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| Studying Melanchthon teaches us to articulate the faith in Biblical terms, as he did with great - but simple - eloquence. |
Here is my mea culpa on the topic of starting with the Scriptures. I was working on Thy Strong Word when I ran into a little essay by Egbert Schaller (same Schaller family, but largely unknown, I think). He said that Walther was not a Biblical theologian and that crippled his work. That jolted me from relying on quotations alone from famous theologians.
I had to go through the Scripture passages and prove efficacy and the Means of Grace apart from quotations. I had to ask, "Does the Bible really teach the the Spirit is never without the Word and the Word is never without the Spirit?" So I built up material from the Scriptures that argued against the Biblical position of Luther.
I enjoyed the task, which is laid out in the first chapters of Thy Strong Word. I realized from that work that no one was doing this at all. Everyone was burying himself in his synod gurus and loyalty to the infallible sect.
Melanchthon contributed a lot that we do not really give him credit for, but his background in Aristotle and love for Greek culture started a trend toward the philosophical. Luther wanted Aristotle forgotten. As I recall, Melanchthon edited an edition of Aristotle after Luther died. It would be good to have the Manschrek bio of Melanchthon, The Quiet Reformer. He was a student of Bainton. Oh, I just found it and ordered it for myself - 99 cents. If we really want to understand the German Reformation, we also need to know and appreciate Melanchthon. His defense of JBFA in the Apology is superb - never mentioned by OJists.
2 Corinthians 5 is assuring the believers that this exchange, reconciliation is ongoing, Christ giving His righteousness through faith, our sins being drowned in a sea of grace. The genius of the OJists is to take an Atonement passage and make it OJ, always merged Atonement and JBFA, then denying OJ is the Atonement. Totally mixed up. That is why we have to unwind the debate and go back to the sources, the Scriptures, where your expert and my expert are silent and we only hear the plain Word.
My books are available free - public domain - here. Feel free to copy them and share them. No fees. No one will serve you papers. Just give credit, which is the foundation of academic honesty.
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| I am waiting for the next wave of apostasy - Melanchthon taught OJ! You can prevent that by knowing his vital work for the Reformation. Luther and Melanchthon trained Chemnitz. |
