I have, over the years, conversed with many Calvinists, in person and over the Internet. I always ask them, “Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are among God’s elect and are saved?” There are generally two reactions to that question: (1) A long and rather painful pause after which they say, “I hope I am. I do believe in Christ.” or (2) A quick, “Yes, I believe in Christ.” Now, let’s be honest here and admit that many Lutherans would answer in somewhat the same way. But here is the problem.
If our feelings of certainty in our salvation is (sic) based on our feeling that we have faith, we will flounder. The answer we must always give to the question of “Do you know you are saved?” is not, “Yes, because I have faith” but rather, “Yes, because Christ Jesus died for me” and of course, in my opinion, the very best answer of all is simply to point people to Luther’s explanation of the Creed and say, “Here, this puts it very well.”
Point yourself, and others, not to faith, not to subjective feelings that there is faith in your heart, but always, always, always, point people to Christ and what He has done for you and the whole world. Do not confused (sic) faith in faith, with trust in Christ. There is a key difference.
We are Christians, not Faith-ians.
***
GJ - The UOJ Stormtroopers are getting increasingly touchy. Recently a branch of the Preus clan began denouncing those who "deny UOJ." So I asked, "Like Robert Preus?" That set off a longer rant, especially since I provided written proof, from Justification and Rome.
In the epic piece of balderdash copied above, Paul McCain has shown how little he understands Calvinism or Lutheran doctrine.
UOJ fanatics like to lead by attacking faith, using their weak little straw man arguments. They remind me of the ALC/LCA leaders who likewise said, "The Bible is not a book that fell from heaven," as if someone claimed that.
Paul, whose rudeness has been displayed publicly on Facebook, sounds just like Bucky Hellwig in this piece. It is no wonder I got them confused once, when Bucky was posting anonymously on LutherQuest (sic).
UOJ goes together with Enthusiasm, Church Growth, and Receptionism because they are all flavors of separating the Holy Spirit from the Word, grace from the Means of Grace.
If Paul had taken the time to engage in the scholarly study of comparative dogmatics, instead of packing his bags for the Purple Palace, he might have learned how to do more than preach to the double-justification choir.
The formula, left unspoken in his diatribe, is thus:
1. God absolved the whole world of sin, without the Word, without the Means of Grace, without faith, at the crucifixion or at the resurrection, the Moment of Absolution still being debated. That is General, Objective, or Universal, or Universal Objective Justification.
2. Everyone has to make a decision to believe in UOJ, but they are justified already (Part 1). They need Part 2 for Part 1 to be really, really effective, even though it is already really effective. Part 2 is called Subjective Justification.
This formula first appeared, in the fulness of time, in a very influential, prolixic, boring, confusing book by the Halle Pietist George Christian Knapp. It appeared in German and English, years before Walther placed his predestined and predestinating feet on the shores of the Mississippi. This book remained a primary theology book for all Protestants for most of the 19th century.
A variation on this theme of Universalism has been the mantra of the LCA and ALC moderns: God has already forgiven everyone.
This has been explained many times before, but I will repeat the quotations found on the lower part of this blog. They represent Lutheran doctrine rather than the Enthusiasm McCain endorses so smoothly:
"Nowhere in the Bible is any man constituted or declared righteous ‘without faith, before faith.’” R. C. H. Lenski, Romans, Augsburg Publishing House: Minneapolis, 1963, p. 382. Romans 5:19-20.
"They [the false teachers] fared like a man who looks through a colored glass. Put before such a man whatever color you please, he sees no other color than that of the glass. The fault is not that the right color is not put before him but that his glass is colored differently, as the word of Is. 6:9 puts it: You will see, he says, and yet you will not see it."What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 644.
"To this incline your ears, and be persuaded that God speaks through men and forgives you your sins; this, of course, requires faith."Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 200.From Thy Strong Word:J-520
"It is a faithful saying that Christ has accomplished everything, has removed sin and overcome every enemy, so that through Him we are lords over all things. But the treasure lies yet in one pile; it is not yet distributed nor invested. Consequently, if we are to possess it, the Holy Spirit must come and teach our hearts to believe and say: I, too, am one of those who are to have this treasure. When we feel that God has thus helped us and given the treasure to us, everything goes well, and it cannot be otherwise than that man's heart rejoices in God and lifts itself up, saying: Dear Father, if it is Thy will to show toward me such great love and faithfulness, which I cannot fully fathom, then will I also love Thee with all my heart and be joyful, and cheerfully do what pleases Thee. Thus, the heart does not now look at God with evil eyes, does not imagine He will cast us into hell, as it did before the Holy Spirit came...." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 279. Pentecost Sunday. John 14:23-31.J-528
"Faith is that my whole heart takes to itself this treasure. It is not my doing, not my presenting or giving, not my work or preparation, but that a heart comforts itself, and is perfectly confident with respect to this, namely, that God makes a present and gift to us, and not we to Him, that He sheds upon us every treasure of grace in Christ." Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV. #48. Of Justification. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 135. Heiser, p. 36.J-545
"These treasures are offered us by the Holy Ghost in the promise of the holy Gospel; and faith alone is the only means by which we lay hold upon, accept, and apply, and appropriate them to ourselves. This faith is a gift of God, by which we truly learn to know Christ, our Redeemer, in the Word of the Gospel, and trust in Him, that for the sake of His obedience alone we have the forgiveness of sins by grace, are regarded as godly and righteous by God the Father, and are eternally saved." Formula of Concord, Thorough Declaration, III. #10. Of the Righteousness of Faith before God. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 919. Tappert, p. 541. Heiser, p. 250.J-590
"For neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe on Him, and obtain Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the Gospel. The work is done and accomplished; for Christ has acquired and gained the treasure for us by His suffering, death, resurrection, etc. But if the work remained concealed so that no one knew of it, then it would be in vain and lost. That this treasure, therefore, might not lie buried, but be appropriated and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to go forth and be proclaimed, in which He gives the Holy Ghost to bring this treasure home and appropriate it to us. Therefore sanctifying is nothing else than bringing us to Christ to receive this good, to which we could not attain ourselves."The Large Catechism, The Creed, Article III, #38, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 689. Tappert, p. 415. Heiser, p. 194.
***
GJ - I do not see Luther as an enemy of faith, since the Reformer shows how the Holy Spirit works through the Word to create and sustain faith. This faith trusts the Gospel Promises. That is why Luther taught justification by faith in harmony with the Scriptures.
PS -
Jay Webber, in the ELS, went to Ft. Wayne at the same time as McCain. Robert Preus was deep into UOJ and CG at that time. Jay still defends UOJ too.
On LQ, the FW guys said the same things McCain just did. They have their Calvinist quip, their "faith in faith" quip, and a couple of other repeat-after-me sayings they memorized.
They never come to grips with the efficacy of the Word, the Means of Grace, or the classic passages in the Book of Concord about justification by faith.
Worst of all, they cannot address Robert Preus' own words in Justification and Rome.
11 comments:
McCain serves the Devil.
Proof: Paul McCain states, "If our feelings of certainty in our salvation (are) based on our feeling that we have faith, we will flounder." And also, "Point yourself, and others, not to faith, not to subjective feelings that there is faith in your heart,"
Christ declares in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"
Paul McCain perverts the Holy Spirit's faith worked in man by grace through the Means of Grace. He condemns faith leaning soley on his man made gospel of UOJ and turning people away from the comfort and knowledge of faith, worked by the Holy Spirit alone, which clings to the Gospel declaration that Christ died and paid for the sins of all people.
Scripture declares that only by faith itself are we accounted righteous and acceptable to God when by faith we put on Christ and His righteousness.
McCain teaches that Christ's blood has washed and now rests on the entire unbelieving world so that God sees them as righteous and justified without faith while they are alive to sin and carnally minded. Romans 8:6, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."
64] But since we speak of such faith as is not an idle thought, but of that which liberates from death and produces a new life in hearts [which is such a new light, life, and force in the heart as to renew our heart, mind, and spirit, makes new men of us and new creatures,] and is the work of the Holy Ghost; this does not coexist with mortal sin [for how can light and darkness coexist?] http://www.bookofconcord.org/defense_4_justification.php
17] Accordingly, the word justify here means to declare righteous and free from sins, and to absolve one from eternal punishment for the sake of Christ's righteousness, which is imputed by God to faith, Phil. 3, 9. For this use and understanding of this word is common in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Prov. 17, 15: He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord. Is. 5, 23: Woe unto them which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! Rom. 8, 33: Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, that is, absolves from sins and acquits.
http://www.bookofconcord.org/sd-righteousness.php
In Christ,
Brett Meyer
Read through the comments from Paul McCains post that show how UOJ has changed the Holy Spirit's faith into a work of man if it does what God declares. If, by the doctrine of UOJ, faith remains simply an empty hand doing nothing in man but recieving what was already declared to be true then UOJ says it's a gracious gift of God. When shown that the Holy Spirit's faith changes man from an unjust man to a just man where he dies to sin and is raised again as Christ was to life in God's grace then UOJ condemns faith as a synergistic work of man. What an evil teaching UOJ is, blinding those who confess it from the truth of Scripture and also from the correct explanation of Scripture found in the Lutheran Confessions."
Paul McCain states, "February 23rd, 2010 at 12:44 | #6 Reply | Quote @Christian: We are not saved by our faith, but by grace, through faith. This is a critical understanding that is lacking among us and the influence of “decision theology” has wreaked havoc throughout Lutheranism. We should always be on our guard against speaking too much about “my faith” and “our faith” rather than about Christ. There is a difference between Faith-ians and Christi-ans, and I’m sorry you seem rather determined to miss the point of the post.
McCain fails to see that faith grounded in anything but Christ's atonement is not the Holy Spirit's faith at all. Nor does he see that faith grounded in Christ's atonement is that righteousness that is worked by grace of the Holy Spirit that brings comfort and assurance. It is not to be denounced.
Luther states:
15. ...You see how they make faith of no value to themselves, and so must regard as heresy all doctrine based upon it. Thus they do away with the whole Gospel. These are they who deny the Christian faith and exterminate it from the world. Paul prophesied concerning them when he said (1 Tim 4, 1): "In later times some shall fall away from the faith." The voice of faith is now silenced all over the world. Indeed, faith is condemned and banished as the worst heresy, and all who teach and endorse it are condemned with it. The Pope, the bishops, charitable institutions, cloisters, high schools, unanimously opposed it for nearly four hundred years, and simply drove the world violently into hell. Their conduct is the real persecution by Antichrist, in the last times.
22. Now, the [Mc]Cain-like saints have not, as they themselves confess, the Christian faith which would assure them of being the children of God. http://www.trinitylutheranms.org/MartinLuther/MLSermons/Galatians4_1_7.html
http://cyberbrethren.com/2010/02/23/we-are-christians-not-faith-ians/#comments
Be prepared for him to come in and tell you how great his credentials are.
Brett,
What Jesus commends, Waltherians condemn.
Turretinfan,
I am glad a Calvinists like yourself is visiting this blog. Hopefully you get to understand better stock standard Book of Concord Lutheranism here.
LPC
Just another lousy sausage!
I find it humorous that you say UOJ goes together with Enthusiasm, Church Growth, and Receptionism. Where can I see these things together? The strongest supporters of UOJ ("Preus clan", Pr. Mccain, LCMS confessionalists, and Walther even!) opposed these things.
And ethusiasts, Church growthers, and receptionalists probably don't know what UOJ is, and would probably be closer to your position in emphasizing the importance of one's faith to obtaining forgiveness.
In fact, emphasizing faith as prior to forgiveness, seems to be what motivates enthusiasts and Church growthers to emphasize emotion and "faith in faith." They have to have faith before God will forgive them, so they go through great lengths to convince themselves they have faith.
UOJ emphasizes Christ died for us, and that it was finished on the cross. It emphasizes the object of faith, Christ's work on the cross, rejecting the ambiguous and objectless faith (as a force or power rather than trust in Christ) that characterizes Pentacostalism. UOJ is the object of faith. If Christ did not obtain forgiveness for the whole world (except for the unforgivable sin of unbelief), then what is our faith in? the Cross becomes an arbitrary test of faith, and not the great event that changed God's orientation to us. If forgiveness depends only on subjective belief, then Christ could have stood on his head and sang la cucaracha and said believe that and be saved.
UOJ doesn't deny that the sin of unbelief, rejecting God's grace, is unforgivable, was not forgiven on the cross. All those that are damned are damned because of this sin, because they reject God and the cross. UOJ also certainly doesn't deny that we all would commit this unforgivable sin and reject God's grace without the Holy Spirit giving us faith through the means of grace.
Or what am I missing here.
Just out of curiosity, critique away at my own understanding of UOJ/SJ. Maybe then I'll understand what this controversy is about.
UOJ = God forgave everybody in the world for every sin, except for the sin of unbelief.
The sin of unbelief is unforgivable. Everybody who does not believe rejects God and God will give the unbeliever what they desire, eternal separation from him.
Every human is fallen and has no desire to seek God. Without God's help, all humans would reject God and receive damnation.
God sent the Holy Spirit to work through Word and Sacrament to give faith, i.e., reliance on God's grace.
SJ = recognizing that we failed to uphold the Creator's law and should be punished for it, and believing he sent Christ to die for our sin, suffering our punishment for us, and now God doesn't hold our sin against us and we can live eternally with him (so long as we do not reject this gift, the unforgivable sin).
Thus, we lead a life of repentance, in fear in trembling, relying on Word and Sacrament to strengthen our faith and preserve us from our sinful desire to reject God's grace and rely to our own beliefs and actions.
Boaz, please read through the UOJ discussions on this board for in depth analysis of UOJ. They can be found here: http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/search/label/UOJ
Boaz you state, "The sin of unbelief is unforgivable."
Romans 11:19-23, "Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again."
Boaz, were you born in unbelief? Prior to your baptism were you not guilty of the sin of unbelief or did you believe in Christ from your conception? Is not the whole world guilty of unbelief?
If Christ did not pay for the sin of unbelief then the whole world is going to Hell and Christ's sacrifice was insufficient and lacking.
Your doctrine mocks Scripture and Christ atonement.
In Christ,
Brett Meyer
...and the (W)ELS falls silent.
Of course, you knew that by "unbelief" I meant unrepentant unbelief, unbelief persisting into death, unbelief in the faith-giving work of the Spirit. I believe Martin Luther and Saint Augustine agree with me that it is the unforgivable sin (though I don't think Walther does!).
And Romans 11:19-23 specifically states persisting unbelief results in permanent separation. Persisting unbelief is unforgivable. So I agree with your attack on your strawman.
What I'm asking is what problem you have with the idea that without the cross God demands perfection from us, but because of the cross, God does not see any sin or hold any sin against any person except for persisting, unrepentant unbelief. That's what I understand UOJ to be. I'm trying to figure out if I'm misunderstanding UOJ or if you are.
So, would you like to try again? Or is there some other strawman you'd like to erect.
Boaz, you've shown that it wasn't a strawman. My contention is that you promote the UOJ notion that the only sin that men go to Hell for is the single sin of unbelief and that it is unforgivable. Now you've clarified you believe that persistent unbelief is unforgivable but that God has already forgiven every other sin upon the completed Atonement except that one. You and UOJists speak initially as though unbelief is unforgivable. As though Christ's atonement didn't pay for that sin. You've washed the entire unbelieving world in Christ's blood in order to forgive them of all sins but by your doctrine Christ's blood doesn't wash the sin of unbelief. So either Christ's atonement is insufficient in which case everyone is going to Hell for eternity, or it is supremely efficient and is able to cleanse us from all sin even unbelief (which everyone has been guilty of) and no one is washed in His blood before faith, before being born again by faith and putting on His righteousness by faith.
Boaz states, "but because of the cross, God does not see any sin or hold any sin against any person except for persisting, unrepentant unbelief."
This is Scripturally false based on the following verses:
John 8:24, "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins."
Note 'sins' plural not just the persistent sin of unbelief but without faith in Christ no sin is forgiven even though they have all been atoned for in Christ. But the righteousness which avails against God's wrath over sin is only in Christ and is only ours through faith alone.
Romans 3:25, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;"
You don't misunderstand UOJ but simply fall into the many contradictory crevices that bind those who confess it. Some will reach your dilema and then state that although God has forgiven the whole unbelieving world it still isn't theirs until they have faith that God has forgiven them already. The problem with this crevice is that they must also teach that faith doesn't do anything and as such they confirm that in fact the forgivness of sins was truly removed from the world before faith.
Boaz, have you had a chance to read through the UOJ discussions on this blog. They will help you understand the various problems with it. Or, I'm more than willing to discuss this with you right here.
In Christ,
Brett Meyer
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