“Once justification had again been reasserted in radical fashion, it was natural that heavy pressure would be brought to bear on the received understanding of law. John Agricola rightly sensed that justification by faith could not simply be combined with the older idea of law as an eternal order, still evident in some of Philip Melanchthon’s theological constructions.”[1]
“In our deliberations, the wisdom of Scripture and the tradition cannot be cited as ‘God’s answer’ to the matter, but neither ought that wisdom be summarily dismissed as irrelevant or outdated.”[2]
[1]Forde, “Justification and This World,” Christian Dogmatics Vol. 2 [1984] 448.
[2]Don Juel, “Homosexuality and Church Tradition,” Word & World 10:2 (Spring 1990) 168-69.