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| The prince of theologians or a WELS DP? I am working on that. |
AC V has left a new comment on your post "UOJ Turns the Gospel into Law: WELS Stewardship Pr...":
WELS UOJ confusion:
WELS theologians should consult with each other before they publish. In the October 2011 edition of Forward in Christ contributing editor Forrest Bivens, a professor at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, states: "The astonishing reality is that God has forgiven the sins of the whole world, whether people believe it or not" (p.9).
Yet WELS CA/AZ District President Jon Buchholz states in his paper entitled Justification Expounded by Scripture presented to the synod in convention in 2005:
"The doctrine of objective justification is a defining doctrine for the Wisconsin Synod and for the old Synodical Conference. In our zeal to expound the true, biblical doctrine of objective justification against those who oppose the doctrine, we have, at times, 'pushed the envelope,' and employed words and phrases in imprecise and incorrect ways. ... I offer the following as a loving critique of some wording and phraseology which has circulated in our midst:
'God has forgiven the whole world. God has forgiven everyone his sins.' This statement is absolutely true! This is the heart of the gospel, and it must be preached and taught as the foundation of our faith. But here’s where the caveat comes in: In Scripture, the word 'forgive' is used almost exclusively in a personal, not a universal sense. The Bible doesn’t make the statement, 'God has forgiven the world.' Rather, the Spirit of Inspiration overwhelmingly uses the word 'forgive' (Greek: afihmi) within the context of repentance and faith, effected through the means of grace. There are good reasons why the Spirit chooses a particular word to be used in a particular context. Using the word 'forgiveness' in the atypical sense, apart from repentance and faith, one might easily find himself in the incongruous position of saying to the impenitent or unbelieving, 'God has forgiven your sins [objective gospel], but your sins are not forgiven [Ministry of the Keys].'"
Note to Jon Buchholz, if in Scripture, the word "forgive" is used almost exclusively in a personal, not a universal sense, then it should not be used in a universal sense, i.e. UOJ. Maybe it's because we are justified by faith alone?
