The Primary Doctrine in Its Primary Setting: Objective
Justification and Lutheran Worship
[Prepared
for the WELS National Conference on Worship, Music and the Arts
Carthage
College, Kenosha, Wisconsin, July 23, 1996.]
By Forrest L. Bivens
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BivensPrimary.pdf
The
Primary Doctrine in Its Primary Setting: Objective Justification and Lutheran
Worship
1.
Justification and the Power to Worship
“The article of justification is the master and
prince, the lord, the ruler, and the judge over all kinds of doctrines; it
preserves and governs all church doctrine and raises up our consciences before
God. Without this article the world is utter darkness and death.”1 1 Martin Luther, What Luther Says, Vol. 2. p 703.
Luther’s appraisal of the doctrine of justification is also ours. We hold it to be the primary doctrine of Scripture, that is, the central and most important teaching revealed by Godfor us sinners.
The truth of justification, above all others, distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. If this teaching were obscured or lost, attempts to show significant differences between the Christian religion andothers would ultimately prove to be futile. Also, as revealed and emphasized in the Bible, all other doctrines either prepare for or flow from this chief article of faith. Without this truth, all others would mean little. This doctrine is the source or basis of the benefits and blessings which mankind receives from God.
What precisely is this “master and prince, lord, ruler and judge” over other doctrines? Justification is a declaratory act of God, in which he pronounces sinners righteous. As revealed in the Bible, this declaration of God is made totally by grace and on account of Jesus Christ and his substitutionary life and death on behalf of mankind. To phrase it somewhat differently, God has justified acquitted or declared righteous the whole world of sinners. He has forgiven them. They have been reconciled to God; their status in his eyes has been changed from that of sinner to forgiven sinner for the sake of Jesus Christ. Since all this applies to all people, the term universal or general justification is used. In our circles an alternate term, objective justification, is also used. If justification is universal, it must also be objective - sinners are forgiven whether they believe it or not. This is precisely what Scripture teaches in Romans 3:23-24, when it says, “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. “ All have sinned and all are justified freely by God’s grace. Romans 4:5 also teaches the grand truth that our God is the “God who justifies the wicked,” all of them. “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them “ (2 Co 5:19). Literally, God was not counting “their” sins against them, and the only antecedent of “their” in the sentence is “the world,” which includes all people.
***
GJ - Frosty Bivens jumped up to defend Paul Kelm against slander (because I quoted Kelm, which is the same as slandering Kelm). Bivens also denied that he ever went to Fuller Seminary, even though he bragged about studying there in front of the entire Midland Circuit, which included the future DP John Seifert.
Bivens was following the example of David Valleskey, who also bragged about going to Fuller Seminary, but denied it when I asked him directly. I knew from Dave's frightened look that he was lying. Later, when the hapless David Koenig (CLC sic) got the confession from Valleskey and wrote me, Valleskey pounded him for telling the truth. Therefore, Koenig was angry with me because Valleskey was furious with him.
If you are familiar with abusive sects, this makes sense.
Deceit Is the Wisconsin Way of Salvation
Lying is part of the WELS style, and it begins with or is canonized in their secret hazing ritual, GA.
This essay is a pure ignorance or a blatant lie. In deference to the Eighth Commandment, I can only hope that Bivens does not know any better.But he really ought to, since he began with Luther.
This is a standard UOJ paper opening. I have seen this gambit tried many times over. How do they keep from laughing? All they all sniffing the same glue, eating the same mushrooms, huffing the same high-test gasoline?
Justification by faith is "the master and prince, the lord, the ruler, and the judge over all kinds of doctrines; it preserves and governs all church doctrine and raises up our consciences before God. Without this article the world is utter darkness and death."
However, he defined the central doctrine of the Christian Church as
justification without faith. How can anyone blame that on Luther while quoting Luther, and then use a justification by faith passage to argue (without proof) that Paul teaches "precisely" that malformed bastard child of Universalism.
Frosty, above - "
Justification is a declaratory act of God, in which he pronounces sinners righteous."
In case that was too subtle -
"God has
justified acquitted or declared righteous the whole world of sinners. He has
forgiven them. They have been reconciled to God; their status in his eyes has been changed from that of sinner to
forgiven sinner for the sake of Jesus Christ."
Let us turn it up a notch or two more, in case the rubes missed it -
"Since all this applies to all people, the term universal or general justification is used. In our circles an alternate term, objective justification, is also used. If justification is universal, it must also be objective -
sinners are forgiven whether they believe it or not."
Speaking of reconciliation, no one can reconcile justification
by faith (The entire Bible, Paul, Luther, Book of Concord, Post-Concord Orthodoxy) with justification
without faith (Ramach, Knapp, Stephan, Walther, various sects). Or - the righteousness of faith with the righteousness
whether someone believes or not.
Frosty, like all of his apostate brethren, is a false teacher who either has never understood the Gospel or has heard it and turned against it.
There is no doubt that something made him turn away from liturgical worship to a so-called church where they pass out cola and snacks as people enter.
Before Victory of the Soccer Camp Lamb, there was the pan-denominational fest at the ELCA college, funded by Thrivent.
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