Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Serious Laughter from Paul McCain. Plagiarist Ratt...":
Brett Meyer:
McCain has shown himself to be an enemy of Christ through his perversion of the Gospel, and enemy of the Holy Spirit through his degradation of the Holy Spirit’s faith and a Universalist by his confession, promotion an defense of Universal Objective Justification (General Justification as (W)ELS DP Jon Buchholz likes to call it). Salvation is directly tied to the forgiveness of sins, being regarded as just and righteous by God. Also reconcillation with God comes through faith alone. The whole unbelieving world was not reconciled with God through the perfect substitutionary atonement of Christ.
The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord
III. The Righteousness of Faith
Christian Book of Concord:
“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.”
In context:
8] Therefore, in order to explain this controversy in a Christian way by means of God's Word, and, by His grace, to settle it, our doctrine, faith, and confession are as follows:
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. [BM – note that this absolution of sins is tied to the righteousness of faith]
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. [BM – UOJists teach God declaring the unbelieving world forgiven and righteous by the atonement of Christ but not saved. BOC and Scripture tie the forgiveness of sins and the declaration of being righteous (having Christ’s righteousness) with eternal salvation. It is Universalism to teach that the whole world has been, by God’s divine and perfect verdict, to be forgiven of all sin and righteous because to be declared forgiven and righteous by God is eternal life.]
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. [BM – here is where the BOC condemns the deception of UOJ when it falsely twists Romans 5:18 into a justification of the unbelieving world. The BOC here teaches that Romans 5:18 is the same as declaring Justification by Faith and that faith is counted to the believer as righteousness. Nowhere does Scripture declare the unbeliever justified or righteous but rather the unbeliever is declared to be under the Law, alive to sin and dead in sins and also abiding under the wrath and condemnation of God.]
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. [BM – condemned is the UOJ teaching that if man is justified solely by faith then faith is a synergistic work of man.]
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. [BM – condemned is UOJ’s teaching that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to the unbelieving world out of pure grace in the obedience, suffering, and resurrection of Christ.]
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. [BM – again the forgiveness of sins and being regarded as Godly and righteous is eternal salvation. Condemned is UOJ’s teaching that unbelievers can be forgiven all sin, regarded as righteous by God but not saved but bound for Hell if they don’t believe it’s already true.]
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. [BM – therefore unbelievers do not have reconciliation with God applied or appropriated without faith]
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. [BM – these condemnatory remarks are made directly to the UOJists because they stand guilty of perverting the Gospel of Christ]
http://www.bookofconcord.org/sd-righteousness.php
