A. Berean has left a new comment on your post "Chemnitz Taught Justification by Faith - Not Unive...":
If you want to strike at the heart of the UOJ error, its not about "given but not received" or "declaring the whole world righteous," because those are only symptoms... its imputation. Its clear that the Confessors taught and understood from the Scriptures that in order not to violate His own justice, God does not declare someone to be righteous without some intervening righteousness, namely Christ's. It is clearly taught in Scripture and addressed multiple times in the Confessions that this imputation takes place by faith, because faith is that thing which is reckoned/imputed for righteousness (Romans 4). This is where the UOJ error falls apart, because it teaches that God imputed (or is imputing) Christ's righteousness to all mankind from eternity. So then the question becomes, "To what is this righteousness imputed? What is reckoned for righteousness?" This is the fundamental error of UOJ - imputation.
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GJ - I agree that the key term is imputation. There are many different approaches to error, all of them stemming from one problem - Enthusiasm.
But if we want to find the one key word, it is imputation. This is why I agree.
The term justification is clear enough to most people, but UOJ fanatics have fouled the Lutheran nest so badly that people just tangled up on justification and faith.
Next, there are many synonyms for the atonement:
- reconciliation,
- expiation,
- propitiation,
- ransom,
- redemption (expressed two ways in Greek).
Imputing is a nice Latin word. In plain English, it is count or reckon.
When someone believes in the atonement of Christ for his sins, he is counted righteous, forgiven of his sins, in the eyes of God. He is truly absolved through faith and is never righteous without faith.
It is that simple. That concept does not require years of brain-washing at an overpriced seminary.
UOJ does.
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Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Imputation Is the Foundational Issue - Says A. Ber...":
Ichabod - Thank you for highlighting, A Berean's excellent comment. Yes! The word "Imputation," is at the forefront of this universal objective justification controversy and discussion.
Luther correctly said: "Where there is the forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation."
But it is here where the universal objective justification enthusiasts [UOJE] get tripped up, and never do get to first base:
UOJE [Universal objective justification enthusiasts] become hung up on the Atonement as a "be all" and "end all." They would rather just view Christ's universal sacrifice for sin as the one time imputation to the human soul. Their basic view of imputation is that when Christ died and rose; - that is what Luther talked about - "Where there is the forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation." To them, that is the sum and substance of imputation. Hence, this is why UOJE often don't highlight the Holy Spirit's work in the salvation process. [John 3:8 in context] They essentially diss (ignore) faith. They bypass faith and actually believe that with the forgiveness of sins brought about by the Atonement, - that has brought [as Luther put it] "life and salvation" to all. So, then, their understanding is all based around the Atonement; that Christ's sacrifice was imputed, - not, faith.
On the other hand, those of us who believe Scripture, (and, the Confessions, concur); we believe that we, (by God's grace) are justified by faith. [Ephesians 2:8-9] We believe that the faith the Holy Spirit creates in us is imputed to us. We could almost use the words "infused" and "continually dispensed." Luther put it this way in his explanation of the 3rd Article of the Apostles Creed:
"In which Christian church He daily and richly forgive sins to me and all believers......"
Finally, I will point to an illustration, using an analogy. [And, I realize that no analogy is perfect]:
The universal objective justification crowds are stuck on the Atonement. To them that is their priceless "auto body."
But, the car doesn't travel (anywhere) without wheels and fuel. Hence, the Atonement without its (Holy Spirit) "imputation wheels & fuel" is useless. Without the Spirit's wheels and fuel, the human soul cannot personally partake of and benefit from Christ's all encompassing Atonement. Nor, (without Holy Spirit wheels and fuel) will that human soul travel to heaven. All that, though, does not matter for the universal objective justification enthusiasts still stuck in their Atonement auto. To them a car without wheels and fuel is a perfect and complete auto.
Nathan M. Bickel
www.thechristianmessage.org
www.moralmatters.org
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A. Berean has left a new comment on your post "Imputation Is the Foundational Issue - Says A. Ber...":
An earthly example from today - the United States dollar used to be backed by gold. Our faith (created by the Holy Ghost) is like the dollar. Like the green piece of paper its made out of, it has no intrinsic value in a of itself. But it is called a dollar because to it is reckoned (or imputed) the value of the gold in the reserve. The Gold is like Christ's righteousness. Therefore our faith is reckoned (or imputed) for righteousness (Christ's).
Chemnitz teaches in his book, Justification, that for imputation to take place four things are needed: the person doing to imputing (God), the person to whom something is imputed (the believer), the thing which is imputed (Christ's righteousness), and the thing to which this righteousness is imputed (faith).
