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| Herman Amberg Preus was one of the leaders of the Norgwegian Lutherans. Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, has more Preus members in its history than found at a Preus reunion. |
H. A. Preus:
As the first of these off-springs the professor counts “the justification of the world” or as it is more often called, objective, universal justification. By this we understand that by raising Christ from the dead God declares him righteous and at the same time acknowledges and declares all people, the whole world, whose Representative and Substitute Jesus Christ was in his resurrection and victory as well as in his suffering and tribulation ("He was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification"), as free from guilt and punishment, and righteous in Christ Jesus.
Notice the misuse of Romans 4:25, which was canonized in the Brief Statement of 1932. A clear verse on believing in Christ, Romans 4:24, is removed from Romans 4:25, in a chapter devoted to Abraham as the prime example of justification by faith - Genesis 15.
Robert Preus, the father of Rolf, Dan, and many other Preuslings, taught UOJ in the spirit of Norwegian Pietism and allegiance to Walther's Halle Pietism (as taught by Bishop Stephan).
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| Here is a bio of Edward (Eduard) Preuss. UOJ Enthusiasts seldom mention he became a Roman Catholic apologist. He was very influential as the editor of the Roman Catholic Amerika magazine. Here are links to his UOJ booklet, German and English. |
Preus even endorsed the idiotic statement by Edward Preuss in that essay so loved by Walther -
CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
NEWSLETTER – Spring 1981
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THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – "OBJECTIVE JUSTIFICATION"
The doctrine of objective justification is a lovely teaching drawn from Scripture which tells us that God who has loved us so much that He gave His only to be our Savior has for the sake of Christ’s substitutionary atonement declared the entire world of sinners for whom Christ died to be righteous (Romans 5:17-19).
Objective justification which is God’s verdict of acquittal over the whole world is not identical with the atonement, it is not another way of expressing the fact that Christ has redeemed the world. Rather it is based upon the substitutionary work of Christ, or better, it is a part of the atonement itself. It is God’s response to all that Christ died to save us, God’s verdict that Christ’s work is finished, that He has been indeed reconciled, propitiated; His anger has been stilled and He is at peace with the world, and therefore He has declared the entire world in Christ to be righteous.
THE SCRIPTURAL SUPPORT
According to all of Scripture Christ made a full atonement for the sins of all mankind. Atonement (at-one-ment) means reconciliation. If God was not reconciled by the saving work of Christ, if His wrath against sin was not appeased by Christ'’ sacrifice, if God did not respond to the perfect obedience and suffering and death of His Son for the sins of the world by forgiveness, by declaring the sinful world to be righteous in Christ -–if all this were not so, if something remains to be done by us or through us or in us, then there is no finished atonement. But Christ said, "It is finished." And God raised Him from the dead and justified Him, pronounced Him, the sin bearer, righteous (I Timothy 3:16) and thus in Him pronounced the entire world of sinners righteous (Romans 4:25).
All this is put beautifully by an old Lutheran theologian of our church, "We are redeemed from the guilt of sin; the wrath of God is appeased; all creation is again under the bright rays of mercy, as in the beginning; yea, in Christ we were justified before we were even born. For do not the Scriptures say: ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them?'’ This is not the justification which we receive by faith...That is the great absolution which took place in the resurrection of Christ. It was the Father, for our sake, who condemned His dear Son as the greatest of all sinners causing Him to suffer the greatest punishment of the transgressors, even so did He publicly absolve Him from the sins of the world when He raised Him up from the dead." (Edward Preuss, "The Justification of a Sinner Before God," pp. 14-15)
But Preus kept studying and so he repudiated UOJ in his last book, Justification and Rome, which the editing of Rolf and Dan failed to removed entirely...
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| Robert Preus on Justification. |
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| Robert Preus on Justification. |
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| Robert Preus on Justification. |
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| Robert Preus on Justification. |