There was a pastor recently who told me that like the composer who got the 'a' note stuck in his head and could hear nothing else thus stunting his composition abilities; that theology can be this way. I suppose he is right and I know I will need to eventually let all of this go and stop hammering it repeatedly. Justification, however is the article by which the church stands or falls. It is the heart of the Gospel and there is a war going on for the Church's souls.
I have been reading Robert Preus'
Justification and Rome. It has been a blessing and comfort for me. The thrust of the book is directed at the wayward Lutherans of the ELCA who have been posturing and aligning themselves since the mid 90's for what I am sure will be a reunion with the Roman Catholic Church. (See the
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification)
The byproduct of Preus' warning to ELCA and all Lutherans for that matter was a nuts and bolts return to the study of Justification Reformation style. There is no hint of any far out claims of being justified and forgiven before faith or birth. His book is supported by many quotes from the texts (such as the Book of Concord) of Reformation writers such as Luther, Melancthon and Chemnitz to later faithful Lutheran fathers such as Calov, Quenstedt and Hollaz.
It is interesting to note that Preus called out Hollaz (also spelled
Hollatz) as the last of of the great Lutheran dogmaticians while also labeling him a pietist since he was influenced by the prevalence of it during this era. (17th and 18th centuries)
The reformers (namely Chemnitz) defined the work of the Holy Ghost bringing someone to faith in four movements or steps. The first being knowledge; a thinking or meditation on the promises of God concerning salvation. Secondly assent; whereas the person (by the work of the Spirit) concludes with persuasion that the universal promises of the Gospel are meant for him and that he is included in it. (Rom. 4:23-24) Third; that the sinner realizes his sin; that the movement of his heart and will wants and seeks forgiveness and the blessings that justification provides henceforth in the Gospel. And lastly; Trust. The confidence in the Grace of God offered in the Gospel.
The later Lutheran teachers with Hollaz at the forefront reduced the four movements to three excluding the third step; repentance and the remission of sins. Why would they do this? Because Pietism had infiltrated pure Scriptural teaching...from that old serpent of old. It is here that the church fathers skewed and the odd doctrine of objective justification was born; that all men were already forgiven...and now you just need to believe it.
But this is not how the Bible speaks. And since the Bible does not speak this way, neither does the Book of Concord.
From the Book of Concord; The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord; III The Righteousness of Faith:
" (4)...for He has redeemed, justified, and saved us from our sins as God and man, through His complete obedience; that therefore the righteousness of faith is the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and our adoption as God's children only on account of the obedience of Christ,
which through faith alone (emphasis mine), out of pure grace, is imputed for righteousness
to all true believers, and on account of it they are absolved from all their unrighteousness (emphasis mine)."
All are unrighteous prior to faith!
In more detail:
"
9] Concerning the righteousness of faith before God we believe, teach, and confess unanimously, in accordance with the comprehensive summary of our faith and confession presented above, that poor sinful man is justified before God, that is, absolved and declared free and exempt from all his sins, and from the sentence of well-deserved condemnation, and adopted into sonship and heirship of eternal life, without any merit or worth of our own, also without any preceding, present, or any subsequent works, out of pure grace, because of the sole merit, complete obedience, bitter suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord Christ alone, whose obedience is reckoned to us for righteousness.
10] 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.
11] 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.
12] Therefore it is considered and understood to be the same thing when Paul says that we are justified by faith,
Rom. 3:28, or that faith is counted to us for righteousness,
Rom. 4:5, and when he says that we are made righteous by the obedience of One,
Rom. 5:19, or that by the righteousness of One justification of faith came to all men,
Rom. 5:18.
13] For faith justifies, not for this cause and reason that it is so good a work and so fair a virtue, but because it lays hold of and accepts the merit of Christ in the promise of the holy Gospel; for this must be applied and appropriated to us by faith, if we are to be justified thereby.
14] Therefore the righteousness which is imputed to faith or to the believer out of pure grace is the obedience, suffering, and resurrection of Christ, since He has made satisfaction for us to the Law, and paid for [expiated] our sins.
15] For since Christ is not man alone, but God and man in one undivided person, He was as little subject to the Law, because He is the Lord of the Law, as He had to suffer and die as far as His person is concerned. For this reason, then, His obedience, not only in suffering and dying, but also in this, that He in our stead was voluntarily made under the Law, and fulfilled it by this obedience, is imputed to us for righteousness, so that, on account of this complete obedience, which He rendered His heavenly Father for us, by doing and suffering, in living and dying, God forgives our sins, regards us as godly and righteous, and eternally saves us.
16] This righteousness is offered us by the Holy Ghost through the Gospel and in the Sacraments, and is applied, appropriated, and received through faith, whence believers have reconciliation with God, forgiveness of sins, the grace of God, sonship, and heirship of eternal life.
17] 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,
Phil. 3:9. For this use and understanding of this word is common in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament.
Prov. 17:15: He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord.
Is. 5:23: Woe unto them which
justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
Rom. 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."
Justification comes through
FAITH ALONE!
***
GJ - I understand Preus wrote his last book to counter Romanizing trends at Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne.
One example was inviting Father Richard John Neuhaus to the seminary (David Scaer's idea) to give his talk on "Why I Become the Roman Catholic I Always Was." How absurd, to give a Seminex leader, a former ELCA pastor, a current Roman Catholic priest the chance to recruit more people into the Church of the Antichrist. According to Jim Heiser, who was there, about half the audience of LCMS pastors nodded in agreement as Neuhaus made his points.
