Acquiesce to Righteousness

According to Protestants this justification is by faith alone – not through good deeds –
and is a gift from God through Christ. According to Catholics and Eastern Orthodox we
are justified by God's grace which is a free gift but is received through baptism initially,
through the faith that works for love in the continuous life of a Christian and through the
sacrament of reconciliation if the grace of justification is lost through grave sin.
The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), signed by both the
Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church on 31 October 1999, clearly
stated that "consensus in basic truths of the doctrine of justification exists between
Lutherans and Catholics." In Roman Catholic and Lutheran doctrines, as expressed
under section 4.7 no.37, "we confess together that good works – a Christian life lived in
faith, hope and love – follow justification and are its fruits. When the justified live in
Christ and act in the grace they receive, they bring forth, in biblical terms, good fruit.
Since Christians struggle against sin their entire lives, this consequence of justification
is also for them an obligation they must fulfill. Thus both Jesus and the apostolic
Scriptures admonish Christians to bring forth the works of love."
The declaration states that several theological views on justification held by Lutherans
and Catholics, though not apparently similar to each other, are in fact explaining the
same "basic truths of the doctrine of justification" at different angles.
An example can be cited from section 4.7 no. 38-39, "when Catholics affirm the
'meritorious' character of good works, they wish to say that, according to the biblical
witness, a reward in heaven is promised to these works. Their intention is to emphasize
the responsibility of persons for their actions, not to contest the character of those works
as gifts, or far less to deny that justification always remains the unmerited gift of grace",
in comparison with "the concept of a preservation of grace and a growth in grace and
faith is also held by Lutherans. They do emphasize that righteousness as acceptance
by God and sharing in the righteousness of Christ is always complete. At the same time,
they state that there can be growth in its effects in Christian living. When they view the
good works of Christians as the fruits and signs of justification and not as one's own
'merits', they nevertheless also understand eternal life in accord with the New
Testament as unmerited 'reward' in the sense of the fulfillment of God's promise to the
believer."
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him,
"Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed", but does nothing about his physical needs,
what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is
dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without
deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
— James 2:15-18
D. James Kennedy explains this verse:
James is dealing with people who profess to be Christians, and yet they don't evidence
the reality of their faith by their works [deeds]. Over, and over again... people will say they
have faith and they don't have works, and James is saying that real faith always
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