Knapp, the Pietist from Halle University, taught UOJ first.
It's been said that we Lutherans emphasize objective justification to the point that the individual's response of faith is ignored. How do we draw a line between the two?
Dogmatic "lines" are drawn only to isolate biblical truths for thorough study, to promote deeper understanding of what God has revealed and to recognize error and misuse of Scripture. Theology, like Scripture, relates doctrines to each other appropriately. Objective justification and subjective justification are like two sides of a coin, inseparable though subject to study individually.
Objective justification is the truth that God has declared all people "not guilty" because Jesus has atoned for the sins of all (1 John 2:2), that God has reconciled the world to himself by attributing sin to Christ and Christ's righteousness to sinners (2 Corinthians 5:19-21). Subjective justification is the truth that this righteousness-for-sin exchange becomes personal salvation alone by faith in Jesus Christ, that Christ's redemptive work is personally appropriated and God's justifying decree personally received by faith (John 3:16; Mark 16:16; Romans 1:17; Hebrews 4:2). St. Paul demonstrated the bonding of these twin truths in Romans 3, where he says both that we are justified by grace (objective, v. 24) and that we are justified by faith (subjective, v. 28).
Lutherans emphasize objective justification because God's grace is the basis and focus of our salvation, from Christ's work of redemption to the Holy Spirit's work of conversion. Both God's glory and our assurance are jeopardized by an emphasis on the "decision" and "experience" of faith in contemporary religion. Further, faith is only as good as the object of its trust. In a generation that has blurred the content of Christian faith and fostered a kind of "belief in believing," the objective reality of our justification must be emphasized.
Of course there are dangers in minimizing the role and importance of faith in our salvation. Universalism is the heresy that everyone will be saved, with or without faith in Jesus. Unless there is clear, emphatic teaching about faith, the church risks intellectualizing salvation, undermining Christian sanctification and devaluing the means of grace--word and sacrament.
Objective and subjective justification cannot be understood apart from each other. Emphasis is only the appropriate sequencing of these twin truths and a response to errors, which, of late, have primarily threatened objective justification.
Send your questions to Questions, The Northwestern Lutheran, 2929 N. Mayfair Road, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53222, Questions of general interest are preferred. Questions will be answered, however, only through this column.
Pastor Paul Kelm is the synod's administrator for evangelism. 1988.
