Intrepid Lutherans - The UOJ Diamond - What Luther and Melanchthon Wrote

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Mr. Douglas Lindee said...

Again, thank you Rev. Fjellander, for your continuing dialogue. It's late in my part of the world, so I will make this brief.

I understand what you mean by "simul justus et peccator," and realize that you are not using it as directly analogous, but as a demonstration that two opposite things can be true; however, I'm not sure that this example is entirely convincing. "Simul justus et peccator" refers to quickened, regenerated believers -- i.e., those with faith -- who haveboth the old man and the new man contending within them (Eph. 4:22-24; Rom. 7:13-25). I have no problem believing two opposite things can be true, if the Scriptures directly teach them -- as in this case (and in this case, it's no great crisis of logic to accept it, since it is rather reasonably explained in the Scriptures), or, say, in the case of the Doctrine of Predestination where the Scriptures clearly and directly teach both that it is the will of God that all men be saved AND it is the will of God that sinners suffer eternal damnation. The simple fact is, the Scriptures nowhere teach that mankind is Justified before God apart from Faith. This assertion is an invention, derived from fragments of Scripture that are stripped of their context, pasted together, and then set against what the Scriptures DO teach in direct positive terms. In Universal Justification, the universality of man's lost condition and certain condemnation is propped up against the universality of man's righteous standing before God, as if both are Scripture teaching, when in reality only the former is directly taught in Scripture while the latter is a rationalistic invention. They are not, equivalently, the direct teaching of Scripture.

As for 2 Cor. 5:19... before we go down that road, I would like to point you to four posts on this specific reference that we published in 2013, in case you haven't read them yet. I happen to agree with Chemnitz, Melanchthon, Luther and the Tübingen theologians on their interpretation of this verse. Do you?

Philip Melanchthon on 2 Corinthians 5:19
Luther's translation of 2 Corinthians 5:19
Reconciling the world—but not without means
The Lutheran understanding of 2 Corinthians 5:19

Consistency in the Scriptures and Lutheran Denominations. The Stink-Eye

"Brett - We are not done with you, yet."

The Scriptures are completely consistent and all the passages are in harmony with each other. This lack of contradiction comes from the Bible's unique role as God's revealed truth. As I tell my Old Testament students, a single verse is connected to the rest of the Bible in many ways. The more we see this to be true, through study, the more we can see the Gospel in the Old Testament.

Who can overlook the Atonement in the binding of Isaac. The only son is to be sacrificed, but God provides a substitute. The Angel of the Lord stops him and provides a ram instead, but refers to Abraham not withholding the son "from Me." Abraham is the example of faith throughout the Bible - in Genesis 15, Romans 4, Galatians, James, and Hebrews. When the Bible teaches justification by faith in one passage, the opposite is not taught elsewhere, whether a half-sentence later--compare Romans 4:25 to Romans 4:24, the earlier part never quoted by the UOJ Stormtroopers--or a testament later--Genesis 15 and Romans 3-5.

Those denominations that take a position against the Real Presence in the Lord's Supper are also against the divinity of Christ, because they are saying "God cannot do this." Eventually that position will create a Unitarian spirit in the denomination, as it has among many Lutherans today.

Those who oppose infant faith, and give me the stink-eye for being Lutheran, are implicitly rejects where Jesus said "Let the infants come to Me and do NOT forbid them. You must have their faith to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Forbidding means rejecting from membership, and - what's this? Jesus is confirming infant faith because we must have a child-like faith to enter the Kingdom.

The denominations who promote marketing, gimmicks, methods, entertainment, and studies of data are saying, "Rely on the Word? That is never enough. Try our new program in soda and snack welcome carts at the door. It will drive attendance and market your church as one cool place. We have an extra module on soccer camps and sex sermons."

ELCA is honest about Pastor Anita Hill.
Give them that.
WELS-LCMS-ELS are liars extraordinaire.

At the National Level
The leaders are consistent at the national level too. If they deplore ELCA to their members but work with ELCA and train their own pastors with ELCA pastors, they really love and admire ELCA, no matter what the so-called conservative Lutherans say.

If they claim to abhor abortion - as they claim - and have no problems with ELCA's health plan, which pays for abortion on demand, the judgement is clear. They love abortion.

The Lutheran Synod Presidents wade through troughs of baby blood to ask for more grant money from Thrivent, a proud sponsor of Planned Parent for years. Objections to Thrivent funding meant dropping support for supposedly pro-life ministries. Really? How pro-life is it to beg for money from those who fund Planned Parenthood?

We know the conservative Lutherans have erased the Sixth Commandment from the tablets of stone. Polyfiller is so cheap today. They knew all about Marvin Schwan dumping his wife, the mother of his children, for his mistress. He laughed about it, and his first wife ended her own life in despair. But Marvin, even if he left a bunch of cygnets all over, was preached into heaven by three (3) synods at once.

So the ELC-LCMS-WELS leaders are consistent, and they ovine clergy and laity keep voting for them.



They celebrate their unity by embracing the Unitarianism of ELCA - in the name of grace.