Small s for the Scriptures - DP Buchholz Sent This Around - From an Anonymous Source. Sounds Like Mequon. Were 50+ Pages from Webber Not Enough Torture?

It has been said by some that the doctrine of objective justification is too hard to understand. It has been said that it makes what the scriptures present so simply, complicated. But I would contend that objective justification attempts to do justice to everything that the scriptures say without diminishing the value of either the sacrifice of Christ or Holy Spirit worked faith. To demonstrate this point there follows a brief outline of the order of salvation with emphasis specifically upon the issues under discussion. The passages that are cited were chosen because they are commonly used among us. They are not to be considered the only passages which address a point but they are considered by the author to be among the best to display that a given point is found in the Bible.

I want to begin with God’s intent. There will be no debate among us that God desires that everyone be saved. In the passage below it tells us clearly that God sent Jesus into the world to save the world. That was the purpose of his coming. By the world we understand all people of all time. Jesus did not come only to save believers. If we state that Jesus’ intent and goal in coming or God’s intent in sending him, was to save only believers, we would fall into the error of John Calvin. He placed the blame for the condemnation of the unbeliever squarely on God’s shoulders. He answered the question: “why do some go to heaven and others not?” by saying that those who are lost are lost because God didn’t want to save them. He chose them to go to hell before the creation of the world. Therefore Christ didn’t come to save all people, he came only to save believers. But this stands in direct conflict with the passage below and others in the scriptures.

John 3 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

The Bible tells us that God’s intent was to save the world. It also tells us that he followed through on that intent. God sent Jesus to save the world. So Jesus is the Savior of all people. He saved all people by dying on the cross. When it is said that Jesus saved all people it is meant that he affected a rescue for all people at the cross. His death on the cross is the atoning sacrifice for sins. What is an atoning sacrifice? A sacrifice of atonement was offered to make people clean. That is what God tells his people in Leviticus 16:30 “because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins”. In our confirmation classes we often use a play on words to explain what it means to atone. We tell the children that atone mean to make “at-one”. The cleansing of sin removes the barrier that stands between people and God. Sin is a barrier that separates people from God. We attribute this to God’s perfection and justice. God expects all people to be perfect as he is perfect. There isn’t a single person apart from Jesus who lives up to God’s expectation. Nor is any person, apart from Christ, by their own strength capable of doing everything necessary to win God’s favor and a place in heaven. Therefore God must step in to save people. This is what he did in Christ. Jesus offered himself as the sacrifice of atonement. He made payment for the sins of all people believers and unbelievers alike.

1 Timothy 4:9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance 10 (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.

I John 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

There are other words in the Bible that have the concept of payment associated with them. Redeem, which means to buy back or to pay a ransom. Jesus’ final words on the cross “it is finished” are a single word in the Greek language. That word has been found written on the bottom of ancient invoices to indicate that the balance had been paid. When payment is made something is received in return. The payment that Jesus made was his blood which he poured out while hanging on the cross. That payment was made to God. That payment purchased all people believers and unbelievers alike. That the payment was of sufficient value cannot be debated. On the cross was offered the God-man Jesus Christ. This payment was of sufficient value to pay for an infinite number of people, for an infinite number of sins. Thus we can say that Jesus bought all people. Even those who deny him were bought and are owned by God. People have no role in any of this. God’s ownership is not dependant on a person’s faith or any other factor. God owns a person because he paid for them at the cross.

2 Peter 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

There is another way to think about what happened at the cross. Not only did Christ make a payment but he also suffered the consequences for our sin. We know this because while he was hanging on the cross Jesus experienced separation from God, which prompted him to say “my God my God why have you forsaken me!” Additionally Jesus also suffered the ultimate consequence of sin, which is death. Jesus should not have died. As a perfect human being he could have lived for all eternity in harmony with God. But because he took the sins of all people on himself, he was subject to the penalty of those sins, so Jesus died. When Jesus died he suffered the punishment that those sins deserved. The death Jesus experienced was both physical and spiritual death. So it can be said that Jesus endured hell while he was on the cross. Jesus was punished, enduring death for every sin of every person. So when Jesus died the sinner died. The wages of their sin had been paid to Jesus and he endured the consequences.

2 Corinthians 5:14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

The sentence for sin is death. Jesus endured that sentence for the sins of the world. By his death Jesus satisfied God’s perfect justice. The wages of sin had been paid upon Christ. We know God was satisfied because Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning. With justice satisfied and having purchased all people there is nothing standing between a person and God other than their own unbelief. In this way God reconciled all people to himself. Reconcile means to restore friendly relations. This reconciliation was achieved at the cross. But why does the Bible then speak of God’s anger over sin? The Bible contains two messages, Law and Gospel. The Law only proclaims God’s anger over sin. Though fulfilled by Christ the Law continues to proclaim its message of anger and destruction. The message of the Law cannot change. It will continue to condemn all sinners till the end of time. But the message of the law doesn’t negate the message of the gospel. If it did then we would all be going to hell. Instead we believe that God was reconciled to sinners at the cross.

Colossians 1:19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Romans 5:6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

The Gospel is the good news. It tells us everything that God has done. God gave us the Gospel so that we would know what Jesus did for us. It gives to us the promises that God makes to sinners.

John 20: 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

The Gospel shares what God has done for sinners. It also calls those same sinners to believe its message. The Gospel tells people that Jesus died for their sins. It tells them that Jesus paid the penalty for them. The Gospel tells them that Jesus satisfied God’s perfect justice on the cross. The Gospel tells them that God is reconciled to sinners. The Gospel tells sinners all these things. We share the Gospel message with people in the hope that they will believe what Jesus has done for them. We hope that they will trust in the promises that God has made to them in his word. We hope that they will believe that what God says to them in the Bible is true.

John 3 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

But we also recognize that no one can come to believe God’s promises on their own. All people come into this world as enemies of God. They are hostile to him and they reject his promises. On their own a person is unable to change their attitude toward God and his word. Therefore the Holy Spirit works through the message of the Gospel, contained in the means of grace, to change the heart of a person. Conversion then is solely the work of God through the means of grace, which are the gospel in word and sacrament. A person is converted when, by the Holy Spirit, they believe or trust, in God, in God’s promises, in Jesus, and in Jesus’ work as outlined above. This is commonly described as “believing” or “having faith”. Those who have faith receive what God promises. They become the beneficiaries of the victory that Jesus won for all by his perfect life and death on the cross. This is referred to as subjective justification. Subjective justification means that what Jesus did for all people he also did for the individual. Therefore we acknowledge and affirm that we are justified by faith.

Titus 3: 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Those who believe have the hope of eternal life. Jesus certainly made payment for every sin. He suffered death on behalf of every person. Through the cross God is reconciled to sinners. But heaven is for those who are heirs by faith in Christ.

1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Some might say it is inconsistent that God would do everything for sinners and then turn some away. But it is God who has set up the requirement of faith, and his decisions are not subject to our logic. That being said God does give us the reason in the Bible for why those who do not believe go to hell. God makes it very clear in the Bible that those who go to hell go there because of their own choice. They shoulder all the blame for their own destruction. God did everything for them. He did not treat anyone differently. God gave everyone the same chance under the cross. But there will be many, we are told, who will not accept God’s help. They will refuse to admit that they need help. They will say that the promises God makes aren’t true. They will even deny that God exists at all. In short, there will be many who will call God a liar. In so doing they make the decision to stand before God without Jesus. God calls people to believe in him. He pleads with them to leave their sinful ways behind them. He exhorts people to listen to the gospel. He encourages them to believe his promises. But he does not force them. We believe and teach that people come to faith only by the power of God without any cooperation on their part. But we also believe and teach that each person has the power and authority to reject the gift of God and be lost. God has made it possible for every sinner to be in heaven. Jesus fulfilled the requirements for everyone. The ultimate question then becomes does the sinner believe it? Those who believe go to heaven for all eternity. Those who do not believe refuse Jesus’ help and stand before God on their own merits and receive the sentence their merits deserve, an eternity in hell.

2 Peter 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

1 John 5: 10 Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.

It is the hope that this presentation will serve to show that objective and subjective justification are based upon and flow from the Bible. This distinction in the concept of justification helps the Lutheran church avoid the pitfalls that come with trying to answer the question “why do some go to heaven and others not?” We avoid the danger of limiting the work of Christ only to those who believe, by proclaiming an objective justification. We then avoid the opposite extreme of universalism by proclaiming a subjective justification. Every other approach seems inadequate or insufficient.

Soli Deo Gloria

Beer Party at the Jackson Rose Farm

You worked hard last night, slug family.
Have a beer.

I told our nearby nursery owner that we passed the rose gardens label at some point. Now we are a rose farm. He laughed.

Last night I bought a six-pack of beer and hosted a beer party - for slugs. I had an overwhelming response from two nights of beer in the sunny - aka straw bale garden. I noticed last night that the army of slugs was down to one or two obvious stragglers.

My earlier effort near the two struggling Passion Flower vines was successful for two nights, so I threw a new party there, plus one near my barely present Butterfly Bush - the only one barely above the soil.

One more pan was put near the kitchen door, and I realize the little patio was filled with damp slug food, leaves and organic debris, kept wet by my watering. No wonder they come inside each night - to thank me. That beer pan yielded very little, unless some creature ate from it.

This party cost me $2 in beer for the two bottles. Next I will place a circle or square of copper tape around the vulnerable plants. The slugs have an electrical charge, so they cannot pass across the copper barrier, not unlike the rich man who neglected Lazarus.

The organic remedies are:

• Let them drown themselves in a bowl or pan of beer.
• Surround the target plants with copper mesh or tape.
• Tap a little salt on the outliers.
• Be extra solicitous for the comfort, shelter, and hydration of toads. Ducks, toads, and starlings eat slugs.

Borage flowers are pink and blue,
dropping seed all the time.

Borage is fun to eat off the plant.

This wide view shows how borage looks like its cousin comfrey (knitbone),
another eager grower. Knitbone is often grown for the compost pile.

This Just In - Bloom

1. The borage, a great bee plant, is waist high and blooming like crazy. The flowers are herbal and good for eating and garnish salads. More borage plants are around the yard, as suggested by Sharon Lovejoy.
2. Buchwheat, another bee plant is blooming all over. I sowed it here and there near the soaker hose.
3. Roses are blooming well. The new buds on the magenta KnockOuts have 25 buds on one bush. Peace, John Paul II, Veterans Honor, Barbra Streisand, Falling in Love, Double Delight, and Mr Lincoln are blooming. 
4. Peas are still being harvested. Tomatoes have just started.
5. Pumpkins finally emerged in the heat.
6. Coreopsis - a great beneficial insect plant - bloomed a few minutes after planting.
7. Two bee balm plants are blooming.
8. Lavender continues to bloom after planting.

Bee Balm has many names, including Horse Mint,
and many of God's creatures love it -
bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies.

Part Four - Repudiation of the Webber OJ Essay at the 2015 Emmaus Conference

Repudiation of Jay Webber Essay
D. Forgiveness and Justification

Webber quotes Melanchthon 10 pages into this endless paper, after established Ken Schurb as the final authority on justification. But what is the point? Webber declares – “Forgiveness and justification are not the same” – but in what context, the reader wonders? Frequently used words change meaning from their context.

By this time the audience anticipates the agenda of the essay. There is no attempt to grasp the Biblical doctrine, to deal with the Biblical text, and even less interest in the Reformation. This is nothing more than wandering around the topic and making ex cathedra declarations that offer no warrant for their proclamation. I have to concede that Webber, like Paul McCain, suffers from an inferior education. Concordia in Ft. Wayne was enchanted by UOJ and Church Growth when both MDivs graduated. Professors like David Scaer simply announced their personal revelations. Yelling substituted for teaching and guaranteed the unquestionable truth of the nonsense offered. 

Jungkuntz chaired the first, but not the last,
gay Lutheran seminary board.

Webber quotes from the Book of Concord – the Fortress Press (ELCA) edition, where one of the main editors is an ELCA professor. This should concern the gathered divines, but they are so far into cooperation and worship with ELCA that abandoning a better Book of Concord – their own Triglotta – is no worse than dispatching the King James Version to the dustbins of history. To quote, to cite, to dream, perchance to commune ELCA – thus conscience makes cowards of us all, when Thrivent grants drip with booty and Marvin Schwan posthumously offers his indulgence fees on EZ pay terms.

3. Should I with scoffers join
Her altars to abuse?
No! Better far my tongue were dumb,
My hand its skill should lose.

Hymn #462
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Ps.137
Author: Timothy Dwight, 1800, ab., alt.

Webber has long indulged in quoting the Book of Concord to make it seem like a textbook for Objective Justification – universal forgiveness without faith. Having written no books and having authored no publications worth mentioning, he does not reveal any reading comprehension beyond the level of public high school, where every issue is political and has one answer. The intended meaning of the authority is primary, so words taken out of context should never be used to reverse the meaning of the author. That is especially true of the Holy Spirit’s only publication – the Bible – but almost as important with the Lutheran Confessions. 

I missed this Sasse quotation in the Webber essay.
Please point it out if my cataracts are deceiving me.
Graphic by Zach Engelman

Topical headings in the original should be noted, but this is the second time already that Article III is not named – The Righteousness of Faith. Likewise, Melanchthon’s Apology has been mentioned, but the topical headings alone in the justification section cut this essay to pieces, gathered its withered fragments, and burns them with everlasting fire. The problem with a synodocrat author constantly repeating the political message is evident – a blindness in reading sources except to imagine and invent support for a universally acknowledged (except by Webber) late dogma.

Let us take a break from the bilge for a moment and cite the Book of Concord on this topic. The Concordists called themselves theologians of the Augsburg Confession, following Luther, so we can conclude that these confessors were one with Luther and Melanchton, often students of both, as Tyndale (the original KJV translator) was.

The Chief Article – also known as the Master and Prince – is justification by faith, not OJ. To use the Pietist’s label from the Calvinist Woods, Subjective Justification, and make the original doctrine appear to be false doctrine—is the worse calumny of Christian doctrine. It is false and malicious, and no one can excuse it because of stupidity, ignorance, or a sub-standard education. The Word of God is plain and clear, a unified truth that transcends culture, politics, and Midwestern sects.

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. (Tom. 5, Jena, p. 159.) 7] And concerning this article especially Paul says that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Therefore, in this article he urges with so much zeal and earnestness the particulas exclusivas, that is, the words whereby the works of men are excluded (namely, without Law, without works, by grace [freely], Rom. 3:28; 4:5; Eph. 2:8-9), in order to indicate how highly necessary it is that in this article, aside from [the presentation of] the pure doctrine, the antithesis, that is, all contrary dogmas, be stated separately, exposed, and rejected by this means. Solid Declaration, Formula of Concord, Article III, 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Ibid.

Gerhard worked with Chemnitz on the Harmony of the Gospels.
The Concordists  would all scratch their heads
over the malarkey from the Synodical Conference today.

These two quotations by themselves dispose of the mass of OJ essays foisted upon the innocent, men and women who trust that their leaders are being faithful rather than faithless in their teaching. Many more can be provided, and they show that for OJ to be lifted up as The Gospel, one must conclude that the Bible, Luther, the Concordists, and the post-Concordists like Gerhard contradict themselves. Or perhaps the Holy Spirit is a Calvinist, or an Arminian, or both – since both accusations are leveled at justification by faith.

2. With fraud which they themselves invent
Thy truth they have confounded;
Their hearts are not with one consent
On Thy pure doctrine grounded.
While they parade with outward show,
They lead the people to and fro,
In error's maze astounded.

Hymn 260
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Ps. 12
Author: Martin Luther, 1523

Webber even used the Deutschlander (WELS) argument (p. 11) that OJ and SJ are found throughout the Augsburg Confession, but not really developed as such - once again misreading the Atonement and justification by faith. By page 12 the dishonesty of the essay is even more apparent, because the real agenda is to claim that everyone is forgiven and saved without faith, even before they are born. Paul McCain and Jack Cascione, from the same Church Growth-UOJ era at Ft. Wayne, both cited Robert Preus quoting Edward Preuss on this ecstatic burst of Universalism. Nevertheless, Webber – like his compatriots – lacked to courage to name what he is attacking, mocking, and straw-manning: justification by faith.

This approach is important to observe, because Webber is afraid of a frontal attack. Instead, he wants to replace justification by faith through substitution:

• The true Gospel is universal forgiveness and salvation. Make a decision or else.
• Unknown to centuries of Lutherans, Luther and the Concordists promoted OJ, but we are now more aware of this now, because of the pinheads teaching justification by faith (name it not!).
• Orthodox Lutheran doctrine is defined – not by the Scriptures, faithful translations, Luther, or the Book of Concord – but by the Halle Pietists, the syphilitic founder of the Missouri Synod – Stephan, his devoted follower Walther, and Walther’s personally selected replacement, F. Pieper.
• The true Gospel of universal forgiveness and salvation is not to be debated or discussed among those troglodytes who teach otherwise.