Wolfmueller: The Heresy 2-Step

Pastor Wolfmueller had an interesting insight which he called the "Heresy 2-step" in a recent podcast.

Paraphrased: Wolfmueller's thesis is that we've made the text into an abstraction, and then we use the abstraction against the actual words. He gets into the thick of it around 19 minutes describing how we can use the words "real presence" against the words "this is my body" or we can use the abstraction of Jesus (his character) against his words that condemn people to hell by saying "the Jesus I know doesn't talk this way"

We can also use the Gospel as an abstraction against the words. For instance when Paul doesn't permit a woman to preach and teach in the church, we can use the abstraction of the Priesthood of all Believers or the inclusive nature of Jesus against Paul's actual words.

So, the heresy two step, then, is stepping away from the particular words of God and using the abstraction behind the words against the words of Scripture.

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Now let's reflect on the Priesthood of all Believers in the WELS context. The words of scripture are clear that this priesthood is independent from the Office of the Holy Ministry - the Holy Spirit guided men to use specific words to describe this priesthood we all share so that it is clear it is not the ministry in abstract. But, stepping away from the particular words and creating an abstraction, that abstraction is then used against the Office of the Holy Ministry to support the functional view of the ministry. The functional view then allows for lay and coquette consecrators - something unable to be substantiated by other confessional Lutherans who do not conflate the Priesthood of all Believers with the Office of the Holy Ministry.