J Edwards, in the thread "Christian Soldier", has labeled certain articles in the LCMS Brief Statement heresy. Although the Brief Statement is poorly written and inadequately supported, I must defend it against charges of deliberate false doctrine.
1. Universalism
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Since God has reconciled the whole world unto Himself
J Edwards omits the remainder of the passage which makes it clear that personal reconciliation is obtained only through faith in Christ.
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Since God has reconciled the whole world unto Himself through the vicarious life and death of His Son and has commanded that the reconciliation effected by Christ be proclaimed to men in the Gospel, to the end that they may believe it, 2 Cor. 5:18, 19; Rom 1:5, therefore faith in Christ is the only way for men to obtain Personal reconciliation with God, that is, forgiveness of sins, as both the Old and the New Testament Scriptures testify, Acts 10: 43; John 3:16-18,36. By this faith in Christ, through which men obtain the forgiveness of sins, is not meant any human effort to fulfill the Law of God after the example of Christ, but faith in the Gospel, that is, in the forgiveness of sins, or justification, which was fully earned for us by Christ and is offered in the Gospel. This faith justifies, not inasmuch as it is a work of man, but inasmuch as it lays hold of the grace offered, the forgiveness of sins, Rom. 4:16.
The Brief Statement distinguishes between the reconciliation of the whole world wrought by Jesus Christ by His perfect obedience to the Father (atonement) and the reconciliation wrought by God by which men obtain the forgiveness of sins (justification by faith alone). Thus, universalism is specifically denied.
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As to the question why not all men are converted and saved, seeing that God's grace is universal and all men are equally and utterly corrupt, we confess that we cannot answer it.
Universalism is denied although the passage is poorly worded. Salvic grace is not universal as the first part of the sentence clearly states. The offer of grace is universal. John 3:16.
2. Salvation
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we reject also the Calvinistic perversion of the doctrine of conversion, that is, the doctrine that God does not desire to convert and save all hearers of the Word, but only a portion of them. Many hearers of the Word indeed remain unconverted and are not saved, not because God does not earnestly desire their conversion and salvation, but solely because they stubbornly resist the gracious operation of the Holy Ghost, as Scripture teaches, Acts 7:51; Matt. 23:37; Acts 13:46.
The passage, while not false, is rather misleading. Man lacks free will to either cooperate with or to resist the gracious operation of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost works faith when and where it pleases God in them that hear the word.
3. Justification/Righteousness
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Scripture teaches that God has already declared the whole world to be righteous in Christ, Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rom. 4:25; that therefore not for the sake of their good works, but without the works of the Law, by grace, for Christ's sake, He justifies, that is, accounts as righteous, all those who believe, accept, and rely on, the fact that for Christ's sake their sins are forgiven.
I have struggled with the statement, "God has already declared the whole world to be righteous in Christ". There is no reference to the Book of Concord and the passage itself provides little support to defend its premise that justification occurs apart from faith while, at the same time, stating that justification is by faith alone. While I am not prepared to label the passage heresy, I am not prepared to call it sound doctrine either. The authors should be given an opportunity to explain their meaning.
