Monday, May 22, 2017

This Romans Quotation Proves the Folly of Justification without Faith




Romans 4:20 He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
22 And therefore it was imputed [counted] to him for righteousness.
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.



Notice that Romans 4, which is an essay on Justification by Faith, featuring Abraham, concludes with Romans 5:1-2. Or one might call the opening of Romans 5 a transitional sentence.



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

But the LCMS and others have made this nonsense canonical - 

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

***
GJ - Abraham's faith was not simply in his ability to have a son through Sarah, but his faith in being the father of many nations, as he became through the Messiah and the ever-growing Kingdom of God.

Genesis And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.


And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
The befuddled UOJ experts, who think they glorify God's grace by denying and denigrating faith, repudiate the Gospel and replace it with a rationalistic philosophy.

The leaders of the LCMS, WELS, ELS, and CLC (sic)
join ELCA and Christian News in their slippery
evocation of Universal Objective Justification.