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| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Gerhard |
A. Berean has left a new comment on your post "Justification by Faith Is the Chief Article of Chr...":
Dr. Jackson,
For the benefit of the readers of this blog, could you briefly summarize the difference between Objective/Subjective RECONCILIATION and Objective/Subjective JUSTIFICATION? Since there is that connection between atonement and reconciliation can one make the claim that the whole world has been reconciled? The same question could be asked concerning redemption. In Greek, there's a difference between λυτρωσις and απολυτρωσις. So in that sense is there an Objective and Subjective aspect with regard to redemption?
Just some possible topics for consideration...
Respectfully,
A. Berean
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GJ - There is quite a difference between Christ dying for the sins of the world and justification by faith.
The objective and subjective terms ought to be dropped. They came from the Woods translation of the Halle Pietist - Georg Christian Knapp.
When an issue has been muddied up by heretics, the Biblical terms should be used exclusively.
The Gospel is Christ dying for the sins of the world. That message, conveying Christ to us by the Holy Spirit at work in the Word, creates and sustains faith. This Gospel-energized faith receives the Promises offered.
Christ redeemed the world because He paid the price for the sins of the world. That does not mean that all the Sikhs and Hindoo and Eskimeaux and cannibals and Humanists were declared absolved and saved. Quite the opposite is true.
John 3 reveals two groups of people in the world.
The unbelievers are condemned.
Those who believe in Christ are forgiven and saved.
KJV John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
ELS Pastor Jay Webber has been shopping his favorite term - "in Christ" - around Lutherdom. The only way someone can be "in Christ" is to believe in the Savior. We need more pastors who spend some time gardening.
The parable of the True Vine is clear. John 15:1-10. In that passage, "in Christ" means being part of the True Vine, bearing fruit. Abiding in Christ means active participation in the Means of Grace.
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| Andreae got the Book of Concord project going. McCain thinks he is Andreae, but he is really Samuel Huber. |
Adolph Hoenecke has left a new comment on your post "A. Berean Asks about Objective and Subjective":
A huge Thank You to Dr. Jackson for saying the terms objective and subjective should be removed. They make the simple truths of the Gospel more complex than needed.
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GJ - Martin Chemnitz said it earlier, and he was quoting the early Fathers (not to be confused with Stephan, Walther, and JP Meyer).
They actually brought out the Scriptures during their conferences and urged one another to set aside the various man-made confessions in favor of the Word alone. When the streams are muddied up, return to the source, they said.
I appreciate the faithful and the studious readers. The vast majority of the clergy are too indolent or too scared to deal with the issues and defend the truth.
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Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "A. Berean Asks about Objective and Subjective":
Ichabod -
The Scriptures you have quoted under the Apostle John picture illustrate a major Gospel paradox. Salvation issues forth entirely by God's grace. But, it is faith that justifies. That personal belief is such that makes it possible for the human soul to be at peace with God because the forgiveness of sins offered by the sacrifice of Christ, is received by the individual.
What is often overlooked is the verse:
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish." [John 3:14,15]
How were those Israelites saved from the poisonous snake bites? They looked up in faith at the bronzed serpent prepared by Moses. And, in the same token the human soul is saved (spared eternal damnation) by believing in Christ [looking to Christ for salvation].
Nathan M. Bickel
http://www.thechristianmessage.org/
http://moralmatters.org/
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GJ - Pastor Bickel, the UOJ specialists play the role of Calvinists versus the Arminians. Ironically, they think justification by faith is Calvinism.
Let me unwind this a bit. In the later part of the Reformation, when the Arminians (Remonstrants) battled the Calvinists, they argued against Calvin's robotic double pre-destination. The Arminians said faith was a decision or virtue.
The graphics below show some of the many statements about faith in the Book of Concord.
Walther lived in two realms. He earned a bachelor's degree in a rationalistic university. He joined one Pietistic circle with his group of clergy wannabees. When their leader moved away and died shortly afterwards, they joined Stephan's Pietistic cell group ministry. Most of them could not get a call because of the rationalistic state church.
Walther never had a solid Lutheran education. Apparently, many LCMS clergy were asleep during theirs, because these facts are known and described at great length in Zion on the Mississippi. There is no reason to regurgitate Walther's attitudes, since he did not grasp justification by faith any better than his guru, Bishop Martin Stephan.
Warning people against faith is absurd.
The Formula of Concord
