Calvin's Disciples Defend UOJ with Slogans, Not Scripture

John Calvin enhanced the crude theology of Zwingli, without changing it.

In Zurich, Zwingli began the departure from Biblical theology in Swiss Protestantism, by making his slogans normative for understanding Scripture.  For example, "The Holy Spirit does not need a vehicle, like an oxcart..." That smart-aleck statement attacking the Means of Grace should sound familiar to anyone who deals with the Shrinkers. Their slogans all begin with mockery and have the same hollow ring.

Zwingli thought he was a soldier too, so he died young, on the battlefield. Calvin followed later, in Geneva. Lutherans use the term "Reformed" to describe all groups related to Calvinism, whether five-point TULIP or decision theology Arminians. There have been some Lutheran-Reformed union groups, such as the old Evangelical and Reformed, which wandered into the United Church of Christ and into oblivion. The UCC's description of the Evangelical part of their history is enlightening.

Calvin is remembered for such slogans as:

"God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation."
(Double predestination was taught in his first edition of the Institutes and every subsequent edition.)

"The finite is incapable of the Infinite." (Denial of the Real Presence, which he mocked at great length in his Institutes)

UOJ is taught using the same slogans, and they also mock Biblical teaching. How strange it is to having Lutherans defend the Reformation's Biblical theme of justification through faith alone by attacking faith.

Below are some slogans of UOJ, which give away the pretenders, no matter how they slick up their presentations. Like Calvin's propositions, they float in the air without Biblical support. Sadly, Walther was influenced by this style of thinking, so it became a bad habit in the Synodical Conference.

1. "Scripture teaches that God has already declared the whole world to be righteous in Christ, Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rom. 4:25; that therefore not for the sake of their good works, but without the works of the Law, by grace, for Christ's sake, He justifies, that is, accounts as righteous, all those who believe, accept, and rely on, the fact that for Christ's sake their sins are forgiven." (LCMS, Brief Statement)
   
2. "God has already given the world His verdict, 'Not guilty!'" This statement is repeatedly mindlessly in WELS conference papers and FIC articles. It comes from Pieper: "Now, then, if the Father raised Christ from the dead, He, by this glorious resurrection act, declared that the sins of the whole world are fully expiated, or atoned for, and that all mankind is now regarded as righteous before His divine tribunal." II, p. 321.
   
3. The Kokomo Statements, used to kick two families out of WELS for not accepting them, are also used to defame those families, calling the Statements a "caricature" of justification. In other words, the Kokomo Statements are so stupid that WELS must use their own synodical confession of faith against the victims of Kokomoism.
   
4. "The world is reconciled, so that means everyone in the world has been absolved." This same argument can be used to support Universalism.
   
5. "UOJ protects the Gospel." This unfortunate statement comes from Hoenecke's Dogmatics.
   
6. "Jesus was raised for our justification, which means that the entire world was absolved when Jesus rose from the dead." (See Romans 4:24 and 25)
   
7. "Lenski is wrong on justification." (Common WELS pastoral claim, never supported by evidence)
   
8. "For God has already forgiven you your sins 1800 years ago when He in Christ absolved all men by raising Him after He first had gone into bitter death for them. Only one thing remains on your part so that you also possess the gift. This one thing is—faith. And this brings me to the second part of today's Easter message, in which I now would show you that every man who wants to be saved must accept by faith the general absolution, pronounced 1800 years ago, as an absolution spoken individually to him." C. F. W. Walther, The Word of His Grace. This sounds very much like Decision Theology.
   

To make their universal absolution sound valid, they have to attack faith in various ways.







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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Calvin's Disciples Defend UOJ with Slogans, Not Sc...":

Brett, Forgiveness is there whether believed or not. It gives no comfort or peace. Nothing. One must have faith to reap the benefits. Once one believes it becomes subjective. Its easy to come to your conclusions when you disregard the subjective. UOJ falls flat without SJ. There's that context issue again.

JK

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GJ - Joe Krohn, the Rock and Roll blogger (retired) illustrates two points.

One is that the Church and Changers love UOJ. Joe has a long history with the Chicaneries, going back to CrossWalk (soon to be retired) and some Schwaermer conference he enthused about on the Chicanery listserve.

The second point is the Calvinistic fondness for slogans without Biblical support, to wit, "UOJ falls flat without SJ." Is that from II Seymour 3:13? The repeated shibboleths of Pietism are not going to convince people without the Word, against the Word.

I need a break from junk-food UOJ. I need some good quotations for doctrinal nutrition.

"Zwingli, Calvin, and their adherents denied that the Word of God always possesses the same efficacy, and that God always operates through the Word." E. Hove, Christian Doctrine, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1930, p. 27.

"...it is exceedingly difficult to prevent this low view from running out into Socinianism, as, indeed, it actually has run in Calvinistic lands, so that it became a proverb, often met with in the older theological writers--'A young Calvinist, an old Socinian.' This peril is confessed and mourned over by great Calvinistic divines. New England is an illustration of it on an immense scale, in our own land." Charles P. Krauth, The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology, Philadelphia: The United Lutheran Publication House, 1871, p. 489.

"We probably think first of such groups coming into being in the late 1600s in connection with Pietism. Spener promoted them as a vehicle by which pious laypeople could be a leaven for good in reforming the 'dead orthodoxy' of a congregation and its pastor." Prof. David Kuske, "Home Bible Study Groups in the 1990s," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Spring, 1994. p. 126. "The point being made here is that the reason for having home Bible study in small groups seems to have shifted from the Pietists' or parachurch groups goal of creating cells of people who will reform the church to having small groups as an integral part of a congregation's work." Prof. David Kuske, "Home Bible Study Groups in the 1990s," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Spring, 1994. p. 127.

"They [the Zwinglians] divorced the Word and the Spirit, separated the person who preaches and teaches the Word from God, who works through the Word, and separated the servant who baptizes from God, who has commanded the Sacrament. They fancied that the Holy Spirit is given and works without the Word, that the Word merely gives assent to the Spirit, whom it already finds in the heart. If, then, this Word does not find the Spirit but a godless person, then it is not the Word of God. In this way they falsely judge and define the Word, not according to God, who speaks it, but according to the man who receives it. They want only that to be the Word of God which is fruitful and brings peace and life..." Martin Luther, What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 664f.

"Meanwhile, back in Europe the corrosive effects of Pietism in blurring doctrinal distinctions had left much of Lutheranism defenseless against the devastating onslaught of Rationalism which engulfed the continent at the beginning of the 19th century. With human reason set up as the supreme authority for determining truth, it became an easy matter to disregard doctrinal differences and strive for a 'reasonable' union of Lutherans and Reformed." Martin W. Lutz, "God the HS Acts Through the Lord's Supper," God The Holy Spirit Acts, ed., Eugene P. Kaulfield, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1972, p. 176.

"The term 'Reformed' has therefore become a distinctive name and denotes all those church bodies which follow the theology and particularly the church practices of Zwingli and John Calvin. It is correct when Lutherans insist that there are three large groups of Christians: the Catholics, the Lutherans, and the Reformed." F. E. Mayer, American Churches, Beliefs and Practices, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1946, p. 24.

"Luther protested against Rome's soul-destroying teachings and reformed the Church by restoring the pure doctrine of God's Word. Zwingli hoped to reform the Church by abolishing Rome's superstitious practices. Calvin believed that a complete reformation implied two things: First, it was necessary to abolish all ceremonies, even those which were in use in the ancient Church, such as the liturgy, the church year, pulpits, altars; secondly, a truly reformed Church must follow the pattern of the Apostolic Church in all its church practices and adopt the form of church government given to Israel in the Old Testament." F. E. Mayer, American Churches, Beliefs and Practices, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1946, p. 24.

"The divine power must never be separated from the Word of Scripture; that is to say, the Holy Ghost does not operate beside or outside the Word (enthusiasm, Calvinism, Rathmannism in the Lutheran Church), but always in and through the Word, Romans 10:17; 1 Peter 1:23; John 6:23." John Theodore Mueller, Christian Dogmatics, A Handbook of Doctrinal Theology, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934, p. 134f. Romans 10:17; John 6:23; 1 Peter 1:23.

"The doctrine of the means of grace is understood properly only when it is considered in the light of Christ's redemptive work (satisfactio vicaria) and the objective justification, or reconciliation, 2 Corinthians 5:19-20, which He secured by His substitutionary obedience (satisfactio vicaria). If these two doctrines are corrupted (Calvinism: denial of the gratia universalis; synergism: denial of sola gratia), then also the Scripture doctrine of the means of grace will become perverted." John Theodore Mueller, Christian Dogmatics, A Handbook of Doctrinal Theology, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934, p. 442. 2 Corinthians 5:19-20.

"Calvinism rejects the means of grace as unnecessary; it holds that the Holy Spirit requires no escort or vehicle by which to enter human hearts." John T. Mueller, "Grace, Means of," Lutheran Cyclopedia, Erwin L. Lueker, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1975, p. 344.

"Pietist preachers were anxious to discover and in a certain sense to separate the invisible congregation from the visible congregation. They had to meet demands different than those of the preceding period: they were expected to witness, not in the objective sense, as Luther did, to God's saving acts toward all men, but in a subjective sense of faith, as they themselves had experienced it. In this way Pietism introduced a tendency toward the dissolution of the concept of the ministry in the Lutheran Church." Helge Nyman, "Preaching (Lutheran): History," The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1943.

"All those doctrinal questions which were not immediately connected with the personal life of faith were avoided. The standard for the interpretation of Scripture thus became the need of the individual for awakening, consolation, and exhortation. The congregation as a totality was lost from view; in fact, pietistic preaching was (and is) more apt to divide the congregation than to hold it together." Helge Nyman, "Preaching (Lutheran): History," The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1943.

"Pietism greatly weakened the confessional consciousness which was characteristic of orthodox Lutheranism." Helge Nyman, "Preaching (Lutheran): History," The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1945.

"In other words, Zwingli and his numerous adherents declare that the means God has ordained are unnecessary and hinder true piety." Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 104.

I feel better now.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Calvin's Disciples Defend UOJ with Slogans, Not Sc...":

In the People's Bible Teachings, Christian Freedom, William E. Fischer had this to say about justification:

"AS a gracious God, he did not put any conditions on his justification of an alienated world. He did not say, "If you live up to my commands, then I will justify you." He did not even say, "I will forgive you if you believe in me." His universal justification stands whether people believe it or not. Some would have us believe that God justifies only those who believe in him. But that would rob us of God's grace and the blessed truth of our-and, yes, everyone's-justification."

"But God's grace was not finished; he left nothing to chance. He knew this marvelous gift would come only to those who believed in Christ, and he knew that none of us had the power to work faith in our own hearts. So he sent his Holy Spirit to convert us through the gospel. And through that faith we are justified; we have been truly freed from sin and its curse, from death and its fear, from Satan and his power."

Can Brett or GJ pick out the two contradictions? I am just a layman and I spotted it real quick.

In Christ,
from WELS church lady aka trying not to be lazy

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GJ - Church Lady, the laity have no problems understanding the Biblical teaching of justification by faith. "Only a layman" is a mantra taught by insecure pastors who want to dazzle a layman with their feeble grasp of Greek. Someone could do the same thing back with Unix commands (grep) or knitting instructions (knit two, purl two). Justification in the Bible only means "justification by faith." Justification in the Book of Concord only means "justification by faith." The Pietists made up double-justification, but they have yet to articulate their opinion convincingly.

The paragraph quoted is absurd. I can condense the nonsense as "Everyone is justified but no one is justified until he believes."

Here is a brief description of justification by faith -

The Gospel is the message that Christ has redeemed the world by dying on the cross, paying for everyone's sins. This Gospel message creates and nurtures faith. We call the Word and Sacraments (the visible and invisible Word) the Means of Grace because God has pledged to work only through the Word. Thus the Holy Spirit brings this treasure of the Gospel to individuals, who receive it in faith, apart from any merit, work, or virtue.

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L P has left a new comment on your post "Calvin's Disciples Defend UOJ with Slogans, Not Sc...":

I think what Walther and Pieper saw were much decision theology of their day. Now to counter this faith in faith, they being influenced by UOJ sharpened its message making atonement = justification, a blunder of infinite proportions.

I hear UOJers and they seem to hate faith with much hatred, it makes one sick.

This is astounding, considering Jesus is the author of faith!

The UOJers I encounter hold Walther and Pieper as their heroes - I am not kidding. They hold them higher than Luther! You can disagree with Luther and that would be ok with them, but wait till you disagree with Walther and Pieper and let us see what happens.

LPC

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GJ - That is true. Once Pieper and Walther are questioned, the lights go out. Nobody is home. There is nothing left to do but shun the poor slob who has stepped on the Third Rail of the Synodical Conference - founder-worship. If the founders are not worshiped as infallible, the SC becomes fallible. Luther's doctrine is expendable. He is not related to anyone in the hierarchy. Anyone who wants sound doctrine can be assailed with "Luther complex!" and pastors snicker. But no one says "Pieper complex!" Mark and Avoid Jeske has a Pieper complex. He cannot be wrong or corrected, because he is "fifth generation WELS." Ooh.

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L P has left a new comment on your post "Calvin's Disciples Defend UOJ with Slogans, Not Sc...":

Faith is righteousness! Because it grabs a hold of Christ the Righteous One who paid for the sins of the world. This is the reason why faith justifies, so the BoC says. This faith that believes that for Christ's sake God forgives us, the Bible says is a gift.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Heb 11:6.

Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Heb 12:2.

Hence, no faith, no justification, no righteousness.

LPC