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
