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The Council of Trent insisted that the single formal cause of justification was an inherent righteousness, a righteousness within the believer. Although stressing that this righteousness was provided by God, Trent equally insisted that it was located within the believer as part of his or her person. The Reformers found this idea inconsistent: If God's verdict of justification was not to be a legal fiction, it would have to be based upon a perfect righteousness - and if this righteousness was inherent to believers, how could Trent speak of believers growing in righteousness when they already possessed a perfect righteousness? It seemed to the Reformers that any inherent righteousness was, by its very nature, imperfect and in need of supplementation - and the imputation of the alien righteousness of Christ dealt with this difficulty.

For the Reformers, it was necessary to know that one was a Christian, that the Christian life had indeed begun, and that one had been forgiven and accepted by God. On the basis of these convictions, the living of the Christian life, with all its opportunities, responsibilities, and challenges could proceed. Being justified on the basis of the external righteousness of Christ meant that all that needed to be done for an individual's justification had been done by God - and so the believer could rest assured that he or she had been accepted and forgiven. The Reformers could not see how Trent ensured that individual believers were accepted, despite being sinners.

Here, then, is an area where there was genuine and apparently insurmountable disagreement between Trent and the Reformers. Hence, any attempt to engage with the real differences between Protestants and Roman Catholics over the doctrine of justification must be addressed to these two questions. There is little to be gained from recapitulating what was agreed upon in the sixteenth century unless it can be shown that these two issues are no longer of any importance.

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December 12 1994, Vol. 38, No. 14