Pastor Steve Spencer asked me to comment on his upcoming sermons, to be posted on the Intrepid blog.
Brett Meyer commented already, and I posted it. I wanted to go over the sermon, line by line, before I said anything. Since the sermon is published, I do not need to sit down with Steve, hold his hand, and tell him his sins (Matthew 18).
First of all, I am extremely disappointed that the Intrepids vowed to unite against Church and Change, but devoted most of their energies to teaching against justification by faith. Rydecki began by reversing himself, within hours. Lindee caviled and joined the retreat. Jay Webber should be renamed Blister, because he always shows up after the work is done.
Their blog has been eager to republish the non-Lutheran opinions of the UOJ circle of favored authors: Zorn, Kretzmann, etc. They carefully avoid the real issues.
Spencer's sermon reminded me of the one written by Kretzmann. The favorite slogans were muted but present. As they once said about Paul and emancipation, "UOJ trembled on their lips but was not spoken."
Here is the critical paragraph from Spencer:
Yes, according the Bible Christ had to rise again. The Victor over death could not remain a prisoner of death. Peter told the Jews, "God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the FACT!" (Ac. 3:15) God did this because He was pleased with the Son's work on earth on behalf of all people. And through Jesus' resurrection God made known His divine pleasure. "Christ was raised for our justification," Paul tells us. (Ro. 4:25) We know that God has totally forgiven all our sins. Therefore, by our faith, given to us through the Means of Grace – the Gospel in Word and Sacrament – Christ's resurrection assures us that our religion, which preaches Jesus' resurrection, brings to us sinners victory over death. We do indeed have the "sure and certain" hope of everlasting life!
The partial citation of Romans 4 is dishonest, especially because the verse has been used fraudulently ever since the 1932 Brief Statement to prop up universal absolution. There is nothing wrong with the passage, so why is it truncated and used as a UOJ motto?
KJV Romans 4:22 And therefore it [faith] was imputed to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
The ending of Romans 4, an entire chapter about Abraham being justified by faith, transitions into this classic statement:
Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Quoting Spencer again - "God has totally forgiven all our sins."
Our is ambiguous. All the sins of believers, or all the sins of the world? The statement is double-minded. UOJ fans will say "of the world," but the Bible teaches "of believers." One must reject UOJ to teach justification by faith; one excludes the other.
As Reu noted, using a statement two ways at once is one sign of unionism.
The treatment of the efficacy of the Word is lacking, although there is a passing mention of the Means of Grace, one which is also ambiguous, taking its clue from Jon Buchholz, who wants to eat his cake and still have it. Everyone is forgiven, according to DP Jon, so people need the Means of Grace to tell them this.
The UOJ fanatics merge and confuse atonement and justification.
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LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Confessional Lutheran Theology Does Not Tolerate W...":
Much worse they teach a Gospel separating the Spirit from the Word and the Means of Grace. I know this as I was told that my sins were forgiven before I was born. I ask you then...for what good was my baptism?
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Much worse they teach a Gospel separating the Spirit from the Word and the Means of Grace. I know this as I was told that my sins were forgiven before I was born. I ask you then...for what good was my baptism?
For what good was my baptism?
UOJ responds, prior to your baptism you were only declared by the omnipotent God to be guiltless, forgiven of all sin (justified) and righteous by His divine verdict, but it didn't do you any good because you didn't believe it. After your baptism you have faith that in fact it is true and now God's divine verdict, rendered before you believed, benefits you, you are now heaven saved.
Or, so goes the massive doctrinal fraud story of UOJ.
I'll post a comment left on the Intrepid blog by Mr. Douglas Lindee when he was showing (W)ELS Rev. David Jay Webber that the caricature of UOJ is actually the reality of what is currently being taught in the pews:
On the other hand, I recall a mid-week Bible study at church, when Pastor asked the question (again quoting from memory), "Why do people go to Hell?" Everyone answered something like, "Because they are sinners, and are guilty before God. They deserve to go to Hell as a result." "NO!" he answered emphatically, "This is wrong! No one has any sins before God, Christ paid for them all. Unbelievers go to Hell because they haven't received this benefit through faith." No one responded, knowing that when Pastor responded that way, it was not a good time to challenge him. But their thoughts were written on their faces, "Yeah, right. Whatever... That makes no sense at all." What is the result of this? I remember a further discussion, during a mid-week Bible study on the question of Sanctification. "It doesn't matter," was the position of Pastor. We challenged him, and he took the question to Pastor's conference. The next week, he laughed, "They all said, 'Who cares? Everything we do is sinful, but all our sins are atoned for and absolved.' Do what you think is best, and don't worry about whether it is God-pleasing or not. Being in Christ, everything you do [considering your faith] is God pleasing." He didn't say it, but I add the parenthetical in brackets to indicate that this is what I understood him to mean.
Although it's clear the Intrepids support and promote the false gospel of UOJ this quote also makes clear the teaching that even though God may have declared something to be true, it doesn't have any affect or benefit anyone, unless they believe it.
This quote also supports the point made recently by LPC on Extra Nos that Sanctification is meaningless to UOJists and thus to the Lutheran Synods as their central doctrine rejects the truth of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.
forgive my lack of documentation. Mr. Lindee's quote can be found here:
NOVEMBER 13, 2010 11:03 AM
Mr. Douglas Lindee
http://www.intrepidlutherans.com/2010/11/justification-marquart-recap.html
So let me get this straight. When I got married and the pastor declared us man and wife, I really wasn't married? I had to believe I was married before I was made married? Hmm.
Forgive me for being snarky here. LutherRocks, you weren't actually married until you, your wife, the pastor and the witnesses signed the marriage license.
Sctt E. Jungen
Scott
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"Our is ambiguous. All the sins of believers, or all the sins of the world? The statement is double-minded. UOJ fans will say "of the world," but the Bible teaches "of believers." One must reject UOJ to teach justification by faith; one excludes the other."
They have a saying that UOJ and SJ are two sides of the same coin. Bad analogy I say since the two sided coin opposes itself and is always used this way...yes or no, this or that.
The Intrepids were going to give us a Maier anaylsis...instead they gave us Marquart. For shame. Better yet is Harley's exegesis on Justification.
My filter is always child like faith. Buchholz says all are saved in his 2005 essay; "Jesus saved not Jesus saves". Either you are saved or you are not. That is a coin I will buy.
Thank you Dr. Jackson.
Scott E. Jungen
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