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| Harrison's pals proudly posted a video of him struggling to look cool. They wrote out the juvenile lyrics of his slanderous song against the man he once courted to become SP - Herman Otten, pastor of a LCMS congregation. |
Hello Pastor Jackson:
The January 2020 issue of the LCMS monthly newsletter (the Lutheran Witness) included an article written by synod President Matthew Harrison titled “It all rests on Christ”. You can find it linked on the LCMS site here:
Under a section titled “Paid in full”, President Harrison goes all-in on a simple-minded version of Objective Justification:
Paid in full
"Because of verses like Rom. 4:25, which states, Christ “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification,” and 2 Cor. 5:19, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,” we have spoken of an “objective” justification. That is, a divine judgment was rendered in the death and resurrection of Christ. All sins of the whole world have been paid for, and the price was Christ’s bloody death then and there. The world has been “justified” according to the New Testament. This means that the most important thing in Christianity is not how I feel about Jesus, or came to believe in Jesus, or my experience of Jesus (though all these things are certainly not unimportant). Christianity is not ultimately or primarily focused on me, my deeds, my experience, my sincerity. All things focused on me will falter and are imperfect (Rom. 7).
The big thing is the cross and resurrection. Everything for my salvation, and the salvation of the whole world, Jesus accomplished in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago. One of my seminary professors explained it this way: If someone puts a million dollars into a bank account for you and you simply refuse to believe it, and thus gain no benefit from it, it does not mean that the money’s not there! Faith is simply recognizing the facts, and the bank card is the means to get at the fortune! The world has been reconciled to God in Christ, believe it or not. That makes our task of sharing the Gospel simple. It’s about telling folks they’re broke (repent!), but they’ve got a treasure with their name on it. “Here! It’s yours! It’s done! Believe it!” If by the power of the Word they believe, they have immediate access (Eph. 2:8–9; Acts 13:48) to complete forgiveness and peace of conscience. If by the stubbornness of their wretched human will and the will of the devil they refuse, they walk away from the treasure (Acts 13:46)."
My reaction is that Jesus never said anything like this, St. Paul never said anything like this, the Lutheran Church Fathers never said anything like this.
At one time in Lutheran Church history, it was a singular honor for a man to be selected as a seminary president or synod president, based on his scholarship and theological understanding. The paragraphs from President Harrison's article read like something written by a poorly catechized Sunday School student, not a synod president.
Dr. Martin Luther wrote the following, in his explanation of the third article of the Apostle's Creed, about justification:
"I believe that I cannot be my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one true faith.
In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.
In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers."
My response to President Harrison: People are not saved by “accepting God's offer of forgiveness”. As Dr Luther wrote, salvation is God's work alone. “ I believe that I cannot be my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one true faith”.
My response to President Harrison: The entire world has not been reconciled to God in Christ, God has not forgiven the sins of all people. As Dr Luther wrote, God forgives the sins of believers only. “In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers”.
I admired Matthew Harrison for his work with world relief missions prior to his becoming president of the LCMS and his steadfast support for the pro-life cause. My regard for him was diminished when I read a report on your blog a year or so ago of a video in which President Harrison aped the role of a blues singer and mocked elderly Herman Otten. I can't fathom how a man who is the head of the second largest Lutheran denomination in the US could believe that this is appropriate behavior for someone in his position. His support for universal justification without regard to faith further diminishes my regard for him.
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| They are harder to get rid of than Angela Merkel or Thrivent salesmen. |
GJ - The author of this email is correct. Harrison's simpleton recital of Objective Justification is anti-Biblical and contrary to Luther and the Book of Concord. Matt the Fatt begins with the Atonement and twists that into everyone in the world being absolved and saved without the Gospel Word, without faith, without the Means of Grace.
Poor Matt, he cites Romans 4:25 without Romans 4:24. Has he read Romans 4 at all? He is clearly not "apt to teach."
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.
The verse the Apostle Paul cited in Romans 4 is this -
Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness.
By confusing terms, as he does with 2 Corinthians, Harrison apes Bishop Stephan in making the Atonement universal salvation without faith, a sad commentary on his LCMS education.
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| The genius generation of Baby Boomers imagines that they they have built and corrected the Gospel once delivered to the New Testament, taught in brilliant clarity in the Reformation. So why do they despise Luther - and Melanchthon even more? |
