Errors of Objective Justification - Their Great Confusion

 

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Part One

A. A Biblical doctrine must be taught from the Scriptures, not from the false authority of dogmatics (Barth, Bultmann, Tillich, Calvin, Walther, Scaer).

B. No expert or authority can claim a concept that opposes, distorts, or modifies Scripture.

C. We must start at the source (Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent) to go where water is pure, in the Word of God.

Part Two 

1. Walther's Objective Justification claim came directly from his adulterous, syphilitic bishop - Martin Stephan - in a letter than changed Walther's life. "God has already forgiven you 1800 years ago...all men are absolved of sin." Using the Atonement, Walther replaced Christ paying for our sins with all sins instantly, universally absolved. But the Atonement is not Justification.

2. Just as bad, Walther ordered - they must "accept by faith" the absolution of the world, dated on or about the crucifixion.

3. Objective Justification also makes the Resurrection of Christ the absolution of the world. Somehow this flexible absolution includes the Atonement but also the Resurrection. One must remain in the confusion of Walther to avoid laughing out loud upon reading his dogma. His prolific writing and dictatorial leadership has brought the Walther Four into the arms of the ELCA, which also teaches universal salvation without faith in Jesus Christ.

4. Faith in Jesus Christ is a bad word for the Objective Justification salesmen. They get angry and shout, "You are making faith A WORK OF MAN!" Note the David Scaer smear. The peacock is known for his beautiful feathers and adornment, but his voice is raucous and scary.

5. Throughout the Scriptures, faith in Jesus Christ gives us access to God's grace. Romans 5:1-2 makes this very clear. Someone should rip out John, the whole Gospel

KJV John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

 6. Walther used his predestination lectures to remove the concept of faith in Christ. 

WELS - John "Sparky" Brenner still teaches this dogma.
Disagreeing with OJ = excommunication.

Items Seldom Mentioned in the Big Four - 

LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic)

• Walther had only a bachelor's degree and had minimal knowledge of the Biblical languages.
• The Walther circle was exclusively Pietistic, moving from one fearless leader to Martin Stephan after the first one died.
• Stephan studied at Halle University, where universalism, rationalism, and syphilis were common. His STD symptoms were known before he took his followers to America. He was under house arrest when they left.
• Walther kidnapped his niece and nephew from his father's parsonage. That alone was a felony.
• Walther changed the rules to make sure F. Pieper could replace him as head of the synod and the seminary. Pieper mixed Objective Justification with Justification by Faith in his Dogmatics.

 

The author Knapp was a Halle Pietist. Woods, the translator was a famous Calvinist who offered this note, which became part of the LCMS dogmatics. Walther loved it and the two Justifications found favor in Germany.

An Honest Catechism for Objective Faithless Justification - By Gregory L. Jackson, STM (Yale) and PhD (Notre Dame)

An Honest Catechism for Objective Faithless Justification - 

By Gregory L. Jackson, STM (Yale) and PhD (Notre Dame)

I am not going to repeat the methods of those who oppose Justification by Faith, the Chief Article of the Christian Faith - which is not simply the Chief Article of Lutherdom. This is a battle against all the denominational errors - the Church of Rome, Calvinism, Pietism, and the Baptists. I have not heard anyone from the OJ side define Justification by Faith, so I will have to balance the topic for everyone by showing what they teach, even if they are terribly lax with the facts. 

Some History, Pietism, Halle University, and Syphilis

The devotees of Objective Faithless Justification would like to start with the prolific writings of CFW Walther, but that would not be honest. The leader of the Saxon Migration was Pastor Martin Stephan, a Pietist pastor of a Pietist congregation, the land donated by a Pietist, Nicholas Zinzendorf. Stephan was trained at Halle University, which became known as the mothership of Pietism, which changed into rationalism.

Stephan was well known in the region for being a Pietist and later on for taking long walks at night with young, single women. CFW Walther group of Pietists had a very demanding leader who moved away and died. Looking for a replacement, they contacts Stephan and began associating with him, who became the leader for them. Walther was consumed by Pietistic vigor and almost ruined his health through various exercises in self-denial. Stephan's letter to him, concerning Justification brought great relief, and that sense of salvation stayed with him the rest of his life. That is documented in the festschrift for Dr. Robert Preus.

Pastor Stephan's popularity was so great that the non-members were greater in number than the parish members. This also created conflict over money and outside contributions. Various conflicts led to plans to leave Europe for America, which became real when Stephan was tried for his use of money and young women and found guilty in a house arrest. This was the trigger for the journey to America, with a large group of people eager to leave and many residents eager to see them go. Stephan was the overall leader and Walther led his circle, even though his older brother was part of that group.

Stephan did not take his wife and children along on the trip - only his eldest healthy son and his mistress. Symptoms of syphilis became troublesome on the trip and became more obvious - a truly horrible disease. He was already going to spas in Germany for treatment, taking his mistress with him and telling his wife she was not needed at the spa.

When they landed in New Orleans, Stephan told his clergy to designate him as their bishop, and they signed the document, including CFW Walther. The group started out toward St. Louis and eventually bought overpriced land in Perryville, Missouri, with some of them staying in St. Louis. The Stephanite migration was the source of outrage because the bishop's reputation preceded them through German newspapers.

CFW Walther organized a mob to get rid of Stephan, taking St. Louis people who agreed with him down to Perryville to have a well organized riot. They forced Stephan out of his house, took all of his gold, books, and personal possessions, even the special communion chalice given to their bishop. He was forced at gunpoint across the river (another felony) and became the first bishop in Illinois. Stephan served a church there and his long-time mistress moved in with him. The Stephanites refused to return anything to their former bishop through the courts.

Although the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has fashioned itself as congregational, it would be more honest to say they rejected the leadership of a bishop and accepted a pope, CFW Walther. Once the situation settled down to some extent, Walther took over every aspect of the growing denomination. The Stephanites had millions (in today's money) in gold stolen from Stephan, his purloined library, his confiscated 120 acres, and a location which funneled German migration to Missouri. Before the going away party, the Stephanites were almost bankrupt.

The Dogmatic Disaster

The Objective Justification of Missouri, WELS, the ELS, and CLC is not at all from Luther and the Book of Concord. but from Halle University Pietism. The term Orthodox is strangely applied to their groups, certainly a term so badly used that it should be dropped. Even worse is Confessional, which  comes from people who deny the Confessions - the Book of Concord, where Objective Justification is completely absent and Justification by Faith is taught throughout. Dr. Lito Cruz has said, "How can they be Confessional when they disagree with the Confessions?"

Bishop Martin Stephan did not invent Objective Justification, but he certainly promoted it, based on his own education (Halle) and others who taught it. Rambach is pictured above with a glowing quote from Tom Hardt, another Objective Justification devotee.

Knapp's book in English is tedious, but it was a best seller for 90 years in American libraries. The note is from the Calvinist translator, and the terms Objective and Subjective. Pastoral papers have noted that Walther liked and used those terms, which apparently reached Germany as well. 

Walther did not know the Biblical languages but felt comfortable in Latin and German. His description claims that all sins were forgiven when Jesus rose from the tomb.

The members of Missouri, WELS, ELS, and the CLC seem to be drilled in the concept of Jesus forgiving all sins the moment He rose from the tomb, although some seem to make the crucifixion the moment of world absolution.

The 1 Timothy 3:16 passage is used to produce the confusion.

KJV 1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: 

• God was manifest in the flesh, 
• justified in the Spirit, 
• seen of angels, 
• preached unto the Gentiles, 
• believed on in the world, 
• received up into glory.

This should not be difficult for anyone, if they look at the concept of forensic, that is, from a judicial point of view. "Justified in the Spirit" does not mean that Jesus was finally declared innocent, which is absurd, since Jesus was without sin from conception. The very act of rising from the dead means He alone of all humans was innocent, not made innocent. If an individual is arrested and brought before an earthly judge, innocent of all charges, the judge declares him innocent, not made innocent.

This confusion comes from the merging of Pietism and rationalism, revealed when people simply rage against Justification by Faith, clearly taught throughout the Scriptures, the Book of Concord, and Martin Chemnitz' great works.

Robert Preus moved toward Justification by Faith, although his final book is somewhat mixed between clear and foggy statements, the outcome of late dogmatics compared to the Book of Concord, Chemnitz, and Gehrhard.

 This is a very clear statement - my apologies to the OJ crowd.

This is a bit confused, the victim of dogmatics.

 Try teaching that in confirmation class.

This is clearer, but I think the wording is more of a Latin dissertation.

Part Two - The Misinterpretation of Supposed OJ Passages

The most tattered declaration in Objective Justification is "You are making faith a work of man!" That is expressed with great force but without any Biblical support. The clearest answer is obvious. 

KJV John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 

Those dedicated to Objective Justification have an astonishing reaction against faith in the Savior, but Jesus' response dismantles the warning. Faith in Him is primary - not treated as a sin.  In fact, a parallel absurdity is offered an excuse against faith.

Robert Preus quoted this statement from Edward Preuss, who was a professor in the Missouri Synod when he wrote this, leaving to join the Church of Rome. The declaration is absurd and yet is held up as the clearest expression of Objective Justification - all Creation is justified, without faith.

David Scaer follows the logic of Eduard Preuss, but not the Scriptures. It is easy to see how the errors of Pietism pile up. Once this dogmatic statement is published as truth, error will follow. That explains how the most Objective Justification statements come from the LCMS, leading professors and seminarians to the Church of Rome - or Eastern Orthodoxy - as an outcome of their studies. The Wisconsin Synod has compiled over 760 papers in their Essay File link here, exalting the Objective Justification assertations. I know of one WELS pastor who joined Eastern Orthodoxy, but many follow the Enthusiasm of Fuller Seminary and its clones. 

Scandalous Use of the Scriptures

The Greek word scandalon does not mean trap, but the trigger of the trap seizing the prey. Following are the passages used to support Objective Justification but fail in the attempts.

The Brief Statement of 1932 is so precious that the LCMS publishes it verbatim on the web. However, the justification section tries to promote the idea that the last verse of Romans 4 supports Objective Justification. This must be so, because Pastor Rolf Preus has repeated that many times over the years, but not lately.

KJV Romans 4:25 has this incomplete sentence "25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." That implies that the resurrection of Christ justified the world.

But the whole statement - in a chapter about Abraham and faith - says this:

KJV Romans 4:23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it 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; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

This clear passage about the faith of Abraham is summarized the beginning of chapter 5. The chapter and verses came later in the publishing of the New Testament, but the structure is quite clear. 

KJV Romans 5:5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

The entire Objective Justification enterprise is wrecked by Romans 4 and 5, and yet there is more mischief in their assertions, or rather - their follies.

The latest NIV, possibly the worst Bible ever paraphrased, gave the Walther synods a gift of magic in Romans 3.

KJV Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

This is a brilliant passage on Justification by Faith, so take note of the latest, always changing NIV -

NIV Romans 3:21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[h] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 

"All are justified" (the text does not include "all") - this means that every single person in the world has already been declared righteous and free of sin, without the Word of the Gospel, without faith, without grace. The Scriptures clearly teach the this without any hesitation or magical wands - faith in Jesus Christ gives us access to God's grace. WELS and Missouri have embraced the NIV. That is based on bad "translation" and horrible text mutilation (thanks to the Vatican and Tischendorf).

This has reached 16 typed pages, so I will stop for now. This is linked in the left column on Ichabod, with the heading - The Big Five. I expect to add and amend.

 

 The Augsburg Confession did not reveal Objective Justification.
Later, people found OJ with Pietism and Halle University.

Part Three

Corinthians And Other Triggers in the Big Five's Search 

For Their Faithless Objective Justification

The problem comes from people forcing their false agenda on Biblical expressions, with help from the Bad Bible salesmen who impose Dynamic Equivalence paraphrases from Nida and the Bible societies. One example is the Atonement, Christ dying on the cross for our sins, which they turn into the absolution of the entire world. That is a good reason for ELCA to agree. The experts in the largest failing synod - ELCA - argue that there is nothing but grace. That was articulated in anger back in the LCA when a lecturer said, "The Evangelicals have no grace!" which meant that faith matters in the divine equation, anathema to the apostates. No one should wonder today that the Big Five all work together through Thrivent - they agree in dogma and where that is going.

KJV 2 Corinthians 5 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing [counting] their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Those forever stuck in the rationalistic Pietism of Halle University ignore and scorn the simple relationship between faith and grace. We have a section in Romans focused on Abraham as the Father of Faith, concluding he is the father of all that believe (Romans 4:11). 

Faith in Jesus Christ gives us access to grace - 

KJV Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

They need to be unstuck by the simple formula - the bright (very clear) passages of the Bible shine a light on the more difficult passages. The more difficult sections give us problems at first, like the Canaanite woman being rebuffed by Jesus, so we see by study and prayer how clear the Word is. Nevertheless, the devotees of their individual sects use their prized passages against the clearest ones, revealing hardened hearts and blindness to the Gospel. 

One LCMS-ELS-LCMS pastor was always saying - to enforce Faithless Objective Justification -  John 1:29 "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!" That means the entire world was counted righteous, even before the cross. 

Because the Big Five do not teach or even understand the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace, the pastors do not connect the power of the Holy Spirit always at work in the Word - and never without the Word. Reconciliation is what Paul preached, in other words, the Gospel. 

In contrast, Pastor Wayne Mueller (WELS) told a convention of youth, "Evangelism is easy. Just go around saying You are already forgiven." That has not worked well for WELS or the rest of the Big Five. They are so blinded by their shopworn synodical statements that they cannot do anything except condemn and expel the faithful pastors.

Victims of the Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) should realize that they are being taught Fuller Seminary management programs, not the Gospel. Notice how comfortable the managers are with unLutheran, antiLutheran, and just plain destructive plans. They have no grace because they have no faith in the genuine Scriptures and Gospel established for all ages.

 

 

Warriors Against Faith in Christ - Look at the Ominous Roll Call

 

Luther's Third Cantate Sermon "Therefore the Holy Spirit rightly and justly convicts, as sinful and condemned, all who have not faith in Christ."

Pietism, Rationalism, Halle University

Georg Knapp was a highly regarded professor at Halle University. His theology textbook was translated into English by a well known Calvinist, who used those double justification words (OJ, SJ) so dearly loved by LCMS, WELS, ELS, and worse.

Walther loved the phrasing in English - OJ, SJ - and those terms went back to Germany to be used there. 

Rambach (Halle University) used the phrasing which wrongly connected the Resurrection of Christ with world absolution. To this day, students and professors of the failing seminaries declare that the entire world was forgiven and absolved (back to Adam) the moment Jesus died, alternately the moment Jesus rose from the dead. Yes, they are that ignorant.

Stephan learned Objective (Faithless) Justification at Halle University and taught it to CFW Walther, who insisted on it all his life.  Walther made sure the Wisconsin Synod's Francis Pieper filled his shoes as Concordia Seminary's president. Pieper next became the LCMS President.

Walther said that Stephan "saved his life" by teaching him Objective (Faithless) Justification.

Walther broke up the Synodical Conference by insisting on faith as a work! Romans 4 makes it clear that justification is by faith or else it is a work. 

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,

The Walther gang continued to promote the bad leaven of OJ through their canonical Brief Statement of 1932. Missouri began to unravel from that point, not because Pieper died but because the Stephan-Walther-Pieper dogma took over.

Cascione still promotes the bizarre OJ essay of Robert Preus, even though it was repudiated by stealth in Preus' Justification and Rome.

This statement above from Calov is one of many in which Robert Preus clearly repudiated Justification without Faith.

I remember Robert Preus talking in class about how much he admired the clarity of Quenstedt. Dan and Rolf, two of his sons, edited the book but failed to acknowledge its clear message of Justification by Faith.

The fatuous Church Growth Movement, spawned at Fuller Seminary, spreading faster than an STD at Halle University, is perfect for Objective (Faithless) Justification. "Everyone knows, anything goes."

According to a Bethany faculty member, the ELS sect will be nothing more than a footnote in a few years. WELS is not far behind that metric.

One big happy family! trading the Scriptures for a little bit of loot from Thrivent.

Gypsy Rose Lee

"Now's your inning. Stand the world on it's ear!

Set it spinning! That'll be just the beginning!

Curtain up! Light the lights!

You got nothing to hit but the heights!

You'll be swell. You'll be great.

I can tell. Just you wait.

That lucky star I talk about is due!

Honey, everything's coming up roses for me and for you!"

Luther Perspective on Objective (sic) and Subjective (sic) Justification. The False Teachers Cannot Get the Justification by Faith Words Out of Their Slandering Mouths

 

 Bethany Kilcrease complained about my cool graphic, which her husband solicited. She admitted it was a cute picture.

Luther:

"Hence it is certain, that in this way, if all are not saved, yet some, yea, many shall be saved; whereas by the power of "Free-Will", no one whatever could be saved, but all must perish together, and moreover, we are certain and persuaded that in this way, we please God, not from the merit of our own works, but from the favor of His mercy promised unto us; and that if we work less, or badly, He does not impute it into us, but, as a Father, pardons us and makes us better."

Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther, Associated Publishers and Authors, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1971, pg. 149

OJ/SJ puts our salvation under our own will, decision, merit, and work instead of under God's will, mercy, and grace. It also denies Ephesians 1:5 "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will..." It also denies Ephesians 1:11 "In whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will..."

In Christ,

Knapp - Love me for my Calvinist translator, OJ and SJ, or my teaching at Pietism's mother-ship, Halle University? Pardon if I smirk, WELS and LCMS.

LutherQueasy Blows Smoke To Avoid the Chief Article of Christianity

Woods' - a Calvinist - added this translation note to his English translation of the published Knapp lectures. Woods was a major figure in American Calvinism and this book was used throughout America. Knapp was considered one of the last Pietists at Halle University, which became entirely rationalist, the home of Biblical "scholars" who mocked the Scriptures - like the faculties of LCMS, WELS, ELS, and ELCA today. I own an early copy of the English version, which circulated before Walther and his syphilitic bishop landed in America.

The Objective Justification salesmen seem unaware of this passage and its basis for Justification by Faith throughout the New Testament.

Jojakim Dettmann (Random_layman) Senior Member Username: Random_layman Post Number: 3907 Registered: 5-2006

Posted on Thursday, April 15, 2021 - 10:55 pm:       The Ichabod site is probably not a source you want to be using on LQ much, even if it is right which it is sometimes. A mistake Rev. Jackson makes is that he does not understand the German idealist roots of the Objective-Subjective distinction. Instead he thinks objective justification came from Pietism or an earlier figure named Huber. Also, he thinks that rejecting Objective Justification and affirming a simpler "Justification by Faith" concept he is adhering to the true biblical view. Actually, his position is just reflective of a different epistemology. It doesn't make him any more biblical. Because he doesn't realize the crypto-secularist orgins of his disagreements, he (& many if not all of his opponents) are doomed to talking past each other, trying to solve the question with theology, when really it is an underlying difference in their secular philosophies.

Answers Below

Dettmann - "The Ichabod site is probably not a source you want to be using on LQ much, even if it is right which it is sometimes."

GJ - LutherQueasies get hysterical when someone refutes their nonsense with the Scriptures, the Book of Concord, Luther, Chemnitz, Melanchthon, and Hunnius. 

Dettmann - "A mistake Rev. Jackson makes is that he does not understand the German idealist roots of the Objective-Subjective distinction. Instead he thinks objective justification came from Pietism or an earlier figure named Huber. Also, he thinks that rejecting Objective Justification and affirming a simpler "Justification by Faith" concept he is adhering to the true biblical view."

GJ - I have shown the source of OJ/SJ and cited it. Dettman has refuted nothing and somehow does a long-distance brain scan to explain what I think. Knapp was one source, and the translation led to the Waltherians adopting the OJ/SJ labels, because Walther liked that distinction. Huber has been explained and researched on this blog and his works eviscerated by Hunnius, translated by Rydecki. The plain words of the Sacred Scriptures are far more persuasive than the quasi-psycho-socio-neo-crypto-babbling of LutherQueasies.

Dettmann - "Actually, his position is just reflective of a different epistemology. It doesn't make him any more biblical."

GJ - Dettmann starts in darkness and ends in confusion.

Doomedman - "Because he doesn't realize the crypto-secularist orgins (sic) of his disagreements, he (& many if not all of his opponents) are doomed to talking past each other, trying to solve the question with theology, when really it is an underlying difference in their secular philosophies."

GJ - The fear in this doomed man is palpable, but where is his post from yesterday?

Here are my Kindle books on Amazon.

 The print copy of The Path To Understanding Justification is found here.

No faith, no forgiveness, no Holy Spirit.

OJ won in the LCMS, WELS, ELS, CLC (sic), and ELCA.

Cub Editor Phil Hale Loves His Garbled Words So Much, He Uses Them as Filler in Calvinist News

Hale's reliance on Calvin and Halle Pietism is honored in this Photofunia.
"A dolt is just a dolt, a slogan just a slogan.
The fundamentalist things apply, as time goes by."

CN editor Phil Hale - From His Bizarre, Self-Published Aspects of Forgiveness, which means he is self-publishing his self-publishing.

It is true that we are justified (individually) by faith, but this slogan is just that—a slogan, and not a full representation of the teaching of forgiveness in God’s Word. In fact, this minimalistic stereotype leaves out the most important factor of justification: Christ and His work. However, for the modern deniers of objective justification—who claim that there is no aspect of, or basis for, justification before faith—this is said to be the only proper way to speak of justification: There is no ‘‘faithless, universal justification,’’ because there can only be ‘‘one justification taught in Scripture—that of ‘justification by grace through faith’.’’1 It is a historically Lutheran way of speaking, though it has become an identifying phrase for Protestants in general. The issue is not the words themselves, but what they are used to say and avoid saying. 

Stay tuned for Walther, The American Calvin: A Synod Built on Felonies.

‘‘In normal Biblical and ecclesiastical usage the terms ‘justify’ and ‘justification’ refer to the (‘subjective’) justification of the individual sinner through faith.’’2 However, Satan does not rest, and false doctrine is not stagnant. We must be careful using 400-yearold phrases without fully understanding what they were used to express and reject. We cannot rule out the possibility of a new error that hides behind traditional Lutheran slogans. 

While the modern denial of objective justification says that objective justification is a new teaching, the reverse is actually true: the term is new, to be sure, but Christians are free to use any words to express the truth of God. There is no legalistic, ceremonial rule forbidding new terms or expanded meanings. The issue is whether the teaching, not the language, conforms to Scripture. It is the denial of objective justification that is new, though due to historical circumstances, it was not a teaching at the forefront until recently. 

The concept expressed by objective justification is assumed and implicit in the understanding of pre-modern Lutherans because Scripture teaches an objective aspect to justification. It is the denial of the universal application and extent of Christ’s redemptive work that is actually new.3

1 Vernon H. Harley, ‘‘Synergism—Its Logical Association with General or Universal Justification,’’ 1984. 

2 CTCR, ‘‘Theses on Justification.’’ 

3 Even classical Calvinists hold to an objective reconciliation, according to 2 Cor. 5:19, but only for the elect. 

Hale's pacifier - OJ/SJ - comes from the Calvinist translation of Halle Professor G. C. Knapp's Christian Theology. The pacifier is old and slimy, obviously decaying, but so comforting to Enthusiasts who venerate Walther and Calvin.