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JUSTIFICATION IN CATHOLIC TEACHING James Akin [Note: To understand the Biblical basis of some of the concepts in this paper, such as the fact that salvation is a process, see the paper "Salvation Past, Present, and Future."] The key document giving the Church's teaching on this subject is known as the Decree On Justification from the Council of Trent (1545-1564). This document contains a set of sixteen short, paragraph-long "chapters," followed by a series of canons excommunicating the teachers of false views.The first two chapters deal with fallen man's need for justification and the provision that God has made...

The first has long since lapsed. It permitted the president to "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq." This threat came to an end with the destruction of Saddam Hussein's government. Instead, U.S. military intervention is authorized under the second prong of the 2002 resolution. This authorizes the president to "enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq." This has allowed the Bush administration to satisfy American law by obtaining a series of resolutions authorizing the United States to serve as the head of the multinational force in Iraq. But...

I have seen many discussions on the theology of Justification and Salvation. Many Protestants, in particular, tend to believe that the soul can be saved through Faith alone, Sola fide, and doing good works plays no part is Salvation. This is reinforced in particular by the books of the New Testament like Romans and Galatians. Other denominations, such as those in the Catholic, Orthodox, and Restorationist Churches think that one must both be Faithful and do good works. This is supported in particular by the Epistle of James. here is a list of quotes supporting and opposing the Sola fide...

Gerald Hiestand has just published a two-part article on justication (part 1 and part 2). Hiestand seeks to defend St Augustine’s reading of St Paul on the question of effective justification. He concludes: Thus ontological renewal is not ancillary to justification, but is in fact an essential (pun intended) element of justification. For Paul, the executive nature of justification does not look only to the resurrection of the body and the final reward of eternal life. We do not need to wait until we die to be “rewarded as righteous.” Paul very much views the present spiritual regeneration afforded through...

Many Protestants today realize that Catholics adhere to two of the important "solas" related to salvation sola gratia (by grace alone) and solo Christo (by Christ alone) but fewer are aware that Catholics can also accept the formula of justification sola fide (by faith alone), provided this phrase is properly understood. The term pistis is used in the Bible in a number of different senses, ranging from intellectual belief (Romans 14:22, 23, James 2:19), to assurance (Acts 17:31), and even to trustworthiness or reliability (Romans 3:3, Titus 2:10). Of key importance is Galatians 5:6, which refers to faith working...

The Early Church Fathers believed we are justified by faith and works. The works in question are not accomplished by the goodness of the individual, but by the grace of God. Clement of Rome Let us therefore join with those to whom grace is given by God. Let us clothe ourselves in concord, being humble and self- controlled, keeping ourselves far from all backbiting and slander, being justified by works and not by words. . . . Why was our Father Abraham blessed? Was it not because of his deeds of justice and truth, wrought in faith? . . ....

The Remedy for Paralyzed Sinners, Fallen Saints, and Provincial Christians God did his most deadly work to destroy hopelessness and futility and provincial cowardice. He gave up his Son to torture and death. A perfect life, a perfect death, and the decisive work was done. But there are millions who are numb to hope because of the God-belittling things they have done and how ugly they have become. They don’t lift lofty arguments against God’s Truth; they shrug and feel irretrievably outside. They don’t defy God consciously; they default to cake and television. Except for the periodic rush of sex...

UP TO THIS POINT our interest has been in coming to Christ. We have considered our lost condition by nature, our need of a Saviour, and Christ’s remarkable qualifications for that role, and the way by which we are persuaded of it. But now we address ourselves to the question of how we know that we have truly come to Christ, or how we know that we truly know Christ. Conceivably a person could come to Christ without being certain that he is actually united to him. Presumably, a person could think that he had come to Christ without really...

The Rev. Laurence Wells, rector of St Michael and All Angels Anglican Church in Orange Park, Florida, and a subscriber to the definition of justification promulgated by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, has asked me to to respond to five questions regarding justification and the Bible. I am reluctant to do so, as I am not a biblical scholar and therefore am forced to rely almost exclusively upon the commentators I have at hand. In the end we can only find ourselves matching scholar for scholar. “I’ll see your R. C. Sproul and raise you N. T. Wright.” I am...

"...if anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble, he contradicts the Apostle who says, "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7), and, "But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10). (Council of Orange: Canon 6) Shortly before he died (January 1, 1937), Dr. J. Gresham Machen sent a final telegram to his friend Professor John Murray. The words of the telegram were these: "I'm so...

Although his proposal will not garner the support of this president or a majority of the members of Congress, Democrat Charles Rangel makes a superb point through his continuing push to reinstate the draft. Rangel argues persuasively that if there had been a draft in place in 2003, the administration would not have given any consideration to an occupation of Iraq based upon the flimsy evidence that was used to get us into this war, fearing that the children of prominent political figures might be required to go to war. The president and those in Congress who have consistently supported...

This Man Went Down to His House Justified August 6, 2006Luke 18:9-14 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far...

UPI Religion & Spirituality Forum SEOUL, July 18 (UPI) — The World Methodist Conference is expected to sign the joint declaration on justification signed in 1999 by Catholics and Lutherans. The conference, which is meeting in Seoul, South Korea, plans to join the Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation in endorsing the ecumenical statement, Zenit.org reported Tuesday. The conference is convoked at eight-year intervals and brings together Christians from all over the world that belong to Wesley's tradition. The Methodist movement originated in England in the 18th century as a movement of spiritual, missionary and social renewal. Today it...

DOCTRINE OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST Spir Dynamics 827 4/17/96; Eph 284-286 5/11/86; Rev 11/3/82; 1 Jn 11/11/81 A. Definition and Description. 1. While our Lord did some bleeding on the cross, He didn't bleed to death, nor does His literal human blood have anything to do with the phrase found throughout the New Testament, "the blood of Christ." 2. Even Greek lexicons recognize this principle when defining the word HAIMA, the Greek word for blood. a. The Arndt and Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon, p.22, under HAIMA in the paragraph describing the figurative use of the blood of Christ, says, "blood...

May 12, 2006 — Americans by nearly a 2-1 ratio call the surveillance of telephone records an acceptable way for the federal government to investigate possible terrorist threats, expressing broad unconcern even if their own calling patterns are scrutinized. Lending support to the administration's defense of its anti-terrorism intelligence efforts, 63 percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll say the secret program, disclosed Thursday by USA Today, is justified, while far fewer, 35 percent, call it unjustified. Indeed, 51 percent approve of the way President Bush is handling the protection of privacy rights, while 47 percent disapprove — hardly a...

Most American newspapers, including yours and mine, try hard to separate the curiosity-driven world of reporters and editors from the ideology-driven world of editorial writers and columnists. The news and opinion departments operate under separate management, and they play by different rules. When editors like me disagree with our counterparts in opinion-land, we tend to keep it to ourselves. Still, I imagine a lot of people on the news side of this divide were appalled by your editorial attack April 26 on the patriotism and professional integrity of journalists and government officials who talk to them ("Our Rotten IntelligenCIA," Review...

The "Justification" of Christmas Dear Beloved in Christ, At the heart of the Reformation was the returning to a biblical view of how a person can be righteous before a holy God. The theological doctrine that taught us how we can be righteous or just before God was justification by faith alone. At Christmas, we as Christians should be thankful to God for justification based solely on Christ's righteousness alone, and that this biblical doctrine was articulated and taught in the Reformation and by God's grace has been preserved for us to this day. Yet sadly in many evangelical...

by Dr. Rod RosenbladtRod Rosenbladt (Ph.D., University of Strasbourg) is Professor of Theology at Concordia University in Irvine, CA.  Dr. Rosenbladt has contributed to several books including Christ The Lord (Baker, 1992), from which this article was adapted.  He is an ordained minister in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.  Dr. Rosenbladt is also a co-host on the White Horse Inn radio program and a member of the Council of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. Any evangelical -- indeed, any real Christian -- would probably say that life's key issue is whether someone comes into a saving relationship with God through...

The history of the doctrine justification by faith alone is difficult to trace before the Reformation in the 1500's. A clear line of development of this doctrine from the Apostles to Martin Luther simply does not exit. This does not mean however that this doctrine is a modern invention. The doctrine of justification by faith alone has its foundation in the purpose of God entering the human race in the person of Jesus. The doctrine of justification by faith alone may have received notable attention as stated by Martin Luther, but his statement concerning this doctrine is simply an answer...

In every period, the church is tested for its faithfulness to the apostolic witness to Christ and him crucified. The great Liberal theologians of the last century viewed the doctrine of justification as one of those Jewish ideas out of which the church had not grown until the dawn of the Enlightenment. Sacrifice and satisfaction: a God of wrath and love simultaneously requiring and satisfying justice in one act of blood atonement, it was just more than the sophisticated Greeks of modern culture could bear. After all, God is love and exists simply to make sure everyone is happy and...