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| "Target acquired. Target lock. Fire for effect." |
WELS commentary on the essay itself:
In this paper Maier opposes the Synodical Conference view of objective justification. Many of Prof. Siegbert Becker's papers on objective justification were in part directed against Maier's views. Similar views were held by some members of the WELS congregation in Kokomo, Indiana, who objected to WELS position on this doctrine. The LCMS rejected Maier's position in their statement on justification, though they do not mention his name.
Dropbox link to the free PDF file.
I did not read every word of the Maier essay, but I read a lot of it, especially as it relates to the UOJ Stormtrooper dogma and the exegesis, plus the 17th century quotations that relate to Huber's error.
Maier writes along the same lines as Pless, which is also what Robert Preus wrote in Justification and Rome.
Stormtrooper dogma is clear, and this is sold as Gospel in Missouri, WELS, the Little Sect on the Prairie, and the scattered fragments of the Olde Synodical Conference. If you thought Bishop Stephan's syphilis was contagious, that disease was nothing compared to the UOJ he caught at Halle University.
Stormtrooper dogma:
Every single person on earth has been declared forgiven. In fact, they are born forgiven. That includes cannibals, polytheists, and atheists, but not those who oppose this wonderful if invisible decree from heaven.
Maier, Pless; Robert Preus in Justification and Rome:
Christ has died for the sins of the world and earned forgiveness. However, there is a difference between forgiveness acquired and forgiveness received. This forgiveness is received only through faith and is not declared before faith.
I fault all three (Maier, Pless, Preus) for not being more pointed in their rejection of UOJ. Maier has plenty of choice comments about Pieper's errors and about bad exegesis, but one should not need a commentary on the commentary to figure that out.
I also fault those three for not being more pointed about the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace. Once that Biblical concept is grasped, the UOJ castle falls down faster than a house of cards. It doesn't take a tornado - only a sneeze.
I get the impression that LCMS leaders never start with the heart of Luther's doctrine, the basis for all Biblical wisdom. All three men got touched on this issue but not enough to clarify things for the next generation or two. Rolf Preus (son of Bob) and Andrew (son of Rolf) are two examples of this neglect.
I believe Knapp's original statement in his dogmatics book, as translated by the Calvinist Woods, was more vague that what the Olde Synodical Conference communicates today. Walther promoted the Easter absolution of the entire world and installed minions who would repeat his and Stephan's error. WELS has enhanced the expansion of the error with Sig Becker's blessing of J. P. Meyer's hyperbole (Ministers of Christ, now reprinted on Bible paper by WELS).
Comic relief: When UOJ Canon Lawyers are raving against justification by faith, they are repeating the criticism of Calvinists against the Arminians. The Arminians taught faith as a decision or virtue. Thus the UOJ Squadrons are role-playing Calvinists while pretending justification by faith is Calvinism. Ignorance and bigotry arise when the Means of Grace are lost.
