Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

c) Justification by Faith and WorksThe Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox all assert that God alonejustifies the sinner. All true Christians agree that justification leads tosanctification and that sanctification is the outcome of being justified.Agreement on this doctrine was achieved early in the Protestant Reformationat the Colloquy of Regensburg (1541) – though the extreme positions on thedoctrine seen in Luther and the later Council of Trent were not part of thediscussions. It became to be a centre of contentious debate for many years tocome.The question of the relationship of works and faith in salvation foundered onthe understanding of what salvation is. Both sides agreed that grace alonebrought a person into a right relationship with God initially, but salvation assanctification was then the issue. Protestants tended to separate justificationfrom sanctification, Catholics to see both as integral to the experience ofsalvation.In 1999 Lutherans and Catholics published a Joint Declaration on the Doctrineof Justification, claiming that Catholics and Lutherans hold a ‘sharedunderstanding of justification’.Here is a summary of what was agreed:• Justification is the work of a Triune God.• We receive salvation in faith and so become justified (initially throughinfant baptism, later confirmed by faith).• This faith is God’s gift to us.• We are sinners and can never merit God’s salvation.• We cooperate in the justification only as an effect of grace (Catholic).There is no cooperation as such but believers are personally involved injustification in their exercising faith (Lutheran).• Justification does not depend on the ‘life-renewing’ effects of grace on abeliever (Lutheran). Agreed, God’s gift of grace in salvation remainsindependent of human cooperation (Catholic).• Justification by faith and renewal of life are distinct but not separate.Page 180