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| I corresponded with Roland Bainton, the author of Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, and gathered short biographies of him from his students, which is now in the Yale University Library. |
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| Clyde L. Manschrek studied church history with Bainton at Yale. |
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| Recently I bought this for myself (again) and bought another copy for a church member. Manschreck thanked Bainton for his guidance in scholarship. Bainton trained people for 50 years, and we heard him lecture at Yale - including Mrs. I and LI. |
Many laity have caught onto the ruse, because toxic Objective Justification has been hidden from them, like deadly heavy metals hidden in a beverage. "Dear, this coffee tastes bitter...tinny...funny...strange." One doting wife brought more of the same into the hospital while her husband was being treated for unusual symptoms. How thoughtful of her! And he got worse in the hospital.
I have observed many OJ salesmen announcing with pious rage, "He denies Objective Justification!" They never say, as they should, "We loathe Justification by Faith." In fact, that term is seldom mentioned at all. Bivens and Zarling cleverly used the descriptions for the Chief Article and applied them to Objective Justification. Do they practice to deceive in any other areas of the Faith?
Most realize, from basic reading of the Bible, that Paul teaches Justification by Faith. I have argued that for decades, perhaps being too lax in overlooking the poor education offered by LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic). There is a reason parochial is synonymous with backward, ignorant, poorly educated, narrow-minded. Someone raised in Wisconsin and forced into WELS parochial schools, from Kindergarten up, will learn hazing methods, the glories of Holy Mother WELS, and little more. The children of one family, all WELS graduates, did not know what the Book of Concord was.
What does the outside world say about this topic?
Manschreck wrote about the Apology of the Augsburg Confession in Melanchthon: The Quiet Reformer:
"He supported the evangelical doctrines and practices with scriptural references and diligently traced the origin and development of the opposing views to expose them as human, scholastic additions. He showed that the Lutheran practices were not innovations at all but in complete conformity with the ways of the primitive church. For all the polemic in the writing, it was also dignified and respectful. A sense of deep feeling permeated the entire book, as if Melanchthon had experienced everything about which he wrote. Justification by faith keyed the contents, for not only was this itself copiously treated, but every topic was inevitably brought back to this central doctrine. No other document of the time affords a better view of the theology of the Reformation nor a better explanation of the Augsburg Confession than the Apology of Melanchthon." p. 212 [underlining added for the synodicals]
And no, Luther did not disagree with Melanchthon about the Chief Article. He had the greatest respect for Philip and realized the beneficial qualities of his associate. That anyone would connect Halle's OJ with Luther is a testament to the abysmal ignorance of the current leadership of those dying sects.
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| Harvard's Krister Stendahl called Nils A. Dahl, above, "the finest Biblical exegete in the world today". Dahl emphasized "the text!" and not theories, though he studied with all the famous scholars - Bultmann, Mowinkel, et al. |
"By the doctrine of justification I mean the Pauline doctrine outlined in Romans 3:28: man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law. In the letter to the Galatians the form is polemical and pointed whereas the letter to the Romans gives a more comprehensive, positive account intended to ward off misinterpretations."
Dahl, Studies in Paul, p. 95. [underlining added for the synodicals]
Those who try to portray their Objective Justification as the doctrine of the Bible and Reformation are fools or tricksters. The OJists do not quote or refer to actual scholarship because that would harm their pretensions. They add their unpublished efforts to the dunghill of Enthusiasm and crow, "Thus it has been and always will be."
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| We saw Jaroslav Pelikan, the senior editor of Luther's Works, every Sunday. He defined Luther's teaching as Justification by Faith. |
