Here are some “If –
then” quotes supporting UOJ
Deutschlander:
The point of this
passage is essentially the same as the point of the previous passage. Once
again, notice the all-embracing, already accomplished character of the passage:
the world is reconciled! Not, the world can be reconciled, or has reconciliation
available to it. That reconciliation is entrusted to us in the Word. But it
would be folly to speak of the reconciliation as entrusted to us, if, in point
of fact, the reconciliation had not yet occurred; if prior to committing the
word of reconciliation there is no reconciliation, then the word entrusted to
our proclamation is a lie. And far be it from us to rend the sacred mantel cast
over us in the Word, to make His Word and His Act of reconciliation of no effect
until we have done something or until we have believed
something.
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if the penalty has
already been paid in the sacrifice of Christ, then for God not to forgive sin
would be unjust; He would be demanding a second payment for the same
offence.
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Buchholz:
9 This very important
truth—that faith is appropriative and not causative—can be illustrated thus: A
sports fan may say, “I believe that my team will win the World Series this
year.” Such faith does not bring about the desired outcome. The person’s belief
doesn’t cause anything to happen. In this case, the “faith” expressed is merely
a hope or a wish that something will happen. Likewise, if a team wins, and a
jaded, cynical fan refuses to believe it, that fan’s erroneous belief doesn’t
change the reality of what happened.
Faith is simply trust.
Faith must have an object, something that it holds onto. That object may or may
not be real or true, but faith doesn’t make it real or true. Faith that holds
onto something untrue is misplaced—no matter how sincere it may be. Christian
faith appropriates and holds onto the reality of God’s justification completed
in Christ. It does not cause justification or forgiveness to take place. It
simply grasps God’s justification that is already a
reality.
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| Kurt Marquart |
Marquart:
If God’s eternal
foreknowledge does not forbid these millions of judicial acts, why should it
forbid the one great world-embracing judicial act in the Cross and Resurrection,
which is the real and objective basis for all the millions of individual
“applicatory” judicial acts? Justification is by definition a judicial
act.
(in the section – 5.
Indefensible theses of Mr. Larry Darby)
Becker:
If all are condemned
because of the sin of one man (18a), and all are justified because of the right
action of one man (18b), and if all are set down as sinners through one man’s
disobedience (19a), then we can certainly expect that all men will be set down
as righteous through one man’s obedience (19b). If the action (described in 19b
is something that takes place when a man comes to faith, then these words are
not true because all do not come to faith, and while many, polloi/, are called,
few, o0li/goi, are chosen. To say that “all” here means “all who come to faith”
is to commit the same sin that is committed by Calvinists when they say that the
“all” for whom Christ died are “all who are elect.” The “all” of 18b are the
“all” of 18a and of verse 12.
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By the resurrection
the sins for which he was “numbered with the transgressors” were formally
declared by the Father to be completely paid for. Christ was no longer “guilty”
but free from all liability to punishment. But the sins for which he had been
condemned were the sins of the world, and because Christ is the substitute for
all men we can say that if one was justified, the all whose substitute he was
were also justified in his resurrection, just as Paul can say, “If one died for
all, then were all dead” (2 Co 5:14).
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Even more significant
is the Septuagint’s use of a related word, il9 asthr& ion, as a translation
for trep%ok@,a mercy seat. The mercy seat was the place where an atonement was
made for the sins of the people by the blood that was sprinkled there by the
high priest. The word for atonement is rp%uk@,i which is derived from rpak@ f
which basically means “to cover.” Thus when the blood was sprinkled on the
mercy-seat a “covering” was made by which the sins of the people were hidden
from the eyes of an angry God. While it is not necessary to make
our
case, I am convinced
that if John had spoken in Hebrew he would have said that Christ is the Kippur,
the cover, for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole
world. But to cover sins is to forgive sins.
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We are not pressing
the word beyond what it can bear if we say that, when Paul says that God
justifies the ungodly, he is asserting that God declares the unbeliever just.
The fact that the unbeliever by rejecting God’s verdict deprives himself
eternally of the joy and comfort that this message gives does not make the
declaration of God untrue, and, as Luther says, they will know someday how
surely their sins were forgiven. Yet that knowledge then will only add to their
torment in hell.
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| Mark Zarling, MLC |
Zarling:
These two brief
passages clearly speak about the universal redemption Christ accomplished. And
if Christ died for the sins of the world, are not those sins covered? Are they
not forgiven? Do we dare call Christ a liar when He shouted "It is finished"? If
Christ died for sins, the sins are forgiven. And we learned in II Cor 5:19 that
forgiveness ("not imputing their trespasses unto them") is synonymous with
justification.
On the basis of this
brief overview of passages, what then is the Scriptural truth called universal
justification? Simply this: In Christ, God has forgiven the sins of all men. By
reason of Christ's perfect life of obedience and perfect sacrifice for all sins,
God declares the world, believer and unbeliever alike, totally innocent. Jesus
was the Substitute for all. His death is our death; His resurrection is ours.
Although all are totally sinful and totally condemned because of Adam's
transgression, yet because of Christ's righteousness we 7 are declared
righteous. God's Word proclaims the purest Gospel possible. It is all God's
abundant grace. Jesus has done it all. The world is declared innocent. And what
is true for the world must be true for me! What comfort! What
joy!
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| UOJ refuted - from Robert Preus' last book, Justification and Rome. |
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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Brett Meyer Offers If Then Quotations - Rationalis...":
While gleaning these rational tidbits from the UOJists I ran across a self condemnation.
(W)ELS CA/AZ District President Jon Buchholz wrote the landmark 2005 WELS Convention essay promoting the false gospel of Objective Justification.
Here's his definition of heresy and what follows is his fulfillment of it.
"In each example, the mark of heresy is to go as far as Scripture goes—and then to go one step further."
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"God has forgiven the whole world. God has forgiven everyone his sins." This statement is absolutely true! This is the heart of the gospel, and it must be preached and taught as the foundation of our faith.
But here’s where the caveat comes in: In Scripture, the word "forgive" is used almost exclusively in a personal, not a universal sense. The Bible doesn’t make the statement, "God has forgiven the world."
"God has forgiven all sins, but the unbeliever rejects God’s forgiveness." Again, this statement is true—and Luther employed similar terminology to press the point of Christ’s completed work of salvation.16
But we must also recognize that Scripture doesn’t speak this way."
"God has declared the entire world righteous." This statement is true, as we understand it to mean that God has rendered a verdict of "not-guilty" toward the entire world. It is also true—and must be taught—that the righteousness of Christ now stands in place of the world’s sin; this is the whole point of what Jesus did for us at Calvary.
However, once again we’re wresting a term out of its usual context. In Scripture the term "righteous" usually refers to believers."
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BuchholzJustification.pdf
The glory of the (W)ELS.
