Compare and contrast the Pauline, Roman Catholic and reformed teaching on justification.

The heart of Christianity teaches that sinful man can come into right relationship with God. In the Middle Ages, there was a new look at the doctrine of justification.

"The term 'justification' and the verb 'to justify' came to signify 'entering into right relationship with God'. The doctrine of justification came to be seen as dealing with the question of what an individual had to do in order to be saved." (McGrath, 1994:381).

Paul teaches in detail the justification of God for the believer through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Basically, justification means standing righteous before God. The Bible is absolutely clear that the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus is sufficient for the remission of sins and the justification of the soul before God. (Hammond, 1977).

In the Old Testament, it speaks of integrity and uprightness and imputed righteousness. According to verses like Leviticus 18:5, "You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgements, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord." (N.K.J.V.) and Micah 6:8, "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God?" (N.K.J.V.). Thus, Old Testament righteousness is basically a result of living by the law and having high moral standards. (Chant, 1993:48).

The New Testament teaching on justification is almost reversed. The main thrust is that God's righteousness is imputed to the believer by faith. In his letters to the Romans and the Galatians, Paul says that righteousness is a condition of salvation. (Richardson & Bowden, 1983). The New Testament righteousness is not referring to moral quality, but right standing in the eyes of the court. "To be 'justified' is to have the verdict of 'just' or 'righteous' passed upon one (in Greek the three words are cognates from the same root dik-): that is, to be acquitted, vindicated, declared right or innocent. (Richardson & Bowden, 1983:314). Whereas in Judaism Paul saw righteousness in the law, he himself now saw righteousness only through faith in Jesus Christ.

God is righteous and just. Romans 4:5 says that God justifies the ungodly. God's 'just-ness' required Him to condemn ungodliness. As a God of love, God sent His Son to die in our place, "For He made Him who new no sin to be sin for us, that we may become the righteousness of God in Him."(2 Corinthians 5:21, N.K.J.V.).

"Justice demands that they (the unrighteous) be condemned; a judge who justifies or acquits the unrighteous is acting unrighteously himself. And so, when we read that, on the contrary, God in justifying the ungodly has shown himself to be righteous (Romans 3:26), we must also understand that such justification is apart from the works of the law.

In the New Testament, justification is the declarative act of God by which, on the basis of the sufficiency of Christ's atoning death, he pronounces believers to have fulfilled all the requirements of the law which pertain to them. Justification is a forensic act imputing the righteousness of Christ to the believer; it is not an actual infusing of holiness to the individual. It is not a matter of making the person righteous or altering his or her spiritual condition." (Erickson, 1985:956).

Erickson goes on to list the arguments for justification being forensic or declarative in nature. Briefly, these are;

            1. Righteousness is akin to standing before a court and judge, and being declared such.

            2. Romans 8:33-34 says. "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. (34) Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and further more is risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.'(N.K.J.V.). " 'Justifies' and 'condemns' are parallel here. If the latter is a declarative or forensic act, them presumably the former is also." (Erickson, 1985:956).

Condemning is merely charging someone with wrong and establishing guilt. Justification is not, then, infusing holiness into believers, but is declaring the guilty innocent and righteous.

In Matthew 12:37, Jesus says, "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words condemned." (N.K.J.V.).Proverbs 17:15 says, "He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord." (N.K.J.V.). "If 'justify' meant 'to make righteous or holy or good,' those who justify the wicked would not be denounced along with those who condemn the righteous. If condemning is a declarative act, justifying must be also." (Erickson, 1985:957).

            3. Where there are passages where justify (dikaiow) means to "defend, vindicate, or acknowledge (or prove) to be right." (Erickson, 1985:957). It is used when defending someone, and in some cases is used of man's action in relation to God. (Luke 7:29).

            4. There is linguistic evidence that justification is both declarative and forensic in nature. "The verbal ending -ow, as in dikaiow, does not carry the meaning 'to make something a particular way.' That, rather, is the signification of -azw,  as in agiazw  ("to make holy"). The ending -ow, by contrast, signifies "to declare something to be a particular way," as in axiow  ("to deem worthy"). Thus, dikaiow means "to declare to be just." (Erickson, 1985:957).

Erickson concludes that from the preceding information, that justification is a forensic or declarative action of God, much like that of a judge acquitting the accused. He who is guilty is declared innocent. (Erickson, 1985:957).

This is the Pauline theology of justification. "Justification is the gracious and just act of God by which He pronounces the believer innocent of all guilt through the righteousness of Jesus Christ." (Chant, 1993:47).

The Roman Catholic view of justification differs from that of the teaching of Paul. Augustine was provoked by the Palagian heresy. This heresy taught that human beings could achieve salvation under their own power. The last twenty years of Augustine's life was plagued with controversies concerning this heresy. (Richardson & Bowden, 1983). The essence of Paul's teaching comes through Augustine's view along with the before mentioned un-Pauline elements. According to Augustine, justification is the making righteous of an individual.

 He states it to be a "healing activity of God in which, by pouring love into the hearts of sinners, he redirects their desires from earthly things to himself as their highest good. A key textual warrant for this conception was found in Romans. 5.5, 'love of God' being taken for an objective genitive: 'love for God', which is caritus. In consequence of the 'infusion of charity', the Christian is enabled to perform meritorious acts; he makes progress in righteousness, and what is still lacking God forgives: 'Our very righteousness, genuine though it is because directed to the genuine good as its goal, is nevertheless of such measure in this life that it consists more in the remission of sins than in the perfection of virtues' (De civ. dei, xix.27). (Richardson & Bowden, 1983:315).

Martin Luther's idea of justification was new in that he said we are justified by faith alone. Luther came to realise that the God of the Bible was not a harsh judge who gave merit to those who do works, but a God full of mercy and grace who "bestows righteousness upon sinners as a gift." (McGrath, 1994:383). He saw justification as a matter of being declared righteous, rather than a process of becoming righteous.

In 1545, the Council of Trent was summoned. They vigorously opposed what Luther claimed, but agreed that what Augustine had said concerning justification was right. The following is from the fourth chapter of the Decree, and gives the Catholic interpretation of justification.

"The justification of the sinner may be briefly defined as a translation from that state in which a human being is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace and of the adoption of the sons of God through the second Adam, Jesus Christ our Saviour. According to the gospel, this translation cannot come about except through the cleansing of regeneration, or a desire for this, as it is written, 'Unless someone is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he or she cannot enter the Kingdom of God' (John 3:5)".(McGrath, 1994:389).

The Reformers' teaching of the merely external imputation of Christ's justice was rejected, by the Council of Trent, as heretical. (Ott, 1960). There are two sides, the negative and the positive. The negative side of this is a true eradication of sin, while on the positive there is supernatural sanctifying and renewal of the inner man.

The Council of Trent also set out five causes of justification.

1. The final cause is the honour of God and Christ.

2. The main efficient cause is the mercy of God.

3. The meritorious cause is Jesus Christ, who as mediator between God and man, has made atonement for us and merited the grace by which we are justified.

4. The instrumental cause for the first justification is the Sacrament of Baptism. Faith is a necessary pre-condition for justification by adults.

5. The formal cause is God's justice, not by which He is Himself just, but by which He makes us just, that is Sanctifying Grace. (Ott, 1960).

"According to the teaching of the Council of Trent, sanctifying grace is the sole formal cause of justification. This means that the infusion of sanctifying grace effects the eradication of sin as well as inner sanctification. With this the Council rejects the doctrine of double justice which was expounded by some Reformers (Calvin, Martin Butzer), and also by individual Catholic theologians,  (Girolamo Seripando, Gasparo Contrarini, Albert Pighius, Johanns Groper), which taught that the forgiveness of sins was accomplished by the imputed justice of Christ, positive sanctification however, by a righteous inhering in the sole." (Ott, 1960:252).

The Roman Catholic view also states that in order for God to justify sinners, there must be something within the individual which would allow God to justify them. Luther dismissed this way of thinking and said that God can justify individuals directly ,rather than through an immediate gift of righteousness. (McGrath, 1994:390). This conflicted the view of Luther that no person has any righteousness of themselves. There was nothing in them that could ever be regarded as the basis for a decision on God's behalf to justify them. It was done by grace alone.

Thus, the Council of Trent made their point very clear. "The single formal cause (of justification) is the righteousness of God - not the righteousness by which he himself is righteous, but the righteousness by which he makes us righteous, so that, when we are endowed with it, we are "renewed in the spirit of our mind" (Ephesians 4:23), and are not only counted as righteous, but are called, and in reality, are righteous....Nobody can be righteous except God communicates the merits of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ to him or her, and this takes place in the justification of the sinner." (McGrath, 1994:390).

The Reformers taught that by faith alone one is justified. The Council of Trent again opposed this and stated that as well as faith, other acts of disposition are demanded. (D 819). These include "fear of Divine justice; hope in the mercy of God for the sake of the merits of Christ; hate and detestation of sin; and the purpose of receiving Baptism and of beginning a new life." (Ott, 1960:253).

Thus the Roman Catholic teaching says that faith alone does not suffice for justification - there must be works as well. Thomas Aquinas had much influence in the area of justification by works and grace. His view was much the same as Augustine, that justification was transmitted in the sacraments, and progressed through life. During the mediaeval time, however, the Nominalist view came to favour with the Roman Catholic Church. This was a works only doctrine. There is dispute whether or not the Council of Trent intended to rule out the Nominalist view. "In the doctrine of justification the meritorious quality of good acts is not inherent in them but is accorded to them by God when he accepts them as being worthy of grace and eventually eternal life." and " This view of justification has been viewed as semi-Pelagian, since the system operates semi-automatically and because God has bound himself to reward with grace and eventually with eternal life those who try their best, to do what is in them." (Richardson & Bowden, 1983:404).

The Reformers rejected a lot of Roman Catholic dogma. One of the major changes was in regards to justification. Martin Luther protested against the Nominalist doctrine of preparation for grace. he raised the issue of justification by faith alone, without works.

Luther battled with the righteousness of God for some time early in his life  He regarded the righteousness of God meaning that he punishes unrighteous sinners. He felt that the righteousness of God was a punishing righteousness. He meditated upon the scriptures, and saw that the righteousness of God was not in fact his cruel rule, but referred to "a passive righteousness, by which the merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, 'the righteous person lives by faith.' " (McGrath, 1994:382). After this revelation, he saw the whole of scripture in a new light, felt totally born again and free. The term 'justification' was not new, but 'by faith alone' certainly was. In explaining justifying faith, Luther put it this way. "The reason why some people do not understand why faith alone justifies is that they do not know what faith is." (McGrath, 1994:384). He out laid three key points to his doctrine on justification by faith.

The first is that faith is not trusting in the historical reliability of the Gospels. He said anyone could trust in the written word. No, he stated that faith is personal, given from God to us. It is trusting in his person.

The Roman Catholic view was faith in the historical, but Luther and other went further implying a deep, personal relationship with God is the true source of faith.

Secondly, faith is trusting in the promises of God. Again Luther says, "Everything depends upon faith. The person who does not have faith is like someone who has to cross the sea, but is so frightened that he does not trust the ship. And so he stays where he is, and is never saved, because he will not get on board and cross over." (McGrath, 1994:384).

Thirdly, he says faith unites the believer with Christ. "Faith is not assent to a set of doctrines, but is a union between Christ and the believer." (McGrath, 1994:384). It is the real and personal relationship between the believer and God in which the believer receives all the benefits of salvation. "Faith makes both Christ and his benefits - such as forgiveness, justification, and hope - available to the believer." (McGrath, 1994:384).

Luther's doctrine of justification by faith means that God provides everything necessary for justification, so all that one needs to do is receive. There is nought that can be done by man to earn it from God, a stark contrast to the Catholic viewpoint. This makes it impossible for man to save himself by good works. There is no room in the Pauline or the Reformers view of justification for self-justification.

John Calvin too, had a lot of input into the reformed view of justification. He used the term 'mystic union' to describe the relationship between the believer and Christ. He said there was a double grace, the first leads the believer into justification, and the second is that the believer begins to be reformed into the image of Christ through regeneration. Calvin taught that justification and regeneration are the result of the believer's union with Christ. (McGrath, 1994).

With the Roman Catholic view, they are saying that, yes, there is no good in fallen man, and only through Christ comes the merits of new life. But they say that this new life occurs at baptism, which is opposed to what the scriptures say. "Subsequent to this original infusion of righteousness, good works done by the faithful partake of the nature of merit. In the last analysis the ground of acceptance before God becomes the state in grace and meritorious acts of the baptised." (Hammond, 1977:143). The problem with this idea is that in practise there is abuse, and the Catholic teaching about justification has its final result in the doctrine of purgatory. The more good works the Catholic does here on earth, the less time is spent in purgatory. Here the sinner is refined and their righteousness completed before they stand before God.

The good works thinking of the Roman Catholic Church so that one can be more justified, has taken the spontaneity of love away, and introduced a 'bargain with God' mentality.

The Reformers and the scriptures encourage good works, not because we have to please God, but because we want to out of love.

Paul taught that justification is a free gift from God. He taught that justification has three strong foundations. The first is the love of God. "Because God loved us, He could not punish us. So He sent Jesus to take our punishment for us. (i.e. to be an expiation, or propitiation.)" (Chant, 1993:50) Praise God,  there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1), and we are free of guilt.

Justification results from God's righteousness. God first gave the law to show His standards, by which all mankind failed (Romans 3:23). He gave Jesus, who was the only one to fulfil the law. As a result of His perfectness, He was able to give His life for us and we all can be justified through the redemption that is in Christ. (Romans 3:23). Man's sin is punished in Jesus, and we become righteous in Him. "So God proves to be both just, and a justifier." (Chant, 1993:50).

All this could only happen through the obedience of one, and that One is Jesus Christ. "Just as Adam sinned and the extent and effects of his sin passed to all men, so Christ was obedient and the effects of His obedience reaches to all men." (Chant, 1993:52).

Through what he has done, we now have freedom from guilt (Romans 8:1), forgiveness (Romans 4:6-8), access to the Father (Romans 5:1-2), reconciliation (Romans 5:1,10), adoption (Romans 8:15-17) and eternal life (Romans 5:18). (Chant, 1993).

We can do nothing of ourselves, but only by the grace of God.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

*           Chant, B., Evangelism - Theology and Practice., (Tabor College, 1994)

*           Erickson, M. J., Christian Theology., (Michigan, Baker Book House, 1985)

*           Hammond, T. C., In Understanding be Men., (Inter-Varsity Press, 1977)

*           McGrath, A. E., Christian Theology., (Blackwell Publishers, 1994)

*           Richardson, A., & Bowden, J., (ed)., A New Dictionary of Christian Theology., (SCM Press Ltd., 1983)

*           Ott, L., Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma., (Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1960)