A Simple Answer

It appears Paul Owen has opted to "evade" the "obvious teaching of Scripture" regarding justification and baptism in Paul's letters that I raised in my previous post. He has decided instead to cite a litany of quotations from Luther, and asks the question:

Did Martin Luther, one of the champions of the Reformation, understand rightly the doctrine of justification by faith alone? Yes or no? I would like those who would accuse anyone who advocates a strong view of baptismal efficacy of heresy, to at least be consistent, and admit that they apparently do not preach the same gospel that Martin Luther preached.

Since Owen has evaded the substance of my previous post, I will put this question aside for the moment. Instead I think I'll ask something of the converve of Owen's question; namely, Did Paul, perhaps the greatest champion of Christianity in the entire history of the world, understand rightly the doctrine of justification by faith alone? Yes or no? I would like those who would dismiss out of hand the views of anyone who advocates a strong view of sola fide, to at least be consistent, and admit that they apparently do not preach the same gospel that Paul preached. For the citations from Paul's teaching on this, refer to my previous post.

Now, before Owen concludes that I've "evaded" his question on Luther, I will point out that this question is not intended to "evade," but to illustrate the absurdity of Owen's question in the first place. First, I do not look to Luther to establish what the Scriptures teach on issue x, y or z--nor should anyone else. Luther is fallible, and he was dead wrong on many, many issues, most of which were mere carry-overs from the doctrinally corrupt Roman Catholicism he left. But in asking his question, Owen has once again demonstrated my previous observation that he thinks being "Reformed" is tantamount to rotely mimicking the Reformers' beliefs rather than following the Reformers' principle semper reformanda--"always reforming." As I pointed out in my initial post on this, if Luther or Calvin--or indeed, an angel from heaven or even the great apostle himself!--strays from the NT teaching about the gospel of justification by faith alone, let him be eternally condemned.

Second, while Owen's citations of Luther on this issue seem clear enough, I'm not willing to concede Owen has avoided selective citation. Many pop Roman Catholic apologists cite Luther and Calvin as being sympathetic to their view of Mary (Owen has done this as well), when in fact there is quite a huge difference between what Luther says and what Calvin says on that issue, and there is just as much a difference between what young Luther says and what older and wiser Luther says (see, for instance, James Swan's articles on Luther in the RC Corner/Reformation section of this website). Hence, suffice it to say that IF Luther (I want to point out, that is a BIG if ) has been accurately represented by Owen, then I will gladly follow the great apostle's advice in Gal 1:8-9 and consider Luther's ideas so much chaff. Clear enough?

Now, let's see if Owen will be as forthright with my question above as I have been with his.