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| Harrison's lame denial of Justification by Faith can be found here. |
Under a section titled “Paid in full”, President Harrison goes all-in on a simple-minded version of Objective Justification:
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"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."
GJ - Rolf Preus gave up citing Romans 4:25 some time ago, but Harrison has apparently not read the entire chapter for many decades. Romans 4, like all of Romans, all of Paul's inspired writing, is 100% Justification by Faith. So is the Book of Concord.
Romans 4:25 is only part of a sentence. Romans 4:24 says -
"4:24 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."
Harrison chose not to cite 1 Timothy 3:16 to claim the resurrection effected the absolution of the entire world. Rambach the Pietist thought so, and Huber the Calvinist-Lutheran argued world righteousness without faith. However, that creates confusion among the OJ crowd arguing for the cross or the empty tomb being the Moment of World Absolution. "Error loves ambiguities."
2 Corinthians 5:19 does not teach OJ, except to benighted LCMS-WELS-ELS seminary students who seldom study after graduation. Pity them, but confront them with their errors.
"2 Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
A few verses before, the context - which matters - is "in Christ," so this applies to believers. Claiming 2:Corinthians 5:19 for OJ means Harrison is accusing Paul of contradicting himself. Thus, inerrancy falls to the ground. In fact, OJ (the darling of Calvinists and all liberals) builds upon the twin concepts of:
- the Bible constantly contradicting itself
- the Biblical text being untrustworthy (NIV, ESV)."
Harrison:
"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)."
GJ - Harrison merged the Moment of World Absolution(Good Friday, Easter? why not both?) because Walther/Stephan used the empty grave while their acolytes use the cross. Caught in another contradiction, they make it one long moment, silly beyond comprehension.
Another contradiction is their own separation of the Atonement from their precious OJ. As Robert Preus said in his bizarre essay, loved by Cascione, OJ is not the Atonement. But OJ is not Justification by Faith either, so OJ is a justification that declares the entire world free of sin and saved, for all time. As the Pietists like to say, "I cannot believe it unless it is already true." Thus the Virgin Birth in Isaiah 7 could not be believed in advance, nor could Abraham have believed in the Messianic Promises (Genesis 15:6) because they were not fulfilled for many centuries.
"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)."
GJ - I cannot unwind this farrago of claims, but I can see that Concordia, St. Louis became Seminex not long after Seminex. Everyone is broke but rich. They only need to be told they are rich, as long as they think they are broke. If they think they are broke (contingency alert! dive! dive!), they have a great treasure if they think they do. But that only works (a strawy efficacy, to be sure) if they believe they have a treasure.
That sounds like the lifetime annuity promises made by the Planned Giving Counselors. "You will be rich and tax-free, unless we invest your money badly. But do not worry - it is an irrevocable contract."
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| Robert Preus got away with this as the Ft. Wayne president. McCain, Cascione, Otten, and Hale endorsed it. Not content to impeach Walter A. Maier II, they impeached St. Paul, Luther, and the Book of Concord. |
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| Wow. Just wow. Scaer could be head of the reborn Synodical Conference with this epigram. |
