Sunday, April 10, 2011

Try the New Blend in the Olde Synodical Conference



Groeschel told his disciples - Do not use my materials unless you give due credit.

I also have permission to use Groeschel's sermons and graphics, free of charge. I could even use his introductory videos and other materials - no charge, no lawsuit. I signed the contract.

However, permission to use material does not give anyone a license to offer sermons, graphics, videos, fill-in-the-blank bulletin inserts as original work from the scam artist. Groeschel has warned his robotic disciples to be honest about the materials they use.

As a WELS pastor, Glende was trained by Groeschel, Stanley, and Driscoll events (to name but a few). As a WELS pastor, according to his member's written statement, Glende lied about plagiarizing Groeschel. When confronted by the circuit pastor about plagiarism, Glende had the circuit pastor fired - thanks to Deputy Doug Englebrecht.

Glende has violated his contract. He has a written call, a legal contract, where he promised to perform certain duties as a pastor.

More importantly, he lives in constant defiance of the Scriptures and the Confessions.

This is a long-standing problem in WELS, thanks to the poor training in the system. The Bethany Appleton pastor also plagiarized - but he was caught. I question whether any WELS pastors has an incentive to stop plagiarizing. They see SP Schroeder and the Conference of Pussycats rewarding and funding Mark Jeske, who is also channeling all the garbage he gets from all the New Age conferences he loves so dearly.

The head of WELS technology was a Hybels-intoxicated mission pastor at one time. His sermons were memorized from Hybels tapes, including the same voice inflections and dramatic flourishes. WELS actually let him go (while hiring him to run WELS technology).
"How do you get away with it, Tim?"
Tim - "You paved the way, Spriggs.
Now we are Legion."

Judica Sunday - The Fifth Sunday in Lent

By Norma Boeckler




Judica Sunday, The Fifth Sunday in Lent, 2011

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Daylight Savings Time


The Hymn #462 I Love Thy Kingdom 4:21
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #40 The God of Abram Praise 4:94

Jesus’ Divine Nature

The Communion Hymn #245 God Loved the World 4:6
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #657 Beautiful Savior 4:24

KJV Hebrews 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

KJV John 8:46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. 48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? 49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. 50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. 51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. 52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. 53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? 54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: 55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Prayer
O Lord Jesus Christ, we thank Thee, that of Thine infinite mercy Thou hast instituted this Thy sacrament, in which we eat Thy body and drink Thy blood: Grant us, we beseech Thee, by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not receive this gift unworthily, but that we may confess our sins, remember Thine agony and death, believe the forgiveness of sin, and day by day grow in faith and love, until we obtain eternal salvation through Thee, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Jesus’ Divine Nature

John 8: 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Lenski:
56) The charge of self-glorification is answered first, by the facts of Jesus’ relation to the Father, and now, secondly, by the relation of Jesus to Abraham. Abraham, your father, exulted to see my day; and be saw it and was glad. It is correct to say that “your father” here refers to the father of whom these Jews boast. Also that in regard to Jesus this father acted very differently from these Jews who claim. to be his children. We must add that when Jesus said, “this (seeking to kill me) did not Abraham,” Jesus had in mind what he now says about Abraham. But apart from these points, Jesus cannot say “our Father,” for even physically Abraham is not the father of Jesus in the same sense as he is the father of the Jews. Invariably Jesus marks this difference in his human descent.
Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. John's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN : Augsburg Publishing House, 1961, S. 667

This Gospel lesson teaches justification by faith and the divine nature of Christ.
The saving work of Christ began before the Incarnation. God promised the Messiah long before the Word became flesh, thousands of years before the atoning death of Jesus. If someone claims an insight into the Scriptures, that insight must be consistently true throughout the Bible.

Universal Objective Justification, which came from Pietism, claims that the entire world was justified the moment Christ died on the cross, and not until then. Sometimes they paraphrase Walther and say “the moment Christ rose from the dead,” the whole world was justified and saved.

Sometimes error hides through the use of the “darker” passages of Scripture, those places where the meaning is not immediately clear. But in the case of Abraham, there is no doubt about what the Word of God teaches, from Genesis to John to Paul.

KJV Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

KJV Genesis 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

KJV Genesis 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

KJV Romans 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Genesis and Romans are in perfect harmony, both teaching that Abraham was justified by faith, counted righteous. God gave the Promises, and Abraham believed. The Gospel Promises created faith in the patriarch, so it was not “making a decision,” not “an act of will,” not “a virtuous act.”

In contrast, UOJ teaches that no one was justified until the moment of world-absolution, which is either at the time of the crucifixion or the resurrection. The jury is still out on that important decision. But after that ill-defined moment, everyone has been declared innocent, forgiven of sin, and saved. Just as the UOJ mob claims people are forgiven but not forgiven, the entire world is saved but not saved. UOJ does not survive thinking and analysis, so its proponents (like the Intrepids) keep quoting from that tiny band of UOJ writers from a faction of the Olde Synodical Conference: Kretzmann, Stoeckhardt, Pieper, Walther.

http://www.intrepidlutherans.com/2011/04/dr-p-e-kretzmann-standing-on-gods-word.html

Divinity of Jesus

Righteousness comes from faith in Jesus – faith alone, apart from the works of the Law, apart from the merit of man.

Justification by faith means nothing apart from the Two Natures of Christ. For Jesus to die on the cross, He had to be human in all respects. To die innocently for the sins of the world, He had to be divine in all respects. Nevertheless, His divinity was never impaired in any way by His humanity. He wanted to “let this cup pass from Me,” and yet He said “Not My will, but yours.”

This particular text emphasizes the divinity of Christ. The religious opponents recognize the dual-message of justification and divinity, at least enough to be furious.

“Abraham rejoiced to see My day” was enough to make them consider the issue of time, which UOJ advocates duck at every opportunity. Jesus was not even 50 years old, so how could Abraham have seen Him?

The “50” is a hyperbole, an exaggeration to make a point. It is a way of saying, “Even if you were 50, which you clearly are not, you could not claim this relationship with Abraham.”

The truth of God’s Word makes people agitated and wild in their accusations. I have heard them all in various situations, aimed at many different people. The good part of this comes from an angry person re-thinking his arguments. That is why we should make an effort to stir up people with the quiet recitation of sound doctrine and the obvious implications. If a cult member comes to the door, I say, “You are leading people to Satan, who is your true father.” They typically deny Hell (a feature of cults) but that bothers them enormously.

Or I might say to a Lutheran, “You are a Universalist.” That has spawned an entire conference paper in Texas, poorly written and not argued at all. The very production of the essay was proof that UOJ = Universalism is a serious and disturbing charge.

The accusation of the religious opponents was good in causing Jesus to teach His true nature – not that it was hidden. In the midst of chaos and doctrinal conflict, people make clear statements about what they believe and teach.

Here Jesus said,

“Before Abraham was, I AM.”

The Greek phrase can be used as the equivalent of identification – “it’s me.” However, John’s Gospel does not do this. Try that translation for this passage. It is nonsense. Good translating takes a grasp of two languages at once, and a facility for expressing things in the translation itself.

I used all caps, because that is one way to demonstrate the divinity of Christ taught in this passage. It reflects the Burning Bush language of Exodus 3.

KJV Exodus 3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

It was the Angel of the Lord who called out of the Burning Bush:

KJV Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

The Burning Bush is a symbol for the Two Natures of Christ, and the Angel of the Lord is Christ before the Incarnation. The God who spoke to Moses, saying I AM, is the God speaking to the religious opponents,

“Before Abraham was, I AM.”

This great harmony of the Old and New Testaments teaches us that God is eternally true, that His revelation in the Scriptures is God speaking to us.

The hymns and liturgy speak God’s voice when they quote the Word.

For instance, the benediction is not a set of pretty words to make people feel better. The benediction is God’s actual blessing upon you as an individual. This benediction is Trinitarian in the three-fold use of “The Lord.”

KJV Numbers 6:24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
People line up to hear the living voice of a celebrity they admire, a celebrity who does not know them. I have seen it many times. When Sandra Bullock and Jesse came to Bentonville, the auditorium was packed. Cell phones flashed pictures.

The end of the service is God speaking – The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit blessing you. And God knows you by name.

Justification in the Book of Concord

“...God in His purpose and counsel ordained [decreed]:
1. That the human race is truly redeemed and reconciled with God through Christ, who, by His faultless [innocency] obedience, suffering, and death, has merited for us the righteousness which avails before God, and eternal life. 2. That such merit and benefits of Christ shall be presented, offered, and distributed to us through His Word and Sacraments. 3. That by His Holy Ghost, through the Word, when it is preached, heard, and pondered, He will be efficacious and active in us, convert hearts to true repentance, and preserve them in the true faith. 4. That He will justify all those who in true repentance receive Christ by a true faith, and will receive them into grace, the adoption of sons, and the inheritance of eternal life."
Formula of Concord, SD, XI. #15. Of God's Eternal Election, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 1069. 2 Corinthians 5:19ff

"On this account, as the Augsburg Confession in Article XI says, we also retain private absolution, and teach that it is God's command that we believe such absolution, and should regard it as sure that, when we believe the word of absolution, we are as truly reconciled to God as though we had heard a voice from heaven, as the Apology explains this article. This consolation would be entirely taken from us if we were not to infer the will of God towards us from the call which is made through the Word and through the Sacraments."
Formula of Concord, SD, XI. #38. Of God's Eternal Election, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 1075.

"The Third Article the adversaries approve, in which we confess that there are in Christ two natures, namely, a human nature, assumed by the Word into the unity of His person; and that the same Christ suffered and died to reconcile the Father to us; and that He was raised again to reign, and to justify and sanctify believers, etc., according to the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, III. #52. Of Christ, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 119. Romans 4:25; 2 Corinthians 5:19ff.

"Faith is that my whole heart takes to itself this treasure. It is not my doing, not my presenting or giving, not my work or preparation, but that a heart comforts itself, and is perfectly confident with respect to this, namely, that God makes a present and gift to us, and not we to Him, that He sheds upon us every treasure of grace in Christ."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV. 48, Of Justification Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 135.

"Now we will show that faith [and nothing else] justifies."{that faith justifies italicized} Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV. 69, Of Justification
Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 141.

"We do not believe thus {that faith is just a beginning of justification} concerning faith, but we maintain this, that properly and truly, by faith itself, we are for Christ's sake accounted righteous, or are acceptable to God. And because 'to be justified' means that out of unjust men just men are made, or born again, it means also that they are pronounced or accounted just. For Scripture speaks in both ways. [The term 'to be justified' is used in two ways: to denote, being converted or regenerated; again, being accounted righteous.] Accordingly we wish first to show this, that faith alone makes of an unjust, a just man, i. e., receives remission of sins."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV. 71, Of Justification. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 141.

"It is, therefore, needful to maintain that the promise of Christ is necessary. But this cannot be received except by faith. Therefore, those who deny that faith justifies, teach nothing but the Law, both Christ and the Gospel being set aside."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV. #70. Of Justification, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 141.

"In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul discusses this topic especially, and declares that, when we believe that God, for Christ's sake, is reconciled to us, we are justified freely by faith."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV. 87, Of Justification Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 147. 2 Corinthians 5:19ff.

"But since we receive remission of sins and the Holy Ghost by faith alone, faith alone justifies, because those reconciled are accounted righteous and children of God, not on account of their own purity, but through mercy for Christ's sake, provided only they by faith apprehend this mercy." Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV. #86. Of Justification.
Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 147.

"The Gospel teaches that by faith we receive freely, for Christ's sake, the remission of sins and are reconciled to God."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, XV. #5. Human Traditions, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 317.

"Also they teach that the Word, that is, the Son of God, did assume the human nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, so that there are two natures, the divine and the human, inseparably conjoined in one Person, one Christ, true God and true man, who was born of the Virgin Mary, truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, that He might reconcile the Father unto us, and be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men."
Augsburg Confession, III. 1. Of the Son of God, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 45.

"Therefore there is here again great need to call upon God and pray: Dear Father, forgive us our trespasses. Not as though He did not forgive sin without and even before our prayer (for He has given us the Gospel, in which is pure forgiveness before we prayed or ever thought about it). But this is to the intent that we may recognize and accept such forgiveness."
The Large Catechism, The Lord's Prayer, Fifth Petition, #88, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 723. Matthew 6:12

"This article concerning justification by faith (as the Apology says) is the chief article in the entire Christian doctrine, without which no poor conscience can have any firm consolation, or can truly know the riches of the grace of Christ, as Dr. Luther also has written: If this only article remains pure on the battlefield, the Christian Church also remains pure, and in goodly harmony and without any sects; but if it does not remain pure, it is not possible that any error or fanatical spirit can be resisted. (Tom. 5, Jena, p. 159.) And concerning this article especially Paul says that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."
Formula of Concord, SD, III. 6, Righteous of Faith before God, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 917.

"These treasures are offered us by the Holy Ghost in the promise of the holy Gospel; and faith alone is the only means by which we lay hold upon, accept, and apply, and appropriate them to ourselves. This faith is a gift of God, by which we truly learn to know Christ, our Redeemer, in the Word of the Gospel, and trust in Him, that for the sake of His obedience alone we have the forgiveness of sins by grace, are regarded as godly and righteous by God the Father, and are eternally saved."
Formula of Concord, SD, III 10, Righteous of Faith before God, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 919.

"Moreover, neither contrition nor love or any other virtue, but faith alone is the sole means and instrument by which and through which we can receive and accept the grace of God, the merit of Christ, and the forgiveness of sins, which are offered us in the promise of the Gospel."
Formula of Concord, SD, III 31, Righteous of Faith before God, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 925.

"For good works do not precede faith, neither does sanctification precede justification. But first faith is kindled in us in conversion by the Holy Ghost from the hearing of the Gospel. This lays hold of God's grace in Christ, by which the person is justified. Then, when the person is justified, he is also renewed and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, from which renewal and sanctification the fruits of good works then follow."
Formula of Concord, SD, III 41, Righteous of Faith before God, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 929.

"But to believe is to trust in the merits of Christ, that for His sake God certainly wishes to be reconciled with us."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV. #69. Of Justification, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. p. 141.

"#305. Why do you say in this article: I believe in the Forgiveness of Sins? Because I hold with certainty that by my own powers or through my own works I cannot be justified before God, but that the forgiveness of sins is given me out of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also true justification. Psalm 130:3-4; Psalm 143:2; Isaiah 64:6; Job 25:4-6 (Q. 124)."
Kleiner Katechismus, trans. Pastor Vernon Harley, LCMS, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1901, p. 164ff.

"#306. What is justification? Justification is that activity (Handlung) of God by which He out of pure grace and mercy for the sake of Christ's merits forgives the sins of a poor sinner who truly believes in Jesus Christ and receives him to everlasting life."
Kleiner Katechismus, trans. Pastor Vernon Harley, LCMS, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1901, p. 164ff.

"The two terms are relatively modern. They are not used in the Lutheran Confessions. They are also not really synonymous. 'Universal justification' is a term denoting the doctrine that God has forgiven the sins of all men. Strictly speaking, the term 'objective justification' expresses the thought that the sins of a man are forgiven by God whether he believes it or not. Objective justification is not necessarily universal, but if justification is universal it must of necessity be objective."
Sigbert Becker, "Objective Justification," Chicago Pastoral Conference, WELS, Elgin, Illinois, November 9, 1982, p. 1.

"The doctrine of universal justification is often ridiculed with the argument that if God really forgives sins prior to faith then the Lutheran doctrine of justification by faith becomes meaningless. Such conclusions demonstrate a rationalistic spirit that consciously or unconsciously refuses to be guided by Scriptures alone."
Sigbert Becker, "Objective Justification," Chicago Pastoral Conference, WELS, Elgin, Illinois, November 9, 1982, Unpaginated.

"The forgiveness comes first. Faith is merely the response to the message."
Sigbert Becker, "Objective Justification," Chicago Pastoral Conference, WELS, Elgin, Illinois, November 9, 1982, Unpaginated.

"The first three statements are taken verbatim from WELS sources."
Sigbert Becker, "Objective Justification," Chicago Pastoral Conference, WELS, Elgin, Illinois, November 9, 1982, Unpaginated.

"Every one of the statements can be understood correctly, even though one must swallow a little hard to accede to the fourth [Kokomo Statement]."
Sigbert Becker, "Objective Justification," Chicago Pastoral Conference, WELS, Elgin, Illinois, November 9, 1982, Unpaginated.

"Three of the four [Kokomo] statements, because of their lack of clarity, tend to confuse the issue. But since the disciplined laymen used them to advance their false doctrine, it was understandable that the congregation should also use them in its rejection of the falsehood being advocated. I do not consider any of the four statements to be false doctrine, but I would rather not use the language used in the first, second, and fourth." [conclusion of paper]
Sigbert Becker, "Objective Justification," Chicago Pastoral Conference, WELS, Elgin, Illinois, November 9, 1982, Unpaginated

"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. 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. And when I know that, then I know also that I am a believer."
Sigbert Becker, "Objective Justification," Chicago Pastoral Conference, WELS, Elgin, Illinois, November 9, 1982, Unpaginated

"It is contrary to Scripture and the pure Gospel to teach: That forgiveness and justification before God do not involve each other, or that justification and reconciliation are entirely different from each other, as though a person can be reconciled without being justified or justified without being reconciled."
Commission on Theology and Church Relations "Theses on Justification" St. Louis: May, 1983, #3.

"In normal Biblical and ecclesiastical usuage the terms 'justify' and 'justification' refer to the ('subjective') justification of the individual sinner through faith (Romans 4:5, 5:1, etc.; AC IV, 3; FC SD III 25). But because theologically justification is the same thing as the forgiveness of sins (Romans 4:1-8; Ap IV, 76; FC Ep III, 7), it is Biblically and confessionally correct to refer to the great sin-cancelling, atoning work of the Redeemer as the 'objective' or 'universal' justification of the whole sinful human race. (John 1:29; Romans 5:6-18; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Colossians 2:14-15; 1 Timothy 3:16; Ap IV, 103-105; LC V, 31, 32, 36, 37; FC SD III, 57)
Commission on Theology and Church Relations "Theses on Justification" St. Louis: May, 1983, #4.

"Thus objective justification or reconciliation is the forgiveness of sins both as it has been acquired for the entire human race by Christ's work of obedience in its stead and declared by His resurrection, and as it is seriously and efficaciously offered to all in the means of grace." Commission on Theology and Church Relations "Theses on Justification" St. Louis: May, 1983, #5. "Subjective justification or reconciliation is this same forgiveness as it is received, appropriated by, and applied to the individual sinner through God-given faith alone (sola fide)."
Commission on Theology and Church Relations "Theses on Justification" St. Louis: May, 1983, #6.

"The third controversy which has arisen among some theologians of the Augsburg Confession is concerning the righteousness of Christ or of faith, which God imputes by grace, through faith, to poor sinners for righteousness."
Formula of Concord, Thorough Declaration, III. 1 Righteousness Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 917.

"If this only article remains pure on the battlefield, the Christian Church also remains pure, and in goodly harmony and without any sects; but if it does not remain pure, it is not possible that any error or fanatical spirit can be resisted."
Dr. Luther, Formula of Concord, Thorough Declaration, III. 4 Righteousness Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 917.

"Accordingly, the word justify here means to declare righteous and free from sins, and to absolve one from eternal punishment for the sake of Christ's righteousness, which is imputed by God to faith, Philippians 3:9. For this use and understanding of this word is common in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Proverbs 17:15: He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord. Isaiah 5:23: Woe unto them which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! Romans 8:33: Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, that is, absolves from sins and acquits."
Formula of Concord, Thorough Declaration, III 17 Righteousness Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 921 Philippians 3:9; Proverbs 17:15; Isaiah 5:23; Romans 8:33.

"For when man is justified through faith [which the Holy Ghost alone works], this is truly a regeneration, because from a child of wrath he becomes a child of God, and thus is transferred from death to life, as it is written; When we were dead in sins, He hath quickened us together with Christ, Ephesians 2:5. Likewise: The just shall live by faith, Romans 1:17; Habakkuk 2:4."
Formula of Concord, Thorough Declaration, III 20 Righteousness Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 921.

"Here belongs also what St. Paul writes Romans 4:3, that Abraham was justified before God by faith alone, for the sake of the Mediator, without the cooperation of his works, not only when he was first converted from idolatry and had no good works, but also afterwards, when he had been renewed by the Holy Ghost, and adorned with many excellent good works, Genesis 15:6; Hebrews 11:8. And Paul puts the following questions, Romans 4:1ff.: On what did Abraham's righteousness before God for everlasting life, by which he had a gracious God, and was pleasing and acceptable to Him, rest at that time? Formula of Concord, Thorough Declaration, III 33 Righteousness.
Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 927. Romans 4:3; Romans 4:1ff; Genesis 15:6; Hebrews 11:8.

WELS Weirdness Explained - Working with Rome and the Unitarian Universalists


"So that's where the feminist creeds came from.
No wonder they made mom a pastor in WELS."


Lectionary Fellowship

The Consultation on Common Texts issued the Common Lectionary in 1983 and the Revised Common Lectionary in 1992. The members of the Consultation on Common Texts are as follows:

The Anglican Church of Canada
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Reformed Church in North America
The Episcopal Church
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
The Free Methodist Church in Canada
The International Commission on English in the Liturgy
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
The Polish National Catholic Church
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The Presbyterian Church in Canada
The Reformed Church in America
The Roman Catholic Church in the United States
The Roman Catholic Church in Canada
The Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship
The United Church of Canada
The United Church of Christ
The United Methodist Church

Isn’t it amazing—and reassuring—that all those guys can work together so well?

Tim Glende - WELS Biggest Fan of Katy Perry, Groeschel, and Andy Stanley -
Also Adores UOJ and Universalism

"Have they ever cracked open a Gausewitz?"


DP Buchholz, like his pal Mark Schroeder, has done nothing about Church and Change. SP Gurgle also lied about Church and Change being dissolved.

The Bible Clearly Teaches Universal Objective Justification - Originally Posted January 4, 2010

Pertinent quotes from “Justification Expounded by Scripture,” by Jon D. Buchholz, presented at the 58th Biennial Convention of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod assembled at Martin Luther College New Ulm, Minnesota, July 26, 2005:

Both the Apology to the Augsburg Confession and the Formula of Concord explicitly equate the terms justification and forgiveness. “To attain the remission of sins is to be justified, according to Psalm 32:1: ‘Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit’” (AC:IV, 76).

Justification is an objective reality

We call justification objective, because the reality of God’s verdict takes place completely in the realm of God, entirely apart from man’s involvement. Man has nothing to do with it, and man’s subjective perception or opinion does not change it.

What causes justification to take place? Lutheran theologians have always maintained that there are two causes for man’s salvation: (1) the grace of God and (2) the merits of Jesus Christ. Neither of these two causes has anything to do with the participation of sinful human beings. Both causes exist completely in God’s sphere.

From the cross Jesus cried triumphantly, “It is finished” (John 19:30). What is finished is his life of active obedience, his passion and suffering—all his work of bearing and atoning for the sin of the world. This truth of Jesus’ completed work stands as an objective truth, whether a human being believes it or not. There is nothing that any human being can do to change what happened outside Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago. No doubt or disbelief can change the fact that the lifeless Lord Jesus Christ came back to life on Easter Sunday and left behind an empty tomb. Jesus’ triumphal cry from the cross, “It is finished,” stands forever as the objective declaration that Christ’s work of salvation is complete.3

Justification is complete for all

The term objective justification is often used in our circles to describe the truth that God’s justification is complete for the entire world. Properly speaking, the term for this is universal justification or general justification. I prefer to maintain the distinction between objective (referring to the truth that justification takes place completely in the sphere of God, apart from man’s subjective involvement) and universal (indicating the all-embracing object of God’s objective verdict, namely the entire world). Since the term objective justification is found neither in Scripture nor in the Lutheran confessions, we can understand the term correctly as referring to the justification of the entire world. The distinction between objective and universal is useful, however, and, in some cases, significant.4

In the 1500s, while the Lutheran theologians in Germany were rediscovering and expounding the biblical doctrine of justification, John Calvin (1509-1564) was working in Geneva to bring about a reformation in Switzerland. Unfortunately, Calvin’s doctrine of justification differed from the biblical truth correctly expounded by the Lutherans. Calvin wrestled with the question of why some are saved and not others. His inability to submit his human reason to Scripture and his stubborn insistence that the things of God had to make sense led him to a logical but erroneous conclusion. Calvin taught that God had decided in eternity who would be saved and who would be damned, and nothing could change this predetermined, sovereign decision of God. Calvin reasoned that the blood of Christ would not be wasted on those who were going to be condemned anyway, so he taught limited atonement. He did not believe that Jesus died for the sin of the whole world, but only for the sin of believers who had been elected by God to salvation.

Of course, Scripture teaches that Jesus died for all. No sinner was missed; no sin was left unpaid. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son (John 3:16). Jesus is the atoning sacrifice, not only for our sins, but for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2). God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting men’s sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:15). Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away [Greek: “bears”] the sin of the world (John 1:29). Scripture goes beyond saying that God has reconciled the world to himself and paid for the sin of the world in Christ. The Bible reveals the wonderful truth that through the life, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ, God has justified the world. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23).5 The term “justification” is applied universally when St. Paul writes, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for [Greek: “because of”] our justification” (Romans 4:25).

The words atonement, reconciliation, forgiveness and justification are not always interchangeable. Each has a distinct and particular meaning. However, each of these terms is bound to the once-for-all events that took place at Calvary and the empty tomb, and each of these terms can be applied properly in the universal sense.

Scripture teaches universal grace: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16). The gospel reveals God’s love in Christ, which extends to every single human being of all time.

Scripture teaches universal atonement: “[Jesus Christ, the Righteous One] is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Atonement is often defined in Sunday school and catechism class as “at-one-ment.” This is, more precisely, the result of Christ’s atonement, that we end up reconciled and at one with God. Atonement is payment to make up for guilt. Synonyms for atonement are satisfaction and expiation.

Scripture teaches universal reconciliation: “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Jesus is the universal peacemaker. His sacrifice on the cross has removed thebarrier of guilt and sin that separated humanity from God. Where the barrier of hostility has been removed, there is peace. In Christ and through Christ the status between God and the human race has changed from one of hostility to peace. We sing at Christmas, “Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.”

Scripture teaches universal forgiveness: “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Forgiveness is the non-imputation of sin, so that sin and guilt are no longer charged to a person’s account (Psalm 32:1, Romans 4:7,8). The sin of the world has been charged to Christ, laid upon his shoulders, and nailed with him to the cross. It is no longer charged to us.

Scripture teaches universal justification: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified [Greek: “being justified”] freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23, 24). “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for [Greek: “because of”] our justification” (Romans 4:25). “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification6 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” (Romans 5:18,19). In Romans 5 the Apostle Paul details the complete contrast between the first Adam and the second Adam (Christ). The former brought death; the latter brought life. The sin of the former resulted in universal condemnation; the obedience and sacrifice of the latter brought universal justification.7

Justification is by faith

The completed, objective reality of God’s “not-guilty” verdict in Christ is received, or appropriated, only through faith. This grasping of the reality of Christ’s completed work through faith we call subjective justification or personal justification. God’s verdict of “not-guilty” stands vis-à-vis the entire world regardless of human knowledge or belief, nevertheless this truth must be appropriated or personalized for each individual sinner to receive the benefit of God’s verdict. For a person to go to heaven, he must be brought by the Holy Spirit to repentance and trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of his sins.

But what is faith? It’s important to understand what faith is—and what faith isn’t.

Faith is not mere knowledge of facts. It is implicit trust in the promises and actions of God. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed” (Isaiah 28:16).

Faith is preceded by true contrition, genuine sorrow over sin. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).

Faith lays hold of the completed work of Christ for comfort and the certainty of salvation. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned” (John 3:18a). “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).

Faith is not the product of human reason, intellect or will. Faith is a gift from our gracious God: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8,9). Yet, while faith does not originate in man’s will, faith engages and involves a believer’s mind, assent and will.

Faith is worked by the Holy Spirit, without synergy or cooperation on the part of man. “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). “It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” (Romans 9:16).

Faith is produced in human hearts by the Spirit working through his instrument or means of grace. This tool of the Spirit is the gospel, coming to us verbally in the spoken and written word of God and both verbally and tangibly in the sacraments. “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

Lutheran theologian Martin Chemnitz (1522-1586) describes faith thus:

“Faith” in the article of justification must be understood not only as knowledge and general assent, stating in a general way that the promise of the Gospel is true, but that at the same time it includes the activities of the will and the heart; that is, it is a desire and a trust which, in the struggle with sin and the wrath of God, applies the promise of grace to each individual, so that each person includes himself in the general promise given to believers. In this way he raises himself up so that he determines without hesitation that the promise of the Gospel is firm for him also. From this he gains comfort and life in time of temptation.8

We must understand that faith doesn’t create anything new. Faith doesn’t bring anything into existence that doesn’t already exist. Faith doesn’t cause something to happen. Faith simply grasps—trusts—something that already is in place. Faith grasps the objective reality of God’s completed salvation in Christ. Faith appropriates the universal truth and takes personal ownership of God’s forgiveness found only in the Savior.9 Remember the causes of our salvation, according to Scripture: (1) the grace of God and (2) the merits of Christ. There is nothing inside man, including faith, which is a cause of salvation.

We must also understand, as stated above, that faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is not something that a human being can come to on his own. A few years after John Calvin, a teacher by the name of Jacob Arminius (1560-1609) taught—partly as a reaction to John Calvin’s doctrine of double-predestination—that the determination of whether a person will be saved or lost rests within the will of man. Arminius taught that man has a free will and must make the choice to accept Jesus in faith or reject him. Faith, according to Arminius, is an act of the will, the result of man’s rational decision. Like Calvin, Arminius set his own reason above Scripture, and he came up with another reasonable but unbiblical understanding of salvation.10 Luther recognized that unbelieving man does not have a free will, but that his will is entirely bound up and enslaved in sin. He confessed in his explanation to the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed, “I believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him.” Faith must come from God, because in the bondage of our will we cannot come to faith on our own.

Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we are personally justified, as we are given the gift of faith. Faith lays hold of Christ. Faith grasps Jesus’ completed work of redemption. Faith trusts that reconciliation between God and mankind has been accomplished by the Savior. Spirit-worked faith brings God’s universal verdict of “not-guilty,” lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, and appropriates it for our own.

This is justification by faith and through faith. Scripture speaks abundantly of the sinner’s personal justification through faith which appropriates the righteousness of Christ. “A righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Romans 3:21, 22). “’Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Romans 4:3-5). “This is why ‘it was credited to him as righteousness.’ The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Romans 4:22-24). Why is a sinner found righteous before God through faith? Only because of the object that Christian faith clings to. We don’t have faith in works, we don’t have faith in feelings, and we don’t have faith in faith. Christian faith holds onto Christ. Chemnitz wrote, “Faith is the unique means and instrument through which we lay hold on the righteousness of Christ, receive it, and apply it to ourselves.”11

The truth that a person must be individually justified through faith does not undermine the general, once-for-all justification accomplished on Calvary. Some have wrongly supposed that Christ’s justifying work on Calvary was incomplete, and that faith is required to make justification complete. This is not a biblical understanding of justification. It nullifies Jesus’ declaration from the cross, “It is finished,” by saying that the justification of the world really isn’t finished, or that when Jesus said, “It is finished,” he meant something other than the justification of the world. It inserts an additional cause for man’s salvation beyond the grace of God and merits of Christ and includes faith as a cause of salvation. It redefines faith as something that brings about an effect and causes forgiveness and justification to take place.

The world’s redemption was complete at Calvary. The general justification accomplished in God’s great exchange at the cross provides the object for justifying faith which personally grasps the objective truth.
________________

3 A German Lutheran proverb says, “Jesus Christus starb für mich, fühl’ Ich oder fühl’ Ich nicht” (“Jesus Christ died for me, whether I feel it or not”).

4 Objective and subjective are the terms most commonly used in our fellowship. Since faith is the work of God, without man’s participation or cooperation, we can legitimately say that the gift of faith is the result of the objective will and working of God. In place of the terms objective and subjective justification, we might prefer to use the older terms general (allgemeine) justification and personal (persönliche) justification. The term subjective justification might be misinterpreted to mean an experiential awakening based upon feeling or emotion; this would not be a meaning intended by Lutherans. The term universal justification may be confused with universalism, the teaching that all people will be saved.
In this essay, I will use the terms objective, universal and general justification interchangeably, and subjective and personal justification interchangeably.

5 The subject of both phrases of the Scripture passage is the word “all.” All have sinned, all being justified freely through Jesus’ redemption.

6 Greek has two words for justification: dikaiwma and dikaiwsij. Dikaiwma means “justification” in the sense of a verdict that is rendered, a declaration of “not-guilty.” Dikaiwsij brings out more the sense of the action of declaring righteous or the state of being declared righteous (in English it’s difficult to capture exactly the nuance of the two Greek nouns). The word used in Romans 4:25 and 5:18 is dikaiwsij. In Romans 5:16 Paul uses dikaiwma.

7 Dr. R. C. H. Lenski, 20th-century Lutheran theologian and author of an excellent series of commentaries on the books of the New Testament, had no trouble with “universal atonement” and “universal reconciliation,” but denied “universal justification,” saying, “One may call God’s raising up of Christ God’s declaration to this effect, and, because it is such a declaration, one may call it ‘the universal justification of the whole world.’ Yet to use the word ‘justification’ in this way is not a gain, for it is liable to confuse the ordinary man; we are fully satisfied with the Scriptural word ‘reconciliation’” (Lenski, 84).

Early Lutheran dogmaticians Philip Melanchthon and Martin Chemnitz both equated justification with reconciliation (Chemnitz, 43, 72), and in Romans 4:25 it is clear that the term “justification” is also applied universally: Jesus was delivered over to death for our [the world’s] sins and was raised to life for our [the world’s] justification. If we ask the question, “For whom did Jesus die?” the answer must be: for the world. If we ask, “For whom was Jesus raised?” the answer must also be: for the world. It is untenable to understand the passage as, “He was delivered over to death for our [only believers’] sins and was raised to life for our [only believers’] justification.” That would be limited atonement, as Calvin wrongly taught. Likewise it is untenable to understand, “He was delivered over to death for our [everyone’s] sins and was raised to life for our [only believers’] justification.” That would mean that Jesus died for everyone, but he rose again on Easter only for believers.

8 Chemnitz, 92.

9 This very important truth—that faith is appropriative and not causative—can be illustrated thus: A sports fan may say, “I believe that my team will win the World Series this year.” Such faith does not bring about the desired outcome. The person’s belief doesn’t cause anything to happen. In this case, the “faith” expressed is merely a hope or a wish that something will happen. Likewise, if a team wins, and a jaded, cynical fan refuses to believe it, that fan’s erroneous belief doesn’t change the reality of what happened.

Faith is simply trust. Faith must have an object, something that it holds onto. That object may or may not be real or true, but faith doesn’t make it real or true. Faith that holds onto something untrue is misplaced—no matter how sincere it may be. Christian faith appropriates and holds onto the reality of God’s justification completed in Christ. It does not cause justification or forgiveness to take place. It simply grasps God’s justification that is already a reality.

10 Jacob Arminius is the father of “decision theology,” a theological system that is widely adopted by many Protestant church bodies today. In this system, faith is an act of human reason. Babies cannot have faith, because they cannot render a decision for Jesus. An important aim of worship is to create an environment where a person can more readily make a decision for Christ. This system strikes at the heart of justification by God’s grace alone and ultimately makes salvation depend upon whether or not man makes the right decision.

11 Chemnitz, 86.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Bored Left a New Comment


bored has left a new comment on your post "WELS at Work Opposing Justification by Faith":

Foolish Humann...

sorry could resist the Simpsons quote:
http://www.amazon.com/Simpsons-Aliens-Foolish-Sticker-S-SIM-0105/dp/B001C1GOM4

Wauwatosa Whoa's -
Rosetta Stone for UOJ in WELS?

I added this link to writings about Wauwatosa and the Protest'ant split.


I am looking at the Wauwatosa revolution as one reason for UOJ taking over WELS many decades later. The initial claims about Wauwatosa, relayed in a positive way, suggest an anti-confessional Pietism that hid behind an alleged interest in Scripture alone. Some of the statements reveal an arrogance that is often found in mainline apostate theologians (like Braaten) who create their own individual ecumenical theologies. They even say "my theology," as if they own their product and want people to admire it.

The Wauwatosa men came from the Walther-Pieper-Stoeckhardt boot camp at St. Louis. Strange dogma has a pedigree, so it is necessary to look at its paternity.

The core of Wauwatosa is its claim to be Scripture alone, at war with doctrinal formulations and confessions. The language cited below is a give-away: the spirit of ecumenical Pietism.

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Catechesis has left a new comment on your post "Missouri Is Still Selling Their Old Catechism - No...":

WELS readers, learn what this means (from your own Wauwatosa Theologian):

"Surprisingly, in view the importance of doctrinal agreement was in the founding and maintenance of the Synodical Conference, Koehler recognized not only that 'there is not a single truly united external religious communion' in any congregation or synod,” but even that 'there has never really been an external unity of the church.' Yet for
all true believers— regardless of denominational label— 'the inner unity of the spirit in faith
continues.'” Mark Braun, in "The Wauwatosa Gospel" (2002), p 10, quoting Koehler from, “Gesetzlch Wesen unter uns,” 238; emphases in the original.


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Catechesis has left a new comment on your post "Wauwatosa Damage":

Here are choice quotes from Mark Braun's "The Wauwatosa Gospel" re Pieper. First, p. 5:

"...his observations exhibit two well-attested personality traits attributed to him by friend
and foe alike: a flair for the dramatic and an inclination to exaggeration." This quote has a footnote:

"Pieper was purported to have told his seminary classes: 'Don’t think I became a pastor out of piety. I wanted to go to Hollywood.'"

Once a Prussian always a Prussian.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Wauwatosa Damage":

August Pieper, "Dogmatic training perhaps makes one orthodox, but it also easily makes one orthodoxist, intolerant, quarrelsome, hateful, and easily causes division in the church."

Just how tolerant should a Christian be of false doctrines?

To raise the love of men to be equal to or greater than Christ and His Word is wrong. The result: the glory of the (W)ELS will be it's toleration of false doctrine, false practice and the false teachers who promote it.

Granted I've talked to some in the (W)ELS and LCMS who are not intentionally teaching false doctrines, such as UOJ, but when the false doctrine is shown to them by Scripture and the Confessions they defend the false teachings and listen to and promote the human reason of their theologians at the expense of Christ's Word. The Lutheran Synods have made idols out of their clergy, theologians, Synod and synod administrators.

August Pieper as quoted by the (W)ELS in defense of UOJ:
(In) the third volume of the Quartalschrift his unforgettable article. The conclusion reads:
One cannot oppose any doctrine of God’s Word with impunity; this increases sin and guilt, damages consciences and blinds the heart. One error begets another, as in the election controversy the insistence on intuitu fidei soon brought with itself the synergistic doctrine of conversion. But whoever molests the doctrine of justification stabs the gospel in the heart and is on the way of losing entirely Christian doctrine and personal faith and of falling into the arms of heathenism, even if he ever so much emphasizes justification by faith.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Wauwatosa Whoa's - Rosetta Stone for UOJ?":

The Universalism of the Lutheran Synods:

A Final Word

Franz Pieper, along with Georg Stöckhardt, Herman A. Preus, Jacob Aall Ottesen, U.V. Koren, Adolph Hoenecke and others, recognized the greatness of the doctrine as taught by C.F.W. Walther. And it started with the Lutheran doctrine of Justification- Objective and Universal!

"That’s nice" says the world, "but of course you must believe first before you can be justified. You must remember the great Lutheran tenet, ‘justification by faith.’"

No, I believe what Dr. Pieper taught- there is a justification that exists before faith, before believing it, for all. That is called the universal/objective justification.

"Well, surely you would not discount faith in the order of salvation, would you?" says the world.

I would eliminate faith as a requirement that makes justification true. That would be making faith a work of mine. The Bible teaches that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law. Thereby is the teaching of faith upheld for it teaches the object of saving faith, the vicarious satisfaction worked by Christ.

The picture of the Missouri Synod since the death of Franz Pieper leaves a true Lutheran weeping. For when one considers the glorious beauty of the Gospel as it truly is, as it was proclaimed by the fathers of the Missouri Synod (and the Synodical Conference members), it brings a petition to the lips of all who covet their soul’s salvation that the Lord would again grant teachers who would proclaim it as they did.

What remains to be said in this essay is what would be most important to Dr. Pieper. You, dear reader, must know also that though all men have deserved only eternal punishment and damnation as the result of sin, nevertheless, God has accepted the payment made by His own dear Son, Jesus Christ, in his perfect life, suffering and death. And the Father receipted the payment for all the world to know, for on Easter morning He raised His Son from the dead, declaring the whole world to be righteous in Christ. Now the entire world stands pardoned, acquitted of all guilt. This is the Gospel that was commanded to be preached. Now there is nothing we can do, only believe this, that you are already saved. C.F.W. Walther wrote in 1868: "…you often hear pastors preach, 'You are saved if you believe.' What they should be saying is, 'You are saved so that you might believe."

http://www.franzpieper.com/

WELS at Work Opposing Justification by Faith

"Spoiling the Egyptians" is the term Valleskey borrowed to excuse using the gems of Fuller Seminary. The Wisconsin Sect is scandalized by the efficacy of the Word in justification by faith, but not by their seminary president going to Fuller...and loving it.



From: "Pastor Seiltz"
To:
Cc: "ELHS Board" , "Pastor Schewe"
Subject: RE: FW: Letter to ELHS Board and Association

Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 20:38:02
 
Brett,
The Evergreen Board of Directors addressed your doctrinal concerns at our last board meeting on October 26th. Our number one priority as a Lutheran High School is teaching and proclaiming the Word of God in its truth and purity. We appreciate your desire in this area as a parent of two of our students.
We studied the doctrines which you cited and determined that the WELS/ELS statements on them are Scripturally correct. A motion was made and passed unanimously. The motion below was excerpted from the official meeting minutes and reads as follows:
MOTION: Having studied the Holy Scriptures and the WELS and ELS statements of faith, including This We Believe and This We Believe, Teach, and Confess, the Evergreen Lutheran High School Board reaffirms its commitment to true Christian doctrine, as expressed in the Holy Scriptures, and affirms that our responses to questions regarding our teachings are answered in light of our agreement with the Holy Scriptures, the Lutheran Confessions, and the doctrinal statements of the WELS and ELS.
MOTION PASSED, unanimously, no abstentions.
Evergreen Lutheran High School is not going to change from teaching what is in the Scriptures, nor will we apologize for it. All students that come to ELHS will receive this Scriptural instruction. We appreciate the fact that your two daughters have not brought your objections up in class or have been detrimental to the teaching of the Scriptures in our classrooms. Pastor Humann, Mr. Steph Rodmyre, and Mr. Greg Thiesfeldt have responded to your concerns with correct Biblical answers. I have attached a file that we used for study in the board meeting. One final note is that we as a board consider this matter completed and final. The resolution that passed is a clear statement. If you wish to continue your dialogue, we recommend that you contact the ELS and WELS directly.
In the name of Christ Jesus,
Signed,
Pastor Nathan Seiltz, Pastor Evergreen Lutheran High School, and Gary Ide, Board Chairman Evergreen Lutheran High School On behalf of the Evergreen Lutheran High School Board of Directors
ATTACHED FILE:
A. Objective justification is universal. Scripture teaches that God has reconciled the world to himself. This includes all people, believers and unbelievers. All, believers and unbelievers, have deserved death and damnation. Jesus came as the substitute for all. He obeyed the law for all. He died in the place of everyone. When Jesus rose, he rose as the substitute for every sinner. By his resurrection God declared sinners, all of them, forgiven. This is the good news Scripture reveals. This is the good news we proclaim to contrite sinners: “God has reconciled you to himself. Your sins are already forgiven. Calvary and the empty tomb are the proof of it.”
B. It is suggested, if not argued, that such an interpretation of Scripture and the teaching of objective justification we defend is something relatively new in Lutheranism. It is true that the terms objective and subjective justification are relatively recent. They are not found in the Confessions. It is also true that most of the time when the Scriptures speak of justification they do so in connection with believing. They speak of subjective justification. Yet the fact remains that terms objective justification and subjective justification do convey thoughts which the Scriptures teach, as all orthodox theologians have confessed.
C. When objective justification is denied, faith becomes a condition of salvation instead of the means through which we receive salvation. When speaking of salvation, we don’t want to turn a person’s attention inward to his faith, but outward to the grace of God. Preaching about faith will not produce faith, but proclaiming God’s love and mercy and forgiveness will produce believing hearts.
D. To justify in the Bible always has the meaning “to declare righteous.” Never do the terms denote a qualitative change in man, a physical or medicinal thing. The change which is meant is not a change in one’s person, but a change in one’s status before God. In the matter of salvation it is God’s pronouncing a sinner righteousan act which takes place apart from man. God declares sinners righteous not because of anything he foresaw in man, but for the sake of Christ, the sinner’s substitute.
E. A quick look at the terms ought to be sufficient to remind ourselves of the Lutheran doctrine of objective or universal justificationthat God at the resurrection of Christ declared sinners justified, universally, excluding none, and objectively, whether they believe it or not.
F. Romans 5:18, 19: “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.” Historically, this reference in Romans is ranked as the principal sedes doctrinae for objective justification. Verse 18 informs us that because of Adam’s sin a verdict of condemnation was pronounced on all men; because of the one act of righteousness by Christ a verdict of acquittal was pronounced on all men. There can be no question that verse 18 teaches universal and therefore objective justification.
G. 2 Corinthians 5:19: “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” The passage does not contain the word righteousness, but it ranks as strong support for the doctrine of objective justification because of the manner in which it speaks of the synonymous term reconciliation. In Christ God has reconciled the world to himself. A change has taken place. The change was not in man.Man remained unchanged, by nature sinful, hostile to God. Orthodox theologians for the most part have spoken of the change as a change in man’s status before God. Previously God viewed the world apart from Christand it stood condemned. Now God views the world in the light of Christ’s work of redemption and has declared the world righteous, forgiven.
H. There are many other passages of Scripture that support the doctrine of objective justification: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn 2:2). Any reference that announces that Christ has paid for sin, offered himself as a sacrifice, paid the ransom, shed his blood, finally teaches objective justification. Men’s sins are paid for whether they believe it or not.
I. To illustrate the history of universal and therefore objective justification in Lutheran doctrine we go back to Luther. Anyone who has read Luther’s “Treatise Concerning the Keys” of 1530 can hardly deny that Luther believed in objective justification. The following paragraph sums up Luther’s thoughts quite well: Even he who does not believe that he is free and his sins forgiven shall also learn, in due time, how assuredly his sins were forgiven, even though he did not believe it. St. Paul says in Ro 3(3): “Their faithlessness nullifies the faithfulness of God.” We are not talking here either about people’s belief or disbelief regarding the efficacy of the keys. We realize that few believe. We are speaking of what the keys accomplish and give. He who does not accept what the keys give receives, of course, nothing. But this is not the keys’ fault. Many do not believe the gospel, but this does not mean that the gospel is not true or effective. A king gives you a castle. If you do not accept it, then it is not the king’s fault, nor is he guilty of a lie. But you have deceived yourself and the fault is yours. The king certainly gave it. LW 40 363-369
J. The Confessions also speak frequently of universal and therefore objective justification: 1) But the Gospel is properly such a doctrine as teaches what man who has not observed the Law, and therefore is condemned by it, it to believe, namely, that Christ has expiated and made satisfaction for all sins, and has obtained and acquired for him, without any merit of his, forgiveness of sins, righteousness that avails before God, and eternal life. Formula of Concord V, 4; Trig., p 801 2) (God in His purpose and counsel ordained:) That the human race is truly redeemed and reconciled with God through Christ, who, by His faultless obedience, suffering, and death, has merited for us the righteousness which avails before God, and eternal life. Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration XI, 15, Trig., p 1069
K. While the election controversy was in its second stage in the first years of the 20th Century, a somewhat related controversy over objective justification erupted. This development prompted August Pieper to write for the third volume of the Quartalschrift his unforgettable article. The conclusion reads: One cannot oppose any doctrine of God’s Word with impunity; this increases sin and guilt, damages consciences and blinds the heart. One error begets another, as in the election controversy the insistence on intuitu fidei soon brought with itself the synergistic doctrine of conversion. But whoever molests the doctrine of justification stabs the gospel in the heart and is on the way of losing entirely Christian doctrine and personal faith and of falling into the arms of heathenism, even if he ever so much emphasizes justification by faith.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "WELS at Work Opposing Justification by Faith":

(W)ELS Pastor James Humann openly exposes the essence of (W)ELS UOJ in this reply to me:

Brett,
This is the last correspondence from me to you on this subject. It is my impression that you are trying to convince me that what I and others are teaching about OJ is wrong and that you yourself are not willing to be taught the truth. What I teach is the truth and I'm telling you that it is the truth. Evergreen is a WELS/ELS school and what is taught in the religion department is taught accordingly. Your concerns are much bigger than Evergreen or Holy Trinity. You stated that the ELS/WELS and LCMS are wrong on the doctrine of OJ. You should address your remarks to the leaders of those synods, the seminary president, the District President, the head of the religion department at MLC. The error you espouse is an old heresy going back to the Garden of Eden and Satan's question, "Did God really say?" It goes back to the time of the Reformation and the Ohio and Iowa Synods. It's interesting that you didn't mention ELCA. Do they have it right in your opinion? Also, just because the Lutheran Confessions do not say a lot about OJ doesn't mean it's not true. The controversy at the time was about salvation by grace alone, by faith alone, by Scripture alone, which would naturally bring the focus on subjective justification.

I'd encourage you to look at Romans 3:23-24, Romans 5:9-11, Romans 5:18-19, Romans 4:25, II Corinthians 5:19. I'd recommend that you read pages 22-60 in "Our Great Heritage,"
Volume 3. I'd like to leave you with just a couple of quotes from the above referenced pages: "Martin Luther once said that those who do not believe God's message of forgiveness will someday find out how surely their sins were forgiven even though they did not believe it." (Luther's Works 40:366f)

"God forever remains the God who punishes all sin, and at the same time he is forever the God who forgives every sin. And only the person who by God's grace has in the vicarious
atonement of Christ found a way to believe both truths worships the God of the Bible." (p.53)

"But, sad to say, there are some Lutherans who want to be conservative and orthodox and yet find it very difficult to say with equal fervor and vigor that God has forgiven the sins of all men in Christ." (p.53)

"And yet many Lutherans still labor under the delusion that God does not forgive us unless we believe. Instead of seeing faith as nothing more than the spiritual hand with which we make the forgiveness of God our own, they see it as a reason why God forgives us. They believe that Christ has indeed provided forgiveness for all men, that God is willing to forgive them, but before he really forgives he first of all demands that we should be sorry for our sins and that we should have faith. Just have faith they say, and then God will forgive you. All the right words are there. The only thing wrong is that the words are in the wrong order. God does not forgive us IF we have faith. He has forgiven us long ago when he raised his Son from the
dead." (p. 59)

Finally, "If forgiveness were dependent on faith in the sense that God does not forgive until we believe, we would always have to be sure that we are believers before we would be sure that we are forgiven." (p.60)

In your last comment to Mr. Rodmyre you said, "God says that those who pervert the gospel of Christ by preaching another gospel are accursed. Objective Justification is another gospel."
God will judge who is preaching another gospel!

In Christ, on whose account God has justified, declared righteous, or acquitted, the whole world of sinners,
Pastor James Humann

Who's Leaving ELCA - One Bishop Election Away from Radical Changes

Everything is explained in this bit of logic.



Pastor G. Erndner, ALPB Forum Online
To make things easier, below is a list sorted by percentage of congregations that left. The first batch are those with 1% or fewer. The last batch are those with 10% or higher.

7A New Jersey Synod 0 cong. out of 186 cong., or 0.0% and 0 Bap. mem. out of 66,770 mem., or 0.0%
7B New England Synod 0 cong. out of 186 cong., or 0.0% and 0 Bap. mem. out of 64,031 mem., or 0.0%
7G Slovak Zion Synod 0 cong. out of 26 cong., or 0.0% and 0 Bap. mem. out of 4,466 mem., or 0.0%
8G Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod 0 cong. out of 80 cong., or 0.0% and 0 Bap. mem. out of 34,291 mem., or 0.0%
9F Caribbean Synod 0 cong. out of 34 cong., or 0.0% and 0 Bap. mem. out of 5,052 mem., or 0.0%
7E Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod 1 cong. out of 290 cong., or 0.3% and 119 Bap. mem. out of 147,481 mem., or 0.1%
8E Upper Susquehanna Synod 1 cong. out of 137 cong., or 0.7% and 444 Bap. mem. out of 39,831 mem., or 1.1%
5A Metropolitan Chicago Synod 2 cong. out of 205 cong., or 1.0% and 3,520 Bap. mem. out of 104,754 mem., or 3.4%

2C Pacifica Synod 13 cong. out of 128 cong., or 10.2% and 12,255 Bap. mem. out of 50,530 mem., or 24.3%
5I East-Central Synod of Wisconsin 15 cong. out of 141 cong., or 10.6% and 6,255 Bap. mem. out of 95,709 mem., or 6.5%
5F Northeastern Iowa Synod 20 cong. out of 181 cong., or 11.0% and 8,392 Bap. mem. out of 88,273 mem., or 9.5%
5E Western Iowa Synod 21 cong. out of 165 cong., or 12.7% and 7,766 Bap. mem. out of 66,769 mem., or 11.6%
1F Montana Synod 19 cong. out of 146 cong., or 13.0% and 6,084 Bap. mem. out of 49,302 mem., or 12.3%
9B North Carolina Synod 34 cong. out of 236 cong., or 14.4% and 14,592 Bap. mem. out of 81,705 mem., or 17.9%
4E Southwestern Texas Synod 28 cong. out of 170 cong., or 16.5% and 15,071 Bap. mem. out of 63,805 mem., or 23.6%

I'd also note that every synod in the ELCA is only one election of a new bishop away from becoming radically different from what it currently is. And of course, that works both ways.

Also, the database includes a category for "1st vote pending". Any analysis I do of congregations that "have left or are in the process of leaving" include those with announced 1st votes pending, as well as "failed/rescheduled". Bethel Lutheran in Parkersburg, Iowa is noted as such in the database.

Wauwatosa Damage



Catechesis has left a new comment on your post "Missouri Is Still Selling Their Old Catechism - No...":

The so-called Wauwatosa Theology, sounds innocent enough, but did it lead to (or reinforce) UOJ? Did it screw up WELS on the doctrine of the Office of the Holy Ministry? Did it turn WELS into a sect because it "rediscovered" the "Unit Concept" of church fellowship?:

"We renounce this authority-theology anew. It causes so much damage to the church. It is unfaithfulness to the Lord; slavery to men; it brings errors with it. But it also makes the mind narrow and the heart small. . . . Dogmatic training perhaps makes one orthodox, but it also easily makes one orthodoxist, intolerant, quarrelsome, hateful, and easily causes division in the church.
. .
Scripture is at once narrow and broad. The study of it makes the heart narrow to actual false doctrine and heresies, but broad toward various human expressions and presentations. It does not accuse of false doctrine unnecessarily; it teaches us to bear and suffer in love the mistakes of the weak. It keeps the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Therefore we want to entirely do away with this dogmatic authority-theology, and to sink ourselves ever deeper into Scripture and to promote it above all else. We know that in doing so we will best serve the church.”

- August Pieper (1913), Quoted by Mark Braun in The Wauwatosa Gospel (2002). p 25.
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August Pieper Hagiography

by Aaron Voss
August Pieper

August Otto Wilhelm Pieper was born on September 27, 1857, in Carwitz, Pomerania, as the second youngest son to August Berhnhard Pieper and his wife Bertha. The pedigree of this great Wisconsin synod pastor, professor, and theologian was not that of a pastor soldiering for the gospel, but rather that of a soldier in the Prussian army. His father followed a line of Piepers and served in the Prussian army. August’s father eventually reached the rank of corporal, but after a year in this position, he decided the private life better suited him. Pieper’s father was honorably discharged, and he transitioned from one leadership role to another. He became mayor of Carwitz and was highly respected as a peaceable man. He was by all accounts a good ruler, especially because he supported Frederick William III’s Prussian Union. His unionist support looked good on his résumé but could have been detrimental to the history of our beloved Synod.

But God is the God of history. Enter August’s mother, Bertha. While his father was consumed with mayoral duties, Bertha looked over the secular and sacred education of her children. Bertha was raised from the age of three by her uncle, a member of the confessional Pomeranian Separation. She held true to her confessional Lutheran faith throughout her life and imparted these teachings upon her children. Under the steady, loving guide of Bertha, August and his brothers became well-educated and their visible talents spoke well of both their mother and father.

Pieper’s father died in 1869, and a year later Bertha took the four younger sons, including August, over to America. The Pieper family settled in Watertown, Wisconsin, near the Rock River bridge because of the proximity to Northwestern College. The college provided the children with the ministerial education that Bertha so highly valued and gave Bertha employment as the college’s stewardess. Bertha still had a hand in the children’s education and wanted them to be trained for ministerial service. August was no exception.
August graduated from Northwestern in 1876 and enrolled the following school year at the Missouri Synod’s Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. This Missouri seminary was a perfect fit for August. August was an exceptionally gifted student, especially in foreign languages such as Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. There in St. Louis, Dr. C.F.W. Walther could further cultivate Pieper’s God-given gifts, and August could be closer to his older brother Franz who taught as a professor at the seminary. Franz also was a gifted student and three years after his graduation from St. Louis, he took a call to teach at Concordia Seminary so that he could be groomed as Walther’s hand-picked successor.

Pieper’s time at the seminary was not without its challenges, however. A self-described lover of baseball, August was a pitcher and enjoyed playing games with schoolmates. After one game in the sweltering heat and humidity of St. Louis, August and company had to resort to rain water to try and rehydrate themselves. But instead of replenishing electrolytes, August contracted a serious case of typhoid fever. He was bed-ridden for some time in a room at the seminary and was concerned that his deliriousness would make him unfit for the public ministry. But God eventually restored his sound health and sound mind. August proved he was fully recovered when his final examination for a Walther class was graded in the top two of his class. Walther further showed confidence in August’s skills as a student when he, at brother Franz’s suggestion, asked August to proofread the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew quotes in Walther’s Dogmatics. Pieper, with classic humor, later wrote in reminiscence that, “The Missourians therefore can pride themselves with the fact that they have Walther’s Dogmatics proofread by a Wisconsin Synod man!”
And August Pieper was a Wisconsin Synod man throughout his ministry. He graduated from Concordia in 1879 and took a Wisconsin Synod call to Immanuel Congregation in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, where he served until 1885. Walther had once asked Pieper if he would serve the Lord as a pastor in the Missouri Synod, but Pieper respectfully replied that he felt he was obligated to repay the Wisconsin Synod for the Christian upbringing he received after coming to America. From Kewaunee Pieper accepted a call to shepherd St. Paul’s Congregation in Menominee, Wisconsin. During 1890, however, Pieper again was afflicted with health troubles. He was forced to take some months off from the ministry and move to Texas so that the drier climate could restore his ailing throat back to health.

Shortly after returning from the South, Pieper accepted another call in 1891, this time to St. Marcus in Milwaukee. He served God’s people there for twelve years before he accepted his final call, to be a professor of isagogics and Old Testament exegesis at the Wisconsin Synod’s seminary in Wauwatosa, which later moved to Mequon. His forty-one years at the seminary saw him serve as president of the school from 1930-1937 and prepare nearly five hundred students for the pastoral ministry. August Pieper retired from the public ministry of the gospel in 1943 after sixty-four years of faithful service to his Lord and Savior.

Part of Professor Pieper’s ministry to his lay members, students, and fellow pastors was his writing. He wrote ten essays either for synod or district conventions. He helped found Theologische Quartalschrift in 1904 and over one hundred of his articles have filled its pages. In one article entitled “The Proper Separation of Law and Gospel” Pieper sets forth the basic principles for proper division, a topic about which he undoubtedly learned much when he studied under Walther. Pieper’s principal work of writing, however, is found in Isaiah II. This book focuses on the rich gospel message that is preached in the latter half of Isaiah, a topic that Pieper held so dear.

Professor August Pieper’s ministry was an extremely long one but marked with great consistency. Pieper was always on fire for the sweet message of free and full forgiveness found in the gospel. Above all Pieper looked first to understand salvation for his personal edification and so he could then clearly help others understand it. His theology was crystal clear, and his students, congregations, fellow pastors, and readers were always left with the impression of the gospel. He kept his enormous academic gifts captive to Christ and never let his reason get in the way of the pure Word. As strong as his intelligence was, so was his will. The professor was very self-controlled and always found a way to force himself to do numerous exhausting tasks. Pieper especially applied this will and discipline to stand up for what he was convinced was right, above all that Jesus Christ is the salvation for the entire world.

As intense and intelligent as Professor Pieper was, he was not distant from those around him. His students and colleagues spoke dearly of him, and it was clear that he had a good rapport with them. Before the very first period of every isagogics course, the professor would quietly peak only his head around the door into the filled classroom and then quickly pull it back. He would let suspense build for a minute or so, fully enter the room, and say at the front of the classroom, “That’s Isagogics: just a peak.” Pieper not only made his students laugh but also made them motivated for the ministry. He was famous for sometimes dropping the assigned topic for an entire period and create a Stimmung, an “atmosphere,” for the gospel ministry. His students would leave the hour more enthusiastic and motivated for gospel ministry. One former student summed it up: “Pips gave us the Geist.”

God blessed August Pieper’s personal life with his marriage in 1881 to Emma Koenig, with whom the Lord further blessed Pieper with five daughters, two sons, twenty-five grandchildren, and eighteen great-grandchildren. Professor Pieper’s wife Emma preceded him in death when she fell asleep in 1929 before God called him to his eternal home on December 23, 1946. The Wisconsin Synod owes her gracious God tremendous thanks for August Pieper’s extensive ministry. In him we have a model pastor and Christian who always inspired zeal for the gospel and its ministry. His reminder is as important now as it was during his life: “We can constantly grow in the work of the Lord, always become more.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brenner, John. "In Memoriam." Quartalschrift: Theological Quarterly. 44.2 (April 1947): 81.
Lehninger, Max. "Gemeinden: Professor August Pieper." Evangelical-Lutherisches Gemeinde-Blatt. 83.2 (January 25, 1948): 8-9.
Pieper, August. "Reminiscences from Professor August Pieper." WELS Historical Institute Journal. 1.2 (Fall 1983): 48-56.
Westerhaus, Martin O. “The Wauwatosa Theology: The Men and Their Message.” The Wauwatosa Theology, Volume I. Ed. Curtis A. Jahn. Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Publishing House, 1997. 13-98.
Soli Deo Gloria