Monday, June 20, 2011
Response to Tom Wyeth and Others
Tom Wyeth recently asked a couple questions. When someone writes a comment to a blog, it is not a personal e-mail, but a public comment. He seemed rather impatient for our responses. Sorry, Tom, for the delay, but we don’t have time to sit in front of the computer all day answering blog questions. We hope you understand.Here are Tom’s questions:
If all are declared innocent as UOJ teaches, for what reason are some damned to hell?
People are damned to hell because of unbelief.
Mark 16:16 “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
John 3:18 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of god’s one and only Son.”
If righteousness is not the key to entering heaven, since all are declared righteousness, what IS the key to entering heaven? IS it the faith, or is it the righteousness that is draped over the faithful?
You have been reading too much of Dr. Gregory L. Jackson’s and Brett Meyer’s drivel. The passages that teach universal objective justification are plain to see:
Romans 5:18,19 “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.”
There are many more.
The Bible teaches UOJ. But, unlike what Dr. Jackson would have you think, UOJ is never taught in a vacuum. The Holy Spirit always presents it as being received through faith, which is personal subjective justification. For example, in Romans 5, the chapter begins by speaking of being “justified through faith.” Faith in what? Faith in the objective fact that Christ died for the ungodly and that “the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.”
A simple example of UOJ and PSJ is found in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” – UOJ.
“that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – PSJ.
What does a Christian look at when he faces trouble or even death? We look to Christ and his life, death and resurrection for the certainty of our justification before God. We do not look to our personal trust, because it is weak and frail. Personal trust, or faith, is there, but it does not look to itself. It looks to Christ.
So to answer your question, in faith, created in our hearts by the Spirit and not by our own thinking and choosing, we trust that Jesus has draped over us his righteousness.
Dr. Jackson and Brett Meyer will most likely plaster Ichabod the Glory Has Departed with many quotes from the Confessions regarding justification by faith. We certainly agree with those quotes from the Confessions. The people Dr. Jackson has attacked do not teach the error of Universalism. This is a straw man argument he has set up in order to make himself look good and gain a following. Lutherans with a Synodical Conference background do not deny justification by faith alone.
We received a number of other comments, but they were anonymous and were similar to what you wrote, Tom. We would suggest that you read again the essays
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/ReimHistory.pdf
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerJustification.PDF
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/KuskeOutreach.pdf
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/RhyneSubjective.pdf
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/ValleskeyJustification.pdf
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/SchallerRedemption.pdf
2 comments:
If all are declared innocent as UOJ teaches, for what reason are some damned to hell?
People are damned to hell because of unbelief.
So the (W)ELS would have everyone believe that Christ didn't die for the sin of unbelief. UOJ teaches that Christ died and paid for every sin but the sin of unbelief which is the one remaining sin that damns a person to Hell. This individual who answers this appropriate question is teaching that Christ didn't die and pay for the sin of unbelief.
First, every human being was born dead in sins, separated from God and under the Law. Everyone from the time of their conception was guilty of the sin of unbelief. No one outside of God's Word and Baptism ever believed on Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins. If Christ did not die and pay the sins of unbelief then the entire human race is damned to Hell for the sin that Christ's sacrifice didn't pay for.
UOJ makes Christ inept and makes God a liar because Scripture states in Isaiah 53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." God says that every sin was laid on Christ and yet the (W)ELS contends that the sin of unbelief was not laid on Christ and therefore it wasn't paid for.
Second, what is being taught by this individual promoting UOJ is false doctrine. Christ states that if a man remains not in the sin of unbelief, but comes to faith in Christ, by the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, that man will receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Romans 11:23, "And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again." The UOJ defender above goes on to reference 2 Corinthians 5:21, "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” as proof that UOJ is true. Yet this very verse contradicts UOJ's teaching concerning the universal sin of unbelief. If God, apart from the Means of Grace working faith alone in Christ, doesn't count men's sins against them, then how can he count the sin of unbelief against them? If the teachings of UOJ are true it is indeed a Universalist religious doctrine. The truth is that not one teaching of UOJ is true it can be easily shown by using Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.
So unbelief is not the unforgivable sin. The true Gospel is that Christ died and paid for all sins, including the sin of unbelief which every human being has been guilty of. Outside of faith in Christ we are dead in sins, remain unforgiven and condemned of God. By the gracious calling of the Holy Spirit through the Means of Grace, God's Word and Baptism, Christ works repentance over sin and faith in Him for the forgiveness of sins, justification and salvation. Not as a process as the false gospel of UOJ teaches but instantaneously when we believe alone in Christ's atonement.
UOJ is a heinous false gospel and attacks the central article of Christian faith. Test the spirits with God's Word to see if they are of God. This UOJ defender and promoter is not of God.
In Christ,
Brett Meyer
I heard about Thundershorts....noted for his loud and intrusive flatulence...wasn't he the dean of NWC for a time?
Wow, I wonder if that guy that went to State Prison toughened up and bulked up before he went...otherwise he looks like he might have been the "Belle of the Ball" if you know what I mean...
Grumps
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