Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "LCMS Pastor Vernon Harley - Reconciliation - 2 Cor...":
Not just a Kokomo statement. It is a (W)ELS statement. J.P. Meyer wrote the statements that were to be used later to form the Kokomo statements which were accepted by the (W)ELS as they confirmed the removal of families from their fellowship when they denied the Kokomo statements.
David Beckman (W)ELS tried to reject the statement but while doing so dug the (W)ELS deeper:
The confusion appears to have arisen particularly over the use of the phrase “status of a saint.” “Status of a saint” is employed by Meyer in his comments on II Corinthians 5:18-21. He uses the phrase to explain all thatwas involved in God reconciling the world to himself, not charging men with their sins, but imputing to them the righteousness of Christ, who became sin for us. The word “status” is particularly important because it reflectsMeyer’s attempt at getting behind the original meaning of the Greek word for reconcile, katalla&ssw, which has to do with change. It’s not a change in man, but it’s a change in God’s attitude toward man; a change in man’s standing with God because of what Christ did. The recipients of this change in status are indeed the entire world. The Bible therefore does teach that all the sins of all mankind are completely forgiven. That means also the sins of Judas, the sins of the people destroyed in the flood, the sins of all the ungodly, and the sins of all
people who will from now to the end of time die apart from Christ and end up in hell. All people have a changed status. But that is not to say that all people are saints." Page 8
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckmanUniversal.PDF
(W)ELS' godfather of UOJ Siegbert W. Becker confirmed saints in Hell in his infamous essay:
The same criticism can be directed against the second statement. One really becomes a guilt-free saint only through faith, if we limit ourselves to the biblical usage of the word. However, since our holiness, as Augustine says, consists in sin’s remission rather than in life’s perfection, we could say that when God forgave the sins of the whole world he regarded all sinners as guilt-free, but if they are guilt-free we might also say that they are considered sinless in the sight of God. But a sinless person is a holy person, a saint. Page 14
Oh, don't limit yourself to the Biblical usage of the word!
