Unknown has left a new comment on your post "Luther versus the UOJ Pietists":
I am reading through Luther on the basis of the schedule George Kraus provides in his booklet: "A Guide to a Year's Readings in Luther." (This is an excellent schedule for those who can find it and also have the American edition of Luther's Works.)
In my reading, I came across two sections where Luther clearly states that all people are forgiven "before" repentance. Here are the two quotes:
The first one from his comments on Hebrews 1:4 found in Volume 29, page 112-113:
When He made purification for sins, [He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high].
"With this brief word he makes useless absolutely all the righteousnesses and deeds of penitence of men. But he praises the exceedingly great mercy of God, namely, that “He made purification for sins,” not through us but through Himself, not for the sins of others but for our sins. Therefore we should despair of our penitence, of our purification from sins; for before we repent, our sins have already been forgiven. Indeed, first His very purification, on the contrary, also produces penitence in us, just as His righteousness produces our righteousness. This is what Is. 53:6 says: “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
The second is from his comments on Genesis 3:15 found in volume 1 on page 190:
Adam and Eve not only do not hear themselves cursed like the serpent; but they even hear themselves drawn up, as it were, in battle line against their condemned enemy, and this with the hope of help from the Son of God, the Seed of the woman. Forgiveness of sins and full reception into grace are here pointed out to Adam and Eve. Their guilt has been forgiven; they have been won back from death and have already been set free from hell and from those fears by which they were all but slain when God appeared.
I understand Luther meaning that, in Christ, all people are forgiven, saved and righteous, but that this forgiveness, salvation and righteousness is only apprehended through faith.
Am I misunderstanding Luther? And if not, how does this differ from General justification?
Michael
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GJ - Michael, when you use the term General Justification, you are translating words from German that mean - literally - every single person in the world has been declared forgiven. I am sure you can find quotations that seem to fit what you have been taught, but that can be credited to those UOJ implants installed in your Church Growth eyes.
There is always an issue of the original German or Latin text being translated precisely, more importantly - the context. I have read thousands of pages of Luther. Throughout his works individual forgiveness comes through faith in that forgiveness. There are many ways to express the Atonement. Read your passages over again and substitute "Christ has already atoned for their sins, paid the entire price for them." That still makes sense.
Next try this. "Adam and Eve and the serpent were forgiven, without faith."
Or, "before we repent, Christ has already paid for our sins."
Compare that to - "We are forgiven all our sins, even if we do not repent and have no faith."
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AC V has left a new comment on your post "Luther versus the UOJ Pietists":
Michael, what Luther describes in your quotes is the atonement. Justification is that special New Testament word that is always used in the context of "by faith." The Lutheran Confessions affirm this. Justification is the divine declaration of "not guilty" only of the believer, which declaration means that the believer is now righteous and having the status of saint.
Forgiveness of sin is part of what it means to be righteous, but it is not the only or essential thing because the "saint" is still a "sinner" and therefore in daily need of forgiveness. As Luther coined the phrase: simul iustus et peccator "at the same time saint and sinner." The means of grace, Word and Sacraments, are the instruments that convey the forgiveness of sin won on the cross to the sinner in need of forgiveness.
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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Luther Drafted Again To Endorse UOJ":
In the false gospel of General Justification the whole unbelieving world has been forgiven of all sin, declared righteous in Christ, guiltless before God and saved (this is includes all Antichrists).
Michael states it this way, "I understand Luther meaning that, in Christ, all people are forgiven, saved and righteous,..."
This is pure Universalism. To defend against this appropriate charge the UOJists will confess that not everyone is "heaven" saved. That Unbelief is the unforgivable sin which men go to Hell for eternity.
Yet, God declared the whole unbelieving world righteous and guiltless while they were living in the unforgivable sin of unbelief. What?! Then when they die in unbelief they are condemned to Hell. Except we were all born guilty of the sin of unbelief - no one was conceived a believer in Christ. Therefore, according to the false doctrine of General Justification (UOJ) no one will ever be saved and everyone is going to Hell - guilty of their unforgivable sin of unbelief.
Some will continue to defend UOJ by declaring that men only receive the benefit (salvation) of God's declaration of their forgiveness, righteousness and guiltless condition through faith. YET - they also teach that faith doesn't do anything, falsely teaching that if man is only forgiven by faith then it makes faith a work of man and such synergism is condemned by God. So by their teaching all men, including the Antichrist is truly forgiven, righteous and guiltless all before faith in Christ, all while guilty of the damning unforgivable sin of unbelief.
They love to claim how they are all saved by confessing they were justified, forgiven and righteous in Christ before they believed yet they were all born guilty of the sin of the unforgivable sin of unbelief. They are all damned to Hell by their own false doctrine regardless of what they now believe.
UOJists declare God a liar by their false gospel. For when God states in John 8:24, "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." they teach that all sins were already forgiven the whole unbelieving world.
UOJ is the pinnacle of blasphemy as all manner of loathsome and putrid contradictions and lies flow forth from it.
