What it Means and Why It is so Important.
To begin with, it is necessary to define terms:
Objective: Something that is true outside of me: a fact that has nothing to do with my personal feelings, experience or participation.
Subjective: Something that is true to me: a fact that involves my personal feelings, experience or participation.
Justification: Because of the shed blood of Jesus on the Cross and His perfect righteousness, God forgives sins and declares sinners to be righteous. The controverted issue is: when does that happen?
Lutherans Believe, Teach and Confess:
Objective Justification: Because of the shed blood and perfect righteousness of Jesus on the Cross God has declared the entire world of sinners to be forgiven and righteous regardless of the quality of their lives, their knowledge of the fact, nor their faith in the truth of the fact. This is often referred to as "Universal Atonement" or "General Justification."
Subjective Justification: When an individual, convicted of sin through the Law, is brought to faith through the preaching of objective justification (the Gospel) and receives the benefits, namely, the forgiveness of sins, a new life (born-again) and eternal salvation. Referred to as "Personal Justification."
The Bible Clearly Teaches the Objective Justification of the World of Sinners:
"In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation." 2 Corinthians 5:19 ESV.
“‘My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:1-2 ESV
“ This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” 1 Tim 2:3-6 ESV
‘Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. ‘ Rom 5:18 ESV
In Romans 5, the Apostle Paul establishes the premise that "as it is in Adam, so it is in Christ." In Adam, I am a sinner both objectively and subjectively. I became a sinner objectively when Adam sinned. I became a sinner subjectively when I was born into this world with the old Adam (sinful nature) enmeshed in my being. If one rejects that premise, they essentially reject original sin. If one accepts that premise, the question follows: if the entire world was constituted as sinners when Adam sinned, when was that world of sinners constituted forgiven and righteous? There is only one answer: in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus. When Jesus was raised from the dead, having borne the sins of the whole world, He and the entire world of sinners were absolved. So Paul writes that Jesus was "delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." Rom 4:25 ESV
Reads these words of Martin Luther from his 1535 Lectures on Galatians:
Objective justification cannot be separated from subjective justification. When a sinner, born in Adam, is condemned by the Law of God and hears that Good News of God's forgiveness and His justification of the entire world of sinners and comes to faith through the work of the Holy Spirit, the benefits of the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are received. The person is not forgiven or justified on account of their faith but solely on account of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. The only purpose of faith is to apprehend and appropriate the benefits of the objective, finished work of Christ in His death and resurrection. God so loved this world of sinners that He gave his only Son to die for the sins of the entire world, but whoever believes in Him will receive the benefits of not perishing but having eternal life. I have come to believe that within Lutheran theology the word "benefits" is very important. For example, if an unbeliever comes to the Lord's table and receives the Sacrament, do they receive the body of blood of Christ? The answer is "yes" because of the word and promise of Christ who said, "Take and eat, this is my body. Take and drink, this is my blood." Yet, the unbeliever receives no benefits from that eating and drinking and is, in fact, eating and drinking judgment upon himself. In the same manner, through the redemptive work of Christ, God forgave and declared righteous the entire world of sinners. This is the Gospel! Faith receive the benefits of that universal salvation.
All other Protestant denominations including the Arminians (Baptist, Pentecostal etc,) and Calvinists (Reformed, Presbyterian etc.) reject the objective justification of the entire world of sinners.
Those within the Arminian camp (Baptists, Pentecostals etc.) reject objective justification and teach that a sinner is forgiven and made right with God at the moment they make a decision,"are saved" or come to faith. The "salvation formula" is: The shed blood and perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ + my faith = The forgiveness of sins and justification. To be consistent, the one holding this position would, of necessity, have to reject objective or original sin and teach that one is a sinner when they sin. It is not strange, therefore, that churches that teach this position also reject infant Baptism. This position is fraught with many dangers.
The Formula of Concord declares, “That the human race is truly redeemed and reconciled with God through Christ, who, by His faultless obedience, suffering, and death, has merited for us the righteousness which avails before God, and eternal life.” (FC SD XI: 15).This is the most joyous of all doctrines and the one that contains the most comfort. It teaches that we have the indescribable and inestimable mercy and love of God. When the merciful Father saw that we were being oppressed through the Law, that we were being held under a curse, and that we could not be liberated from it by anything, He sent His Son into the world, heaped all the sins of all men upon Him, and said to Him: “Be Peter the denier; Paul the persecutor, blasphemer, and assaulter; David the adulterer; the sinner who ate the apple in Paradise; the thief on the cross. In short, be the person of all men, the one who has committed the sins of all men. And see to it that You pay and make satisfaction for them.” Now the Law comes and says: “I find Him a sinner, who takes upon Himself the sins of all men. I do not see any other sins than those in Him. Therefore let Him die on the cross!” And so it attacks Him and kills Him. By this deed the whole world is purged and expiated from all sins, and thus it is set free from death and from every evil.Luther, M. (1999, c1963). Vol. 26: Luther's Works, Lectures on Galatians, 1535, Pp. 280-281.(J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (Ga 3:14). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
Objective justification cannot be separated from subjective justification. When a sinner, born in Adam, is condemned by the Law of God and hears that Good News of God's forgiveness and His justification of the entire world of sinners and comes to faith through the work of the Holy Spirit, the benefits of the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are received. The person is not forgiven or justified on account of their faith but solely on account of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. The only purpose of faith is to apprehend and appropriate the benefits of the objective, finished work of Christ in His death and resurrection. God so loved this world of sinners that He gave his only Son to die for the sins of the entire world, but whoever believes in Him will receive the benefits of not perishing but having eternal life. I have come to believe that within Lutheran theology the word "benefits" is very important. For example, if an unbeliever comes to the Lord's table and receives the Sacrament, do they receive the body of blood of Christ? The answer is "yes" because of the word and promise of Christ who said, "Take and eat, this is my body. Take and drink, this is my blood." Yet, the unbeliever receives no benefits from that eating and drinking and is, in fact, eating and drinking judgment upon himself. In the same manner, through the redemptive work of Christ, God forgave and declared righteous the entire world of sinners. This is the Gospel! Faith receive the benefits of that universal salvation.
All other Protestant denominations including the Arminians (Baptist, Pentecostal etc,) and Calvinists (Reformed, Presbyterian etc.) reject the objective justification of the entire world of sinners.
Arminians Teach:
Those within the Arminian camp (Baptists, Pentecostals etc.) reject objective justification and teach that a sinner is forgiven and made right with God at the moment they make a decision,"are saved" or come to faith. The "salvation formula" is: The shed blood and perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ + my faith = The forgiveness of sins and justification. To be consistent, the one holding this position would, of necessity, have to reject objective or original sin and teach that one is a sinner when they sin. It is not strange, therefore, that churches that teach this position also reject infant Baptism. This position is fraught with many dangers.
As soon as the subjective element of "faith" is brought into the "salvation equation" the possibility of doubt arises. In addition to having faith in what God has done, the so-called "saved" must also have faith in their own faith. For this reason, the doctrine of eternal security or "once saved, always saved" is a necessary addition. This is the difference between monergism (one work) and synergism (a joint effort). Lutheran theology based on the clear Word of God, is "monergistic," meaning that the forgiveness of sins and justification is the singular work of God outside of us (extra nos). Those who teach the opposite are "synergistic," teaching that the forgiveness of sins is a joint effort between man and God.
These two positions present two different definitions of the nature of faith. Those who teach monergism define faith as "instrumental." Faith receives, apprehends and appropriates the benefits of the finished saving work of Christ on the the Cross. Alternatively, synergists regard faith as "causative" in that it causes the individual to be "saved."
Some years ago I received an interesting phone call. After identifying myself, the caller simply asked in a somewhat angry tone, "When were you saved?" I responded simply but emphatically, "When Jesus shed his blood on the Cross and rose again." He amazingly responded emphatically, "But you must believe it!" "Wait a minute," I was perplexed, "What did I just confess?" I responded. "You mean when I said that my sins were forgiven when Jesus died and rose again was not a confession of faith?" He paused and considered what I had just said. He proceeded to tell me his story without revealing his name. He was the pastor of a large Southern Baptist congregation in the Atlanta area. He had fallen into sin and was now questioning whether or not he was really saved. He had read my book Christ-Esteem. I assured him that his forgiveness was based on the objective fact that God has saved and forgiven the world of sinners when Jesus died, and that included him. I encouraged him to repent, acknowledge his sin, and receive his forgiveness. After some additional discussion, he said, "Why don't you Lutherans write more books?"
A teenage girl, a member of a church I served in New York City, every year attended a Baptist Summer camp in upstate New York. Before leaving that year, she approached me with a question. It seemed that one of the choruses that was sung around the evening camp fire was "Name the Day When You Were Saved." After singing the chorus the leader would point at an individual who was called upon to name the day when they went forward, answered the "altar call," and got "saved." Shs said, "Pastor, I know that they might point aat me, and I won't know what to tell them." I said, "Tell them Friday, the day Jesus shed His blood on the Cross for your salvation."
It is important to note that "altar calls,' making a decision to accept Christ and go forward to "get saved" were never a part of the church until the middle of the nineteenth century through the influence of Charles Grandison Finney who taught that revival in the church was not a part of the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit but was determined by whether or not people wanted revival. People choose and make a decision to be saved and born-again. He called people forward to the "repentance bench" where they struggled with whether or not they wanted to repent of their sins and get saved. This was a difficult decision to make since Finney taught perfectionism. He referred to his innovations as "new measures" claiming that fiery preaching mixed with the right amount of emotionalism could prompt an individual to make such a decision and be saved.
Charles Finney is often lauded as a great pioneer of "Evangelical Revivalism." He was Jerry Falwell's hero. He was afforded the titled as the world's greatest revivalist. Billy Graham said “Few men have had such a profound impact on their generation as Charles Grandison Finney. Through his Spirit-filled evangelistic ministry, uncounted thousands came to know Christ in the nineteenth century, resulting in one of the greatest periods of revival in the history of America."
The fact is, Charles Grandison Finney was a renegade heretic. No single individual is more responsible for the distortion of Christian truth in our age than Finney. His "new measures" created the impetus for modern decision theology. Among other heresies, he rejected the biblical teaching of original sin When it came to the doctrine of justification, Finney wrote, "The doctrine of imputed righteousness, or that Christ’s obedience to the Law was accounted as our obedience, is founded on a most false and nonsensical assumption.” He further stated, Christ “could do no more than justify himself. It can never be imputed to us … it was naturally impossible, then, for him to obey on our behalf.” This doctrine “of representing the atonement as the ground of the sinner’s justification has been a sad occasion of stumbling to many.”
While Martin Luther claimed that the sixteenth century Reformation was fueled by the discovery of justification by faith and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to the sinner, Finney referred to that same truth as a "nonsensical assumption"'
I personally loved the Law and Gospel preaching of Dr. Billy Graham, but whenever he got to the end of his message and called for people to make a decision, and the choir sang the emotional "Just As I Am," I cringed. From where do you think Dr. Graham got this revival methodology if not from Charles Grandison Finney. Remember, altar calls and "going forward to get saved" did not exist in the Church until the middle of the nineteenth century. In all the sermons recorded in the Book of Acts, there is not a single instance of people being asked to "make a decision" to accept Christ. The Gospel of the redemption and reconciliation of the entire world of sinners was preached, and the Holy Spirit was trusted to produce faith.
Those of the Reformed or Calvinist persuasion accept the biblical truth of objective justification but limit the forgiveness of sins and justification to the elect. This is defined as "limited atonement" and is the most controversial and hotly debated point of "Five-Point Calvinism." Some use a play on the words "sufficient" and "efficient" and say that the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ was "sufficient" to forgive and justify the world of sinners, but the "efficiency" of those redemptive acts is limited only to the elect. Rather than using the word "limited" atonement, some prefer to speak of particular atonement as opposed to general atonement which essentially means the same thing. Others speak of definite atonement, which means that God the Father designed the work of redemption specifically with a view to providing salvation for the elect. I thought God designed the work of redemption to reverse the consequences of man's fall into sin as Paul clearly teaches in Romans 5. Perhaps in the whole scheme of things, Adam was elected and Eve wasn't.
Without becoming overtly polemical, I think the idea of a "limited atonement" is rather absurd. Why would God solve the universal sin of Adam with the limited atonement of Christ? Remember, "as in Adam, so also in Christ." It would have been far easier for God to construct a "limited condemnation" for those of the bloodline of Cain fitted for eternal punishment, and an uncorrupted bloodline for the elect through Abel. We could say that the sin of Adam was sufficient to condemn the entire world of sinners but was only efficient for those elected for damnation. Jesus wouldn't have had to suffer and die. Paul answers:"For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all." Romans 11:32 ESV.
A professor at Reformed Theological Seminary defends limited atonement and objects to universal objective justification by saying that if you believe that Jesus death is intended for all people indiscriminately, then, logically, you should be led to universalism – that all men will in fact be saved. If you believe that Jesus died for all men indiscriminately, but his death does not actually accomplish their salvation, this dishonors Christ’s death because it holds that Jesus’ death does not actually secure salvation.
Discrimination is a pejorative term. To say that God discriminated in His gracious plan of salvation is a horrible accusation.
The suffering and death of Jesus secured salvation for the entire world of sinners. There is no discrimination on the part of God.
This gift of God's indiscriminate salvation through the redemptive work of His Son Jesus is offered to the world of sinners through the means of grace: the preaching of the Gospel and the Sacraments. For a gift to be beneficial it must be received. Faith, produced and strengthened by the Holy Spirit through the means of grace, apprehends and appropriates the benefits of God's gift of forgiveness, reconciliation and justification. The objective justification of the entire world of sinners is certainly not "Universalism."
When the Apostle Paul went out into the pagan Romans world and proclaimed God's indiscriminate salvation through Jesus Christ for the entire world of sinners, many rejected the message and rebuked the Apostle, yet, miraculously, in each city some were brought to faith by the Holy Spirit and received the gift and benefits of the forgiveness of their sins, life and salvation. The Apostle never gave an "altar call" nor ever considered whether or not those to whom he was speaking were a part of the elect.
If the message of the universal objective reconciliation and justification of the entire world of sinners is not the proclamation of the Gospel, what is? Must we not tell those who are living in guilt and condemnation that God loves you. Jesus died for you. Your sins are forgiven. God has declared you to be righteous through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is the Good News that is the power of God unto salvation. There are no strings attached to God's free gift. The power of God is not found in the person making a decision or praying the sinner's prayer. It's in the proclamation or the kerygma. Of course, the Calvinist cannot declare that indiscriminate salvation of God to the one burdend by sin and guilt because they don't know whether that sinner is a part of the elect. That is sad.
The Arminian and Calvinist will ask, "Are you saying that those who wind up in hell have actually been forgiven by God and declared righteous?' Yes! That is tragic. How that must hurt the heart of God for sinners to reject His great salvation and lose out on the eternal benefits. That is sad!
I find it interesting that the debate over the issue of limited atonement is between Calvinists and Arminians with many quotations being thrown back and forth. Yet, no one ever mentions the Lutheran position. The problem is, much of what is written by Lutheran theologians on these subjects remains "in house" through our specifically Lutheran publishing houses and never impacts the wider world of Protestantism. That is also sad.
A teenage girl, a member of a church I served in New York City, every year attended a Baptist Summer camp in upstate New York. Before leaving that year, she approached me with a question. It seemed that one of the choruses that was sung around the evening camp fire was "Name the Day When You Were Saved." After singing the chorus the leader would point at an individual who was called upon to name the day when they went forward, answered the "altar call," and got "saved." Shs said, "Pastor, I know that they might point aat me, and I won't know what to tell them." I said, "Tell them Friday, the day Jesus shed His blood on the Cross for your salvation."
It is important to note that "altar calls,' making a decision to accept Christ and go forward to "get saved" were never a part of the church until the middle of the nineteenth century through the influence of Charles Grandison Finney who taught that revival in the church was not a part of the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit but was determined by whether or not people wanted revival. People choose and make a decision to be saved and born-again. He called people forward to the "repentance bench" where they struggled with whether or not they wanted to repent of their sins and get saved. This was a difficult decision to make since Finney taught perfectionism. He referred to his innovations as "new measures" claiming that fiery preaching mixed with the right amount of emotionalism could prompt an individual to make such a decision and be saved.
Charles Finney is often lauded as a great pioneer of "Evangelical Revivalism." He was Jerry Falwell's hero. He was afforded the titled as the world's greatest revivalist. Billy Graham said “Few men have had such a profound impact on their generation as Charles Grandison Finney. Through his Spirit-filled evangelistic ministry, uncounted thousands came to know Christ in the nineteenth century, resulting in one of the greatest periods of revival in the history of America."The fact is, Charles Grandison Finney was a renegade heretic. No single individual is more responsible for the distortion of Christian truth in our age than Finney. His "new measures" created the impetus for modern decision theology. Among other heresies, he rejected the biblical teaching of original sin When it came to the doctrine of justification, Finney wrote, "The doctrine of imputed righteousness, or that Christ’s obedience to the Law was accounted as our obedience, is founded on a most false and nonsensical assumption.” He further stated, Christ “could do no more than justify himself. It can never be imputed to us … it was naturally impossible, then, for him to obey on our behalf.” This doctrine “of representing the atonement as the ground of the sinner’s justification has been a sad occasion of stumbling to many.”
While Martin Luther claimed that the sixteenth century Reformation was fueled by the discovery of justification by faith and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to the sinner, Finney referred to that same truth as a "nonsensical assumption"'
I personally loved the Law and Gospel preaching of Dr. Billy Graham, but whenever he got to the end of his message and called for people to make a decision, and the choir sang the emotional "Just As I Am," I cringed. From where do you think Dr. Graham got this revival methodology if not from Charles Grandison Finney. Remember, altar calls and "going forward to get saved" did not exist in the Church until the middle of the nineteenth century. In all the sermons recorded in the Book of Acts, there is not a single instance of people being asked to "make a decision" to accept Christ. The Gospel of the redemption and reconciliation of the entire world of sinners was preached, and the Holy Spirit was trusted to produce faith.
Calvinists Teach:
Those of the Reformed or Calvinist persuasion accept the biblical truth of objective justification but limit the forgiveness of sins and justification to the elect. This is defined as "limited atonement" and is the most controversial and hotly debated point of "Five-Point Calvinism." Some use a play on the words "sufficient" and "efficient" and say that the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ was "sufficient" to forgive and justify the world of sinners, but the "efficiency" of those redemptive acts is limited only to the elect. Rather than using the word "limited" atonement, some prefer to speak of particular atonement as opposed to general atonement which essentially means the same thing. Others speak of definite atonement, which means that God the Father designed the work of redemption specifically with a view to providing salvation for the elect. I thought God designed the work of redemption to reverse the consequences of man's fall into sin as Paul clearly teaches in Romans 5. Perhaps in the whole scheme of things, Adam was elected and Eve wasn't.
Without becoming overtly polemical, I think the idea of a "limited atonement" is rather absurd. Why would God solve the universal sin of Adam with the limited atonement of Christ? Remember, "as in Adam, so also in Christ." It would have been far easier for God to construct a "limited condemnation" for those of the bloodline of Cain fitted for eternal punishment, and an uncorrupted bloodline for the elect through Abel. We could say that the sin of Adam was sufficient to condemn the entire world of sinners but was only efficient for those elected for damnation. Jesus wouldn't have had to suffer and die. Paul answers:"For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all." Romans 11:32 ESV.
A professor at Reformed Theological Seminary defends limited atonement and objects to universal objective justification by saying that if you believe that Jesus death is intended for all people indiscriminately, then, logically, you should be led to universalism – that all men will in fact be saved. If you believe that Jesus died for all men indiscriminately, but his death does not actually accomplish their salvation, this dishonors Christ’s death because it holds that Jesus’ death does not actually secure salvation.
Discrimination is a pejorative term. To say that God discriminated in His gracious plan of salvation is a horrible accusation.
The suffering and death of Jesus secured salvation for the entire world of sinners. There is no discrimination on the part of God.
This gift of God's indiscriminate salvation through the redemptive work of His Son Jesus is offered to the world of sinners through the means of grace: the preaching of the Gospel and the Sacraments. For a gift to be beneficial it must be received. Faith, produced and strengthened by the Holy Spirit through the means of grace, apprehends and appropriates the benefits of God's gift of forgiveness, reconciliation and justification. The objective justification of the entire world of sinners is certainly not "Universalism."
When the Apostle Paul went out into the pagan Romans world and proclaimed God's indiscriminate salvation through Jesus Christ for the entire world of sinners, many rejected the message and rebuked the Apostle, yet, miraculously, in each city some were brought to faith by the Holy Spirit and received the gift and benefits of the forgiveness of their sins, life and salvation. The Apostle never gave an "altar call" nor ever considered whether or not those to whom he was speaking were a part of the elect.
What is the Gospel?
If the message of the universal objective reconciliation and justification of the entire world of sinners is not the proclamation of the Gospel, what is? Must we not tell those who are living in guilt and condemnation that God loves you. Jesus died for you. Your sins are forgiven. God has declared you to be righteous through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is the Good News that is the power of God unto salvation. There are no strings attached to God's free gift. The power of God is not found in the person making a decision or praying the sinner's prayer. It's in the proclamation or the kerygma. Of course, the Calvinist cannot declare that indiscriminate salvation of God to the one burdend by sin and guilt because they don't know whether that sinner is a part of the elect. That is sad.
The Arminian and Calvinist will ask, "Are you saying that those who wind up in hell have actually been forgiven by God and declared righteous?' Yes! That is tragic. How that must hurt the heart of God for sinners to reject His great salvation and lose out on the eternal benefits. That is sad!
I find it interesting that the debate over the issue of limited atonement is between Calvinists and Arminians with many quotations being thrown back and forth. Yet, no one ever mentions the Lutheran position. The problem is, much of what is written by Lutheran theologians on these subjects remains "in house" through our specifically Lutheran publishing houses and never impacts the wider world of Protestantism. That is also sad.
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