God willing, I will have the justification book done before the April UOJ conference, perhaps with enough extra time to have the essays writers pen some condemnations. More likely they will ignore it, because:
a. It's easier than copying their yellowed dog notes from J. P. Meyer.
b. That is really the highest compliment, even though they do not realize it.
The cat is out of the bag, as shown by the anti-anti-CG blogs, the enraged comments, and the sense of panic communicated by this Texas conference. The one constant in the old Synodical conference has been Enthusiasm - Receptionism, Church Growth, and UOJ.
Here is the tentative plan:
Chapter One - The Efficacy of the Word
Chapter Two - Enthusiasm in the Book of Concord
Chapter Three - Calvin and Zwingli
Chapter Four - Pietism
Chapter Five - Justification by Faith
Appendices on - Disputed passages, UOJ quotations and why they are wrong, Justification by Faith quotations.
If you would like to do homework in advance, study "The Righteousness of Faith" in the Formula of Concord.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Justification Book Schedule":
Dr. Luther was always pointed in his attacks on false doctrine. Yet he did draw a careful distinction between doctrinal warfare and personal warfare, even when he got carried away by his passions. He recognized that personal warfare added nothing to the Truth of God's Word, but always distracted attention away from it. Indeed, such captious endeavors were a disservice to the Truth.
May the Lord God grant His people, through hearts of faith, such a bold humility.
garycepek@yahoo.com
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GJ - That is an imaginary Luther being channeled by Gary Cepek. I am going to call the comment section A Treasury of Unsubstantiated Claims and Unwarranted Assertions.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Justification Book Schedule":
Thank you for the Justification book post. Two days ago my internet was on the brink,so I decided to read some esaays in my saved documents. John Buchholz 2005 convention essay was one that I decided to read. One aspect that may not have been discussed on the blog was Buchholz's use of the word 'mismash.'
In other words you have the Sig Becker,J.P. Meyer, and Kokomo versions of Justification. In Bucholz's OWN words he calls these takes a mishmash. Remember Brenner did not give his speach until 2009.(and I do not recall Buchholz namming Brenner, CORRECT me if I am wrong...Buchholz's essay was 2 miles long!)
This only raises more questions than it answers. I will answer one thing! Buchholz is now included in the mishmash. In late 2005 FIC publishes his series of articles on UOJ. Keep in mind FIC is a magazine upheld by the Synod. So who are we supposed to be in agreement with? Sig Becker?(no, not according to Buchholz)J.P. Meyer?(nope!)Kokomo?(not that either) He basically is saying that he is correct and the others wrong.
This is disturbing and needs attention that is long over due. I pray that Pastor GJ's book sheds light on a much needed examination on the Doctrine of Justification. The main point of my comment was Buchholz's denoucing of the mentioned leaders. Which one are we supposed to be following? But hey, Scripture and the BOC are not mishmash.
In Christ,
from WELS church lady
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GJ - The key error is repeated by Buchholz - absolution of the world, without the Word, without the Means of Grace, without faith. All the double-justification schemes have that in common. Since he has said, ex cathedra, that WELS was wrong about Kokomo, the topic has been opened up for discussion. Another precedent is admitting that a Mequon professor (J. P. Meyer) erred in his Human Nature. Both admissions facilitate doctrinal clarity in the future.
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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Justification Book Schedule":
WELS Church Lady, I've asked all of the UOJ schleppers I've talked to in the WELS, ELS and LCMS for the definitive document detailing the precise explanation and confession of UOJ. No one has provided one. And it's not as though they present some document written by so and so, they provide nothing for a response. They will go on and on about how I misrepresent their doctrine but cannot provide the benchmark for what the doctrine teaches. What a sham! And this is the central doctrine of the Christian faith. Where's Martin Luther's sermons on UOJ? They must see it as an oversight for Martin Luther to have never written a sermon on the central article of Christian faith. Did Luther only focus on Subjective Justification like the Book of Concord and forget about Objective Justification? The whole sordid doctrine, the blasphemous contradictions and absence of written confession from the Lutheran Church fathers is too much to swallow. What a wicked cabal that exists within the Lutheran churches today.
We need to brainstorm a way to advertise the new book within the Lutheran churches. Pastor Jackson can give you my personal email if you would like to exchange ideas.
In Christ,
Brett
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Justification Book Schedule":
Will there be any legitimate, solid exegesis in this book?
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GJ - Not if I quote WELS materials exclusively!
11 comments:
They should fly you in as a guest speaker. I'm sure Patterson can find some grant money.
Woohoo!
Here's a direct link to the BOC on Justification:
http://bocl.org/?AP+IV
Here's the direct link to the BOC The Righteousness of Faith:
http://www.bookofconcord.org/fc-ep.php#III. The Righteousness of Faith Before God.
5] 3. We believe, teach, and confess that faith alone is the means and instrument whereby we lay hold of Christ, and thus in Christ of that righteousness which avails before God, for whose sake this faith is imputed to us for righteousness, Rom. 4:5.
The following series of pastes are from Luther's 21st and last sermon on John 6, Saturday, May 13, 1531:
Now you will declare: If Christ is Priest and King, who brings me to grace, I will ignore pope, priests, and monks. All my merits amount to nothing. Now all factions, all the doctrines of pope, Turks, and Jews, and whatever man may invent, go by the board. For if Christ reconciles me to God the Father, bears my sins, and grants me mercy, my own merits can profit me nothing. All the pretenses of the pope, of Jews and Turks, are not Christ, no matter how they may labor and strive to obtain a gracious God; for they taught that the grace of God can be earned. That is usurping the office of Christ; that is seizing His function, to allay the anger of God and vanquish death and devil by becoming a monk or a priest, by wearing a cowl or a tonsure. That is aspiring to do what Christ really does. Such words were taught by the devil, and they are words of eternal death and damnation. These words and this text, on the other hand, teach me a far different lesson. They impel me to say: I can derive no consolation from this. But I believe in the words of life, that Jesus is the Christ, my High Priest and King, who sacrifices His blood for me, reconciles me to God, and intercedes for me. When my sins accuse me, He shows the Father His suffering and says: “Father, forgive him.” Here on earth, among men, where death and devil dwell, He allows me to live among enemies. Yet even here He is with me, fortifies my heart, and gives me a mind that does not care whether kings, emperors, princes, pope, and bishops are aroused. I go my way and pay no attention to them; for thus He wants to reign. These are living words; they are not the language of the Law.
Luther, M. (1999, c1959). Vol. 23: Luther's works, vol. 23 : Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 6-8 (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (23:196). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
(continued from previous post)
Judas, too, hears these words, but he pays them no heed. Nothing reforms him. He becomes an apostate. That is why the Lord calls him “a devil.” This is a strong word of the Lord; it reflects His anger with Judas. Jesus is deeply dejected. He wants to say: “Yes, I must have a devil to aggrieve Me.” A profound sadness must have wrung from His lips the words: “I must have a devil who treads Me underfoot.”
“Devil” is a Greek name: calumniator, a criminal, blasphemer, and slanderer. According to Holy Writ, it is his function to say the worst about you and me. In 1 Tim. 3:11 St. Paul forbids the wives of the preachers or deacons to be διάβολοι, slanderers, that is, women who always say the worst about others, circulate evil reports, or put a bad construction on good deeds. The devil does not content himself with reprimanding evil; no, whatever is good he makes evil and desecrates. The real nature of a devil becomes plain when he pursues me even though I am doing something good, and when he perverts it. He profanes and destroys the good, exaggerates the evil, and makes it appear so rank that it frightens me and my heart grows timid and despondent before my God. He often does this with minor sins. For example, he will prompt us to slander people after we have imbibed a bit too much.
This explains why a gossip who is prone to publicize the frailties of others, who is adept at making a person’s virtues appear as faults, is called an evil, devilish blabber. He slanders and defames people. Such a scandalmonger reviles everything in man, be it good or evil. Thus the devil, too, defames everything, even before God. He does not let the good in us be good; he will not let our little sins be little before our conscience. He makes the good appear as sin, and he drives man to despair by magnifying sin.
Now we have heard this excellent message, and we have been told that we must accept no other doctrine by means of which we attain eternal life than the words of Christ. For He alone has words of life, while human doctrines convey and contain only death and damnation.
Luther, M. (1999, c1959). Vol. 23: Luther's works, vol. 23 : Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 6-8 (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (23:196). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
Dr. Luther was always pointed in his attacks on false doctrine. Yet he did draw a careful distinction between doctrinal warfare and personal warfare, even when he got carried away by his passions. He recognized that personal warfare added nothing to the Truth of God's Word, but always distracted attention away from it. Indeed, such captious endeavors were a disservice to the Truth.
May the Lord God grant His people, through hearts of faith, such a bold humility.
garycepek@yahoo.com
Gary Cepek's pious comment was a big laugh for anyone who knows the first thing about Luther. I wanted to say "pious platitudes," but nothing like his comments on Luther have ever gained the least bit of currency. If they were ever said before, they went over like a lead balloon.
One has to remember that the English volumes of Luther's Works are just his best works which are relatively free of his personal attacks and slurs on his opponents, except "On the Jews and Their Lies" is found in the English volumes. The other 4/5th or so of Luther's Works remain in the German, and no one is terribly interested in translating that into English. Luckily, it's in Fraktur script so every year fewer and fewer people can read it without a great deal of effort.
Luther called people sausages, he called Eck Dreck, which back then mean manure, and he called the Jews pigs and all sorts of things. When arguing with Luther, everything was personal, and Luther was the one who took the offensive in this regard, probably due to the pressure he was under. The "orthodox" can sit back and relax, after all, but Luther knew his life was in danger.
Luther didn't have any problem calling people blockheads and chowderheads. (Chowderhead is a rough translation.) Read his works, for Goodness' sake.
Seems to me even Erasmus was walking funny after Luther got through with him in Bondage of the Will.
Thank you for the Justification book post. Two days ago my internet was on the brink,so I decided to read some esaays in my saved documents. John Buchholz 2005 convention essay was one that I decided to read. One aspect that may not have been discussed on the blog was Buchholz's use of the word 'mismash.'
In other words you have the Sig Becker,J.P. Meyer, and Kokomo versions of Justification. In Bucholz's OWN words he calls these takes a mishmash. Remember Brenner did not give his speach until 2009.(and I do not recall Buchholz namming Brenner, CORRECT me if I am wrong...Buchholz's essay was 2 miles long!)
This only raises more questions than it answers. I will answer one thing! Buchholz is now included in the mishmash. In late 2005 FIC publishes his series of articles on UOJ. Keep in mind FIC is a magazine upheld by the Synod. So who are we supposed to be in agreement with? Sig Becker?(no, not according to Buchholz)J.P. Meyer?(nope!)Kokomo?(not that either) He basically is saying that he is correct and the others wrong.
This is disturbing and needs attention that is long over due. I pray that Pastor GJ's book sheds light on a much needed examination on the Doctrine of Justification. The main point of my comment was Buchholz's denoucing of the mentioned leaders. Which one are we supposed to be following? But hey, Scripture and the BOC are not mishmash.
In Christ,
from WELS church lady
Buchholz UOJ paper:
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BuchholzJustification.pdf
WELS Church Lady, I've asked all of the UOJ schleppers I've talked to in the WELS, ELS and LCMS for the definitive document detailing the precise explanation and confession of UOJ. No one has provided one. And it's not as though they present some document written by so and so, they provide nothing for a response. They will go on and on about how I misrepresent their doctrine but cannot provide the benchmark for what the doctrine teaches. What a sham! And this is the central doctrine of the Christian faith. Where's Martin Luther's sermons on UOJ? They must see it as an oversight for Martin Luther to have never written a sermon on the central article of Christian faith. Did Luther only focus on Subjective Justification like the Book of Concord and forget about Objective Justification? The whole sordid doctrine, the blasphemous contradictions and absence of written confession from the Lutheran Church fathers is too much to swallow. What a wicked cabal that exists within the Lutheran churches today.
We need to brainstorm a way to advertise the new book within the Lutheran churches. Pastor Jackson can give you my personal email if you would like to exchange ideas.
In Christ,
Brett
Dr. Jackson, are you still going to discuss the synonyms of justification? I don't see it mentioned here but I recall it being listed earlier.
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