Exposing the
Kokomo Error
The Kokomo conflict began in July, 1978, in Kokomo,
Indiana, at Faith Lutheran Church, WELS, served at that time by Pastor Charles
Papenfuss, who was newly called to the congregation. When the parable of the
Prodigal Son was being discussed by David Hartman for the upcoming Vacation
Bible School, Pastor Papenfuss argued that the story “taught that God the
Father has pronounced the entire world of lost sinners forgiven of all sins and
that at the time of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection gave unto all
sinners the ‘status of saints’… Pastor Papenfuss said that even Judas and all
people in hell were declared righteous, holy, innocent of all sin and given the
‘status of saints.’ He said that they too were declared to be guilt-free saints
at the time of the resurrection of Christ.”232 Hartman was surprised at the pastor’s statements and asked if
that was the teaching of the WELS seminary. Papenfuss said it was. The pastor
recommended J. P. Meyer’s Ministers of Christ to David Hartman. The
conflict continued and the congregation voted on June 20, 1979, to endorse the
four statements quoted below and to suspend the Hartman and Pohlman families
from membership.
The Kokomo Statements, 1979
J-580
I. "Objectively speaking, without any reference to an individual
sinner's attitude toward Christ's sacrifice, purely on the basis of God's
verdict, every sinner, whether he knows it or not, whether he believes it or
not, has received the status of saint."
II. "After Christ's intervention and through Christ's
intervention God regards all sinners as guilt-free saints."
III. "When God reconciled the world to Himself through Christ, He
individually pronounced forgiveness to each individual sinner whether that
sinner ever comes to faith or not."
IV. "At the time of the resurrection of Christ, God looked down
in hell and declared Judas, the people destroyed in the flood, and all the
ungodly, innocent, not guilty, and forgiven of all sin and gave unto them the
status of saints."233
The letter sent to the two families quoted the
statements and declared that the families were being expelled for denying them.
Certain people have tried to confuse the issue by claiming the statements were
made up by the expelled families to parody WELS doctrine. Three statements are
almost verbatim from J. P. Meyer’s Ministers of Christ, now out of
print. The fourth statement came from a controversy in the 19th
century but was added by Pastor Papenfuss to the previous statements from J. P.
Meyer. Although WELS has often backed away from the Kokomo statements, the
synod continues to defend the content and reproduce the most obnoxious
falsehoods found in them. The Evangelical Lutheran Synod teaches Kokomo
justification in their seminary. After a layman wrote to Bethany Seminary
professor John Moldstad Jr., the following statements appeared in the
Evangelical Lutheran Synod Lutheran Sentinel:
J-581
“When Paul uses the word ‘reconciling’ here, [2 Corinthians 5:19] he
clearly means that forgiveness of sins is really imputed to ‘the world.’
John Moldstad, Jr., “I have heard some Lutherans say they do not
believe the Bible teaches objective justification. How can they assert this and
still call themselves ‘Lutheran’?”
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod teaches an
ambiguous form of the same doctrine. Each synod (WELS, ELS, LCMS) teaches
various forms of justification, with pastors teaching a version somewhere
between the extremes of Universal Justification (without faith) and the
Scriptural norm of justification by faith.
The Pohlman and Hartman families were suspended from
Faith Lutheran Church on July 8, 1979. The circuit pastor, Alan Siggelkow,
agreed with the suspension at the July voters’ meeting, which he attended. Not
surprisingly, Siggelkow upheld the suspension on August 7, 1979. The letter
from the congregation to the two families, dated August 30, 1979, cited the
Kokomo Statements and stated that failure to accept them was the cause of the
suspension, “all of which are in agreement with the teachings of the WELS.” The
two families were terminated as members on November 19, 1980, in a letter from
their congregation, citing disagreement with the WELS doctrine of
justification. The Siegbert Becker paper, quoted below, preserves the deception
that the two families made up the statements instead of the pastor. And yet the
same paper admits that the first three statements came from WELS sources. Which
Becker version should be believed?235
J-582
"Three of the four [Kokomo] statements, because of their lack of
clarity, tend to confuse the issue. But since the disciplined laymen used them
to advance their false doctrine, it was understandable that the congregation
should also use them in its rejection of the falsehood being advocated. I do
not consider any of the four statements to be false doctrine, but I would
rather not use the language used in the first, second, and fourth."
[conclusion of paper]
Siegbert Becker, "Objective Justification,"
Chicago Pastoral Conference, WELS, Elgin, Illinois, November 9, 1982,
unpaginated.
Although some WELS leaders deny that the Kokomo
Statements are from WELS, the following verbatim quotations from J. P. Meyer
disprove his innocence, especially since they predate the Kokomo Statements.
The origin of the Kokomo Statements is interesting. The excommunicated families
said, in effect, “This is what we reject.” What they rejected was being taught
and is still being taught in the Wisconsin Synod. The Wisconsin Synod listed
the rejected Kokomo Statements as the reason for the excommunication, upheld
the excommunication, and then claimed later that the two couples made up the
statements.236
CLC/WELS Smokescreen
One Church of the Lutheran Confession minister, known
for both loving and hating WELS, published this howler:
J-583
“The three statements unfortunately and inaccurately attributed to
Prof. Meyer's Ministers of
Christ are in reality inaccurate paraphrases. They were written by
a lay member of the Kokomo congregation, who was questioning the WELS doctrine
of objective justification as it was presented by the local pastor. The fourth
statement was also a paraphrase not from any WELS source. The statements were
called "a caricature of objective justification" by WELS president
Carl H. Mischke.”
Compare what WELS seminary professor Siegbert Becker
wrote at the time:
J-584
"The first three statements are taken verbatim from WELS
sources."
Siegbert Becker, "Objective Justification,"
Chicago Pastoral Conference, WELS, Elgin, Illinois, November 9, 1982,
Unpaginated.
Every reader of this chapter is invited to compare
the first three Kokomo Statements with the corresponding verbatim quotations
from J. P. Meyer’s Ministers of Christ, cited below. The fourth
statement emerged from an earlier debate on the subject, in the 19th
century, and not directly from J. P. Meyer’s book. That fact is irrelevant,
since the pastor and the Wisconsin Synod included the rejection of the fourth
statement as part of the reason for excommunicating the two couples. The fourth
Kokomo statement was written by Pastor Papenfuss, included as a reason for
expelling both families, defended by the circuit pastor Al Siggelkow, upheld by
Armin Panning (a future president of the seminary) and defended in print by Sig
Becker, a seminary professor. Moreover, the Becker essay was reprinted in the Wisconsin
Lutheran Quarterly, a definite sign of synodical approval, and again in the
showcase of WELS doctrine, the three-volume Our Great Heritage,
Northwestern Publishing House.
Letters to
the Hartman and Pohlman Families
J-585a
“Faith Lutheran Church
3215 West Judson Road
Kokomo, Indiana 46901
August 30, 1979
Mr. and Mrs. David Hartman
R. R. #1, Box 90
Kokomo, Indiana 46901
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hartman,
In response to your letter of August 18, 1979, it is our understanding
that your ‘no’ vote on June 20th against supporting the biblical
doctrine of the WELS was based at least in part, on your failure to accept the
following statement – included in your letter – all of which are in agreement
with the teachings of the WELS, namely that:
- ‘Objectively
speaking, without any reference to an individual sinners’ [sic]
attitude toward Christs’ [sic] sacrafice [sic], purely on
the basis of God’s verdict, every sinner, whether he knows it or not,
whether he believes it or not, has received the status of a saint.’
- ‘After Christs’ [sic]
intervention and through Christs’ [sic] intervention, God regards
all sinners as guilt-free saints.’
- ‘When God reconciled
the world to Himself through Christ, He individually pronounced
forgiveness to each individual sinner whether that sinner ever comes to
faith or not.’
- ‘At the time of the
resurrection of Christ God looked down in hell and declared Judas, the
people destroyed in the flood, and all the ungodly, innocent, not guilty,
and forgiven of all sin and gave unto them the status of saints.’
I trust this is the information you desire.
Sincerely yours in Christian love,
Michael Liebner, Acting Secretary
J-585b
“Faith Lutheran Church
3215 West Judson Road
Kokomo, Indiana 46901
November 19, 1980
Mr. and Mrs. David Hartman
R. R. #1, Box 90
Kokomo, Indiana 46901
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hartman,
In accordance with the recommendations of the Southeastern Wisconsin
District Panel of Review the voters of the Faith Lutheran Church have approved
a resolution terminating your membership in the congregation unless and until
such time as you accept the doctrine of justification as practiced by the WELS.
We encourage you to reassess your position on this matter and pray for
a favorable decision so that once again we can work together for His Kingdom.
Yours in Christ,
J. P. Meyer, Foundation for the Kokomo Statements
J-586
I. "Objectively speaking, without any reference to an individual
sinner's attitude toward Christ's sacrifice, purely on the basis of God's
verdict, every sinner, whether he knows about it or not, whether he believes it
or not, has received the status of a saint. What will be his reaction when he
is informed about this turn of events? Will he accept, or will he
decline?"240
J. P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on
the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern
Publishing House, 1963, p. 103f. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.
II. "Before Christ's intervention took place God
regarded him as a guilt-laden, condemned culprit. After Christ's intervention
and through Christ's intervention He regards him as a guilt-free saint."
J. P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A
Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee:
Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 107. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.
III. "This applies
to the whole world, to every individual sinner, whether he was living in the
days of Christ, or had died centuries before His coming, or had not yet been
born, perhaps has not been born to this day. It applies to the world as such,
regardless of whether a particular sinner ever comes to faith or not."
J. P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on
the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern
Publishing House, 1963, p. 109. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.
J-587
“About 300 years earlier Johann Gerhard expressed the same truth in
these words: ‘By raising Christ from the dead God absolved Him from our sins,
which had been imputed to Him, and accordingly He absolved us also in Him.’
Gerhard was professor of theology in Jena. He did not write a Brief Statement,
but he did write a book on Lutheran dogmatics consisting of 20 volumes. He died
in 1637.”
J-588
“The Judge in heaven examines this evidence. He declares His verdict.
It is one of acquittal. Man’s debt of sin is no longer charged against him.
Sinful man is free!”
WELS Conference of Presidents, “Every Sinner Declared Righteous,” 1954 tract.
During the appeal process, the Wisconsin Synod had
plenty of time to distance itself from the Kokomo Statements. Instead, because
they could not admit to being fallible, they made matters worse by agreeing
with the content of the statements. I am reminded of the wisdom of an early
pope who denounced the first proposal of papal infallibility because he saw how
it would impose on him the tyranny of the past. WELS, in defending the words of
their own professor, first tried to contain the problem by affirming doctrinal
error. Then, when an outcry arose about the absurdity of the Kokomo Statements,
WELS tried to invent vague additional reasons why the two families were
expelled. Finally, in the years following the incident, WELS took the trouble
to re-affirm justification without faith in various ways. In 1991, Northwestern
Publishing House reproduced a 1940 essay by J. P. Meyer in Our Great
Heritage, a three-volume collection of Wisconsin Synod material. The
introduction to the Meyer essay states, “Scripture makes it clear that
justification is an accomplished fact… God has forgiven the sins of the whole
world.” Our Great Heritage also reprinted the Siegbert Becker essay
quoted in this chapter, noting that it was also published in the Wisconsin
Lutheran Quarterly in 1987. The quasi-Universalism of the Church Growth Movement
in WELS has been built on the doctrine of Kokomo justification.242
J-589
"Here the panel feels itself compelled to distinguish between
form and content. While the form of the Four Statements is inadequate, the
doctrine of objective justification it grapples with is Scriptural. The Four
Statements have served to show that there is a doctrinal difference between
Faith Congregation and the appellants."
Report of the WELS Review Committee, Hartman, Pohlman
Appeal, June 30, 1980. Cited in Rick Nicholas Curia, The Significant History
of the Doctrine of Objective or Universal Justification, Alpine,
California: California Pastoral Conference, WELS. January 24-25, 1983. p. 133.243
