UOJ has several variations in nomenclature, but they teach the same thing - General Justification, Objective Justification, Universalism.
The false teachers, like Bivens and Valleskey, solemnly declare that the entire world has already been declared forgiven, whether those people believe in Christ or not.
The only difference is whether they claim this unrecorded declaration took place when Christ died or when He rose from the dead.
Their key verse is 1 Timothy 3:16, but they seldom use it directly, because their so-called proof is not proof at all.
1 Timothy 3:16 King James Version (KJV)
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was
- manifest in the flesh,
- justified in the Spirit,
- seen of angels,
- preached unto the Gentiles,
- believed on in the world,
- received up into glory.
They fuse Romans 4:25 (but not 4:24) with this passage to say that in His resurrection, every single person was declared forgiven.
22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Their logic seems to be fixed on this verse - 2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
No passage declares - or even suggests - that every single person in the world is already justified and saved.
Faith finds no place in this scheme, because their precious Subjective Justification means knowing that this universal absolution is true. Walther and JP Meyer describe their Subjective Justification as making a decision for universal absolution. Walther uses the term faith, but it is not the Biblical meaning of faith. Since they view faith as a work of man, they are faithless in describing faith.
In the name of grace, they re-introduce a bizarre version of Arminian decision theology, which they supposedly deplore.
What does that mean for the concept of faith? I can definitely say from experience that the UOJ Enthusiasts are hyper-allergic to faith. They abhor the word faith and warn everyone against faith. They regard faith as a work, although nothing in the Bible or Confessions supports that definition.
Objective Justification is not the Atonement, according to the Hive, so what is the Atonement?
They have merged the Atonement with justification and made it universal, applying everyone at once for all time, with a special emphasis on unbelievers.
Bivens, as a seminary professor wrote -
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.
Note that he used the New NIV invention of a second all, to make the text say that all are justified. Here is my all - All the mainline denominations think this way and they all teach Universalism as pure grace, so there is nothing to do except tell people what is true - You are all forgiven and saved.
This eliminates the Means of Grace. Baptized babies only need to know that baptism was not needed - they were born forgiven and saved, as intoned by Edward Preuss, quoted by Paul McCain and Jack Cascione citing the early Robert Preus.
I figure that the UOJ mainline leaders fall into two classes since worship is no longer receiving God's grace.
One class is sinuflecting to Rome, emphasizing the highest of high church traditions because they find meaning in the incense, the bowing, the gestures, the robes, the colors, and the kneeling. This is high church entertainment evangelism.
The second class is a troupe of clowns, emphasizing themselves in another way, wearing goofy clothes, using shocking language, featuring the opposite of classic hymns and liturgy, looking for laughs and applause, feeding the audience with soft drinks and snacks, and titillating the crowd. No one comes to that church for the Means of Grace. They are attracted to the personality of Pastor Joe, waiting to be shocked into laughter. This is circus clown entertainment evangelism, warned against by Lenski and JP Meyer, but embraced by Missouri, WELS, and the dying Sect on the Prairie.
