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| Herman A. Preus, UOJist and Martyr to Unfaith |
The Missourians were looked at as the leaders in the election controversy. When Preus and the other Norwegians supported the same position as Walther and Missouri, they were accused of loyalism to the Missouri Synod. The controversy became so fierce in the circles of the Norwegian Synod that on Good Friday, 1883, Herman and Christian were physically removed from their congregations. The Anti-Missourian Brotherhood, a group within the Norwegian Synod, had engineered their removal.[10] They were later received back to their parish after most of the people were convinced of the Preus' position on election.11 - Preus, Johan Carl Keyser Herman Amberg Preus: A family history (Privately printed and distributed by the Preus Family Book Club. 1966)
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| Rolf Preus vacillates between UOJ and JBFA, but he normally lands on UOJ. |
Wiki quoting Rolf Preus quoting Herman A. Preus
Preus defended the doctrine of objective justification. In particular, he wrote:
"According to his new gospel the professor must preach that through his suffering and death Christ has only accomplished so much that God has now become willing to let his wrath cease and to be reconciled and to loose, confer grace, forgive, justify and open access to salvation, but that in actuality he can only do and does all this if man on his part fulfills the condition placed on him by God, namely that he is supposed to believe. And the thing which is thus supposed to be believed does not become this that God already has done this and is reconciled but that God will do it and will be reconciled when he sees the obedience and the good quality in man, that he believes." 5 - http://www.christforus.org/Papers/Content/HermanAmbergPreusonJustificationofWorld.htm
The section quoting Herman A. Preus shows how verbose and convoluted UOJ rationalism can be. Instead of simple Biblical truths, we find the complex syllogistic style of Aquinas and Aristotle. It is like going from Illinois to Milwaukee by taking a short-cut through Arizona. One does not need to bow to centuries of philosophy to teach the truth of the Gospel Word.
Walther's world was one of rationalism (his father and university teachers, not to mention those who ran the state church) and Pietism (his circle of friends, his first Pietist guru, their own cell group, and their final Pietist leader - Martin Stephan, pastor of a Pietist church and leader of cell groups.) Walther simply repeated the Easter absolution of the world according to the Pietists at Halle University, where his guru Stephan studied. 1 Timothy 3:16 does not teach the absolution of the world but the declaration that Christ in being risen from the dead was righteous, without sin.
KJV 1 Timothy 3:16
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.
The second statement is an emphasis upon the sinless, divine nature of Christ. Though He died as if a mortal sinner, He rose because of His sinless divine nature, declared by the Spirit.
The Justification of the World - without faith - aka UOJ - is the sinking sand on which Pietism lived for a moment. Halle University became a rationalistic, anti-Christian center in only one generation. The Bible was attacked on every front by the Halle theologians, so Hoenecke's mentor Tholuck was considered the last of the good ones, and he proudly called himself a Universalist.
I prefer the simple, plain words of Jesus and Paul.
KJV John 16
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
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| As the UOJ Church Gropers say, "Nevermind." |
The Spirit comes to us only through the Word, so the Holy Spirit convicts the world of unbelief, which is exactly the opposite of UOJ - telling unbelievers they are already forgiven.
How does the inspired Word teach the world of righteousness? Clearly this is the righteousness of faith, which is the theme of the Justification article in the Formula of Concord.
Paul teaches the same in his brief but compelling section of Romans. Abraham was justified by faith, Genesis 15, but this lesson does not apply to him alone.
Grace and faith are not opposites, as the UOJ donkeys would have people believe, or do I mean disbelieve?
Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
Romans 4
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.
So the verbal tangles of Herman A. Preus and his disciples can be sliced into fragments by two passages from the New Testament. All the other proof-texts from the UOJists are from seeing and not seeing, hearing and not hearing, the price one pays for obstinate rejection of the Word.
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| Is this not the summary of Romans 4? Only a nitwit could claim that Romans 4 teaches UOJ? Paul is not as dense as the Stormtroopers. |
