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Friday, October 2, 2015

Pernicious (and fatal) — erring in Justification (Pieper’s Dogmatik / Dogmatics)

      As I continue my project of presenting the full text of Franz Pieper's original German edition of his Christliche Dogmatik, I ran across the section concerning the Doctrine of Justification in volume 2, specifically about erring in this doctrine.  As I viewed the Google Translate version, the text kept jumping off the page... I compared this with the English edition text.  And I had to stop and present another blog post for Pieper to present his heart, the heart of Martin Luther, and the heart of all Christianity... in a nutshell.
      The section is entitled Die Schädlichkeit des Irrens in der Lehre von der Rechtfertigung.  You may click here to go to the exact location in the German edition.  Again it's best to use Google Chrome with Google Translate.   The subject is The Doctrine of Justification.
==>> But more to the point, what is the effect of erring on this doctrine?  <<==
  1. In the German heading (here), it is called "Schadlichkeit" or perniciousness.  
  2. In English edition (v. 2, p. 518) it is translated "Disastrous Results"
  1. In the German body text, it says that one who trusts in his own works for salvation is ausgeschlossen or excluded from the membership in the Christian church.
  2. In the English edition (again p. 518) it says "But error with regard to justification is in every case fatal". 
In other words, if you err in this doctrine, you are not a weak Christian, rather you are not a Christian, no matter what other circumstances remain with you.

      The other point to be made is that Pieper calls this erring a "perniciousness".   And I think this word adds the notion of subtleness about this error... one does not even realize what is happening when they fall away from the Christian faith... it comes on them like a thief in the night.
      If time permits, I may add another post where Pieper quotes Martin Luther on this point...

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