Luther versus Universal Objective Justification

From Brett Meyer:

LUTHER:
12. To accept as true the record of Christ--this they call faith. The devils have the same sort of faith, but it does not make them godly. Such belief is not Christian faith; no, it is rather deception.

22. Now, the Cain-like saints have not, as they themselves confess, the Christian faith which would assure them of being the children of God.

37. Note, Paul everywhere teaches justification, not by works, but solely by faith; and not as a process, but instantaneous. The testament includes in itself everything--justification, salvation, the inheritance and great blessing. Through faith it is instantaneously enjoyed, not in part, but all. Truly is it plain, then, that faith alone affords such blessings of God, justification and salvation--immediately and not in process as must be the case with works--and constitutes us children and heirs who voluntarily discharge their duties, not presuming to become godly and worthy by a servile spirit. No merit is needed; faith secures all gratuitously-- more than anyone can merit. The believer performs his works gratuitously, being already in possession of all the Cain-like saints vainly seek through works and never find--justification and divine inheritance, or grace.

74. But what is the process whereby Christ gives us such a spirit and redeems us from under the Law? The work is effected solely by faith. He who believes that Christ came to redeem us, and that he has accomplished it, is really redeemed. As he believes, so is it with him. Faith carries with it the child-making spirit. The apostle here explains by saying that Christ has redeemed us from under the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons. As before stated, all must be effected through faith. Now we have discussed the five points of the verse.

108. Paul adds "through Christ" to avoid the implication that the inheritance is bestowed upon us without any merit or cost whatever. Although it costs us nothing, and although it is bestowed without merit on our part, yet Christ was placed under great obligations. For the sake of that inheritance he was put under the Law for us; he paid the cost to secure, or to merit, the inheritance for all who believe in him. (EMPHASIS: "for all who believe in Him" Christ died for all, but only those who have the Holy Spirits faith in Christ are reconciled, forgiven, justified and declared righteous because they, through faith, have Christ as their mediator.)

http://www.trinitylutheranms.org/MartinLuther/MLSermons/Galatians4_1_7.html

YOUR LOCAL WELS SCHOOL:
"If forgiveness were dependent on faith in the sense that God does not forgive until we believe, we would always have to be sure that we are believers before we would be sure that we are forgiven." (p.60)

"And yet many Lutherans still labor under the delusion that God does not forgive us unless we believe. Instead of seeing faith as nothing more than the spiritual hand with which we make the forgiveness of God our own, they see it as a reason why God forgives us. They believe that Christ has indeed provided forgiveness for all men, that God is willing to forgive them, but before he really forgives he first of all demands that we should be sorry for our sins and that we should have faith. Just have faith they say, and then God will forgive you. All the right words are there. The only thing wrong is that the words are in the wrong order. God does not forgive us IF we have faith. He has forgiven us long ago when he raised his Son from the dead." (p. 59) two quotes from Our Great Heritage, WELS and heralded by Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, WELS and Evergreen Lutheran High School, (WELS)

"I am in agreement with Pastor Humanns statements as printed in the paragraphs from Our Great Heritage. They are correct and consistent with Gods Word and the position of WELS." Greg Thiesfeldt, Principal, Evergreen Lutheran High School, (WELS)

"When Jesus rose, he rose as the substitute for every sinner. By his resurrection God declared sinners, all of them, forgiven. This is the good news Scripture reveals. This is the good news we proclaim to contrite sinners: “God has reconciled you to himself. Your sins are already forgiven. Calvary and the empty tomb are the proof of it.” Evergreen High School Board of Directors, Pastor Nathan Seiltz, Principal Greg Thiesfeldt (WELS)

"When speaking of salvation, we don’t want to turn a person’s attention inward to his faith, but outward to the grace of God. Preaching about faith will not produce faith, but proclaiming God’s love and mercy and forgiveness will produce believing hearts." Evergreen High School Board of Directors, Pastor Nathan Seiltz, Principal Greg Thiesfeldt (WELS)

"To justify in the Bible always has the meaning “to declare righteous.” Never do the terms denote a qualitative change in man, a physical or medicinal thing. The change which is meant is not a change in one’s person, but a change in one’s status before God." Evergreen High School Board of Directors, Pastor Nathan Seiltz, Principal Greg Thiesfeldt (WELS)

"A quick look at the terms ought to be sufficient to remind ourselves of the Lutheran doctrine of objective or universal justification–that God at the resurrection of Christ declared sinners justified, universally, excluding none, and objectively, whether they believe it or not." Evergreen High School Board of Directors, Pastor Nathan Seiltz, Principal Greg Thiesfeldt (WELS)

"Previously God viewed the world apart from Christ—and it stood condemned. Now God views the world in the light of Christ’s work of redemption and has declared the world righteous, forgiven." Evergreen High School Board of Directors, Pastor Nathan Seiltz, Principal Greg Thiesfeldt (WELS)

"But whoever molests the doctrine of justification stabs the gospel in the heart and is on the way of losing entirely Christian doctrine and personal faith and of falling into the arms of heathenism, even if he ever so much emphasizes justification by faith." August Pieper quoted by Evergreen High School Board of Directors, Pastor Nathan Seiltz, Principal Greg Thiesfeldt (WELS)

LUTHER:
99. In persecuting faith and defaming and condemning it as heresy and presumption, the unbelievers conduct themselves as their father Cain did to his brother Abel. Thus in themselves they slay Christ their brother. His innocent blood will not cease to cry toward heaven against them, as the blood of Abel cried against Cain.

http://www.trinitylutheranms.org/MartinLuther/MLSermons/Galatians4_1_7.html

Dancing Around the Doctrinal Issues

No church growth here. The kids have been tagging again.

WELS AnswerMan

Q:	I would like to be pointed to information that the WELS synod has done regarding the insurgence of the "church growth" movement throughout the Lutheran synods and specifically the WELS synod. I have read much information put out by the LCMS synod relating to this topic but I do not find much information on this website or through any other sources. I am beginning to believe that the WELS synod as a whole is confused about the importance of studying this matter and how it impacts the doctrine that our churches practice under. The lack of intelligent discussion on this topic can be seen in the amount of contemporary material being used in our churches and the lack of discussion at the recent convention on any topics other than budget concerns. I am concerned that the synod is directly being guided by a buisness (sic) model and not focusing on the direct practice of delivering the Word and Sacraments. I also believe that the work of missions is the responsibility of each individual member and not the synod. The synod and each individual church should be working on the preservation of each individual member and those members are the ones who are called to do the work of the great commission. This is why I believe that the synod is beginning to loose sight of the return to scriptural truth that Luther set in motion during the reformation. I find myself lost in a synodical distortion of scriptural purity.
A:	It is hard to respond to your question since it is too big a question for an email, since you fail to give any specifics to support your allegations, and since you say nothing about the sources of your information, which for the most part appear to be inadequate or misleading. There have been a lot of studies of Church Growth. When Church Growth became the trendy fad more than a decade ago, we published a number of evaluations for pastors conferences and for the synod. You can find a number of them by looking under the topic "Church Growth" in the online essay file of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. The studies by Koester, Valleskey, and Wendland would be a good place to start. Much more of the relevant material does not directly address Church Growth as a phenomenon, but deals with the proper antidote to the errors of Growth Growth, which is a proper emphasis on the means of grace as the source of growth in the church. You will find these studies under topics like the mission of the church or the means of grace or the doctrines of church and ministry. If you search the term "Church Growth" (in quotation marks) on this Q & A , you will find more than 80 discussions of the topic. Including the following one. ______ What exactly is the "Church Growth Movement"? I read on a LCMS website that we, along with the ELS and CLC, embrace this movement. The site stated that LCMS condemns the approach but gave no more details than this. The "Church Growth Movement" teaches a set of principles for doing mission work and evangelism. Some of them are good, common sense suggestions for reaching out to people in a way that will get their attention and interest. Some seem to place excessive emphasis on statistical growth. Some seem to place a greater emphasis on "what works" rather than on "what's right." Others seem to suggest reshaping the church's message so it won't offend people. It is difficult to respond to the second part of your question without seeing the site that you refer to. I doubt very much that it was an official LCMS site since everything it says is wrong, including what it says about the LCMS evaluation of Church Growth. It may have been a site developed by an individual who has or claims affiliation with the LCMS. Though there are a number of disagreements between the WELS and the LCMS, it has been our experience that official LCMS sites accurately report those differences. The site you refer to is inaccurate both about the LCMS and the WELS. The official LCMS evaluation of the Church Growth movement which appears on their site comes to the following conclusions. AN EVALUATION WITH RECOMMENDATIONS "Church Growth principles have been described as universal truths. That is, they are in a general way acceptable to all. Christians. Examination of these missiological principles reveals that some of them are indeed Biblical principles which have been used in Christian churches, including The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, for many years. Others are new and have their origin in sociology, anthropology, and psychology, but they too have been found to be useful, also by numerous congregations in The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. Still other principles have caused some concern in Lutheran circles chiefly because they are perceived as coming into conflict with Scriptural teaching, especially with the doctrine of the means of grace. "As we attempt to evaluate Church Growth principles, two important questions need to be kept in mind: Do these missiological principles reflect a theology which is non-Scriptural to the point that their application in Lutheran congregations is unacceptable? Or, can they be modified so that they are consistent with Lutheran theological presuppositions, providing new missiological techniques acceptable to Lutheran pastors and congregations as they strive to carry out the great commission? "Lutherans are concerned not only that missiological principles themselves be in accord with Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions. They must also be used and applied to human needs in a manner that is consistent with the clear teachings of the Bible." You can read this report in its entirety on the LCMS web site. Even the brief section quoted here shows that the LCMS does not make a blanket rejection of the Church Growth Movement, but does caution against aberrations and errors that occur in many writings produced by the movement. I believe that any unbiased observer would say that the WELS, ELS, and CLC are all much less influenced by the Church Growth Movement than the LCMS and are more blunt in their rejections of the Church Growth Movement than the LCMS. A WELS evaluation Halleluia Chorus for the Church Growth Movement appeared in the Spring 1991 issue of the Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly. [Valleskey's spoiling the Egyptians] You may be able to obtain a copy of this from your pastor or from the library of one of the synodical schools. If you have correctly understood the site you refer to, it is either sadly misinformed or malicious since none of its statements that you report in your question are correct. ________ The statement that this has not been studied is simply untrue. Your view of what is happening in the LCMS also does not seem to be based on reliable information but on the sort of information referred to in the previous answer. Most of the stronger writings against Church Growth coming from Missouri Synod sources, such as the writings of men like Robert Preus or Kurt Marquart, are not from the synod as such, but from indivduals seeking to counter what they see as too strong of an inclination toward Church Growth in the Missouri Synod. There are many other inadequate general statements in your message which you did not support with any evidence. "The lack of intelligent discussion on this topic can be seen in the amount of contemporary material being used in our churches and the lack of discussion at the recent convention on any topics other than budget concerns." The very considerable amount of discussion is listed above. Your statement about the convention is also not correct. There was considerable discussion of other issues including the mission of the church. In fact, the recent letter from the new president of the synod focused on the statement on the mission of the church adopted by the convention. Is everything contemporary Church Growth? "I am concerned that the synod is directly being guided by a business model and not focusing on the direct practice of delivering the Word and Sacraments. " Again you ignore the fact that the convention voted against centralization of power along a business model. You do not seem to have a good source of information of what is actually happening. Certainly, some have such ideas, but the synod has not endorsed them. "I also believe that the work of missions is the responsibility of each individual member and not the synod. " You have set up a false dichotomy here. Certainly, every Christian should share the gospel whenever there is opportunity, but Christians have also always sent out missionaries to do this work on their behalf. Missions along with the education of missionaries has always been a key purpose for the synod. "The synod and each individual church should be working on the preservation of each individual member and those members are the ones who are called to do the work of the great commission. " Again you set up a false contrast. It is not a members or missionaries situation. "This is why I believe that the synod is beginning to lose sight of the return to scriptural truth that Luther set in motion during the reformation. I find myself lost in a synodical distortion of scriptural purity. " It is wrong to make such statements without basis in fact. What has the synod that speaks through its convention done that enables you to say it has lost sight of the scriptural truth? I was a delegate at the convention and I did not see that in the actions of the convention.

Baby Concord Says

"Fight the Good Fight with All Thy Might"
by John S.B. Monsell, 1811-1875

1. Fight the good fight With all thy might;
Christ is thy Strength and Christ thy Right.
Lay hold on life, and it shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally.

2. Run the straight race Thro' God's good grace;
Lift up thine eyes and seek His face.
Life with its way before us lies;
Christ is the Path and Christ the Prize.

3. Cast care aside; Upon thy Guide
Lean, and His mercy will provide;
Lean, and the trusting soul shall prove
Christ is its Life and Christ its Love.

4. Faint not nor fear, His arms are near;
He changeth not, and thou art dear.
Only believe, and thou shalt see
That Christ is All in all to thee.

Hymn #447
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: 1 Timothy 6:12
Author: John S.B. Monsell, 1863
Tune: "Mendon"
German melody
Arranged by: Samuel Dyer, 1828