Magnus Sørensen
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GJ -
The linked paper is from a European pastor who has left the corrupted and corrupting bosom of Objective Justification. As you can tell from reading the entire paper, he was still suffering from the effects of picking the best position among the Synodical Conference writers. Therefore, the conclusion is muddled. The Word of God judges all human publications, so we have to start there, at the source.
I picked out a few highlights that are so obvious to those who actually do research, and quite valuable in showing that Pietism was indeed the error that led Stephan, Walther, and the Synodical Conference into Objective Justification. The paper also reveals Robert Preus supporting Justification by Faith from Romans 4:5 at an early stage, before his gig as one of the Righteous Brothers (Jack and Robert).
His paper showed how Moravian Pietists taught Objective Justification, how the Easter absolution of the world (without faith) was basic to this view.
What was Bishop Martin Stephan? Answer - a Moravian Pietist.
His church was actually on ground donated by Zinzendorf (Moravian Pietist) and his congregation was Moravian Pietist - as Stephan was. They were allowed to have Pietistic cell groups (loved by all Church Shrinkers) on their church grounds, though Stephan used other places to cloak his many adulteries with young women. Walther confessed that he learned Justification from Stephan, and the OJ Walther Fan Club proclaims Walther never wandered from that position (Robert Preus festschrift).
The research show, therefore, that there are only two sources for Objective Justification. One is Calvinism, as Samuel Huber revealed before being kicked out of Wittenberg.
The other source is Pietism, as shown by this paper - especially by Stephan's Movavian Pietism that brought the cult to America.
