Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1954, Page 23

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By. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America, 1954 23

sense do we hear it presented: I believe; I am conscious of the fact
that I believe on my Savior. Therefore I am justified in the sight
of God. A believing Christian does not make the pulse of his
faith-life the criterion of his state of grace... . The believer
rather makes this conclusion: Oh, how godless I still am! Out of
my heart godless thoughts continue to arise. There is no doubt
but that I am a poor, unworthy sinner. My sin is ever before me.
But now God’s Word tells me that God has already declared godless
sinners righteous. Thus I belong without any doubt whatsoever
in the number of those whom God justifies.” (Roemerbrief, p. 185.)

In 1905 Ohio called this position of Missouri on Objective
Justification a “sin against holiness,” “insanity,” “night of error,”
a “miserable figment of man’s own invention,” whereby the central
doctrine of Scripture was destroyed. (Lehre und Wehre, Vol. 51,
pp. 385 ff.) Ohio defined its own position this way: “Through the
reconciliation of Christ the holy and gracious God has made ad-
vances to us, so that forgiveness of sin and justification have been
made possible on His part; justification itself, however, does not
occur until through God’s grace the spark of faith has been
kindled in the heart of the poor sinner” (Lehre und Wehre,
Vol. 51, p. 388).

It is but natural that we ask whether or not this position has
changed within the American Lutheran Church during the course
of the years. Statements appearing in church periodicals repeatedly
present the thought that God is “ready to forgive” all those who
come to faith. Universal redemption is taught, but not universal
justification. Interesting to observe is the exegesis of Dr. R. Cc.
Lenski on the sedes doctrinae found in Romans. Dr. Lenski agrees
that the word “justify” as used by Paul is always forensic, but
goes to great lengths to attempt to prove that this justifying act
of God applies only to believers after they have come to faith.
On Rom. 4:5, where Paul speaks of God justifying the ungodly,
Dr. Lenski says: “God declares the ungodly righteous by reckoning
his faith for righteousness. . . . But for faith there would be no
justification. I must ever say: I believe, therefore am I justified.
The strength of my faith is the degree of my certainty.” (Com-
mentary on Romans, p. 299.) On Rom. 5:19 he comes out with
the flat statement: “Nowhere in the Bible is any man constituted
or declared righteous ‘without faith, before faith,’ all asseverations
and argumentations to the contrary notwithstanding.” Dr. Lenski
plainly recognized no Biblical doctrine of objective justification and
was very clear in saying so. The same can be said of Dr. Reu.
Although he uses the term “objective justification” in his Lutheran
Dogmatics (1945 ed., p. 279), he explains it as meaning that for-
giveness of sins has been procured and is available to all men
through the suffering and death of Christ and that it becomes an
established fact if and when the sinner comes to faith in Christ.
“Christ’s righteousness is available for the entire world,” Dr. Reu
states, and then he continues, “The indispensable condition for the
imputation of Christ’s righteousness and for the subsumption under
universal justification, is faith.” (Lutheran Dogmaties, pp. 287 £.)

The position of the American Lutheran Church on objective
justification is therefore precisely and concisely stated in its 1938
Declaration (II, A) with the words: “(God) purposes to justify
those who have come to faith.”