I am soliciting the opinions of Church Mouse and Extra Nos on this, because both know Calvinism well. Unfortunately, most of the "conservative" Lutherans addressing these issues do not go beyond the talking points they learned at seminary.
Otto W. Heick's History of Christian Thought was in print for a long time and used by WELS pastors. There was nothing else quite like his work. He was our friend at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary. He took us out to eat and to his wife's grave. He ate at our home more than once. He would come up to me after a chapel and express alarm or amusement at what was said. For instance, one young woman called herself a backslider but also claimed, "Once God has touched you, He never lets you go." He quoted her and grinned. When I used the seminary library, I found his markings in the reference works - tiny pencil notes for the revision of his book.
I was reading Heick's History at the doctor's office when I came across the section on Calvinism versus Arminianism. In a few words, Arminius provoked a break in Calvinism, which culminated in the Synod of Dort. Calvinism defined itself at Dort as TULIP:
1. Total depravity.
2. Unconditional election.
3. Limited atonement.
4. Irresistible grace.
5. Perseverance of the saints.
Heick:
"Arminius, then, considered faith not primarily as the instrument by which man accepts the grace of God, but rather as the first cause of justification. The faith which resides in man as a potential quality is what is imputed to the sinner as righteousness...This view flatly contradicts what Melanchthon said in the Apology to the Augsburg Confession, - 'For faith does not justify or save because it is a good work in itself, but only because it accepts the universal mercy.'"
History of Christian Thought, II, pp. 73ff. Emphasis in original.
Notice that Calvinism never taught the efficacy of the Word or the Means of Grace. Rock-ribbed Calvinists are opposed to the efficacy of the Word and treat the sacraments as empty labels - ordinances to be obeyed, following Zwingli. In fact, a Calvinist sermon could be utterly useless unless the Holy Spirit decides to stop by. The same is true for communion. That is why Calvinists pray "Sovereign Lord." The term reflects their separation of the Holy Spirit from the Word. For them, God works independently of the Word and Sacraments, although not utterly apart from them. Naturally, the Real Presence is denied. So is baptismal regeneration.
The Arminians were also called Remonstrants. My advisor at Notre Dame was a Dutch Remonstrant. The Remonstrants began as the minority in Holland and eventually became the majority opinion. I studied Calvin and modern manifestations of Calvinism under him. He wrote his Harvard dissertation on a conservative Calvinist, under H. Oberman.
Calvinism necessarily has a strange concept of faith. The Synodical Conference MDivs do not understand this because they hardly understand Lutheran doctrine. They do not comprehend the foundation (the efficacy of the Word) so they satisfy themselves with repeating their seminary talking points.
The Heart of the Matter
This is the part where the UOJ Enthusiasts need to slow down and read out loud, to aid their reading comprehension.
1. Calvin denied that the Holy Spirit always works exclusively through the Word, rejecting the efficacy of the Word and Sacraments. He made fun of the Real Presence in his Institutes. Calvin - the "finite is incapable of the infinite." That motto renders the Incarnation impossible. Calvin locutus est, causa finita est. (Calvin has spoken, the case is closed).
2. Calvin was confused about the Two Natures of Christ, thinking that Jesus had to come in a secret entrance to be in the locked room after the Resurrection. That is also why Calvinist art shows the angels letting Jesus out of the tomb by opening it.
3. Calvin simply declared his ideas to be true, in defiance of clear Scriptural passages.
4. Calvin created a rationalistic approach, which inevitably leads to Unitarianism, Universalism, and atheism. Two WELS Church Growth pastors have followed that path already. Curtis Peterson's essays are still in the sanctum sanctorum, the WELS Essay Files.
5. ELCA also teaches UOJ because of its common heritage of Pietism.
UOJ is Calvinism
The classic statement of double-justification came from Knapp, a Halle University professor, in lectures and in print before Walther landed in America.
UOJ is the concept--alien to most Christians--that God has already declared every single person forgiven of sin. That appeals to people who have no grasp of the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace.
Most Christians know from the Word that faith comes from preaching the Gospel.
UOJ continues to be taught because many Lutheran clergy do not understand the basics of the Faith. They have been trained to worship their synod, so any departure from that veneration is known to be dangerous.
