The Protestant evangelical
primacy of justification by faith, coupled with an overemphasis on discontinuity between the covenants, has more often than not resulted in the confusion of soteriological and ethical categories, in the end breeding among evangelicals a moral mindset devoid of both foundations and fiber.
From Merriam Webster: «a member of any of several church denominations denying the universal authority of the Pope and affirming the Reformation
principles of justification by faith alone, the priesthood of all believers, and the primacy of the Bible as the only source of revealed truth; broadly: a Christian not of a Catholic or Eastern church.»
In his time, Luther's
articulation of justification by faith took account of widespread longing for authentic personal faith well as for the reform of the church, sometimes coupled with nationalist protests against Rome.
Some Lutheran theologians contend that the reason for the Lutheran communion's continuing separation from Rome is to maintain the
teaching of justification by faith, «the doctrine by which the church stands or falls.»
Consider James Talmage, a very important Mormon figure who said, «The sectarian
dogma of justification by faith alone has exercised an influence for evil,» (Articles, p. 432), and «Hence the justice of the scriptural doctrine that salvation comes to the individual only through obedience,» (Articles, p. 81).
It is possible to date that beginning with Jonathan Edwards's
preaching of justification by faith in his Northampton, Massachusetts, church in 1735, or with John Wesley's Aldersgate experience in May 1738, or with George Whitefield's momentous preaching tour of New England in September 1740.
At the beginning of Romans — the
epistle of justification by faith — Paul introduces himself as an apostle set apart for the gospel and explains the gospel as a message about God's Son, born in the flesh as a descendant of David and raised from the dead by the power of the Spirit.
The last two lines of reasoning to prove the
truth of justification by faith alone in Christ alone are more to support everything that has been said up to this point.
Among other points of interest, Donfried makes a convincing case that, whatever might be said for the Reformation
theology of justification by faith alone, it can not credibly appeal to the gospel as preached by Paul.
Referring to the 1999 Joint Declaration of the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation, Phillip Cary («Luther at 500,» November) optimistically notes its «theological consensus that Luther's
doctrine of justification by faith alone need not be Church - dividing.»
The Pauline - Augustinian message of grace found expression in the doctrine
of justification by faith alone — not «alone» in the sense of being divorced from a life of holiness and love, but «alone» in the sense of unmerited, «apart from the works of the law.»
I had considerable difficulty communicating Luther's idea
of justification by faith.
Phillip Cary paraphrases point five of the preamble to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification when he states that the signatories reached a «theological consensus that Luther's doctrine
of justification by faith alone need not be Church - dividing.»
Was Luther boldly proclaiming the doctrine
of justification by faith alone against Roman Catholic teaching of justification by works?
Luther struggled over the doctrine
of justification by faith.
Reumann outlines the historical hardening of theological categories between Lutherans and Catholics arising out of the Reformation doctrine
of justification by faith, and the convergence toward a common understanding on justification and related doctrines through Lutheran - Catholic dialogues over the past thirty years.
And it was this doctrine, in turn based on the doctrine
of justification by faith, which made it possible for Luther and Calvin to say what it means to live the Christian life of service to the God of love in the midst of the tragic necessities of this world.16
Such faith is basic to the doctrine
of justification by faith, which was first spelled out by Paul and never stated by Jesus in theological terms, yet was presupposed in all he said about the kingdom of God.
In «Ungenuine and Gratuitous» (Public Square, March), Richard John Neuhaus takes «some Baptists» to task for their criticism of the Evangelical - Catholic «Gift of Salvation» statement, which seeks to articulate a doctrine
of justification by faith that is acceptable to both parties.
Gorringe's chapter on portraiture culminates with Rembrandt, whose faces betray «an astonishing account of the doctrine
of justification by faith.»
My dear friend, Burk Parsons, recently put it this way: «Believing the doctrine
of justification by faith alone does not justify you.
This group became suspect as it inclined dangerously towards the doctrine
of justification by faith alone.
It is here we reach the very heart of Paul's own faith, for here we reach the doctrine
of Justification by Faith.
The great contribution of Eduard Schweizer's fresh appreciation of Romans is to enable us to see that the book did not arise primarily to teach the doctrine
of justification by faith to disciples struggling under the burden of producing their own righteousness, but as an expression of Paul's implementation of the church's calling to be the missionary body of Christ.61 The thrust of the letter and the church consciousness it represents is summed up in Rom.