Pastor Paul Rydecki - Luther’s translation of 2 Corinthians 5:19 | Faith Alone Justifies - Pastor Paul Rydecki

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Luther’s translation of 2 Corinthians 5:19 | Faith Alone Justifies:

Luther’s translation of 2 Corinthians 5:19

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Rev. Rydecki

Here’s an interesting and little-known fact about Luther’s translation of 2 Corinthians 5:19.

If you look up 2 Corinthians 5:19 in an online version of what is supposedly Luther’s German Bible of 1545, it reads,

19. Denn GOtt war in Christo und versöhnete die Welt mit ihm selber und rechnete ihnen ihre Sünden nicht zu und hat unter uns aufgerichtet das Wort von der Versöhnung.

Literally, this reads, “For God was in Christ andreconciled the world with himself and did not reckon their sins to them and has established among us the word about the reconciliation (- or, “the word of reconciliation”).”

Some have pointed this out to demonstrate that Luther clearly saw a one-time, past tense justification of the whole world.  “Reconciled the world…”  “Did not reckon…”

However, students of translation history recognize that the text of this supposed 1545 Bible is corrupted in places and not always an exact replication of Luther’s actual 1545 Bible.  One can download digitally photographed copies of Luther’s original Bibles (here’s one example from 1530), or there’s a handy website entitled http://lutherbibel.net/ that has reproduced the exact text in an easily searchable format.  This is called the Ausgabe letzter Hand.

In the Greek, 2 Corinthians 5:19 has one imperfect main verb (God “was”), and then two present active participles (“reconciling,” “reckoning”).  Instead of turning these into past tense indicative verbs as the corrupt versions of Luther’s Bible have it, here is Luther’s original wording of 2 Corinthians 5:19 (the same in 1545 as it was in 1530):

19 Denn Gott war in Christo / vnd versönet die Welt mit jm selber / vnd rechnet jnen jre sünde nicht zu / vnd hat vnter vns auff gerichtet das Wort von der versönung.

Luther used present tense verbs, not past tense verbs.  Literally, “For God was in Christ, and reconciles the world with himself, and does not reckon their sins to them, and has established among us the word about the reconciliation.”

When Luther wanted to use a third person singular past tense of “to reckon,” as in Genesis 15:6, he used the word “rechent.”  But the fact that he uses a present tense verb in 2 Corinthians 5:19 (“rechnet”) is further evidence that he viewed the present tense Greek participle, not as referring back to a one-time event that took place on the cross, but to the ongoing reconciling of the world that God accomplishes through the ministry of the Word, which proclaims a God who gave His Son for the world as the price of reconciliation and as the perpetual Reconciler between God and sinners, who reconciles sinners to God, not “whether they believe in Him or not,” but through faith.

In other words, Paul is teaching nothing in 2 Corinthians 5:19 but the very same thing that Jesus taught as recorded in John 3:16-18.  God loved the world.  God gave His Son as a sacrifice to reconcile the world to Himself.  All who believe in the Son are reconciled with God.  Those who don’t believe in Him remain in condemnation.

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How To Learn about Walther

This is the creepy Walther shrine in St. Louis.
There are three Walther statues in Missouri: inside this shrine, at the Purple Palace, and in Perryville.

Someone asked about learning the true story of Walther.

First, students of history should gather as many documents as possible and test whether the claims of Missouri mythology are valid.

Zion on the Mississippi is easy to obtain on the used book market.

Philip Stephan's The Pursuit of Religious Freedom is the recently published saga of the Stephan clan, which gave so much to the LCMS and has received so little in return.

The attorney Vehse, who handled Stephan's affairs in Europe and went along to America, returning in disgust, also chronicled the great escape from Babylon. His account in German and English is all over the used book zones.

Ludwig Fuerbringer, whose father married the widow of O. H. Walther (Ferdy's brudder), wrote two memoirs about Missouri - both of them excellent. They are out there and easy to buy for about $10.

The books of Missouri mythology are also worthwhile, because they add important details. The ones above are far more analytical, but the gushing tomes also give away clues.

Servant of the Word is a gusher with some genuine surprises. Walther blamed Mrs. Stephan for the bishop's adultery! In case you wonder about being abused and then accused in Missouri, here is an example in print. Stephan gave his wife and children syphilis, but his adultery was her fault. Walther offered that slander "privately" and CPH published the calumny for all the world to read.

Re-reading Zion showed me that Walther's complicty in Stephan's adultery has always been known. Walther was not only the enforcer in the Stephan sex cult, he was also the pimp. There was no sudden, shocking admission of adultery from one (or two?) women. They all knew or chose not to know. It was a public court case. Stephan was under house arrest until he was released to leave for America. Vehse and Marbach were his lawyers in Dresden, his lay leaders on the way to Missouri.

The Stephan book fills in many gaps. Zion shows how Walther organized the hand-picked mob that invaded Perryville. The mob threatened the bishop's life, then robbed him of all gold, books, personal possessions, and land. They forced Stephan across the river to Illinois at gunpoint. And yet this farce of pastoral practice is portrayed today in Perryville as "giving Stephan three alternatives."

He began his crime spree by kidnapping his niece and nephew from his father's parsonage.
His father was deathly ill at the time.
The police put arrest warrants out for Walther,
and Walther's future mother-in-law went to jail for her part in hiding the children.

More Bunk from the WELS Bunko Artist

Dave Scaer is one of those UOJ stylists whose creative polemics
show how shallow they all are.

Luther Bunko has left a new comment on your post "My Summary of UOJ - Its Crafts and Assaults":

The Rev. Dr. Hoenecke went to great lengths to help Missouri in the Election Controversies. Granted there has been quite a muddling of terms regarding OJ, especially in the WELS, but rightly taught, the universal redemption of the world is OJ. Hoenecke was truthful in his expositions as well as the Missourians of the time. You, however deny that mankind has been redeemed. The BoC confesses this universal redemption as does the Gausewitz catechism. 

***

GJ - WELSians cannot get above their repeat-after-me level of discourse because they are trained that way. If they venture to think and write on their own, ZOT!

I publish under my own name. I do not sit in Oshkosh or any location and publish anonymous, false accusations. 

Notice the accusation in red. Where is the citation? That is typical WELS style, to publish a charge without evidence. 

The last Bunko message was a personal attack, perhaps because Bunko was off his meds, angry with his parole officer, and having problems in his Twelve Step program. I can speculate because he cannot own up to his own name.

I am guessing, since this chap is inarticulate and unschooled in theology, that he equates redemption with universal absolution. That the is crux of OJ, UOJ, or General Justification. 

Paying for the sins of the world is not the same as announcing that all the cannibals are absolved, forgiven, and saved - as Jon-Boy Buchholz teaches.

Believing in Christ is forgiveness. There is no forgiveness apart from the Word in the Means of Grace, apart from the Holy Spirit at work in the Gospel.

Pastor Paul Rydecki - Philip Melanchthon on 2 Corinthians 5:19 | Faith Alone Justifies - Pastor Paul Rydecki

Philip Melanchthon on 2 Corinthians 5:19 | Faith Alone Justifies:

Philip Melanchthon on 2 Corinthians 5:19

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Rev. Rydecki

One of the Bible passages often cited by modern Lutherans in an attempt to prove that all people have already been justified is 2 Corinthians 5:19.  They point especially to the phrase “not imputing their sins to them” (“them” being “the world”). Since the Apostle Paul equates the non-imputation of sins with justification in Romans 4:5-8, they claim that this means that the whole world has already been justified.

But it couldn’t be more clear that when Paul speaks of the non-imputation of sins in Rom. 4:5-8, he is referring only to those who have faith, for “his faith is accounted for righteousness.”

There are two possibilities here.  Either (1) Paul is using the exact same language to describe two different “events,” one justification that took place at the cross of Christ without the ministry of the Word and not through faith (2 Cor. 5:19), and another justification that only takes place through faith (Rom. 4:8).  Or (2) Paul is using the exact same language to describe the exact same thing, that God does not impute sins to believers in Christ. In other words, justification only through faith.

Luther, Chemnitz and Melanchthon did not see any world justification in 2 Cor. 5:19.  On the contrary, they saw Paul highlighting the ministry of the Word and teaching justification only through faith in Christ.

Here follows an excerpt from Philip Melanchthon’s 1523 commentary on this verse.  Notice to whom God does not impute sin.

Philip Melanchthon’s

Annotations on Paul’s Epistles: One to the Romans and Two to the Corinthians

1523

(with introductory letter by Dr. Martin Luther)

2 Corinthians 5:19

…not imputing their sins to them.

This demonstrates what the effect is of the reconciliation made by the Son.  For since God the Father transferred the sins of us all from us to the Son so that He might pay for us the penalty for sins and in this way reconcile again the offended Father, the eternal Father now does not impute sins to those who believe in His Son; He regards them as righteous on account of the obedience and intercession of His Son.  For the righteousness of man which God regards as righteousness is that sins are remitted, are not imputed and are covered, as Paul defines righteousness in Romans 4, citing Psalm 32.  Therefore, the effect of reconciliation is that sins are not imputed; instead, the faith that embraces Christ the Reconciler is imputed for righteousness.

And He placed among us, etc.

That is, He instituted the ministry of teaching about the reconciliation made through the death of the Son.  For God wants it announced to the entire human race that reconciliation has been made by the Son, so that sins are not imputed to believers; instead, righteousness is imputed to them, and thus believers are saved.  For this reason, among the ruins of the empires and so many sects and heresies, God has to this day wondrously preserved this ministry, and will continue to preserve it until the end of the world and the advent of His Son, as Paul says, “You shall announce the death of the Lord until He comes.”

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