roman catholic teaching on justification

[jgredline]

In spite of the common core of Augustinian belief in salvation by grace, Roman Catholics and Protestants have had strong disagreement over the doctrine of justification. For one thing, while Catholics believe in the primacy and necessity of grace, Protestants believe in the exclusivity of grace; that is, only Protestants believe salvation is by grace alone (sola gratia) apart from any good works. Likewise, while Catholics believe in the necessity of faith (at least for adults) for justification, only Protestants believe in the exclusivity of faith.

The heart cry of the Reformation was “justification by faith alone†(sola fide). The distinguishing salvation doctrines of the Reformation, then, are grace alone and faith alone (sola gratia and sola fide) through Christ alone and based on the Bible alone.

The Roman Catholic Church responded with the Council of Trent, declaring: “By his good works the justified man really acquires a claim to supernatural reward from God.†Are we justified by faith alone or are good works a necessary condition for salvation? These questions are at the heart of the differences between Roman Catholics and evangelicals. In order to understand the issue we must first examine what the Reformers taught and how the Council of Trent responded.

Roman Catholic Teaching on Justification
The Catholic position on justification was made infallible dogma at the Council of Trent in reaction to Martin Luther’s proclamation that the just shall live by faith alone! Needless to say, Luther’s view hit like a lightning bolt in an institution known for its stress on good works as necessary for salvation. His initial reaction was to the Roman Catholic sale of indulgences. An overzealous salesman named Tetzel is said to have promised the potential purchasers of indulgence, “When in the box the penny rings, the soul from purgatory springs.â€Â

Luther’s Position on Justification
Before Luther, the standard Augustinian position on justification stressed intrinsic justification . Intrinsic justification argues that the believer is made righteous by God’s grace, as compared to extrinsic justification, by which a sinner is forensically declared righteous (at best, a subterranean strain in pre-Reformation Christendom). With Luther the situation changed dramatically, although “Luther does not employ forensic terms to explain this imputation or alien righteousness. This development will come later, from others.†Melanchthon, Luther’s great systematic theologian, did use forensic terms to describe justification. Luther, however, did hold that believers are given the alien righteousness of Christ by which alone they are able to stand before God, and not in their own righteousness. Such an imputed righteousness is extrinsic to the believer.

When Martin Luther was reassigned from Erfurt to Wittenberg he came under the influence of Johann von Staupitz (to whom this volume is dedicated). Staupitz, in addition to being the director of the cloister at Wittenberg, had a mystical bent and was a sympathetic spiritual guide. About Staupitz, Luther said, “If it had not been for Dr. Staupitz . . . I should have sunk in hell.†During the course of counseling and receiving Luther’s confessions Staupitz recognized his subject’s deep spiritual difficulties and inability to experience God’s forgiveness. To expose Luther to the scriptural antidote for his problems Staupitz assigned Luther to the chair of Bible at the local universityâ€â€a position that Staupitz himself had once occupied. Luther lectured on Paul’s letters to the Romans and Galatians from the fall of a.d. 1515 to 1517. The result of his study led Luther to a new view of God: the All Terrible is also the All Merciful.

Luther discovered that in the Greek used by the apostle Paul, the word “justice†has a double meaning: the first is a strict enforcement of the law; the second is “a process of the sort which sometimes takes place if the judge suspends the sentence . . . and thereby instills such resolve that the man is reclaimed.†This latter meaning of justice is necessary because “The sinner cannot ever attain any righteousness of his own: he merits or deserves only condemnation.†But God has “freely opted to receive us to Himself . . . to a fellowship that we from our side had broken and could never mend.â€Â
When studying the meaning of Romans 1:16–17 Luther came to a revolutionary discovery.

Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that “the just shall live by faith.†Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on new meaning, and whereas before the “justice of God†had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in great love. This passage became to me the gate to heaven.

Amid the Protestant stress on Luther’s discovery it is sometimes forgotten that Luther also believed in a progressive sense of the word “justification.†For example, he said: “For we understand that a man who is justified is not already righteous but moving toward righteousness (WA 391, 83; LW 34, 152).†Further, “Our justification is not yet complete. . . . It is still under construction. It shall, however, be completed in the resurrection of the dead (WA 391, 252).†This sense of progressive justification is what many Protestants call “sanctification,†the process by which we are made righteous, not an act by which one is declared righteous. Toon adds, “Justification by faith is both an event and a process. What later Protestants were to divide, Luther kept together. He is quite clear that there is a moment when a sinner is actually justified by faith. He then has the righteousness of another, the alien righteousness of Christ, imputed to him.†However, “this is the beginning of a journey toward a time (following the resurrection of the dead in the age to come) when he will in fact possess a perfect righteousness created in him by the Spirit of God.â€Â

Luther also suggested that the believer is righteous in the eyes of God and yet sinful at the same time. “For Luther, faith is the right (or righteous) relationship to God. Sin and righteousness thus coexist; we remain sinners inwardly, but we are righteous extrinsically in the sight of God.†However, “Luther is notecessarily implying that this co-existence of sin and righteousness is a permanent condition.†Instead, for Luther, “the existence of sin does not negate our status as Christians.â€Â

Geisler, N. L., & MacKenzie, R. E. (1995). Roman Catholics and Evangelicals : Agreements and differences (221). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.

 

[thessalonian]

First of all your author does not understand the term justificaion in Catholic thought. It includes what you call justification and also sanctification. Indulgences which your author puts in the column of justification actually are what you would call sanctification. We see sanctification as a subset of justification for reasons which I may go in to later. One cannot be saved by an indulgence and so it is improperly used as a arguement against your justification in this article. An indulgences is after one has become "saved". It is set up as a straw man.

Secondly there are problems with your faith alone theories on justification. First of all nowhere in the Bible is it found. Search the scriptures for the words "faith" and "alone" and you will find 273 occurances in the NT of the word faith. But for some reason only James (Jas 2:24) felt the need to attach it to the word alone. Odd if it is the total means of salvation. Some of course try to write this passage out of the current age by saying it is for the jews. Nonsense. It fits very well with Romans 2:4-8 and is no
contradiction at all to Romans 3:28 in the Catholic context.

Romans 2:4-8
4] Or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not know that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
[5] But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.
[6] For he will render to every man according to his works:
[7] to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;
[8] but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury.

Matt 25 also show that works of charity are neccessary upon presenting oneself at the pearly gates. Of course it is grace that brings about these works in us, lest we boast.
Thirdly your article does not address properly the role of works in salvation. First of all there are two types of works. Works of the law and works of charity. The distinction can be seen throughout the Old Testament in their regard. Is 1 is a great place to start. It speaks of the works of the law such as the sacrificing of bulls and rams. Saying this is without merritt if it is not accompanied by the care of the widow and the orphan. James echos this theme.

Jas.1
[27] Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Once again some cannot handle such words and write them out of scripture with a cavalier "it's for the Jews". Same goes for Matt 25.

Fourth problem with the article. A faith alone approach seems to lack accounting. If one becomes "saved" by faith alone then the means of grace that God provides BEFORE one becomes a Christian are not brought in to the equation. The heavens cry out to the glory of God and all creation sings his praises. Creation speaks of God and Acts 17 tells us that some get started down the path to finding him through the view of creation. This is grace as well. Further the faith alone arguement indicates from the context presented in the article that it is an instantaneous act of faith that saves one. I agree this can bring one to salvation but it is an insult to God leading man through the desert of life by grace to the kingdom of heaven. Grace should be recognized daily in ones life.

Fifth - The worst part of Protestant doctine for me is the idea of irresistable grace. Now the Catholic does not say that the works save, except that they are a completion of grace recieved. We recieve grace to bring us to doing the work of God through several means.

Eph 3
[20]
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,
[21] to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.

Now I can post many scriptures that indicate that grace is not irresistable and it MUST end in the works God requires for us to do. Those works take the place of the time that we spend sinning and make our spiritual life strong as the grace feeds the spiritual body with the proper nutrition. If one lays around after eating a good meal it will only go to fat rather than plowing the feild to grow the crops that supply our families needs.

Grace alone from the Catholic perspective recognizes God's daily work in our lives to bring about our salvation. Not just a head bob and a sinners prayer.

Wish I had time to go in to more detail but that is the basics of what I find wrong with your article.

Blessings