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I finished polishing Vol. 3b and have moved on to Vol. 2a. So many times I run into Pieper's teachings and want to run to my blog to highlight the clearest Christian teaching in the 20th Century. Here is another. On page 22 of the German and English editions, Pieper hammers home what makes the Lutheran Church Lutheran: UNIVERSAL Grace. This is why it is the Evangelical Lutheran Church. And so why is the German edition even greater than the English edition in some respects? It is because Pieper and the Lutheran Confessions emphasize their words (bolding or underlining or italics) over and over with emphasis that is missing in the English edition of Christian Dogmatics.
What follows is my translation of Pieper's teaching with its corresponding footnote # 61 (previously quoted in this blog). All bold/underlined words are Pieper's and that of the Lutheran Confessions. Hyperlinks are mine.
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The gratia universalis is the doctrine of the Lutheran Church. The Lutheran Confessions maintain the universality of saving grace in its full extent. They teach the threefold universalism of the love of God, the merits of Christ and the earnest effectiveness of the means of grace in all hearers of the Word. (Footnote # 61)
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(Footnote 61): Formula of Concord, Solid/Thorough Declarations, § 28 – 42 [Triglotta, pgs 1071-1077 (XI. Of God's Eternal Election)]: “We must in every way hold firmly and sturdily to this, that, as the preaching of repentance, so also the promise of the Gospel is universalis, that is, applies to all men. [Luke 24:47] Therefore Christ has commanded 'that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations.' For God loved the world and gave His Son to it. [John 3:16] Christ bore the sins of the world, John 1:29, gave his flesh for the life of the world, John 6:51, His blood is 'the propitiation for the sins of the whole world,' 1 John 2:2. Christ says: ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’, Matt. 11:28. God has concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy on all, Rom. 11:32. The Lord does not want that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, 2 Peter 3:9… [§ 29] This call of God, which is made through the preaching of the Word, we should not regard as jugglery, but know that thereby God reveals His will, that in those whom He thus calls He will work through the Word, that they may be enlightened, converted, and saved.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -The emphasis of words shown above is missing in the English edition, but I want to restore the emphasis here to highlight The Lutheran Difference of the Lutheran Church... the one that Prof. Franz Pieper emphasized his whole life.
Q: Who was the confessional Lutheran teacher for the 20th Century (also here and now)?
A: Franz Pieper
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