Many people contribute research, ideas, and findings. Below is an extensive lesson on the Brief Statements of the LCMS. I have permission to copy and paste it.
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The 1897 brief statement lacks universal justification. It says, “faith in Christ as the only way to
obtain salvation, the Scripture sums up in the article of justification.” It
quotes John 3:36. And, “alone by grace, on account of the perfect merit of
Christ, He justifies them, i.e. He regards as righteous all those who believe
in Christ, i.e., who believe on the authority of the Gospel, that for Christ’s
sake their sins are forgiven them.”
Furthermore, it says, “this doctrine we hold, in harmony with our
fathers, that it is the principal article of the Christian doctrine.”
I know universal or objective justification was held and
debated before 1897, such as in the 1872 conference when the Synodical Council
was formed. Yet, it doesn’t appear in
this brief statement.
The 1922 brief statement inches closer. It says, “Since all mankind is reconciled
with God through Christ’s vicarious life and passion, and God has the
reconciliation brought about through Christ proclaimed in the Gospel that it
might be believed by men; hence, for all men faith in Christ is the only way to
obtain forgiveness of sins and salvation, as the Scripture of the Old and New
Testament teaches (Acts 10:43; John 3:17, 17, 36). Under faith in Christ we
understand faith in the Gospel, that is, faith in the forgiveness of sins
purchased by Christ, not the human attempts, to fulfill God’s Law.” Under justification, it says, “For the
Christian religion is the faith that we have forgiveness of sins and salvation
through faith in Christ without [our] own works and worthiness.”
I think these statements could be understood without
universal justification in mind or with universal justification in mind,
depending on the understanding of reconciliation and “faith in the forgiveness
of sins.” Note that there is no mention
of 2 Cor. 5:19.
The 1932 brief statement, as you know, brings universal
justification into full bloom, but without as much emphasis and defense as in
later statements, especially the 1983 theses.
Of reconciliation under the topic of redemption, it says, “In this
manner God reconciled the whole sinful world unto Himself, Gal. 4:4, 5; 3:13; 2
Cor. 5:18, 19.” It repeats this under “Faith in Christ” and says, “faith in
Christ is the only way for men to obtain personal reconciliation with God, that
is, the forgiveness of sins, as both the Old and New Testament Scriptures
testify, Acts 10:43; John 3:16-18, 36.”
Note the creation of a world justification and a personal justification.
Under “Justification,” it builds to a crescendo. “Scripture
teaches that God has already declared the whole world to be righteous in
Christ, Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rom 4:25; . . . He justifies, that is,
accounts a righteous, all those who believe, accept, and rely on, the fact that
for Christ’s sake their sins are forgiven.”
I don't understand how the whole world is righteous on the one hand, and God accounts as righteous all who believe (presumably without holding unbelievers as righteous).
Note the addition of the Romans and 2 Corinthians “sedes
doctrinae” for universal justification.
Of course, by this time, Franz Pieper (1852-1931) had already produced Christian
Dogmatics ca. 1917. It is a surprise
that the 1922 statement did not treat universal justification more thoroughly.
A Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the
Missouri Synod by F. Pieper, 1897
Of Faith
Since
Christ by His vicarious life, suffering, and death is the sole Redeemer
of men, and since God has the salvation, which was wrought out by Christ,
proclaimed to men through the Gospel, to the end that they
may believe this salvation, and thus become sharers therein, we
profess that faith in Christ is the only way for men to obtain
salvation, as Christ Himself testifies: “He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the
wrath of God abideth on him,” John 3, 36.
However, by faith in Christ we understand faith in the
forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake, i.e., this confidence of the heart,
that God by grace, for Christ’s sake, without our works, forgives all our sins,
and receives us to everlasting life.
Of Justification
All its teachings regarding the love of God to a
sinner-world, regarding the salvation wrought out by Christ, regarding the
insufficiency of all men to acquire salvation through themselves, and regarding
faith in Christ as the only
way to obtain salvation, the Scripture sums up in the article of justification,
by which it teaches the reason why, and the manner in which, a person is
accounted righteous before God, and received unto eternal life. Holy Scripture,
namely, teaches that God does not receive men on a basis of their own work and
their own merit, as the blind world and nominal Christians imagine Him to do, but
that without the deeds of the Law, alone by grace, on account of the perfect merit of Christ, He justifies
them, i.e., He regards as righteous all those who believe
in Christ, i.e., who believe on the authority of the Gospel, that for
Christ’s sake their sins are forgiven them. Thus the Holy
Spirit testifies through St. Paul: “There is no difference: for all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” Rom. 3:22-24. And again: “Therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law,”
Rom. 3,28.
This doctrine we believe with all our heart, and pray God to
graciously preserve us and our posterity in the same. For this doctrine Christ
is given the honor due Him., viz., that by His life,
suffering, and death He is our only Redeemer, and only by this doctrine poor
sinners receive this abiding comfort, that God is assuredly gracious to
them. Regarding this
doctrine we hold, in harmony with our fathers, that it is the principal
article of the Christian doctrine;” this doctrine is the real secret
of Scripture, by which Scripture is distinguished from all false books of
religion; for only Scripture teaches this article, that men are saved by faith
in Christ crucified, and not by their own works. We also profess that only
where this article has entered into a heart by faith there are
Christians, and there is the Christian Church found, while all men who do not
believe this article must be numbered with the unbelieving, even though they
are found in external communion with the Church.
The 1922 Brief Statement, F. Pieper
Of Redemption [final sentence]
This divine wonder of the incarnation of the Son of God
occurred to the end that He might be the Mediator between God and man, viz.,
that [He] might fulfill the divine Law in man’s place, suffer and die, and in this way reconcile all
mankind with God.
Of Faith in Christ
Since all mankind is
reconciled with God through Christ’s vicarious life and passion, and God has
the reconciliation brought about through Christ proclaimed in the Gospel that
it might be believed by men; hence, for all men faith in Christ is the only way
to obtain forgiveness of sins and salvation, as the Scripture of the Old and
New Testament teaches (Acts 10:43; John 3:16, 17, 36). Under faith in Christ we
understand faith in the Gospel, that is, faith in the forgiveness of sins purchased
by Christ, not the human attempts, to fulfill God’s Law.
Scripture teaches, viz., that God does not accept men on the
basis of their own works, but without the works of the Law by grace alone for
the sake of Christ’s perfect obedience does He justify all of them, that is, He
reckons righteous those who believe in Christ, that is, believe that they are
forgiven for Christ’s sake.
Of Justification
Thus
the Holy Spirit testifies through St. Paul: “there is no distinction; they are
altogether sinners and lack the glory, which they should have in God, and are
justified freely by His grace through the redemption effected through Christ
Jesus” (Romans 3:23, 24).
And
again: “so we now maintain that man is justified without the works of the Law,
only through faith” (Romans 3:28). Only through this doctrine will
Christ be given His glory that He is our Savior through His holy life and His
innocent suffering and death, and only through this doctrine do poor sinners
have continual comfort that God is truly gracious. We reject all doctrine in
which human works and worthiness are mingled with Justification before God as
apostasy from the Christian religion. For the Christian religion is the faith that we have
forgiveness of sins and salvation through faith in Christ without [our] own
works and worthiness.
Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri
Synod (Adopted 1932)
Of Redemption
8. We teach that in the fulness of
time the eternal Son of God was made man by assuming, from the Virgin Mary through the operation of the Holy
Ghost, a human nature like unto ours, yet without sin, and receiving it unto
His divine person. Jesus Christ is therefore “true God, begotten of the Father
from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary,” true God and true
man in one undivided
and indivisible person. The
purpose of this miraculous incarnation of the Son of God was that He might become
the Mediator between God and men, both fulfilling the divine Law and
suffering and dying in the place of mankind. In this
manner God reconciled the whole sinful world unto Himself, Gal. 4:4, 5; 3:13; 2 Cor. 5:18,
19.
Of Faith in Christ
9. Since God has reconciled the whole world unto Himself through the
vicarious life and death of His Son and has commanded that the reconciliation
effected by Christ be proclaimed to men in the Gospel, to the end that they may
believe
it, 2 Cor. 5:18, 19;
Rom. 1:5, therefore faith
in Christ is the only way for men to obtain personal reconciliation with God,
that is, forgiveness of sins, as both the Old and the New Testament Scriptures
testify, Acts 10:43; John 3:16-18, 36. By this faith in Christ, through which men obtain the forgiveness
of sins, is not meant any human effort to fulfill the Law of God after the
example of Christ, but faith in the Gospel, that is, in the forgiveness of
sins, or justification, which was fully earned for us by Christ and is offered
by the Gospel. This faith justifies, not inasmuch as it is a work of man, but
inasmuch as it lays hold of the grace offered, the forgiveness of sins, Rom. 4:16.
Of Justification
17. Holy Scripture sums up all its
teachings regarding the love of God to the world of sinners, regarding the
salvation wrought by Christ, and regarding faith in Christ as the only way to
obtain salvation, in the article of justification. Scripture
teaches that God has already declared the whole world to
be righteous in Christ, Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rom.
4:25; that therefore not for the sake of their good works, but without
the works of the Law, by grace, for Christ's sake, He justifies, that is, accounts as righteous, all
those who believe, accept, and rely on, the fact that for Christ's sake
their sins are forgiven. Thus the Holy Ghost
testifies through St. Paul: “There is no difference; for all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” Rom. 3:23,
24. And again: “Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the Law,” Rom. 3:28.
18. Through this doctrine alone
Christ is given the honor due Him, namely, that through His holy life and innocent suffering
and death He is our Savior. And through this doctrine alone can poor sinners
have the abiding comfort that God is assuredly gracious to them. We reject as apostasy from the Christian religion all doctrines whereby man's own works and merit are mingled into
the article of justification before God. For the Christian religion is the
faith that we have forgiveness of sins and salvation through faith in Christ
Jesus, Acts 10:43.
19. We reject as apostasy from the Christian religion
not only the doctrine of the Unitarians, who promise the grace of God to men on the basis of their moral
efforts; not only the gross work-doctrine of the papists, who expressly teach
that good works are necessary to obtain justification; but also the doctrine of the synergists, who indeed use the
terminology of the Christian Church and say that man is justified “by faith,”
“by faith alone,” but again mix human works into the article of justification
by ascribing to man a co-operation with God in the kindling of faith and thus
stray into papistic territory.
Yours in Christ,
