The past Sunday was Halloween. (For those who read our blog for Lydia updates - Lydia was a pumpkin. Pictures coming soon.) But more importantly, it was Reformation Day--when the church celebrates Martin Luther nailing a paper of 95 theses to the door of the Wittenburg University's Castle Church to spark an academic discussion about their contents. In God's providence and unbeknownst to anyone else that day, it would become a key event in igniting the Reformation.
As Martin Luther, along with others, questioned the Church's teaching on matters of selling of indulgences, the treasury of merit, and purgatory he would conclude that salvation by faith plus works or by faith was the issue.
"This one and firm rock, which we call the doctrine of justification," insisted Martin Luther, "is the chief article of the whole Christian doctrine, which comprehends the understanding of all godliness." He also called this doctrine the article of the standing and falling of the church... "if this article stands, the Church stands; if it falls, the Church falls." Justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ's righteousness alone is the gospel, the core of the Christian faith around which all other Christian doctrines are centered and based.
Luther read passages like Galatians 2:15-16, " We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified."
In this passage, we find that we are not justified (or accepted/approved/made right with God) by obedience to the works of the Law. That is, what we do, either good or bad, or our merit cannot be the base for our relationship with God. In fact, no one can be made right with God by their faithfulness to the law or own moral standing. It is clear as day that all have broken, disobeyed and rebelled against God and His law. Is there another way?
Yes, "through faith in Jesus Christ". God works, obeys, and lives for us. It is Jesus Christ's perfect obedience to the law of God. It is His righteousness and goodness given or credited to us. We believe in what God has given to us. Faith is essentially a receiving of what someone else does, and not what we do on our own. We look away from ourselves and to Christ as our Savior, Lord and Treasure. Now, we are justified/accepted/approved/made right with God by God in Christ. God only sees Jesus over those who believe in Him.
This is the Gospel. It is a free offer of Christ and His perfections for anyone who would believe, not in themselves, but in Him alone through faith alone.
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Other passages:
Romans 3:26-28 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Titus 3:4-7 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
I am wondering if you have ever read the Catechism of the Catholic Church
ReplyDeletemom, why do you ask? i have read a lot of it...and a few "what catholics believe" books by catholics. -mandy
ReplyDeleteas Mandy has, I have read much of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I have read and studied the parts related to justification.
ReplyDelete-brian
Glad you both read parts of it--I was raised on it since I was 6 years old. I have forgotten some of it (obviously I do not have it all memorized, nor do I understand all of the ins and outs of it--I did not go to seminary). But I do know this for certainty: the Catholic Church does not teach salvation by works alone--Catholics have insisted all along that salvation comes to us by God’s grace and our cooperation with it. That’s a blend of faith and works. St Augustine stressed that God's free gift (grace) plays the critical role in our salvation, not our actions. And yes, by Luther's time, the Catholic Church had some crazy excesses in practice, with many Catholics feeling they could earn salvation. The Church needed reform. And in 1963, Pope John XXIII convoked Vatican II, and that is when I reached school age and began studying Catechism--Vatican II.
ReplyDeleteSo, my question was not an insult or meant as an offense--I asked because I took the lead-in about the anniversary of Reformation Day as implying that it was some sort of celebration of independence or liberation from Catholicism. I just want my faith and beliefs to be respected, and not be viewed "un-Christian"
The debate between Catholics and Protestant over justification has never taken the stance that the Catholic Church teaches salvation by works alone. As I read my post again, I did see that I miss spoke and have changed it. No studied person could come to that conclusion. This issue is either:
ReplyDeletefaith in Christ's work AND your own works
OR
faith ALONE in Christ's work.
As for the post, there was no intent on my behalf to be an insult or offense. It was a positive presentation of one of the five essentials of the Gospel, namely, justification by faith alone.
-brian
Thanks for clarifying your post, Brian. I think you may still be playing with words a bit, but I can agree to postpone the discussion until a later date. Love you!
ReplyDelete