LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 297

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II. THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

297

Subjective and Objective Justification
Leader’s Guide

Session 2:

1. Subjective or Individual Justification
In Session 1 we talked primarily about “subjective” or
individual justification.

Justification is receiving the forgiveness of sin — of all sin,
so that we are free from the condemnation of the Law.
We are justified through the Gospel, the Good News. The
Gospel is a promise that comes to us in preaching, Baptism,
the Lord’s Supper and Absolution. We receive this Good
News in faith alone because a promise is received only by
one who believes it.
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Therefore, we speak of justification by faith alone. This is
how God applies the saving work of Christ to the individual
person — through faith in the Gospel. That is what we
mean by subjective justification: the justification of the
individual person.

2. Objective Justification

We also started to look at what is meant by “objective” or
“universal” justification. By that we mean Christ is the
Savior of all people and that He bore and atoned for all
sins. The message of the Gospel, therefore, is that all your
sins are forgiven (not may be or will be forgiven!) because

of what Christ has done. Look again at 1 Timothy 4:10 and
1 Timothy 2:3–6:
“For this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope
set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people,
especially of those who believe” (1 Tim. 4:10).
“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).

3. Things to Watch for When Talking
about Subjective or Individual Justification
Let’s look now at another text that is important for the
teaching of objective justification.
Read 2 Corinthians 5:18–19.
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us
to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that
is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not
Leader’s Guide |

counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us
the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18–19).
What does “reconciling” mean?
Reconciliation means that there was strife between God and
human beings, but that this strife is over and now there is
peace. The strife between God and people is because of sin
that provokes God’s wrath. Thus, the problem between God
and humanity is one of sin and God’s wrath. Reconciliation
concerns human sin and God’s wrath.
How did God reconcile the world to Himself?
God did it “through Christ.” If God’s wrath and our sin are
the issue, how does Christ deal with these things? God made
Christ for our sake to be sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). He became
the sacrifice for the sins of the world (John 1:29) and thus He
is “the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2). “Propitiation”
means that God deals with the punishment for our sins.
Does “world” mean all people or only believers?
It applies to everyone. There is no indication that the term
“world” here is used in any restricted sense. The work of
God in Christ is for the entire world.
In what way are unbelievers reconciled to God?
They are reconciled to God because God has set aside His
wrath and His condemnation of their sins. He is at peace
with humanity because of what Christ has done. He “does
not count their trespasses against them.”
What does it mean when God does not count our trespasses
against us?
It means nothing less than the forgiveness of sins for all
people. To be forgiven means to be justified.
“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose
sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord
counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”
(Ps. 32:1–2)
“We are justified on the basis of sheer grace, because of the
sole merit, the entire obedience, and the bitter suffering,
death, and the resurrection of our Lord Christ alone, whose
obedience is reckoned to us as righteousness” (FC SD III, 9).1

All quotations from the Book of Concord are from Robert Kolb and Timothy J.
Wengert, eds., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000).

We see here that God, through His action in Christ, has
done something before anyone else. Before any human
being could do anything, God reconciled Himself to the
world. No one else did anything to make that possible. For
Christ’s sake, God does not count people’s trespasses against
them — this includes all people. Paul does not say: God
does not count men’s trespasses against all believers; He says:
God does not count men’s trespasses against “them” (“the
world”). And this covers everything and everyone — not
only some sins, or some people’s sins, but all the sins of the
world, past, present and future. Reconciliation is something
that has already happened in Christ. The message of reconciliation, therefore, is that God is fully reconciled with the
world in Christ. God is at peace with the world in Christ. In
His Word God assures the entire world that He is at peace
with us — reconciled. Everyone who believes enjoys the
benefits of this reconciliation.

4. Romans 5:18–19

Read Romans 5:18–19 (see below). What is the context here?

5. Summary of Objective Justification

Let’s review once again the definition of objective justification with which we started:
“By ‘objective’ or ‘universal’ justification one means that
God has declared the whole world to be righteous for
Christ’s sake and that righteousness has thus been procured
for all people. It is objective because this was God’s unilateral act prior to and in no way dependent upon man’s
response to it, and universal because all human beings are
embraced by this verdict. God has acquired the forgiveness
of sins for all people by declaring that the world for Christ’s
sake has been forgiven. The acquiring of forgiveness is the
pronouncement of forgiveness.”4
• Illustration: Pardon and the prisoner
Objective justification has often been compared to the
issuing of a pardon. The president or the governor has the
right of pardon, so that a person who has been sentenced
will not suffer the consequences of his crime. Years ago,
those who fled to Canada to evade being drafted during
the Vietnam War were pardoned by the president, so that
they did not have to fear punishment when they came back
to the United States. This pardon, as all pardons, was pure
grace. It was universal. It was an objective fact and reality.

“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men,
so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life
for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many
were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many
will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:18–19).
The context of this passage has to do with the parallel
between Adam and Christ. How are Adam and Christ alike?
Each set in place a particular reality for all the world. In one
man, Adam, sin, death and condemnation have come to all
people. In the other man, Jesus Christ, justification comes to
all people.

But what if a person were to think that this was “too
good to be true” — that this was just a cunning trick of
the government to get them back in the United States
where they could be punished? Someone who did not
trust the president’s word and did not believe the promise
of pardon would not enjoy the result of the pardon. He
would continue to exclude himself from the benefit of
returning to the United States.

What is meant by the “act of righteousness”?
“This expression encompasses the incarnation, righteous
life, atoning death, and resurrection of Jesus as his obedient
and salvific ‘one righteous act.’”2
What does Paul mean when he says that this act of Christ
“leads to justification and life for all men?”

Objective justification is a similar pardon. God, because
of what Christ has done, announces a general amnesty to
all people. Those who believe this good news will enjoy
it. Those who do not believe it in this life but reject it, will
(tragically) suffer the punishment from which God has
already freed them in Christ.

It means that all people are justified.
“For as it is a fact that the offense of Adam resulted in the
condemnation of death for all men, so it is a fact that the
righteousness of Christ resulted in the justification of life
to all men. What Paul, therefore, teaches in this section is

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2 | Subjective and Objective Justification | Session 2

briefly this, that, as the sin of Adam brought upon all men
the condemnation of death, so, and much more so, did the
righteousness of Christ bring upon all men the justification
of life.”3

2
Michael P. Middendorf, Romans 1-8 Concordia Commentary (St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 2013), 431.

(GZDUG:$.RHKOHU³2EMHFWLYH-XVWL¿FDWLRQ´Concordia Theological
Monthly 16 (1945): 224.

3

4
Commission on Theology and Church Relations, 7KHVHV RQ -XVWL¿FDWLRQ (St.
Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 1983), Thesis 23.

1

6. The Relationship between Objective
(Universal) and Subjective (Individual)
Justification
• The justifying act of God

We have looked at objective justification, that is, God’s
declaration that all people are forgiven because of the
work of Christ. God is reconciled to the world through
Christ, in Christ and on account of Christ, who bore the
sins of all people and satisfied the wrath of God. This
declaration is good news for all who fear the punishment
of God because of their sins.
We have also talked about subjective or individual
justification. Besides objectively declaring the whole
world justified, God also addresses individual persons
or subjects. “Subjective” here means “belonging to an
individual person” not “existing only in one’s mind,” or
something that has no reality in eternal life.
• The proclamation of the gracious judgment of God in the
Gospel
Read 2 Corinthians 5:18–20. What is meant by the “message
of reconciliation”?
It is the proclamation of the Good News by the apostle,
that is, the Gospel. The good news of Christ’s death for the
sins of the world is called the “message of reconciliation”
because it is the reassuring announcement that God for
Christ’s sake has forgiven the sins of the world. He is
reconciled to us because of Christ.
Why is the “message of reconciliation” necessary after the
act of reconciliation? It is necessary because God wants to
impart this forgiveness to each individual person, so that
each person is reconciled to God. God’s grace, the work of
Christ for the reconciliation of the world, and the word of
reconciliation belong together. What Christ has gained for
the entire world is given to me individually through the
message of reconciliation.
• The acceptance of this proclamation on the part of the
individual through faith
What is the appropriate response to this message of
reconciliation?
Read Acts 13:32–39. Why is faith so important?
The message of reconciliation can be either believed or
rejected. Faith is a work and gift of God. Through faith,
Leader’s Guide |

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2019 Convention Workbook