With Heavy Hearts and Heavier Boots: Holy Word WELS, Home of the District VP and Ex-Synod President, Both Church and Changers, Kick Joe and Lisa Krohn Out - In Christian Love

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Beginning the Formal Process of Termination of Fellowship and Our Response

Here is the letter we received from the Elders and Council of Holy Word Ev. Lutheran Church, Austin, Texas.  It is followed by our response that we sent today.  The dialog is long and tedious at times, but necessary.  The Holy Word letter is in the .jpg format and can easily be magnified depending on your browser and mouse settings.  Usually a left click will open the file in a different window and then continued left clicks will magnify if need be.  Our letter will format differently since we composed it in Word and will be much easier to view here.  We did notice a fragmented sentence on the last page of what we mailed to the Elders and Council and we have revised it here.

Kyrie, eleison!

2722 Lovett Lane

Cedar Park, Texas  78613

August 9, 2011

Mr. Matt Wordell

Mr. Brad Johnson

                              Holy Word Evangelical Lutheran Church

10601 Bluff Bend Drive

Austin, TX 78753

Re:  Termination of Fellowship

Dear Matt and Brad:

Thank you for your letter of July 31, 2011.  We pray that your hearts be lifted; for times like these drive us deep into His Word!

Psalm 119:10-16 “¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart;
   do not let me stray from your commands.
¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart
   that I might not sin against you.
¹² Praise be to you, LORD;
   teach me your decrees.
¹³ With my lips I recount
   all the laws that come from your mouth.
¹⁴ I rejoice in following your statutes
   as one rejoices in great riches.
¹⁵ I meditate on your precepts
   and consider your ways.
¹⁶ I delight in your decrees;
   I will not neglect your word.” -NIV

We do not agree with your definition of Excommunication, but suffice it to say we are thankful that you have backed away from your position that our salvation may be in jeopardy as inferred in your communication of May 21, 2011.  Clearly stated; Excommunication is manifest impenitence for the breaking of God’s Law, not just manifest impenitence.  Otherwise you would be excommunicating us.  Neither are we denying the forgiveness of sins or the redemptive work of Jesus Christ as our response will show you.

We are deeply disappointed that the Wisconsin Ev. Lutheran Synod, Holy Word Lutheran Church, Pastor Patterson, Pastor Gurgel, Holy Word’s Elders and Holy Word’s Council

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continue to believe (since you are speaking for all) in the peculiar doctrine as laid out in your letter; by the extremely narrow context of three (albeit truncated in the third case) passages and almost three full pages of editorial by mere men.  Clearly you did not substantiate your position by using scripture regarding the chief article of our faith.

Regarding Doctrinal Error and Holy Word’s Impetus for Termination of Fellowship:

You chose to lead with Pastor Schaller’s essay (circa 1910) on 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.  Schaller was one of the Wauwatosa Theologians and it is ironic since their mantra was ’let scripture interpret scripture’; that he would hang his hat on four verses for this doctrine.  I believe it is quite presumptuous to conclude that if one does not believe as such that they may be a Synergist.  There is always a danger in believing we have anything to do with our salvation or even the salvation of others.  (i.e.:  saving souls.)  This is the Enthusiasm that is currently plaguing many ‘christian’ denominations via the Church Growth Movement and the Emergent ‘church’.

Let’s widen the angle a bit, shall we?  Here are the passages in context with my commentary italicized and in parenthesis (It is peculiar that Schaller would use a portion of the Bible that actually was referring to the relationship of the body of believers to each other.):

2 Corinthians 5:11- 21

¹¹ Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, (This is spoken by a believer to believers since unbelievers have no fear of God.) we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. ¹² We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. ¹³ If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us (Who is ‘us’?  Unbelievers are not compelled by Christ’s love.  Only believers are.), because we (Believers) are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  (Those who live are the believers.  Unbelievers would not live for Christ.  Paul has set the context here and that is all these things are through faith in Christ.) ¹⁶ So from now on we (Believers) regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we (Believers) once regarded Christ in this way, we (Believers) do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is (believes) in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us (Believers) to himself through Christ and gave us (Believers) the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was (From a former time; not Calvary but the Garden of Eden; Gen. 3:15) reconciling (Not past tense but present; ongoing; from the Garden; otherwise how could Abraham et al be saved?) the world

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(God’s will is for all to be saved and has made salvation possible for all through faith in Christ as propitiator) to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. (Those who believe; unbelievers die in their sins.) And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We (Believers) are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us (Believers). We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  (If all are justified, therefore forgiven and reconciled, why would Paul make an exhortation to ‘be reconciled to God’?) ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin^[a] for us, so that in him (in faith) we might become the righteousness of God.” -NIV (As in putting on the righteousness of Christ which comes through faith; Rom. 3:22.)

You continue your defense with an excerpt from the 2005 Buchholz essay that has just one Bible reference, which ironically speaks against your premise.  Furthermore, Buchholz is in error when he says that the Confessions equate justification and forgiveness in a general absolution to all mankind.  When the Confessions speak of justification it is always equated with regeneration.  The regenerates are the believers.

Here is the one Bible reference in your Buchholz excerpt with my comment:

“Psalm 32:1 “ ¹ Blessed is he
   whose transgressions are forgiven,
   whose sins are covered.
² Blessed is the man
   whose sin the LORD does not count against him
   and in whose spirit is no deceit.” (Again, who is blessed and forgiven?  Unbelievers?         No!  Do unbelievers have no deceit towards God?  Of course not.  Only believers are lacking deceit as they are in Christ.)

Proverbs 17:15 “¹⁵ Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—
   the LORD detests them both.” -NIV

Unfortunately the Buchholz essay is equating the atonement for sin with the forgiveness of sins.  It is not the same thing.  Christ’s redemptive work (atonement) is Second Article doctrine of the Apostle’s Creed.  The Forgiveness of Sins is Third Article and is the work of the Holy Spirit in and through the Word and Sacraments.  This is why Pastor Patterson and the rest of you are in error when you teach a forgiveness of sins apart from hearing the Word; apart from the Holy Ghost.  If everyone is already forgiven, why bother with anything else?  By Buchholz’s own admission in his essay, he is ‘wresting terms in such a way that scriptures do not speak’.  The message of the Bible has always been that of repentance and the remissions of sins through faith in the Savior, Christ Jesus.

Your third point of defense is pulled from the WELS confession of faith re: Justification, in “This We Believe”.  Again, this (Romans 5:18 and truncated at that) is in the narrowest of contexts.  To put Romans 5 in context one must go back to chapters 3 and 4. 

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In Romans 3:19-26, God’s Word says (Commentary as before and all emphasis mine): 
“¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (No one is righteous.  Period.)

 ²¹ But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. (Christ and His righteousness for all who receive Him in faith by the power of the Holy Spirit.) ²² This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. (We are in the context of faith now.) There is no difference, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (This is a parenthetical thought... All are sinners.  Period.) ²⁴ and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Verse 24 is no longer part of the parenthetical and refers back to verse 22 that all those who believe are righteous and therefore justified in His sight and not all men.)  ²⁵ God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,^[i] through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ²⁶ he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” -NIV

Romans 4 goes on in detail in the example of Abraham, the father of our faith and transitions beautifully into chapter 5:

Romans 4:16 to 5:2

 “¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”^[c] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”^{[d] 19} Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. ²⁰ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. (You have to realize that this faith that was given and worked by the Holy Spirit in Abraham enabled him to carry out the sacrifice of his son, Isaac; to the very enth degree.  Abraham already believed in the resurrection and that if Isaac died, God would raise Isaac from the dead to fulfill the promise of the Savior through Abraham’s seed.) ²² This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

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²³ The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, ²⁴ but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.  ¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^[b] rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” -NIV

So far St. Paul has gone to great lengths to establish that it is Christ’s righteousness that justifies through faith alone.  By faith (worked by the Holy Ghost) we receive His righteousness and are therefore declared justified; forgiven.

Here is Romans 5:18 in context (the context of faith as established in chapters 3, 4 and beginning of 5); commentary again in parenthesis:

Romans 5:12-21

¹² Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— ¹³ (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. ¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the offense. (This is key.  Not only is the gift opposite of the condemnation; bringing life, but watch how else it differs.) For if by the one man’s offense many died (all die), much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. (Notice it is to many; or for many but not on all.) ¹⁶ And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. (resulted in; not yet imputed to us but on the One who earned it.  On Christ!) ¹⁷ For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) (This is the key…those who receive…through the One…through faith!) ¹⁸ Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. (This verse is merely summarizing what has gone before.  Verse 19 is the more important verse.) ¹⁹ For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, (all men) so also by one Man’s obedience many (believers, since what has gone before tells you who the ‘many’ are.) will be made righteous. ²⁰ Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, ²¹ so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. -NKJV (This verse drives it home…’through Jesus Christ’, or in Christ; through faith in Christ.)

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A WELS pastor friend of mine succinctly states the problems associated with the confusing verbiage of many of WELS essays; even the statement of faith as laid out in ‘This We Believe’ as you have stated prior.

“...We ought not speak of people as being already justified before they are born.  The Confessions equate Justification with Regeneration.  Period.  And the Scriptures do the same.  Justification/The forgiveness of sins are Third Article doctrines, not Second Article doctrines.  The confusion is this, that when some people say "God has justified the world," they mean, "Christ died for the sins of the world."  But our sloppy use of the word "justify" has caused all sorts of problems.  The latter is "redemption," not "justification."  Some go so far as to say that God imputes the righteousness of Christ to all people.  This directly contradicts the passage you quoted above that says that "to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited (imputed) as righteousness." (- Romans 4:5 Ibid)

In Summary

We will not and cannot recant nor repent since we are not in error and we will in fact seek a capitulation from you and those you are claiming to represent; that Christ’s death on the cross did not ‘justify all men’, (nor forgive them before they were born) but rather atoned for their sins (Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed) and that sinners receive God’s grace, forgiveness and justification; Christ’s redemptive work in their place (propitiation) through faith alone in Christ worked by the Holy Ghost as it has been since the fall of man. (Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed)  It is God’s will that all men be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-6).  Christ’s righteousness and forgiveness (that He won for all) is objectively for all men.  But it remains on Christ for the world (objectively) and is received through faith alone that is worked by the Holy Spirit.  To believe that all are already forgiven before faith (as Patterson preaches) or even saved (as the Buchholz paper claims); even prior to hearing the Word (Romans 10:17) through which the Holy Ghost works, you are separating the Word from the Holy Spirit.  This is blasphemy.

Justified by Grace for Christ’s sake through faith,

Joe and Lisa Krohn