Cone has left a new comment on your post "Precious Falsehoods of the Syn Conference":
What do they use to teach Justification at MLC? Luther? No. The Confessions? No. Holy Scripture in context? No. A Becker essay? Yes.
And that, my friends, is the truth.
5 comments:
A (W)ELS pastor recently responded to a question I had concerning UOJ. His response shows how little the clergy have been paying attention to the specifics of the official statements from (W)ELS and the doctrines they were taught in Sem.
"I did have Sig Becker for a professor, for a number of classes, and I can say, and will say from the roof-tops if called upon to do so, that this man is so far away from UOJ that he's not even in the same universe. OK, I know, I know, he defended Kokomo, but I happen to know that that was a case of synod blood being thicker than confessional water, so to speak. Of course, that doesn't make it right, but that's the fact, Jack - as the kids say these days.
Look - I don't know you personally, or what your age is, you how long you were in WELS, or whatever. But I've been around the block a ton in the past 40 years...
So, I may be dumb, but I'm not totally stupid. So, I think - in my own humble opinion - that if I say some guy is not an UOJ fanatic, I just might know what heck I'm talking about.
I posted this comparison of Becker's false doctrine and Christ's Word a few years ago. Seems appropriate to post it again. DP Jon Buchholz liked to mock the fact that I have used my statements more than once. I figure if the statement is faithful to Christ and His Word and it's was a good summary of the issue it can be used as often as required. Here's my comparison:
Becker, "But universal and objective justification is one doctrine whose place in the victorious Christian life is
clear.
Becker: Wherever men teach that faith comes first as a condition that must be fulfilled or a work that must be done or even as a fact that must be recognized before forgiven(ess) is bestowed men will be trained to look into their own hearts for assurance rather than to the words and promises of God. If my sins are forgiven only if I first have faith then I have no solid foundation on which to rest my hope for eternal life. I must then know that I have faith before I can know that my sins are forgiven.
Christ: Mark 2:5, When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
Christ: Mark 4:12, That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
Christ: Acts 10:43, To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
Christ: Romans 8:24, For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for.
Christ: John 3:18, He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Becker: But there are times when a Christian does not know that he has faith. And many people who think they have faith do not have it, and many that think they are not believers are believing children of God. In regard to our own faith we may be in error or filled with doubt.
Christ: Romans 14:23, "And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Cont...
Cont...
Becker: In times of temptation when I am no longer aware of my faith, when my heart tells me that I am an unbeliever, I have no place to turn for assurance if faith must come before forgiveness.
Christ: Romans 4:16, "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.
Becker: But if forgiveness comes first, if it is always there, if it is true whether I believe it or not, I do not need to know whether I have faith or not before I can cling to God’s promise.
Christ: Romans 11:20, Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith.
Christ: 2 Cor. 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?
Becker: I know that my sins are forgiven whether I feel forgiven or unforgiven. I know that my iniquity is pardoned whether I believe it or not.
Christ: Romans 9:31-32, But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith.
Becker: And when I know that, then I know also that I am a believer.
Christ: James 2:19, Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Christ:
Romans 10:4, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
Luke 7:50, "And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace"
Luke 8:48, "And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace."
Romans 4:5, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerJustification.PDF
http://www.htmlbible.com/kjv30/index.htm
An essay by David Scaer linked below is another example of the horrible effects UOJ has on the ability for a man to remain faithful to Christ's Word.
You'll see how foundational the UOJ teaching is that if you deny Universal Justification you've destroyed the gospel. Again, proof that UOJ is another and different gospel than the Gospel of Christ, Justification by Faith Alone.
Essay by Prof. David P. Scaer, The Third Use of the Law, Resolving the Tension. There is much that could be contended with in this essay. The scythe of UOJ cuts a wide swath through the Word of God. I've provided quotes from the last few pages of the essay as they bring out some of the more heinous errors. All quotations are found on Page 20-22, http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/scaerthirduseresolvetension.pdf
VI. Gospel Over Law: A Resolution in Pieper If there ever was a theologian of the gospel, it was Francis Pieper, who never tired of saying that the gospel is a word of God superior to the law.d9 This forced him to wrestle with how contradictory words could both claim to be God's word. The dilemma was a crux theologorurn, a question which theologians are incapable of answering.50
BM - UOJ's contradictions with the rest of Scripture have now been embraced as dilemma's incapable of being answered.
52 ...God is doing what he really wants to do in the gospel, while in the law he is doing only what he has to do. An answer is already present in the definition of law as opus alienurn, God's foreign or strange work? Condemnation and threat no longer belong to his essence."
BM - Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." How can Condemnation no longer belong to God's essence? He is perfectly just and unchangeable. God said, "The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23)." John 3:36, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." UOJ believes in a different god and not the eternal God of the Bible which hasn't changed. Because UOJ has rejected the Holy Spirit's faith as the God ordained means to reconcile us to Christ, and through which He washes us in the blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins, they go about to establish their own way to righteousness, Romans 10:3, "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
(52) ...Claiming that God still counts sin against the world denies both the atonement and justification. By Christ's atonement all mankind appears to God as righteous...but subjective justification has no life of its own; it makes objective justification personal, which is only a facet of the universal atonement.
BM - 1 Cor. 6:9a, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" Note how UOJ condemns Justification by faith alone saying that it is dead and lifeless only obtaining it's purpose from UOJ's declaration that Christ's righteousness, innocence and blessedness was comingled with the carnal, unbelieving world who are under the Law before faith, before the Holy Spirit works through the Means of Grace.
Cont...
Cont...
55 Whoever denies objective justification reduces justification to the act of believing and does not believe in it at all. Logically, he denies the atonement and preaches that man is responsible for his sins.
BM - 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."
58 This view is not without difficulty because it makes the law the last or eschatological word of God in the judgment. This means that for unbelievers God reinstates the law. This would nullify the atonement and deny objective justification; however, these are fixed realities with God. If they were not, Christ would lose his place of prominence as the all-in-all. The answer to this dilemma lies in seeing unbelief as not one sin among others, but the final sin (and in a sense the only sin) by which the unbeliever cuts himself off from salvation.
BM - Galatians 3:24, "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." You see how UOJ has perverted the Word of God. Since UOJ has the whole unbelieving world justified without faith then the Law has become obsolete - useless to the point where UOJ removes the Law from unbelievers and then says God "reinstates the law". But Scripture says that only after faith are we no longer under the Law. Galatians 3:25-27, "But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into
Christ have put on Christ." UOJ screams "NO!" because Justification by Faith Alone rejects Objective Justification. I say, "Amen." The elimination of the Law creates a contradiction for UOJ since how does God execute righteous judgment upon unbelievers if He's already declared them sinless. UOJ then states that unbelievers are then only guilty of unbelief which is the unforgiveable sin for which the sinless are condemned to Hell. But every person was guilty of the sin of unbelief when they were conceived. Scripture even states that unbelievers will be forgiven if they do not continue in unbelief. Romans 11:23, "And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again."
UOJ is a false gospel and stands condemned by God. 2nd Cor. 4:4, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
Another great explanation. Thanks.
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