Dear WELS laymen in Michigan: Beware the “gospel” that Jesus never taught | Faith Alone Justifies:
Dear WELS laymen in Michigan: Beware the “gospel” that Jesus never taught
It seems that my removal from the WELS for teaching that sinners are only justified by faith in Christ has sparked yet another essay. This one was imposed on the delegates of the Michigan District convention a couple of weeks ago. A dear relative of mine who was in attendance sent me a copy of this 52-page monstrosity, and bemoaned how the district attempted to indoctrinate the delegates in Universal Objective Justification, not only through this essay, but through sermons and devotions throughout the convention.
I have a special love for the WELS laity in Michigan, since I grew up among them and still have several relatives among them. For their sake, I will write a few posts addressing some of the errors and absurdities in Pr. Brian Keller’s essay, lest they be deceived by this attempt to lead them away from Lutheran orthodoxy into the abyss of Huberian nonsense that the WELS has sadly become.
Title: BELIEVE IT OR NOT: You Are Forgiven Through Christ!
(Universal, Objective Justification Is The Gospel Truth)
(Universal, Objective Justification Is The Gospel Truth)
What a title! That should give us enough to focus on for today. As the rest of the essay makes clear, Keller is not only saying that Christ died for all men (which is true), or that He made atonement for all men (which is true), or that Christ earned forgiveness for all men (which is also true). Keller explains in his essay that God, in His courtroom of divine justice, has already forgiven, acquitted and justified all people of all time, whether they believe in Christ or not.
This little prefix, “Believe it or not!”, cannot be found in Holy Scripture. It can be found at Ripley’s museum. It can also be found in the doctrine of Samuel Huber (1547-1624) that was condemned by Lutheran orthodoxy long before it found its way into Keller’s essay. Huber applied this prefix (or appendix) both to election and to justification, teaching that all men were elected by God in eternity, “whether they believe in Christ or not.” He likewise taught that all men have been justified and forgiven by God, “whether they believe in Christ or not.” I am not claiming that Keller applies this phrase to election , as Huber did. But he is most certainly applying it to justification, as Huber did. As Aegidius Hunnius pointed out in his refutation of Huber’s error, “The question is whether this explanatory phrase (which uncovers the whole mind of the antagonist and clearly shows how he veils what he really means to say) is in agreement with the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures or not.”
Let the reader of Scripture judge for him or herself whether this phrase comes from the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures.
Matthew 9:2— Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” (NKJV)
Mark 16:15-16—And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospelto every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (NKJV)
John 3:16-18— For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (NKJV)
Acts 13:38-41—“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you: ‘Behold, you despisers, Marvel and perish! For I work a work in your days, A work which you will by no means believe, Though one were to declare it to you.’ ” (NKJV)
Romans 4:5— But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, (NKJV)
Rom. 3:21-26— But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (NKJV)
Rom. 4:20-5:1—He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convincedthat what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… (NKJV)
2 Cor. 5:18-21—Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (NKJV)
Keller cites all of these passages in his essay to prove that God has forgiven and justified all people, whether they believe in Christ or not, although he doesn’t necessarily cite the whole passages or the surrounding verses. They will all be dealt with individually in a later post, but for now, let’s take these same passages and insert the Huberian tag, “whether they believe in Christ or not,” as Keller claims they should be interpreted:
Matthew 9:2— Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith—whether they believed or not—, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you, whether you believe in Me or not.” (New Keller Version)
Mark 16:15-16—And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel —that all are forgiven whether they believe in Me or not! — to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (New Keller Version)
John 3:16-18— For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son and forgave all people whether they believe in Him or not, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved—whether they believe in Him or not. He who believes in Him is not subjectively condemned; but he who does not believe is objectively justified already, but subjectively condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (New Keller Version)
Acts 13:38-41—“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins—that you are all forgiven already, whether you believe in Christ or not; and by Him everyone who believes—whether he believes or not—is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you: ‘Behold, you despisers, Marvel and perish! For I work a work in your days, A work which you will by no means believe, Though one were to declare it to you.’ ” (New Keller Version)
Romans 4:5— But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly whether the ungodly believes in Him or not, his faith is accounted for righteousness, (New Keller Version)
Rom. 3:21-26— But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe, whether they believe or not. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whether they believe in Him or not, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, whether they have faith or not, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus, subjectively speaking, and of all who do not have faith, objectively speaking. (New Keller Version)
Rom. 4:20-5:1—He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead whether we believe in Him or not, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our objective justification, whether we believe in Him or not. Therefore, having been subjectively justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… (New Keller Version)
2 Corinthians 5:18-21—Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ whether we believe in Him or not, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ objectively reconciling the world to Himself whether they believe in Him or not, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation, that all are justified whether they believe in Christ or not. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be subjectively reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, whether we believe in Him or not. (New Keller Version)
I take no pleasure in making these additions to the sacred, inspired text, even for the sake of demonstrating the error of universal justification. But, dear laymen, this is what your leaders are doing to your Holy Bible when they take these passages and read universal justification back into them. You don’t have to be a pastor, and you don’t have to know Greek to understand that the meaning of these Bible passages is being altered by your leaders.
Keller declares that “Universal Objective Justification Is the Gospel Truth!” Funny how this “Gospel Truth” (that all people are forgiven, whether they believe in Jesus or not) never showed up in a single sentence of Jesus in the Gospels. Funny how the most important teaching in Scripture only (supposedly) shows up in a couple of verses of the Apostle Paul, taken out of context. Funny how it doesn’t show up at all in the tan (Gausewitz) catechism by which so many WELS members were instructed over the decades. What a huge omission the synod made for all those years! They omitted the very Gospel Truth from the catechism! But they are making up for it now.
Such is the way of manmade doctrine. It changes with the wind and hates to be revealed for what it is, which is why the laymen in Michigan were subjected to this futile attempt to deceive the elect.
Beware this “gospel” of Universal Justification, because it is a “gospel” that was unknown to the historic Lutheran Church, to the prophets, to the apostles, and to Jesus Himself. Take to heart the words of Luther and stick with the simple Biblical Gospel that the only way for sinners to be justified before God is by faith in Christ Jesus.
[Paraphrasing the Apostle Paul:] “Therefore my doctrine is true, pure, sure, and divine. Nor can there be any doctrine that is different from mine, much less better. Therefore any doctrine at all that does not teach as mine does—that all men are sinners and are justified solely by faith in Christ—must be false, uncertain, evil, blasphemous, accursed, and demonic. And so are those who either teach or accept such a doctrine.” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 26, 59)
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