JUSTIFICATION AND A DIVIDED CHURCH

According to the current position of the Roman Catholic Church, “Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.” Justification is therefore regarded as a process of becoming actually and intrinsically righteous. The first justification occurs at baptism, which eradicates both the guilt and corruption of original sin. Due entirely to God’s grace, this initial justification infuses the habit (or principle) of grace into the recipient. By cooperating with this inherent grace, one merits an increase of grace and, one hopes, final justification. So while initial justification is by grace alone, final justification and perseverance depend also on the believer’s works, which God graciously accepts as meritorious. Since the believer’s progress in holiness cannot adequately cancel the guilt of sin, he or she must be refined in purgatory before being welcomed into heaven.

Justification is therefore regarded as a process of becoming actually and intrinsically righteous.

In Scripture, especially in Paul, Luther discovered that the righteousness God is, by which he condemns us, is the same righteousness God gives, freely, as a gift, through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom 3:19–31). This “marvelous exchange” of Christ’s righteousness for the sinner’s guilt was beautifully articulated by some medieval theologians, such as Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153). However, understanding justification as an exclusively forensic (legal) declaration, based on the imputation of Christ’s righteousness through faith alone, was the chief insight of the Reformation. In this way, the broader consensual understanding of the “great exchange” attained its most refined and satisfying formulation.

In Scripture, especially in Paul, Luther discovered that the righteousness God is, by which he condemns us, is the same righteousness God gives, freely, as a gift, through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom 3:19–31).

But if that is even close to being the case, why did it take so many centuries before this ostensibly clear message was rediscovered? And should we really believe that a perturbed monk discovered the revolutionary heart of the gospel that the greatest minds of Christendom had missed? In any case, why does it matter to us now?

At its core, the paradigm shift that Luther experienced—and many others at the same time, some even before—was that justification is not a process of becoming righteous but a declaration that one is righteous before God solely on the basis of Christ and solely through faith. This righteousness is a gift to which no human can contribute. Human beings, even as regenerate, are in no moral condition to cooperate sufficiently with grace to attain final justification. Even faith is a gift of God’s grace. In short, all of our justifying righteousness is found in Christ, not in us. The Reformers did not thereby exclude the process of becoming holy. Rather, they argued that through union with Christ we receive both justification and sanctification, and these distinct acts must never be confused or separated.

At its core, the paradigm shift that Luther experienced—and many others at the same time, some even before—was that justification is not a process of becoming righteous but a declaration that one is righteous before God solely on the basis of Christ and solely through faith.

Considerable progress has been made, especially since Vatican II, in understanding each other’s positions. The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (1999), which included representatives of the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation, achieved a consensus sufficient to announce that the condemnations from the sixteenth century no longer apply to the partner in dialogue. Yet the Joint Declaration did not achieve the results for which many hoped. As Eberhard Jüngel judges, “The understanding that allegedly has been reached rests on ground which proves at places quite slippery.” On the Lutheran side, the confessional doctrine of justification was surrendered at crucial points, particularly the conflation of faith and love and therefore justification and sanctification. On the Roman Catholic side, soon after the statement was released, the Vatican issued disclaimers and even corrections of the Declaration, noting that it does not have any binding status.

“The understanding that allegedly has been reached rests on ground which proves at places quite slippery.”

None of this means that the ecumenical project has reached an impasse. On the contrary, genuine dialogue begins with an honest recognition of remaining differences. On one hand, mainline Protestantism mourns over the wounds that Calvin said “must cause us to cry a river of tears.” On the other hand, despite significant attempts on both sides to deal honestly with the severe doctrinal divide, conclusions thus far have carried us no further toward a common confession, and mainline Protestantism, as well as a Roman Catholic academy also infected by the obsession with modernity, has little to offer in regard to the future. The only hope is “that word above all earthly pow’rs,” which can be heard again because Christ is risen and the Holy Spirit spreads his gracious presence among all who confess Christ’s name.

The only hope is “that word above all earthly pow’rs,” which can be heard again because Christ is risen and the Holy Spirit spreads his gracious presence among all who confess Christ’s name.

Michael Horton, Justification, 1:24-26.