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Showing posts with label Grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grace. Show all posts

Monday, December 9, 2024

John Gerhard, Prof. Mayes defend "grace alone" (vs Harrison)

Gerhard's "On Good Works" — Prof. Benjamin Mayes
        While researching some writings of John Gerhard, I had occasion to glance through the 2020 CPH book On Good Works - Theological Commonplaces. What impressed me was how thoroughly Gerhard defended against the Roman Catholic theologian Robert Bellarmine, who doggedly defended his Church's doctrine of "grace and works" for salvation.
      The editor of this volume is Prof. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, a theologian who has been shown to hold questionable theology in other blog posts here and here. So it came as a surprise to me that he spoke well about Gerhard's strong defense against the Roman mixing of grace and works. What was perhaps most helpful was his quote from Catholic sources of their "Response" to the 1997 Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification. On page xii, Prof. Mayes quotes this Roman "Response":
“We can therefore say that eternal life is, at one and the same time, grace and the reward given by God for good works and merits” — (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) (see archived copy here.)
That is an official statement of the Roman Catholic Church in 1998 under Pope John Paul II. Prof. Mayes' republishing of this statement was most helpful for Lutherans today in order to see that there remains a major difference between Lutherans and Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church is the same church today as it was in the days of the Council of Trent. Now Prof. Mayes goes on to make the following statement of "Applications to Modern Theology": 
“Gerhard’s response [to Catholic theology] will thus be applicable to modern ecumenical discussions…”
That is a very appropriate statement! But our professor does not go into detail of what these "modern ecumenical discussions" might or should be. Perhaps that was not the place to do it. But he should have "discussions" within his own church body, particularly with President Matthew Harrison, who in his presentation of Walther's Church and Office said this (p. xiv, emphasis mine):
Pres. Matthew Harrison
“As I perused the Catechism of the Catholic Church for contemporary documentation of positions of the Roman Catholic Church which Walther addresses and which are the object of Lutheran polemic, I noted numerous points of remarkable convergence of Lutheran and Roman Catholic doctrine on the Office of the Ministry. While we must reject what is false, we can also joyously note what is right—no matter who says it.”
Now if Prof. Mayes actually believes what John Gerhard defended, then he would recognize the fallacy in Harrison's statement. Because when the Roman Catholic Church condemns "grace alone" and "faith alone", it has struck at the heart of the Christian faith. And so there can be no "convergence of Lutheran and Roman Catholic doctrine", no matter what doctrine the papists teach.

==>> Prof. Mayes: Do you really believe what John Gerhard defended? It seems that your spiritual leader causes one to question "grace alone".
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Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Catholic Encycl.: only those “Old Lutherans” of… Missouri

[2017-06-23: updated links from HathiTrust to Google Books; Dec. 2, 2016: added new source for Pieper's quote at bottom]
      It can be difficult to figure out just what true Lutheranism is, who are the true Lutherans today.  We get some assistance in this endeavor from The Catholic Encyclopedia, volume VIII (1910).  In their article under the heading of “Justification” (p. 573-578), they first set out to explain “The Protestant Doctrine of Justification”.  As the essayist approaches the end of this section, after handling the “error” of Luther, it rejoices in the fact that practically all of Protestantism, including world-wide Lutheranism, has virtually joined with the Roman Catholic Church in acknowledging that there must be something else besides God's grace that is responsible for our salvation.  Oh, but there is a "fly in the ointment", and our Catholic essayist would not want to be accused of omitting any minor detail.  And what would be this small bit of information?  I highlight his sentence below:
1910 Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8, p. 576 (WikiSource)


“The strict orthodoxy of the Old Lutherans, e.g. in the Kingdom of Saxony and the State of Missouri, alone continues to cling tenaciously to a system which otherwise would have slowly fallen into oblivion.”
The "Old Lutherans" have been taken over by today's LC-MS which no longer receives censures by Romanists like the above.  It is the "pure grace" written into the Brief Statement of 1932 that is the remaining legacy of the "Old Lutherans".  But God's Grace remains for all.  He gives us His Word.
      How did I come across this "bit" of information?  It came from Franz Pieper's 1921 essay to the North Dakota-Montana District as translated by Pastor Bryce Winter of the ELCR of Australia.  Pastor Winter is serializing his translation of this marvelous history of Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms in 1521 ("Here I Stand") and I present below his Part 7 which is short, less than 5 pages long. Full Google Doc text > here <.  Highlighting and hyperlinks are my additions; original pagination retained.


Who am I?  Just an "Old Lutheran" from that "State of Missouri" from above where only pure grace is clung to — Sola Gratia!
[Note: Pieper also gave the above quote from the Catholic Encyclopedia in his Christliche Dogmatik, vol. 2, pg 670, or Christian Dogmatics, vol. 2, p. 555, mentioning Catholic author Joseph Pohle]
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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Pieper’s Dogmatik 2a: Cross Ref English <-> German

      This is a continuation from the previous post publishing a hyperlinked Table of Contents for each volume that cross references the English edition to each section of the original German edition.  Because Volume 2 has so many entries in its Contents, I am splitting it into 2 posts.
      The first section is on "Grace" and there is no better teacher of the Christian Church since C.F.W. Walther to teach us about the Grace of God than Franz Pieper.  I refer the reader to an earlier blog series publishing Pieper's essay on the subject in 1904.
      The second section is about what is sometimes referred to as "Christology".  And although Prof. David P. Scaer presumes to present his teaching on this same subject in his book, yet Pieper is much preferred to Scaer.  Why?  Because Scaer is confused on the central Doctrine of Justification, claiming that "All Theology is Christology".  See my earlier blog post that exposes Scaer's "Fork in the Road".  Pieper's "Doctrine of Christ" will be the better teaching than Scaer's "Christology".  Again, this is because Pieper keeps the Doctrine of Christ pure so that the Doctrine of Justification is kept pure.  Scaer?... claims Justification is subservient.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Christliche Dogmatik, Volume 2a
by Dr. Franz Pieper
Contents
The Saving Grace of God
1. The Necessity of Grace, p. 3
2. The Concept of Saving Grace, p. 7
3. Attributes of Saving Grace, p. 18
4. The Theological Terminology Regarding the Divine Will of Grace, p. 34
Concluding Remarks, p. 49
The Doctrine of Christ
Importance and Division of the Doctrine, p. 55
I. The Doctrine of the Person of Christ, p. 56
Short Summary of the Doctrine, p. 57
1. The True Deity of Christ, p. 59
2. The True Humanity of Christ, p. 67
The Son of Man
Peculiarities of Christ's Human Nature, p. 71
The Human Nature of Christ Came into Existence Through the Operation of the Holy Ghost, p. 71
The Sinlessness of the Human Nature of Christ, p. 73
The Impersonality of the Human Nature of Christ, p. 79
3. The Personal Union, p. 85
The Personal Union and the Christological Theories of Modern Theology, p. 103
4. The Communion of Natures 118
The Reason for the Special Discussion of the Communion of Natures, p. 118
Critique of the Denial of the Communion of Natures, p. 120
The Communion of Natures More Completely Described, p. 123
5. The Communion of Attributes, p. 129
The Three Genera of the Communication of Attributes, p. 132
The First Genus of Communication of Attributes, p. 135
[Definition of the first genus of communication of attributes, p. 143]
Critique of the Denial of the First Genus, p. 147
Abstract Terms in the First Genus, p. 151
The Second Genus of the Communication of Attributes, p. 152
Communicated Omnipotence, p. 158
Communicated Omniscience, p. 162
Communicated Omnipresence, p. 166
[Proof that contradiction by Reformed and moderns is unscientific and unscriptural], p. 167
[The manner of the omnipresence of Christ according to human nature, p. 173]
[The communicated omnipresence and the Lord's Supper, p. 190]
[The agreement between the Lutherans in relation to the communicated omnipresence, p. 195]
[The communicated omnipresence in a state of humiliation and exaltation, p. 205]
Communicated Divine Honor, p. 215
In the Second Genus the Divine Attributes are Not Separated from the Divine Essence, p. 224
The Abstract Terms of the Genus Maiestaticum, p. 227
No Reciprocity of the Second Genus, p. 229
All Divine Attributes are Communicated to the Human Nature, p. 236
The Third Genus of the Communication of Attributes, p. 243
The Importance of the Genus Apotelesmaticum, p. 252
The Genus Apotelesmaticum and the Ancient Church, p. 258
Lutherans and Reformed Use the Same Terms of the Third Genus in a Different Sense, p. 260
Eutychianism and Nestorianism Repudiated in the Third Genus, p. 268
Summary Critique of Reformed Christology, p. 271
II. The Doctrine of the States of Christ, p. 280
1. The Nature of the humiliation and the Exaltation, p. 281
False Views of the Humiliation of Christ, p.  292
The Crypto-Kenotic Controversy, 1619-1627, p. 296
[Uncertainty in the assessment of this dispute, Omitted??]
On the Terminology Used in Describing the Humiliation and Exaltation, p. 301
2. The Several Stages of Christ's Humiliation and Exaltation, p. 305
Christ's Conception and Nativity, p. 306
Empfängnis und Geburt, S. 364
Christ's Education, Growth in Wisdom, and Visible Earthly Life, p. 309
Christ's Suffering, Death, and Burial, p. 310
Christ's Descent into Hell, p. 314
[The Resurrection of Christ, p. 320 (missing in English Contents)]
The Forty Days Between Christ's Resurrection and Ascension, p. 323
Christ's Ascension, p. 324
Christ's Session at God's Right Hand, p. 329
Christ's Second Advent, p. 330
III. The Doctrine of Christ's Office
In General, p. 330
The Threefold Office of Christ, p. 333
The Prophetic Office of Christ
The Execution of the Prophetic Office in the State of Humiliation 334
The Execution of the Prophetic Office in the State of Exaltation, p. 339
The Sacerdotal Office of Christ
The Sacerdotal Office of Christ in the State of Humiliation, p. 342
The Vicarious Satisfaction, p. 344
Die satisfactio vicaria.  – Die stellvertretende Genugtuung., S. 407
Objective and Subjective Reconciliation, p. 347
Objections Raised Against the Vicarious Satisfaction, p. 351
[Historical Notes on the Doctrine of the Vicarious Satisfaction, p. 356]
Some Modern Theories of the Atonement Examined 361
The Active Obedience of Christ, p. 372
The Sacrifice of Christ and the Sacrifices of the Old Testament, p. 378
To Whom and for Whom Christ Rendered Satisfaction, p. 379
The Intercession of Christ, p. 382
The Sacerdotal Office of Christ in the State of Exaltation, p. 382
The Kingly Office of Christ, p. 385
A Threefold Kingdom, p. 385
The Unity of the Three Kingdoms 386
Differences of the Three Kingdoms 387
The Doctrine of the Kingly Office of Christ an Article of Faith, p. 389
False Teachings Regarding the Kingly Office of Christ, p. 390
[Conclusion, p. 394]
[ Schlußbemerkung, S. 472 ]
= = = = = = = =    Continued in next Part 2b   = = = = = = = = = = =
The balance of this cross-reference listing for Volume 2 will be presented in the next blog post.
[See directory for all 3 volumes here.]
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