"The only possible form of evangelism, therefore, is to preach and teach the Word of God in its purity and truth. Foul errors are bound to rush in when these basic truths are scuttled."
Now wait just a dog-goned minute there Pastor Jackson. At my former WELS congregation, the Evangelism Committee has just come up with two more methods for reaching out to the community. The first is hosting a flu shot clinic and the second is offering a series on Love and Logic in Parenting. Haven't you ever heard of flu shot evangelism? Where have you been? With tongue firmly planted in cheek I ask, how are we ever going to meed the needs of the unchurched in the community?
This section from Romans is an antidote against Universalism, a by-product of Enthusiasm before it degenerates into atheism. The language of Romans 10 should be familiar to everyone, since they encourage and motivate all Christians while explaining how people become believers, forgiven of their sin, and saved. Paul has reversed the order, so we can start from the beginning, with some elaboration:
1. God sends preachers to announce the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the message of the Atonement, the reconciliation, Christ crucified for the sins of the world.
2. Faith comes from hearing the Gospel proclaimed. The Word of God effectively moves people to faith because the Holy Spirit is always at work in the Word. Therefore, this individual faith is a gift from God.
3. Believing is justification by faith. Because people come to faith through the Gospel, God declares them forgiven of all their sins. Preaching is therefore the primary Means of Grace, conveying the Gospel of Jesus Christ – first in converting them, second in sustaining their faith.
4. Preaching the Gospel begins with newborns, who are baptized, given a new life, and filled with the Holy Spirit through the Gospel Promises. Their child-like faith is nurtured by their parents and Christian teachers so they continue in the Means of Grace. Holy Communion is their next stage in appreciating and enjoying God’s forgiveness.
5. Because condemnation to death comes from sin, justification by faith means salvation.
6. The only possible form of evangelism, therefore, is to preach and teach the Word of God in its purity and truth.
Foul errors are bound to rush in when these basic truths are scuttled.
The Lutheran organizations in America have degenerated into tragic caricatures. They retain the name Lutheran—reluctantly—while aping the doctrine and methods of the Enthusiasts. Wherever possible, they jettison the name Lutheran, although they find it useful in raising funds from Lutherans. Their synod executives, professors, missions people, and pastors get ahead in the denomination by being trained at Fuller Seminary (the mother of all Enthusiasm), Willow Creek, Mars Hill, NorthPoint Stealth Baptist, Saddleback Stealth Baptist, and Granger Community Church. Fuller Seminary’s many heresies led to worse blasphemies from the current crop of New Agers, leading up to (or rather down to) Leonard Sweet.
Repudiating the Means of Grace has led to many outrages among the “conservative” Lutherans. Only a few of them are listed below. They are reliable indicators of where the synods are going and how fast they are degenerating into indifferent Universalist social clubs:
1. The name Lutheran is removed from as many congregations and entities as possible, because the name hurts business.
2. The local congregation no longer provides a worship service on Sunday, but replaces it with entertainment designed to recruit new members, almost always from other local congregations.
3. The minister and congregation come dressed as if prepared for a clean-up day.
4. A movie theater is considered an ideal place to meet, especially since free popcorn and drinks are provided for the service.
5. Hymns disappear, replaced by the cacophony of a rock band.
6. The pipe organ is silenced, precisely because it supports hymn singing.
7. The sermon is turned into a coaching session.
8. Holy Communion and Holy Baptism are moved into mid-week services, because they hurt business.
9. Promotions become increasing degraded, aimed at sensationalism.
10. Synod executives, district officials, and overlapping false doctrine lobbies work together to make matters worse while announcing – “Be patient. We are working on this.”
11. The schools teeter toward bankruptcy.
12. Lawsuits flourish because the cutting edge clergy have as much trouble with their self-control as they do with their egos.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
KJV 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The UOJ advocates have a serious problem with their abuse of this word reconciliation, which is so often used to fuel their Enthusiasm. They would make this section of 2 Corinthians dance to their tune, when it does not. The Atonement of Christ is universal. What was charged to man’s account was paid in full on the cross. God’s action through Christ is not justification, but Atonement. The two best synonyms in Greek are redemption (to purchase and to release, see below).
The Gospel is the message of the Atonement:
1. God has given His only-begotten Son to us.
2. Christ willingly laid down His life to pay for all our sins.
3. All our sins have been purchased on the cross, releasing us from the power of sin, death, and the devil.
4. Christ and His benefits are conveyed to us solely through the Word, the Holy Spirit giving divine energy to the efficacious Word and to our hearts in receiving this message in faith.
Because man is trapped in works-righteousness in his natural state, he needs to know that this reconciliation has been accomplished. The Atonement is the antidote to works of the Law.
UOJ falls into the pit through Calvinistic rationalism. This is how the Enthusiasts turn the Gospel into quasi-Universalism – Since Christ bore our sin on the cross, the entire world became righteous upon His death (or resurrection). Although they are quite firm on Hottentots and Hitler being guilt-free saints, they are not clear about their timing, which is fatal when considering Abraham and all those who believed in Christ before His Incarnation. Abraham was counted righteous because of his faith (Romans 4), so that would be he was declared forgiven before Rome was founded and declared forgiven again when Christ died on the cross or rose from the dead. Such contradictions are the reasons the UOJ Enthusiasts do not like their opinions examined closely. In the name of the Gospel they destroy the Gospel.
Christian doctrine is one congruent message, with no contradictions. When people new to UOJ are told the strange twists of this opinion, they open their mouths in astonishment. They do not hear the Gospel but a strange twisting of words. Instead, the Scriptures teach clearly:
A. Jesus Christ gave His innocent blood to pay for our sins, rising from the dead, to be the firstfruits of the resurrection.
B. God entrusted this Word of reconciliation to His apostles and pastors, to move people to faith and to declare them forgiven of their sins.
C. This forgiveness or justification is the reason why we inherit eternal life, not because of our merit but because of Christ.
D. The Gospel is conveyed by the Holy Spirit through: preaching and teaching, absolution, Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, and the mutual consolation of believers.
E. The Gospel moves us to works of faith, because God has already done everything for us.
Every example of the reconciliation word group in the New Testament:
KJV 1 Corinthians 7:11 But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
KJV Romans 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement [reconciliation].
KJV 2 Corinthians 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
KJV 2 Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
KJV 2 Corinthians 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
1 Timothy 3:16 – Easter Absolution Connection
KJV 1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
a) God was manifest in the flesh,
b) justified in the Spirit,
c) seen of angels,
d) preached unto the Gentiles,
e) believed on in the world,
f) received up into glory.
This concise, beautiful confession of faith, probably an early Christian hymn, may be the basis for Walther’s Easter absolution concept. The rationalistic conclusion would work this way – Jesus was justified when He rose from the dead, so the world was also justified, based on 2 Corinthians 5:21.
However, this confuses the second clause – “justified in the Spirit.”
Lenski:
“When and how was Jesus declared righteous by God? In and by the act of raising him from the dead. Men had nailed him to the cross, condemned him to the cross as one accursed of God, for to be hung on wood meant to be declared accursed of God; him God raised from the dead, him God thereby declared righteous. God’s forensic judgment was analytic: Jesus himself was declared righteous; it was not synthetic: another’s righteousness was not imputed to him. On Christ’s sinlessness note John 8:46; Heb. 10:7, 9; 7:26; 4:15. Why this signal act of declaring Jesus righteous? He is made “unto us righteousness,” 1 Cor. 1:30; “he was raised for our righteousness,” Rom. 4:21; “that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” 1 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 10:4.
Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians, to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus and to Philemon. Columbus, O. : Lutheran Book Concern, 1937, S. 611.
What the world saw as sin—an ordinary man dying for crimes—God declared righteous in the resurrection. Seeing the cross as a positive sign has dampened our horror of the cruelest method of execution ever devised. This early Christian hymn of faith turned the ignominy of the cross into the glory of God’s grace.
One Redemption, Two Verbs
Redemption is one of the best synonyms for the Atonement in the New Testament, a word so expressive that the Holy Spirit gave us two words in Greek, which we merge into one English term. Redemption as a purchase is used for the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:46) and also to express the Atonement.
KJV 1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
KJV 1 Corinthians 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
KJV Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
KJV Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
KJV 2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
KJV Revelation 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Many people also think of redemption as release from slavery:
Redemption – apolutrosis, apoluo (release, dismiss; used for divorce, release of a prisoner). Christ paid a ransom for the sins of the world. The term is used in Romans 3:24, 8:23; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:17, 14, 4:30; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12, 15. Lutron – ransom, Matthew 20:28 (Mark 10:45). 1 Timothy 2:6.
KJV Matthew 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
KJV 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Propitiation
KJV Romans 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation [mercyseat] through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
KJV Hebrews 9:5 And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
Conclusion
The New Tesatment texts all distinguish the Atonement from justification by faith. As the most ardent UOJ Enthusiasts concede, justification in the Scriptures and Book of Concord can only mean justification by faith.
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GJ - I am working on the first draft of this chapter for the first version of
Luther versus the UOJ Pietists: Justification by Faith. That effort is available as a free dowload from Lulu.com.
I realized this morning that I need a separate chapter on faith, that Biblical word so eagerly pilloried by the UOJ Stormtroppers.
The plan, God willing, is to have a fairly complete book ready for Reformation Day, 2010, but to continue work on it afterwards as well.
Thy Strong Word is being prepared by my gruff but likeable editor. That should be out reasonably soon, as a free PDF and as a printed book. About 10 years have passed since conservative Lutherans everywhere did their best to ignore TSW, which is the highest commendation. It was Pietistic shunning cranked up to the maximum. The laity have maintained a great deal of interest in the manufactured "doctrine" of UOJ. Recently, the most Church-Growthy conference in WELS devoted most of their meeting to defending their precious forgiveness-without-the-Word. That suggests fear bordering on panic.
Church and Change runs on UOJ. All their leaders (Valleskey, Mueller, Bivens) are UOJ fanatics.
