The Lutheran understanding of 2 Corinthians 5:19

We Lutherans who hold to the Scriptural and Lutheran doctrine that sinners are only justified by God through faith in Christ (as opposed to the supposed universal justification of all men, whether they believe in Christ or not) are often accused of ignoring the Bible and elevating the Book of Concord to inspired status.  What these vain accusers fail to understand is that the doctrine confessed in the Book of Concord is the direct result of the Biblical exegesis of the Lutherans who originally published and subscribed it.  The Christian doctrine of justification by faith is taught everywhere in the Scriptures.  The supposed universal justification of all men apart from faith is said to be taught in a handful of passages.  Chief among this handful of passages is 2 Corinthians 5:19.

As I have demonstrated before (from the words of Chemnitz and of Melanchthon), the historic Lutheran Church never viewed that passage as teaching that God has declared all men righteous, whether they believe or not.  This fact is most emphatically demonstrated in the Censure of the Tübingen Theologians against Samuel Huber, and I agree wholeheartedly with their exegesis.  Tom Hardt's "Justification and Easter" essay contains one sentence reflecting the Lutheran Church's exegesis of 2 Corinthians 5:19, where they state that "Paul never teaches universal justification."  I have finally acquired a copy of Hardt's source material in Latin, and I offer here the whole paragraph translated into English:

Actorum Huberianorum Pars Posterior, Tübingen 1597, p. 122-123.

Paul never teaches universal justification. For with regard to the passage in 2 Cor. 5, those words, “not imputing sins to them,” are not to be understood universally concerning all men without respect to faith. For although the Apostle does not expressly mention faith there, nonetheless no mention is ever made in the Scriptures of an imputation where a consideration of faith is excluded. For just as God imputes righteousness to no one except for the believer, so also it is to believers only that He does not impute sins.

Paul expressly teaches this very thing in Rom. 4: “Not to the one who works, but to the one who believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is imputed as righteousness.” And: “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin.” Paul refers these words to the justification of faith, through which sins are remitted to a man, or in other words, not imputed. And such a man is pronounced blessed. But no one is blessed and saved without faith. Now, if those words are to be understood universally concerning all men, according to Huber’s opinion, then all men would be blessed and saved, for he is said to be blessed to whom God does not impute sins.

How is it, then, according to the declaration of Christ, that “he who does not believe has been condemned already”? How does the wrath of God remain on him (John 3)? And since unbelievers have already been condemned, therefore their sins are imputed to them, and consequently those words of the Apostle are not to be understood universally and simply concerning any and all men, both believers and unbelievers. Rather, they include the means revealed in the Word of God, namely, a consideration of faith. That is, that God does not impute sins to men if they believe in Christ the Propitiator. If they do not believe, their sins are imputed to them, and they are condemned on account of them.

The same thing is revealed in the Book of Concord, page 657, where it says this: “For justification, these things are required and necessary: the grace of God, the merit of Christ, and FAITH, which embraces these very benefits of God in the promise of the Gospel. In this way (that is, through faith), the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us.” And shortly before: “The righteousness of faith before God consists in the free and most gracious imputation of the righteousness of Christ (apart from any merit of our works). That is, that sins have been remitted to us and covered, nor are they imputed to us.” The meaning, therefore, of the Apostle’s words is: “not imputing sins to them by the means ordained in God’s Word.” Indeed, if the words are to be understood simply, without a consideration of faith, then why does God condemn the world to which God, according to Huber’s opinion, does not impute sins?

Reconciling the world—but not without means

I offer here another piece of Lutheran history on the Lutheran Church's historical understanding of 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

Some assert that God "finished" reconciling the world to Himself 2,000 years ago, and that He justified all people at that time ("not imputing to them their sins").  Now, they say, He has entrusted the ministers of the Word with the task of announcing that God finished reconciling the world to Himself in the past, and in this way, they say, people become "individually" or "subjectively" reconciled to God.  They claim that Paul is teaching two separate things in these verses:  (1) that God finished reconciling the world (i.e., all people) to Himself at the cross, and (2) that by preaching this truth, ministers of the Word enable hearers to become "subjectively" reconciled as well.

But that this is not how 2 Corinthians 5 should be understood is made clear by Martin Chemnitz's treatment of it in the Examination of the Council of Trent.  He ties the reconciling of the world to the means of grace, specifically to the Ministry of the Word.  God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself through the preaching ministry of Christ.  So also Christ is present in the authoritative preaching ministry of the apostles, still reconciling the world to Himself.

It is not as if God actually "completed" the reconciling of the world to Himself 2,000 years ago, and then gave the Apostles the ministry of telling the world that the reconciliation was completed.  Instead, God even now continues His work of reconciling men to Himself through this ministry. 

I sense that some who balk at this understanding do so, for one reason, because the thought of such an authoritative Office of the Holy Ministry is repulsive to them.  They would rather see the Pastoral Office as simply announcing the fact that pardon has already been issued, so that the pastors are simply passing on information or communicating what was already true.  They don't like the fact that God actually and personally works through the ministry of the Word to pardon sins and to effect reconciliation.  But this is exactly what God says of the Office of the Holy Ministry, not that the apostles/pastors are to announce something that was already done in heaven long ago, but "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 18:18).

 

10 Now this power of forgiving sin must not be understood to have been given to the priests in such a way that God had renounced it for Himself and had simply transferred it to the priests, with the result that in absolution it is not God Himself but the priest who remits sin. For Paul expressly distinguishes between the power and efficacy of reconciliation which belongs to God, and the ministry which was given to the apostles, so that it is God who reconciles the world to Himself (2 Cor. 5:19) and forgives sins (Is. 43:25), not however without means but in and through the ministry of Word and sacrament.

Ministers indeed are said to loose and remit sins on account of the keys, that is, because they have the ministry through which God reconciles the world to Himself and remits sins. Thus Paul says (2 Cor. 1:24) that although he has authority, he nevertheless does not lord it over their faith but is a servant and steward of the mysteries of Christ (1 Cor. 4:1), so that he who plants and he who waters is nothing, but He who gives the increase, namely God (1 Cor. 3:7). Nevertheless, he shows that the use of the ministry is useful and necessary, for, says he, we are co-workers, that is, assistants, whose labors God uses in the ministry, but where nevertheless all the efficacy belongs to Him. We are servants, says he, through whom you have believed. Likewise: “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15). Paul treats this distinction clearest of all in 2 Cor. 5:18–20. It is God who reconciles us to Himself through Christ, not counting our sins against us. To the apostles, however, He gave the ministry of reconciliation. But how so? “He entrusted to us,” says Paul, “the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

Thus this distinction honors God and gives Him the glory that properly belongs to Him; it also claims for the ministry the honor and authority it has according to the Word of God. For even as it is Christ who baptizes through the ministry and also imparts His body and blood, so also it is Christ who through the ministry absolves and remits sins.

Chemnitz, M., & Kramer, F. (1999). Vol. 2: Examination of the Council of Trent (electronic ed.) (559–560). St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

Luther's translation of 2 Corinthians 5:19

Cross-posted from www.faithalonejustifies.com

Here's an interesting and little-known fact about Luther's translation of 2 Corinthians 5:19.

If you look up 2 Corinthians 5:19 in an online version of what is supposedly Luther's German Bible of 1545, it reads,

19. Denn GOtt war in Christo und versöhnete die Welt mit ihm selber und rechnete ihnen ihre Sünden nicht zu und hat unter uns aufgerichtet das Wort von der Versöhnung.

Literally, this reads, "For God was in Christ and reconciled the world with himself and did not reckon their sins to them and has established among us the word about the reconciliation (- or, "the word of reconciliation")."

Some have pointed this out to demonstrate that Luther clearly saw a one-time, past tense justification of the whole world. "Reconciled the world..." "Did not reckon..."

However, students of translation history recognize that the text of this supposed 1545 Bible is corrupted in places and not always an exact replication of Luther's actual 1545 Bible. One can download digitally photographed copies of Luther's original Bibles (here's one example from 1530), or there's a handy website entitled http://lutherbibel.net/ that has reproduced the exact text in an easily searchable format. This is called the Ausgabe letzter Hand.

In the Greek, 2 Corinthians 5:19 has one imperfect main verb (God "was"), and then two present active participles ("reconciling," "reckoning"). Instead of turning these into past tense indicative verbs as the corrupt versions of Luther's Bible have it, here is Luther's original wording of 2 Corinthians 5:19 (the same in 1545 as it was in 1530):

19 Denn Gott war in Christo / vnd versönet die Welt mit jm selber / vnd rechnet jnen jre sünde nicht zu / vnd hat vnter vns auff gerichtet das Wort von der versönung.

Luther used present tense verbs, not past tense verbs. Literally, "For God was in Christ, and reconciles the world with himself, and does not reckon their sins to them, and has established among us the word about the reconciliation."

When Luther wanted to use a third person singular past tense of "to reckon," as in Genesis 15:6, he used the word "rechent." But the fact that he uses a present tense verb in 2 Corinthians 5:19 ("rechnet") is further evidence that he viewed the present tense Greek participle, not as referring back to a one-time event that took place on the cross, but to the ongoing reconciling of the world that God accomplishes through the ministry of the Word, which proclaims a God who gave His Son for the world as the price of reconciliation and as the perpetual Reconciler between God and sinners, who reconciles sinners to God, not "whether they believe in Him or not," but through faith.

In other words, Paul is teaching nothing in 2 Corinthians 5:19 but the very same thing that Jesus taught as recorded in John 3:16-18. God loved the world. God gave His Son as a sacrifice to reconcile the world to Himself. All who believe in the Son are reconciled with God. Those who don't believe in Him remain in condemnation.

Philip Melanchthon on 2 Corinthians 5:19

Cross-posted from www.faithalonejustifies.com

One of the Bible passages often cited by modern Lutherans in an attempt to prove that all people have already been justified is 2 Corinthians 5:19. They point especially to the phrase "not imputing their sins to them" ("them" being "the world"). Since the Apostle Paul equates the non-imputation of sins with justification in Romans 4:5-8, they claim that this means that the whole world has already been justified.

But it couldn't be more clear that when Paul speaks of the non-imputation of sins in Rom. 4:5-8, he is referring only to those who have faith, for "his faith is accounted for righteousness."

There are two possibilities here. Either (1) Paul is using the exact same language to describe two different "events," one justification that took place at the cross of Christ without the ministry of the Word and not through faith (2 Cor. 5:19), and another justification that only takes place through faith (Rom. 4:8). Or (2) Paul is using the exact same language to describe the exact same thing, that God does not impute sins to believers in Christ. In other words, justification only through faith.

Luther, Chemnitz and Melanchthon did not see any world justification in 2 Cor. 5:19. On the contrary, they saw Paul highlighting the ministry of the Word and teaching justification only through faith in Christ.

Here follows an excerpt from Philip Melanchthon's 1523 commentary on this verse. Notice to whom God does not impute sin.

Philip Melanchthon's

Annotations on Paul's Epistles: One to the Romans and Two to the Corinthians

1523

(with introductory letter by Dr. Martin Luther)

2 Corinthians 5:19

…not imputing their sins to them.

This demonstrates what the effect is of the reconciliation made by the Son. For since God the Father transferred the sins of us all from us to the Son so that He might pay for us the penalty for sins and in this way reconcile again the offended Father, the eternal Father now does not impute sins to those who believe in His Son; He regards them as righteous on account of the obedience and intercession of His Son. For the righteousness of man which God regards as righteousness is that sins are remitted, are not imputed and are covered, as Paul defines righteousness in Romans 4, citing Psalm 32. Therefore, the effect of reconciliation is that sins are not imputed; instead, the faith that embraces Christ the Reconciler is imputed for righteousness.

And He placed among us, etc.

That is, He instituted the ministry of teaching about the reconciliation made through the death of the Son. For God wants it announced to the entire human race that reconciliation has been made by the Son, so that sins are not imputed to believers; instead, righteousness is imputed to them, and thus believers are saved. For this reason, among the ruins of the empires and so many sects and heresies, God has to this day wondrously preserved this ministry, and will continue to preserve it until the end of the world and the advent of His Son, as Paul says, “You shall announce the death of the Lord until He comes.”