Luther - Large Catechism - Lord's Prayer - Book of Concord
88] Therefore there is here again great need to call upon God and to pray: Dear Father, forgive us our trespasses. Not as though He did not forgive sin without and even before our prayer (for He has given us the Gospel, in which is pure forgiveness before we prayed or ever thought about it). But this is to the intent that we may recognize and accept such forgiveness.
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GJ - Whenever the UOJ Stormtroopers start beating their gums about everyone forgiven without faith, they cite the Lord's Prayer in he Large Catechism as Luther's teaching of Universal Objective Justification or Objective Justification. They prance, preen, and pound the table, but their argument is impaled by the Small Catechism.
What is the Lord's Prayer? - we should ask first. The disciples, believers, said, "Lord, teach us to pray." The Lord's Prayer is a model for Christian believers, The Perfect Prayer, as one classic book titled it.
What does the Small Catechism teach about forgiveness?
The Small Catechism, Book of Concord
The Third Article.
Of Sanctification.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; one holy Christian Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
What does this mean?--Answer.
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.
The UOJ Pallbearers, so eager to bury the Christian Church with their philosophy, use the fallacy of accent or emphasis here. They emphasize one matter to distort Christian doctrine. Yes, believers are daily forgiven all their sins, so we are forgiven without and before our prayer. But we are not forgiven without and before our faith, a claim which is the foundation, in fact, the only content of UOJ/OJ.
UOJ teaches two things which are really only one:
- God has declared the entire world forgiven, regardless of faith.
- Each person must decide this universal absolution is true to be forgiven.
Number 2 is simply a restatement of 1. Number 2 is not faith and has nothing to do with the efficacious Gospel. It is a decision, an act of the mind and will, contrary to the teaching of the Scriptures, just as Number 1 is against the Word of God.
So I have to agree with the late Carl Mischke and the Seer of Emmaus, Jay Webber - they are two sides of the same coin, but the coin is a wooden nickel. The error of Number 1 does not make Number 2 authentic or true. The statements are two expressions of Enthusiasm, grace without the Means of Grace, mans's word without and apart from the work of the Holy Spirit.
Ever since Zwingli and Calvin, the Protestants have waged war against Justification by Faith. Many times they use long-established terms, but only to smuggle their own philosophies, which they find so appealing compared to the "fisherman's voice of the Holy Spirit."
