Feel free to send typos to bethanylutheranworship@gmail.com
The Plan for the Book
Preface - The Faith of Jesus in Romans and Galatians
Resources for Studying Justification by Faith and Universal Objective Justification
Historical Introduction - The Origin of OJ, SJ, General Justification and Universal Objective Justifications
The Bibical Passages about Justification and the Verses Mangled for UOJ
Calvinism and Pietism
UOJ Quotations
Luther and the Book of Concord Quotations on Justification by Faith
Review of Jay Webber's Emmaus 2015 Essay In Support of UOJ
The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord
III. The Righteousness of Faith
6] This article concerning justification by faith (as the Apology says) is the chief article in the entire Christian doctrine, without which no poor conscience can have any firm consolation, or can truly know the riches of the grace of Christ, as Dr. Luther also has written: If this only article remains pure on the battlefield, the Christian Church also remains pure, and in goodly harmony and without any sects; but if it does not remain pure, it is not possible that any error or fanatical spirit can be resisted.
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| WELS Seminary Professor and Fuller Seminary alumnus - like his pal David Valleskey - turns Luther's doctrine inside-out, calling his version blah blah. |
“The article of justification is the master and prince, the lord, the ruler, and the judge over all kinds of doctrines; it preserves and governs all church doctrine and raises up our consciences before God. Without this article the world is utter darkness and death.” (Martin Luther, What Luther Says, Vol. 2. p 703.)
After quoting Luther so effectively in the very first paragraph, Bivens corrected Paul, Luther, Melanchthon, Chemnitz, and the rest thus –
What precisely is this “master and prince, lord, ruler and judge” over other doctrines? Justification is a declaratory act of God, in which he pronounces sinners righteous. As revealed in the Bible, this declaration of God is made totally by grace and on account of Jesus Christ and his substitutionary life and death on behalf of mankind. To phrase it somewhat differently, God has justified acquitted or declared righteous the whole world of sinners. He has forgiven them. They have been reconciled to God; their status in his eyes has been changed from that of sinner to forgiven sinner for the sake of Jesus Christ. Since all this applies to all people, the term universal or general justification is used. In our circles an alternate term, objective justification, is also used. If justification is universal, it must also be objective - sinners are forgiven whether they believe it or not. This is precisely what Scripture teaches in Romans 3:23-24, when it says, “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. “ All have sinned and all (sic) are justified freely by God’s grace. Ibid.
