When I saw Norma A. Boeckler's graphic, I knew I had to make it the masthead and explain the verses to those who have heard it misused and abused so many times.
 |
| They have not read Romans 4? |
This is how they announce their favorite verse, their favorite way -
OJ Spin Included in Bold Red
KJV Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved - period!, loud emphasis on by grace are ye saved. through faith (soft deceptive voice). And that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (sounding like grace alone - no faith).
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast (because faith is a work of man).
The red-letter distortion has been drilled into the soft noggins of WELS, LCMS, and ELS seminarians, which may explain their schools' lack of students today.
Here is the answer, based on using the bright portions of Scripture - the most easily understood - to shed light on the passages more difficult for us. The divine Word is not difficult by itself, but our attitudes and misunderstandings make it worthwhile to look over all related passages and test for the consistency of God's Word we know is there.
The key passage is Romans, Chapter 4, especially because the false teachers use Romans 4:25 to declare that the Resurrection of Christ Jesus justified the entire world (usually back to Adam). But lo - the entire sentence, found just before Romans 4:25, makes sense without any mental strain (unlike all the flaky, ignorant OJ claims).
Romans 4:23 Now it was not written for his (Abraham's) sake alone, that it (righteousness) was imputed to him;
24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; (Justification by Faith)
25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
 |
| This is a beautiful transition linking the chapter to Romans 4. |
Some - who think they can win with verse 25 alone - are vanquished easily by Romans 4:16 -
KJV Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
This Romans 4:16 verse shows that faith and grace are together, not opposed. The OJ windjammers want to say they are filled with grace because they - the whole world - have grace without faith. They sail off, out of control, making up more and more passages which they misconstrue due to their lack of comprehension and their centuries old devotion to false doctrine.
The Apostle Paul clearly teaches that "without faith" can only mean "the Law." That is why the Olde Synodical Conference is grounded in the Law while burnishing their false concept of grace, grace, grace, but not faith.
Bishop Martin Stephan taught this OJ to CFW Walther, who said it saved his life! Stephan applied grace without faith to his own life, using the young women of his cult as his mistresses and giving them his syphilis. That is why he took his cult to America, because he was under house arrest for his ministry with young women and financial dealings. He left for America with his #1 mistress, and his son, and his cult followers. His own church members were glad to see him go.
Stephan left his sick wife and sick children in Germany. His mistress was cozy near him on the same ship, truly a touching and doctrinally enlightening beginning for the Missouri Synod.
The Objective (Faithless) Justification synods - LCMS, WELS, ELS, and ELCA - continue what Stephan and Walther started.
