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| Samuel Johnson, English genius and Christian, graces the introduction to the Ichabod Lutheran Dictionary because he used his freedom to have fun with words and to omit words he detested. |
Ichabod Lutheran Lexicon
Intuitu Fidei – In View of Faith
The term intuitu fidei
comes from shortening the phrase “in view of the merits of Christ apprehended
by faith.” Nothing is wrong with the longer or shorter phrase, but it does show
a weakness in Lutheran scholasticism, using Latin terms to wax philosophical.
That is a dangerous weapon.
The Appleton WELS version is inuitu fidei, which
apparently means “the faith of the Inuits, or Eskimo.” That may be a nod to
Edward Preuss who claimed the Hottentotts and Eskimeaux were justified, without
hearing the Gospel or believing.
A fervent supporter of one
discussion blog called it “in few of faith,” which seems to describe the
Objective Justification faction with great precision.
Unfortunately, the original
term is used in a prejudicial way to make Justification by Faith seem to be false
doctrine of the worst kind. In fact, the Chief Article is hated so much by the
Objective Justification lobby that it is called Calvinistic, Arminian, and
Pietistic.
Ichabod
Ichabod comes from the Hebrew, meaning “the glory has
departed” from Israel.
1
Samuel 4 21 And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from
Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and
her husband.
The name of the blog came from
a sainted WELS pastor calling Detroit – “The Ichabod District - the glory has
departed.” Ichabod was a good name for a blog devoted to polemics against the final
era for man – The Age of Apostasy. An apostate is not an atheist in the pure
sense, but someone who was once a Christian believer but has fallen away from
the Faith.
2
Thessalonians 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not
come, except there come a falling away (apostasia in Greek)
first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth
and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so
that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Mrs. Ichabod
It is the custom of bloggers
to name family members after the blog, in some cases for privacy. Therefore,
Mrs. Ichabod is the wife and encourager of the blogger.
Little Ichabod
The name seems outgrown, but
that is the name of the son who did so much to encourage education in computer
science, which led to online education teaching, which led to website design
and social media – blogging, Facebook, Ustream, and more to come.
Ichaboat and Ichabode
The 1994 Lincoln Town Care,
which served 10 years and went to another owner, is the Ichaboat, for its size
and deluxe splendor. The Ichabode is wherever the family lives.
Justification by Faith – The Chief Article of
Christianity
Those who despise the efficacy
of the Word in the Means of Grace are by default opponents of Biblical,
Lutheran doctrine. Nothing is distinctively Lutheran about Justification by
Faith, except that so many sects oppose it, leaving the article to the
Lutherans and now to a small and despised group within those dwindling groups.
Justification is a clear word, the act of God making a declaration of forgiveness.
Starting with Abraham in Genesis 15:6 and continuing with the patriarch as the
prime example of Justification by Faith in Romans 4, Galatians 3, Hebrews 11,
and many other places. This plain concept means that the Gospel Promises effectively
create faith in one’s heart, and one is declared forgiven through this
God-given faith.
Objective Justification
Objective Justification is the
favorite term among those who also say General Justification, Justification of
the World, and Justification of the Sinner. In each example, the declaration of
God is the justification, but this is consistently the absolution of the entire
world, without regard to faith. Objective Justification is not the Atonement, but
the terms are mixed up among the adherents, who should be cautioned about wielding
the weapon of the Word. Some derive the universal absolution from the cross, though
the Holy Spirit is silent about this event. Others deduce it from a false,
Pietistic reading of 1 Timothy 3:16, which makes the empty grave the
declaration of universal forgiveness. This results in two conflicting moments
of absolution, two different causes of an absolution never mentioned anywhere
until Calvinism and Pietism arrived in the fulness of time.
Subjective Justification
Many try to market Subjective
Justification as Justification by Faith, but Walther and JP Meier, giants of
confusion and error, present Subjective Justification as making a decision in
favor of universal forgiveness without faith – Objective Justification.
