He gives to man, He Himself also satisfies the condition, and only the willful resistance whereby the offered faith is rejected hinders man’s salvation. It is, of course, true that if a person does not believe he cannot be saved.
“Gerhard speaks to this point: ‘The little word, “if” is either etiological or syllogistic. That is, it indicates either the cause or the result. In the pronouncement of the Law: “If you do this, you shall live,” the little word ‘if’ is etiological, since obedience is the reason because of which eternal life is given to those who keep the law; but in the evangelical promise “If you believe, you will be saved,” the word is syllogistic, for with it the way and means of bestowal determined by God is indicated, which alone befits faith.”"
But if forgiveness comes first, if it is always there, if it is true whether I believe it or not
This statement by Becker is not only universalism, it is also antinomian!
UOJ indeed misses the Law and thus muddles the Gospel.
LPC
It is possible to be Lutheran without liturgy and hymns. If you disagree with that statement, you are a Calvinist because you are putting method above the efficacy of the Word.
Mighty Mouse
Ah, but it's impossible to use Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal liturgy and hymns and still be Lutheran. If you disagree with this statement than you are a Baptist, Methodist or Pentecostal pretending to be Lutheran. All three denominations reject the Lutheran Confessions - no, make that four.
Brett Meyer
aka - Brett Meyer
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