Saturday, November 13, 2010

Extreme Statements About Justification


KJV Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

KJV Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be
damned.

KJV John 3:18 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.

KJV John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shallnot see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

KJV John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, andye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.


KJV Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven givenamong men, whereby we must be saved.

KJV Romans 4:23 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.  5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:  2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

KJV Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confessionis made unto salvation.

KJV 1 John 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not
God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Extreme Statements About Justification":

UOJ's treatment of faith is foundational and results from UOJ's teaching that everything (Christ's righteousness distributed to the whole unbelieving world, that world declared guiltless, sinless and justified by God's divine verdict) was already accomplished and declared at Calvary. Here is a comparison between UOJ's teaching and the Luther and the Confessions.


WELS AZ/CA DP Pastor Jon Buchholz
"Faith doesn’t bring anything into existence that doesn’t already exist. Faith doesn’t cause something to happen. Faith simply grasps— trusts—something that already is in place." Page 14
http://archive.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?2617&collectionID=1161&contentID=76707&shortcutID=26388

WELS Siegbert W. Becker
"Faith does nothing more than accept the forgiveness proclaimed in the Gospel. It is not a condition we must fulfill before we can be forgiven. It is not a cause of forgiveness on account of which God forgives us. The forgiveness comes first. Faith is merely the response to the message. God says to us, "Your sins are forgiven." This is objective justification, and God’s message to us is true whether we believe it or not. Faith makes God’s message its own and says, "My sins are forgiven." This is subjective justification. The whole doctrine is just as simple as that." Page 12, The Place of Faith
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerJustification.PDF

WELS Our Great Heritage
"And yet many Lutherans still labor under the delusion that God does not forgive us unless we believe. Instead of seeing faith as nothing more than the spiritual hand with which we make the forgiveness of God our own, they see it as a reason why God forgives us. They believe that Christ has indeed provided forgiveness for all men, that God is willing to forgive them, but before he really forgives he first of all demands that we should be sorry for our sins and that we should have faith. Just have faith they say, and then God will forgive you. All the right words are there. The only thing wrong is that the words are in the wrong order. God does not forgive us IF we have faith. He has forgiven us long ago when he raised his Son from the dead." (p. 59)"

WELS MLC President Mark Zarling
"Faith does nothing more than receive the forgiveness which is offered in the Gospel. It is not a condition we fulfill nor is it a cause of forgiveness. We are already forgiven. God's message of justification in Christ is there whether we believe it or not. Faith then receives the blessings." And, "Faith that accepts the good news of universal justification is the work of God the Holy Ghost." And, "The other extreme is to stress subjective justification without understanding the objective reality. This error leads to synergism in one form or the other. Stressing faith as the cause of justification makes it a meritorious work. We have then destroyed the sola gratia of the Gospel, and cause men to look within themselves for the assurance of salvation." Page 7
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/ZarlingJustification.pdf

Compare and Contrast:

LUTHER
12. As before said, they regard faith of slight importance; for they do not understand that it is our sole justifier. To accept as true the record of Christ--this they call faith. The devils have the same sort of faith, but it does not make them godly. Such belief is not Christian faith; no, it is rather deception.

15. ...You see how they make faith of no value to themselves, and so must regard as heresy all doctrine based upon it. Thus they do away with the whole Gospel. These are they who deny the Christian faith and exterminate it from the world. Paul prophesied concerning them when he said (1 Tim 4, 1): "In later times some shall fall away from the faith." The voice of faith is now silenced all over the world. Indeed, faith is condemned and banished as the worst heresy, and all who teach and endorse it are condemned with it. The Pope, the bishops, charitable institutions, cloisters, high schools, unanimously opposed it for nearly four hundred years, and simply drove the world violently into hell. Their conduct is the real persecution by Antichrist, in the last times.

22. Now, the Cain-like saints have not, as they themselves confess, the Christian faith which would assure them of being the children of God. [Refer to 2 Cor. 13:5 for Scriptural declaration of this condemnation of UOJ's faith (read Zarlings quotes above) - Brett Meyer]

29. You cannot extricate yourself from unbelief, nor can the Law do it for you. All your works in intended fulfilment of the Law must remain works of the Law and powerless to justify in the sight of God, who regards as just only believing children.

37. Note, Paul everywhere teaches justification, not by works, but solely by faith; and not as a process, but instantaneous. The testament includes in itself everything--justification, salvation, the inheritance and great blessing. Through faith it is instantaneously enjoyed, not in part, but all. Truly is it plain, then, that faith alone affords such blessings of God, justification and salvation--immediately and not in process as must be the case with works

74. But what is the process whereby Christ gives us such a spirit and redeems us from under the Law? The work is effected solely by faith. He who believes that Christ came to redeem us, and that he has accomplished it, is really redeemed. As he believes, so is it with him. Faith carries with it the child-making spirit. The apostle here explains by saying that Christ has redeemed us from under the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons. As before stated, all must be effected through faith. Now we have discussed the five points of the verse.
http://www.trinitylutheranms.org/MartinLuther/MLSermons/Galatians4_1_7.html

LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS
Defense of the Augsburg Confession, Article IV Of Justification

67] "Faith cometh by hearing. And proof can be derived even from this that faith justifies, because, if justification occurs only through the Word, and the Word is apprehended only by faith, it follows that faith justifies."
http://www.bookofconcord.org/defense_4_justification.php


71] "but we maintain this, that properly and truly, by faith itself, we are for Christ's sake accounted righteous, or are acceptable to God. And because "to be justified" means that out of unjust men just men are made, or born again, it means also that they are pronounced or accounted just. For Scripture speaks in both ways. [The term "to be justified" is used in two ways: to denote, being converted or regenerated; again, being accounted righteous. Accordingly we wish first to show this, that faith alone makes of an unjust, a just man, i.e., receives remission of sins".
http://www.bookofconcord.org/defense_4_justification.php