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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 299

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

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II. THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
4. Romans 5:18–19

Read Romans 5:18–19 (see below). What is the context here?
“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”
What is meant by the “act of righteousness”?

Subjective and Objective Justification

What does Paul mean when he says that this act of Christ
“leads to justification and life for all men?”
“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
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.”2

Participant ’s Guide

Session 2:

1. 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.

2. Objective Justification

“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
“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

5. Summary of Objective Justification
counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us
the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18–19).
What does “reconciling” mean?
How did God reconcile the world to Himself?
Does “world” mean all people or only believers?
In what way are unbelievers reconciled to God?

“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.”3

What does it mean when God does not count our trespasses
against us?

• Illustration: Pardon and the prisoner

“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)

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

“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

• The proclamation of the gracious judgment of God in the
Gospel

299

• 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?

7. Why Is Objective Justification
Important?
• The Gospel without “if.”

When the Good News is spoken, does it sound like, “God
is ready and willing to forgive you — if you believe?” Or
perhaps, “Forgiveness of sins is now a possibility!”
“As far as the sins of men are concerned, the Gospel does
not tell us that God is ready and willing to forgive them
if and when a man believes; it does not offer a potential
forgiveness of sins; it does not tell us that the actual
forgiving on the part of God takes place, but not before the
believing takes place on the part of man; but the Gospel
tells us that when God in Christ reconciled the world
unto Himself, he then did not impute the trespasses unto
men, He then forgave all their sins to all of them. The act
of forgiving is not held in abeyance, but it is finished, it is
accomplished, the sins are forgiven to all men. Therefore,
we do not preach of and about forgiveness of sins, but we
preach forgiveness itself; we offer to men a finished product,
not a future possibility.”4

8. Preaching and Absolution

Because God has forgiven the sins of all the world, therefore
a preacher of the Gospel can say: “God has forgiven all
your sins.”
“The only essential and necessary elements of justification
are the grace of God, the merit of Christ, and the faith
that receives this grace and merit in the gospel’s promise,
through which Christ’s righteousness is reckoned to us” (FC
SD III, 25).5 Thus, the Confessions speak about that which
is universal and objective — the grace of God, the merit of
Christ, the promise of the Gospel, and how this comes to be
ours personally (subjectively), namely through faith.

Read 2 Corinthians 5:18–20. What is meant by the “message
of reconciliation”?
(GZDUG:$.RHKOHU³2EMHFWLYH-XVWL¿FDWLRQ´Concordia Theological
Monthly 16 (1945): 224.

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).

Participant’s Guide |

Commission on Theology and Church Relations, 7KHVHV RQ -XVWL¿FDWLRQ (St.
Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 1983), Thesis 23.
3

Koehler, 226.

Kolb/Wengert, 566.

2 | Subjective and Objective Justification | Session 2

9. Objections to Objective Justification
Does this mean that all people will go to heaven?

If He paid for the sins of all people, how can it be that there
are still people who will have to pay for their sins in hell?

10. Conclusion

The terms “subjective” (“individual”) justification and
“objective” (“general”) justification are rather technical.
But they are used to express something that is not
merely technical, but essential — and very practical and
comforting! — for every Christian: God has forgiven the
sins of all people on account of Christ. The Gospel is the
announcement of this forgiveness. My faith does nothing
more than receive this forgiveness.

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2019 Convention Workbook