Answering Some Objectionable OJ Claims - Bethany Research Team

Howling Oh Jay!

Brethren: UOJers claim that there is great comfort in the doctrine of UOJ.  What I see in the doctrine is the abuse of "You've AREADY been forgiven!" which I believe totally undermines "Subjective Justification."
Why repent?  Why confess one's sins?  Why desire Absolution?  "You've ALREADY been forgiven!"  What else matters?  And, WHERE is the motive for the seeking of Sanctification, as the Bible teaches me to seek?


On the other hand, the doctrine of the Atonement comforts me with the knowledge that Christ died for the sins of the world, and therefore for MY sins as well.  The forgiveness of sins gained for me by Christ's atoning death is received by me in the Means of Grace, through which the Holy Spirit conveys the Gospel to me, bringing me to faith in Christ as my Savior and keeping me in that saving faith as I continue throughout my life to partake of those Means of Grace.  And through those same Means of Grace which brought me my Justification, the Holy Spirit conveys to me the power to continue to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," (2 Peter 3:18) in my Sanctification, never complete in this life, but in the life to come.


Pastor Jackson, am I correctly understanding this?

GJ -

Hi everyone. The Atonement is the Gospel that creates and sustains faith by the work of the Holy Spirit in the Word. There are many words for the Atonement, such as propitiation, redemption (two different Greek words with two somewhat different meanings), ransom, etc.

Justification has few synonyms, maybe only one - forgiveness. Their confusion is that Justification is always by faith and always God's declaration. The UOJists merge the Atonement with Justification and say

voilà!

 - We have OJ, God has declared the world forgiven.

All the forms of OJ have God declaring universal forgiveness and salvation. There is no record, no Word where this is taught. So I guess we have to take that "on faith" - my joke. General Justification, UOJ, OJ, and Justification of the World (Brenner) have the exact same message. 

These yahoos have read Walther and Pieper but not modern theology, which uses the same explanations. God is all grace and all forgiveness. To require faith is to negate grace completely. Grace does not allow for contingencies, they declare repeatedly. They do not say, "We do not believe," only that "Requiring faith means removing grace. Grace does not allow for if someone believes."

For a long time the UOJists howled, "Raised for our justification. UOJ! Romans 4:25!" So I kept reminding them of Romans 4:24 - "If we believe in the One..." That is the dreaded contingency - if we believe. Didn't Paul know better? 

And yet they go on with the same blabbering. One thing is true - they never say "Justified by Faith." John Sparky Brenner thinks the opposite of Objective Justification is "the individual appropriation of forgiveness." As Paul began Romans 5 - Since we have individually appropriated forgiveness...

That lacks the grand simplicity of the original, no?

 Our sect approves, because we took over our sect.
Aren't we clever?