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Home > 2007 > JulyChristianity Today, July, 2007  |   |  
Virtue That Counts
Why justification by faith alone is still our defining doctrine.



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Evangelicals who visit Rome cannot help but enjoy the stately buildings and stirring sense of history. A few like it so much they never leave. Such is the case with Francis Beckwith, former president of the Evangelical Theological Society. In April, the Baylor University philosopher rejoined the Roman Catholic Church.



Such defections always provoke a little evangelical soul-searching, in this case about the classic doctrine of justification. Beckwith found the Protestant view, which assumes that sanctification follows justification, inadequate.

"As an evangelical, even when I talked about sanctification and wanted to practice it, it seemed as if I didn't have a good enough incentive to do so," Beckwith told Christianity Today. "Now [in Catholicism] there's a kind of theological framework, and it doesn't say my salvation depends on me, but it says my virtue counts for something."

Beckwith, in describing his confusion, has done us a favor, giving us an opportunity to explore a question that frankly many Christians ask: Why be good?

The Virtue of Christ

Justification by faith, which gives us assurance of our standing before God, is not just a pastoral doctrine. It goes to the very core of our theological tradition. Martin Luther described it as the "first and chief article" of Protestantism "on which the church stands or falls." It is no surprise then that recent affirmations of justification have attracted evangelicals as diverse as Tom Oden and R. C. Sproul, Pat Robertson and Ron Sider. Still, don't be surprised to see more debates about justification unfolding. Next month's cover story, by British scholar Simon Gathercole, will look at how some evangelical scholars are reinterpreting Paul's teaching on justification.

So what is the "first and chief article of Protestantism"? Scripturally, it goes like this: All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Alienated from God, hostile in mind, we practice evil behavior (Col. 1:21). Though we offend his perfect holiness, God acquits those who trust in him and in what he has done for us through Christ: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:21).

Theologically, we understand it like this: In his perfect life and obedient death, Jesus succeeded where Adam failed and became the head of God's new family. We belong to Christ; we belong to this new humanity. Christ is judged righteous, and we who believe are made alive in him.

The late medieval church framed its understanding of God's grace in terms of merit: personal merit was never enough, and the infinite merits of Christ were available only through the sacramental channels of the church. Luther and the other Reformers used Paul to challenge the church monopoly on merit. They rightly taught that only Jesus' merit counted before God and that only through faith could his merit be ours. God credits Jesus' righteousness to those who trust in him, declaring them just and acquitting them of their sins.

Such a radical idea has caused many to think: This is too good to be true. Surely I must contribute something to the process. But we contribute nothing. We don't even contribute faith. With God's gift of faith, we paradoxically deny the meritorious nature of human action and affirm the work of Another. It is not faith in faith, but faith in Christ.

Thus, Protestants from John Calvin to John Wesley have agreed: We have peace with God by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.





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Displaying 1 - 3 of 47 comments.See all comments
t.h.   Posted: July 13, 2007 11:50 AM
The reformation teaches us, correctly, that we are saved by grace and that our sins are forgiven us, due to the work of Jesus on the cross. But Protestants have no vehicle to receive such grace; because their churches hound them with guilt due their sin and do not take them, sacrimentally, to the foot of the cross where they can leave their sins and receive the forgiveness due to them.sinners are left bereft by the very churches that wants to save them. Protestants put such a huge burden of guilt onto their members and show so little grace. The Catholic Church may demand (also correctly, as I see it, that our virtues are important) but the actually work of the priests as a church is to bring an attitude of grace and forgiveness, right to the hands and mouth of the guilty, and into their lives. What has the protestant in hand other than raw theology and accusations of sinfullness. It does no good telling people they are forgiven and then continually judging them, without helpful rites.

rh   Posted: July 14, 2007 4:09 PM
I have a simple theology: I have been saved (assured of eternity in God’s presence) by the work of Christ and my faith (trust and belief) in Him. God has (as I read the Scriptures) gracefully assured me of an eternal life but He has yet asked I serve His kingdom by living the rest of my (reborn) life as best I can following the teachings and example of my Lord. Yet I am told I will still face judgment, not regarding my already received gift of eternal life with Him, but regarding how well I have gone forward in living that holier, servant’s life. How that judgment will be done, exactly, or the consequences of it are going to be is a mystery I will only have answered when I have gone there. I don’t understand what th means by “Protestants have no vehicle to receive such grace”. The grace is delivered by God, and needs no mediator as best I understand the power of God. That, in fact, seems to me to be the core of Luther's message and the protestants' creed.

Matt K   Posted: July 13, 2007 11:28 AM
Everything the author says is accurate, by theologizing with the Apostle Paul (especially the books of Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians) the traditional Lutheran argument holds water with a biblical foundation. Still, what the article failed to do is what so many of us evangelicals fail to do--reconcile the theology of the Apostle Paul with the teachings of Jesus in the four Gospels (and also the book of James). While the life, death, and ressurection of Christ demonstrates the mercy, grace, forgiveness, and love of God; the teachings of Christ himself to us call on followers to perfection, holiness, sacrifice, and justice. Justification by faith alone is certainly true, but functionally we fail to do justice to the demands of obedience and the "costly grace" that Jesus calls us to.

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