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| The Rolf Sect gave justification by faith a frosty reception. |
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014
The ELDoNA Refutes the ACLC's Critique Concerning the Article of Justification, Part 1
As our readers know, I was suspended from the WELS ministerium back in October, 2012, for teaching the Scriptural, Lutheran Gospel that “all are sinners and are justified solely by faith in Christ” (cf. Luther’s Works, Vol. 26: Lectures on Galatians, commenting on Galatians 1:10). The WELS insisted that I should teach the false doctrine of Universal “Objective Justification,” namely, that God has already declared all sinners to be righteous in His sight (whether they believe in Christ or not), but that this justification of all people not by faith in Christ, must be believed so that people can receive the benefits of it.
According to His great mercy, the Lord brought me safely out of the WELS and put me in contact with the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA), among whom the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered. But before I could join the diocese, it was agreed that I should explain my confession a bit more thoroughly, and that the diocese should explain its confession on this article of faith so that I would have no doubt what they believe and confess. I wrote an essay on the topic, and the diocese composed and adopted a set of Theses. In the end, we found ourselves to be in complete doctrinal agreement.
The Theses adopted by the ELDoNA and my essay have now been published, both online and in print.
For some time, the ELDoNA had been in fellowship with the Association of Confessional Lutheran Churches (ACLC). The ACLC was not required to subscribe to the Theses on Justification, but they were asked to offer input on the Theses before they were finalized and adopted. Their initial input expressed disagreement with the fundamental conclusions of the Theses. Once the Theses were adopted, the ACLC offered a short response, which can be found here.
In this response, they promised to write up a more indepth critique, which they published about a month ago. It can be found here. In it, the pastors of the ACLC have declared themselves to be tentatively out of fellowship with the ELDoNA, pending final approval by their convention later this year.
Given the confusion created by the inaccuracies in the ACLC's response, the diocese has chosen to refute several of their claims in a series of posts on the diocesan website. The first was published yesterday.
http://eldona.org/theses-on-the-article-of-justification-a-refutation-of-the-aclcs-critique-part-one/
I encourage all Intrepid readers to give it a careful reading, and to follow the ELDoNA posts as we make our confession of faith as plain as possible, to the glory of the Triune God and for the edification of His holy Church.
According to His great mercy, the Lord brought me safely out of the WELS and put me in contact with the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA), among whom the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered. But before I could join the diocese, it was agreed that I should explain my confession a bit more thoroughly, and that the diocese should explain its confession on this article of faith so that I would have no doubt what they believe and confess. I wrote an essay on the topic, and the diocese composed and adopted a set of Theses. In the end, we found ourselves to be in complete doctrinal agreement.
The Theses adopted by the ELDoNA and my essay have now been published, both online and in print.
For some time, the ELDoNA had been in fellowship with the Association of Confessional Lutheran Churches (ACLC). The ACLC was not required to subscribe to the Theses on Justification, but they were asked to offer input on the Theses before they were finalized and adopted. Their initial input expressed disagreement with the fundamental conclusions of the Theses. Once the Theses were adopted, the ACLC offered a short response, which can be found here.
In this response, they promised to write up a more indepth critique, which they published about a month ago. It can be found here. In it, the pastors of the ACLC have declared themselves to be tentatively out of fellowship with the ELDoNA, pending final approval by their convention later this year.
Given the confusion created by the inaccuracies in the ACLC's response, the diocese has chosen to refute several of their claims in a series of posts on the diocesan website. The first was published yesterday.
http://eldona.org/theses-on-the-article-of-justification-a-refutation-of-the-aclcs-critique-part-one/
I encourage all Intrepid readers to give it a careful reading, and to follow the ELDoNA posts as we make our confession of faith as plain as possible, to the glory of the Triune God and for the edification of His holy Church.
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| "Of sin, because they believe not on me." Sin is not believing in christ. |