"The Holy Spirit
teaches man better than all the books; He teaches him to understand the
Scriptures better than he can understand them from the teaching of any other;
and of his own accord he does everything God wills he should, so the Law dare
make no demands upon him."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8
vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p.
280. Pentecost Sunday John 14:23-31.
Luther’s statement about the
Holy Spirit is the most read on the Ichabod blog, with more than 100,000 views.
The post contains the graphic, the quotation in the text, and some Biblical passages
on the efficacy of the Word.
To
Study Justification by Faith in the Bible
Isaiah 55, Mark 4, and Hebrews 4 – the efficacy of the Word.
Jesus teaches in John 16 that "not believing on Me" is the foundational sin.
Isaiah 55 and Romans 10 have been called the Means of Grace
chapters of the Bible.
Romans 10 could also be called a faith chapter, since
Paul connects the preaching of the Word with the creation of faith.
Romans 3-5 – Justification by Faith is taught after all
forms of justification by the Law or by works are dismissed as inadequate and
misleading.
Two
Ignored Justification by Faith Treasures – Melanchthon’s Apology of the
Augsburg Confession and Luther’s Galatians Commentary
Both works are easily available on the Net, and both find a
place in the Book of Concord. Although Melanchthon wrote the Apology or Defense
of the Augsburg Confession, the princes and clergy made the document their
confession as well. Luther considered himself a “theologian of the Augsburg
Confession” and the Book of Concord editors did as well. The editors of the
Formula of Concord commended Luther’s
Galatians Commentary for additional study of justification. The entire book
cannot be included in a concise confession, but this recommendation is the
highest possible praise for Galatians, the best work on justification by the
greatest theologian and Biblical scholar of the Christian Church. Therefore,
one cannot dispute the justification by faith or invent new twists—like
universal justification and double justification—and claim to be an orthodox or
Confessional Lutheran.
Lutherans seldom concede that all their denominations were
conceived in an era of Pietism, when Spener and his cohorts had a very special
place in the hearts of the founders. They were escaping the secularism of the
state church in Scandinavia, and avoiding the law in Germany. The Stephanite
exodus was deliberately Pietistic, and the Walther circle followed Pietistic
leaders (Kuehn and Stephan) and studied Pietistic authors – Rambach, Arndt, A.
H. Franke, Spener, and Fresenius. Zion,
p. 38.
All the groups were strangely alike in their unionism,
combining Lutheran and Reformed communion (Wisconsin Synod and the General
Synod), and indifferent to the Book of Concord at first. They looked to Halle
University as the center of Pietism and engaged in conventicles or cell groups,
which have been brought back in the name of Fuller Seminary’s Church Growth Movement.
The founders of ELCA, like Missouri and WELS, struggled with Lutheran identity but
went back to rationalistic Pietism of the past, including the universal
justification of Halle University, Rambach, and Knapp. The history is sad and
the details endless. Now all the Lutheran leaders agree on the whole world
forgiven—without the Word or faith or the Means of Grace—and work together
through Thrivent Insurance.
The Apology of the Augsburg Confession is a great but
overlooked treasure. The essay on justification by faith illustrates why Luther
held his colleague in such high esteem.
Faith is that my whole heart takes to itself this treasure. It is
not my doing, not my presenting or giving, not my work or preparation, but that
a heart comforts itself, and is perfectly confident with respect to this,
namely, that God makes a present and gift to us, and not we to Him, that He
sheds upon us every treasure of grace in Christ. Apology IV, 48.
Melanchthon did not omit repentance, as the
opponents of justification by faith do. They offer cheap grace that promises
people being born forgiven and even being guilt-free saints in Hell, a potent
sign of theological illiteracy.
For the Gospel convicts all men that they are under sin, that they
all are subject to eternal wrath and death, and offers, for Christ's sake,
remission of sin and justification, which is received by faith. The preaching
of repentance, which accuses us, terrifies consciences with true and grave
terrors. For the preaching of repentance, or this declaration of the Gospel:
Amend your lives! Repent! when it truly penetrates the heart, terrifies the
conscience, and is no jest, but a great terror, in which the conscience feels
its misery and sin, and the wrath of God. That Faith in Christ Justifies, Apology,
IV, 61
Few can write as clearly and
concisely as Melanchthon, so it is no wonder that with all objections to UOJ
answered in advance, none of these bravehearts want to quote him. The
sub-headings in this section are worth noting. By themselves they create a
framework that does not allow for universal justification without faith.
76 To attain the remission of sins is to be justified, according
to Ps. 32:1: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. By faith alone in
Christ, not through love, not because of love or works, do we acquire the
remission of sins, although love follows faith. 78 Therefore by faith alone we
are justified, understanding justification as the making of a righteous man out
of an unrighteous, or that he be regenerated. That We Obtain Remission of Sins
by Faith Alone in Christ. Apology IV, 76f.
Luther’s Galatians Commentary in the Formula of Concord
At the end of the section on The
Righteousness of Faith (nota bene),
Solid Declaration, the Concordists write:
Concerning what is needful furthermore for the proper explanation
of this profound and chief article of justification before God, upon which
depends the salvation of our souls, we direct, and for the sake of brevity
herewith refer, every one to Dr. Luther's beautiful and glorious exposition of
the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians. Formula of
Concord, Solid Declaration, The Righteousness of Faith, III, 67.
Luther wrote his final version of
his Galatians Commentary so there
would be no doubts about the apostle’s inspired teaching. This commentary is
easily obtained in many version, in older English, in the American Edition of
Luther, and so forth. One only needs to Google the name of the book to find a
variety of editions, from print editions to free ones on the Net. But Fallowes’
statement in the graphic is still true today – the commentary is almost extinct
and forgotten, with Stephan, Walther, and Barth exalted as the true prophets
who will explain universal justification.
Melanchthon and Luther worked
closely together, and Melanchthon’s work at Augsburg in 1530 became the
confession of Luther, the theologians, and the Protestant princes. These two
articles teach the efficacy of the Gospel Word, the exclusive work of the Holy
Spirit through the Invisible Word of teaching and preaching, and through the
Visible Word of the Sacraments. These are called for the sake of brevity, the
Means of Grace.
Article IV: Of Justification. Augsburg Confession
1 Also they teach that men cannot
be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely
justified for 2 Christ's sake, through faith, when they believe that they are
received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, who,
by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. 3 This faith God imputes for
righteousness in His sight. Rom. 3 and 4.
Article V: Of the Ministry. Augsburg Confession
1 That we may obtain this faith,
the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was
instituted. For through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, 2 the
Holy Ghost is given, who works faith; where and when it pleases God, in them
that hear 3 the Gospel, to wit, that God, not for our own merits, but for
Christ's sake, justifies those who believe that they are received into grace
for Christ's sake.
4 They condemn the Anabaptists and
others who think that the Holy Ghost comes to men without the external Word,
through their own preparations and works.
The transition from the New
Testament to the Augsburg Confession is easy, since the Reformers thought of
their work as explaining the text of the Bible, not defending the doctrine of
their professors and relatives. For that reason, universal justification is
found nowhere in Luther, Melanchthon, Chemnitz, the Book of Concord, or
Gerhard. Other theologians of the Reformation and Concord era, such as
Chytraeus, Hunnius, and P. Leyser, are just as clear about justification by
faith alone.
Luther understood well the
persecution of the Word by Satan, in both ways – the outward persecution by
exile, murder, imprisonment, and destruction – but also the subtle and more
effective approach of steady correction and improvement.
No one says, “I am against Luther
and the Book of Concord. Even those who know nothing of the Confessions will
say, “I am Confessional Lutheran, orthodox, and I hold a quia subscription to the Book of Concord.” But most Lutheran
leaders immediately begin to improve on Jesus, the Apostles, Luther, and
Melanchthon by redefining justification as universal forgiveness and condemning
the Spirit’s creation of faith as a work of man. Luther saw this long ago –
After this manner doeth the devil hinder the course of the Gospel,
both on the right hand and the left, but more on the right hand, by building
and correcting, than on the left by persecuting and destroying. Kregel edition, p. 22.
The building and correcting have
accumulated enough to occupy an entire landmass, as Douglas Adams might say.
All of Walther’s works were based on UOJ. His disciple Francis Pieper wrote his
own Dogmatics focusing on UOJ, using
the double justification language of the Calvinist Leonard Woods Jr. The followers
of Walther and Pieper formed the faculty of the Wauwatosa Seminary, which was
later located in Mequon, all extolling their eccentric mix of Pietism,
rationalism, and scholasticism. The WELS essay files are packed with endless
repetitions of UOJ, which is proclaimed as the Chief Article.
The words of Luther are used to
overturn Luther’s doctrine – more importantly – the inspired and infallible
revelation of the Bible. Forrest Bivens is one of many examples quoting Luther
to overturn Luther, in 1996. Thus –
 |
Forrest Bivens rejects the Chief Article,
by calling justification without faith the Master and Prince of all doctrines. |
“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.
The second all In Romans 3 is inserted by the
New NIV and Bivens, which is why the Mequon faculty has forced the New NIV on
WELS. If someone reads this aloud, one finds the wording moving craftily into
UOJ. Therefore, UOJ is the Chief Article without it, the world lies in utter
darkness. Bivens made Universalism his creed and ELCA his ideal fellowship in
this deceptive and manipulative statement. No one needs to wonder why a
putative Lutheran seminary faculty demands a paraphrase that omits the
Sacraments and desecrates justification by faith.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod may be more
diversified but the official language remains UOJ. David Scaer has obnoxiously
stated –
Claiming that God
still counts sin against the world denies both the atonement and justification.
By Christ's atonement all mankind appears to God as righteous...but subjective
justification has no life of its own; it makes objective justification
personal, which is only a facet of the universal atonement. The Third Use of the
Law, 2005.
And…
Whoever denies objective
justification reduces justification to the act of believing and does not
believe in it at all. Logically, he denies the atonement and preaches that man
is responsible for his sins. Ibid.
Although Scaer is famous for his
bizarre declarations, this is really a classic imposition of guilt on anyone
who dares to believe, teach, and confess justification by faith.
