Introduction
by Gregory L. Jackson
By stealth, Lutherans
have steadily eroded the Biblical doctrine of the Reformation, which
established them as Evangelicals and Protestants, but now allowing others to use
those names and surrendering to the worst inclinations of Calvinists, Pietists,
and Roman Catholics. The uniting cause, to soothe every worldly conscience, is
to declare that God in His grace has already declared the entire world absolved
of all sin. After meeting together and devouring the perks of Thrivent
publicity, the LCMS-WELS-ELS stated –
"Last
but certainly not least, there was special joy to understand that we all hold
to objective justification—that God declared the world righteous through the
life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and that we all recognize it to be the
urgent mission of the church to take this gospel to the entire world."
That particular shout
of celebration may be difficult to find verbatim now, apart from a certain blog
seldom named but often read. However, the gloating superiority and arrogance
can be found in 60 or more essays in the WELS Essay Files.
Apostate Lutherans
like to call themselves Confessional Lutherans, as if they have a special
relationship with the Book of Concord and the doctrinal confessions within that
masterpiece, a one-volume guide to the Bible. However, the most basic characteristic
of a doctrinal confession is to state the affirmative belief as well as the
rejected belief. The Objective Justification advocates behave as if only one
truth exists – theirs – that Paul and Luther taught God absolved the entire
world of its sins for all time. The key phrase is usually “God declared the
world righteous,” dishonestly designated Justification, deceitfully portrayed
as Biblical truth.
Dead silence often
accompanies guilt, and the Objective Justification Lutherans are morbidly quiet
about Luther’s Galatians Commentary. However, the Book of Concord editors,
which these chameleons pretend to honor, wrote this in the Formula of Concord
article on The Righteousness of Faith –
67]
Concerning what is needful furthermore for the proper explanation of this
profound and chief article of justification before God, upon which depends the salvation
of our souls, we direct, and
for the sake of brevity herewith refer, every one to Dr. Luther's beautiful and
glorious exposition of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians.
(emphasis added)
Who is more neglected
and scorned than Luther, mocked with silly trinkets for the 500th
Anniversary of the Reformation, supplanted by rationalists and Calvinists like CFW
Walther and JP Meyer? What book of Luther’s forgotten works is more unmentioned
than Galatians?
What is more fitting for Crypto-Papist McCain to produce than a dog shirt and collar for the Reformation's 500th Anniversary?
The
Lutheran Librarian (Alec Satin) and I discussed whether to use the shorter or
longer version of Luther’s Galatians. We decided it was better to have
people read the shorter version first rather than not own and not read the
longer one. Anyone who loves Luther’s shorter version will seek out the later
and longer exposition, truly a goldmine of insights about the Gospel, one he valued himself as a work worth keeping (with
the Small Catechism) if the rest of his works were burned. 
Alec Satin will also produce an ebook and print version of Luther’s Galatians by itself, which will be more appealing to the never-Ichabods.
