Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬

Husband, Father, Lutheran Pastor (LC-MS). Serving Christ in the Tri Cities of Washington State. My views are my own.

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

@GerhardsGhost @Canonandcreed @iam_shwa Excellent! Thank you for this!

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

@Canonandcreed @GerhardsGhost @iam_shwa Since I haven't read much of Quenstedt, or Calov, in addition to Hollaz, I am guessing they also very carefully use the term gratia infusia when discussing the ordo salutis.

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

Thank you! I had forgotten that Pieper uses the term 'gratia infusa'. And, of course, Pieper is concerned to use the term in its "good sense" (as you quoted him). To Pieper, in this "good sense," the term simply means that the Holy Spirit does not leave a Christian unchanged. The Holy Spirit truly implants new spiritual desires, a new will, and the capacity for love and good works within the human heart. All of which are nourished and grown through Word and Sacrament.

But we have to remember that Pieper also warns we are by nature Schwarmer and because of that we could fall into the error of looking inward towards sanctification as a proof that God loves us, rather than looking to God's promise in the objective means of Grace. Or, worse yet, we can look inward at the sanctification wrought in us as a fruit of the Holy Spirit and take credit for it and boast in ourselves.

Again, thank you! I had totally forgotten Pieper's use of the term.

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

Where do we affirm an infused righteousness in sanctification? I can't think of a Lutheran father or anywhere in the BoC that makes such an affirmation. I could be wrong. I believe we don't use the term "infused righteousness" to avoid distorting the Scriptural view of God's mercy.

We also avoid using the term "infused righteousness" because using that phrase implies that a Christian possesses a stable, intrinsic righteousness of their own that could stand before God's judgment.

Instead, we prefer the term 'mystical union.' In the Formula of Concord, we maintain that believers are united to Christ through faith and that this relationship is not an infusion of a divine substance that changes our formal status or acts as an inherent platform for performing meritorious good works.

To be clear, we do not deny that God dwells inside the believer. We certainly confess that the Holy Spirit and Christ truly take up residence in the Christian's heart through faith. Indeed, we confess the Holy Spirit actively renews the believer's mind, will, and heart. This renewal produces a "new obedience." But, this is not a static quality infused into the soul, but a living, ongoing work of the Holy Spirit ar war with the peccator.

Now that I laid that all out, I am still genuinely interested where we might confess an infused righteousness in sanctification (apart from Osiander's error dealt with by the Formula).

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

According to the LDS one would be yelling at the being named "Jesus Christ" who has as his brother the being named "Lucifer" who became "Satan." The LDS claim that as a "premortal" you had as your brother Lucifer, too.

"Premortality refers to our life before we were born on this earth. In our pre-earth life, we lived in the presence of our Heavenly Father as His spirit children. We did not have a physical body.

In this premortal existence, we attended a council with Heavenly Father’s other spirit children. At that council, Heavenly Father presented His great plan of happiness.

In harmony with the plan of happiness, the premortal Jesus Christ, the Firstborn Son of the Father in the spirit, covenanted to be the Savior. Those who followed Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were permitted to come to the earth to experience mortality and progress toward eternal life. Lucifer, another spirit son of God, rebelled against the plan and “sought to destroy the agency of man.” He became Satan, and he and his followers were cast out of heaven and denied the privileges of receiving a physical body and experiencing mortality.

Throughout our premortal life, we developed our identity and increased our spiritual capabilities. Blessed with the gift of agency, we made important decisions, such as the decision to follow Heavenly Father’s plan. These decisions affected our life then and now. We grew in intelligence and learned to love the truth, and we prepared to come to the earth, where we could continue to progress."
https://t.co/1EpZoUmYIC

[SWOLE Nephi 💪🏻 @LargeInStature_]

Just know that when you're yelling at Latter-day Saints, this is who you're yelling at:

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

@eStream_ @Mormonger Take it up with the LDS, I gave you their official statement from their website.

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

@eStream_ @Mormonger From their website: "God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost form a group known as the Godhead. Each member is a different, individual being, yet all three are united in thought, desire, knowledge, power, and purpose."

See also https://t.co/eHnyxQ2l7a

[Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok]

California literally passed a bill BANNING local governments from passing laws requiring Voter ID

Ask yourself why Democrats so terrified of requiring ID to vote?? 🤔

If Democrats couldn’t cheat they would never win another election.

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

Not really. The character was weak in my opinion, but so was Kylo Ren.

[Star Wars Daily @StarWarsDaily_]

Do you want to see Rey return in future projects?

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

They might even count goals until their team wins.

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

@HansFiene Only if they run the Pentagon where it's stored.

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

A very good response, one I disagree with and have not the desire to engage on every point, but reminds of the skeptical argument which constantly prods for what it is that ultimately grounds a hierarchy and the answer winds up as, "it's turtles all the way down." I think you anticipated that problem and ultimately ground the hierarchy in human reasoning. That has a problem when it comes to spiritual matters; especially concerning the bondage of the will prior to conversion, but I won't flesh out my thinking on that for the moment. What I want to point out is that Lutherans speak of the material and formal principles of the faith.

The formal principle is Holy Scripture alone (sola Scriptura) as the sole source, rule, and norm for all doctrine and teaching. It answers the question: By what authority do we establish and judge articles of faith?
The prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments are "the only rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be appraised and judged" (Formula of Concord, Epitome, Rule and Norm, 1). "Only the Word of God shall establish articles of faith" (Smalcald Articles, II, ii, 15). Scripture is the norma normans (the norm that norms everything else). All other sources (church fathers, creeds, confessions, reason, experience, tradition) are subordinate and must be tested against it.

This ensures that theology remains grounded in God's revealed Word rather than human opinions or ecclesiastical traditions elevated above Scripture.

The material principle is the Gospel. The gracious justification of the sinner through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

It answers the question: What is the central content or heart of Christian doctrine? This is often called the chief doctrine of Holy Scripture, the heart and center of our faith and theology, and the lens through which Scripture is properly interpreted and applied (law and Gospel distinction).
Justification is by grace alone (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola fide), for the sake of Christ alone (solus Christus), apart from works of the Law. God declares the sinner righteous (imputes Christ's righteousness) for Christ's sake, received by faith that trusts in the promise of the Gospel.

Therefore, and in short, we don't need to answer the skeptical arguments concerning authority with circularity or with it's turtles all the way down! Instead we point to the very source of faith, to Christ and his word and there we stand.

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

@GuerillaLawyer Thank you for your responses. I am entertaining family and will not be able to respond as I would like. I popped in to acknowledge your posts.

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

You are asking interesting questions but seem unaware that the skepticism underlying them applies to you. What "binds" the Roman Catholic system? Where does it claim to get its authority from? How can you demonstrate the veracity of its claim to authority with out circularity? Confessional Lutherans point to Christ and His Word as our authority.

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

@GuerillaLawyer And... of course... the teaching that unites the Reformers, salvation by God's grace alone through faith alone in Christ.

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

Another strawman. Rhetorically, such strawman arguments might get traction with the "choir" but the problem is that you're ignoring the core teachings that do unite these church bodies. Such as the Holy Trinity, the bodily resurrection of Christ, the deity of Christ and His hypostatic union. Christ's ascension into heaven and His return at the end of the age. To name a few teachings. So, rather than there being hundreds to thousands of different teachings, there are realistically a handful with most of those differences touching upon the teachings of baptism, the Lord's Supper, the authority of Scripture, free will, and the order of salvation. We could include the structure of church bodies. None of that is news and certainly the Roman Catholic Church is not immune to divisions, SSPX, proponents against Vatican II, etc.

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

Some how familiar! 😅

[Rev. Jim Pierce ✝️ 🦬 @RevJimPierce]

@GuerillaLawyer It crumbles in practice with "I do!" I am not aware of a single church body that rejects the teaching office and their own tradition when interpreting scripture.