Class date: 4/22/18
Not only was "sola fide" one of the slogans of the Protestant Reformation, the differences in understanding the closely-related concepts of justification and salvation often lie at the root of other disagreements, for example the necessity and value of Purgatory.
Salvation / Justification / Faith Alone
A quick word on terminology: Protestants tend to prefer the term “justification” but Catholics usually say “salvation” when speaking of this topic.
What we agree on:
- Grace alone – salvation is a free gift of God obtained for us through Jesus's passion, death, and Resurrection. Nothing we do prior to our initial reception of the gift can merit it.
- Jesus's merits – because they are infinite! – are sufficient to redeem all mankind and atone for all our sins.
Some key differences:
Many Protestants Catholics one-time event ongoing process, beginning at Baptism sola fide or “through faith alone”:works play no role through faith & works / faith, hope, & charity:
we must cooperate with God by good works redemption confused with salvation: redemption and salvation are different things: Christ's death is all-sufficient and our sufferings are not needed nor helpful Even though Christ's merits are sufficient to redeem us all, our sufferings in union with Him have value in applying those graces to ourselves and others for salvation Jesus's death paid for all our sins, so we need not atone or suffer for them Although Jesus paid for all our sins to save us from eternal separation from God, we must still atone (make amends) for our sins justification is a purely external “not guilty” verdict based on Christ's righteousness “imputed” to the believer, so
sanctification is different and separate from justification God renews the believer interiorly through Baptism and post-Baptismal graces; God judges the believer's true interior condition, so
sanctification is part of process of justification / salvation justification / salvation cannot be lost can be lost through our free choice to commit mortal sins good works = trying to earn gift of salvation good works = cooperating with the gift, acting in obedience to God's will
IMPORTANT! Be aware, though, that some modern Protestants understand “faith” in “faith alone” to mean a formed living / saving faith that includes hope and charity. If used in this way, their formula means essentially the same as what Catholics believe. [cf. Lutheran-Catholic joint statement on justification]
In this situation, the important thing is to bring your friend to understand that although we may use different words, the substance of what we believe is in fact the same. In addition, the Catholic usage is completely consistent with the Bible.
Key scripture verses on works & justification
Mt 19:16 – “What must I do to gain eternal life?” Jesus's answer? "Keep the commandments"
Mt 25:31-46 (also Mt 12:36-37) – we are judged according to our works
Rom 6:16 – sin leads to death, obedience leads to righteousness = justification (same Greek word)
Gal 6:7-9 – keep doing good so that in due season you reap eternal life
James 2:24 – “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
This is the only Bible verse containing the phrase "faith alone"!
Key scripture verses on atonement, value of our sufferings
Prov. 16:6 – “By loyalty and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, ...”
Scripture does say we can atone for our sins, e.g. Prov. 16:6, “By loyalty and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD a man avoids evil.” This makes sense, for to atone means to make amends or reparations. e.g. If your child were mean to his sibling, would you expect him to “make up” or simply say, “Jesus has atoned for all my sins”? Why? (Justice to the wronged. Also virtue for the sinner. i.e. it is good for us.)
2 Sam. 12:10-14 – Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uri′ah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, .... David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die.”
As we saw when we studied the doctrine of Purgatory, God does require atonement for forgiven sins, for example in the case of King David.
1 Cor 1:5-6 – “we share in Christ's sufferings ... we are afflicted for your comfort and salvation, ...”
Col. 1:24 – “... in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church”
As we saw before (Purgatory), Scripture also tells us that (1) we can share in Christ's sufferings, (2) this can benefit ourselves and others, (3) it can somehow contribute even to salvation, and (4) the Redemption of Christ is applied and brought alive in the present moment by our own cooperation in that one, full, final sacrifice. In short, suffering in union with Christ has redemptive value for ourselves and others.
Responding to Objections
Objection: Eph 2:8-9 & Rom 3:28 both show that works are not involved in justification / salvation.
Response:
- If you read Romans 3:28 – "For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law." – you find out that St. Paul is speaking not of all works but specifically of works of the Mosaic Law. The entire chapter actually speaks of the specific problem of "Judaizers", Jewish Christians who taught the heresy that in order to be saved, Christians had to keep the whole Mosaic Law.
- Catholics agree that the "works of the law" do not save.
- However, if we go back to the previous chapter of the same letter, we find that in Rom 2:6-7, Paul tells us that God will reward good works with eternal life. Here are his own words: "For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life." This point is repeated in Rom 2:13.
- Next, Ephesians 2:8-9 says: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God— not because of works, lest any man should boast."
- But if we go back and read the context of these verses, we see that the "works" Paul speaks of in the entire passage Eph 2:1-9 refer to works done before initial justification (Baptism). For example, he says: "you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, ... we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ...
- Catholics agree that works done before initial justification do not contribute to our salvation (and that we are saved by grace alone!)
- Also note that in the next verse (Eph 2:10), Paul goes on to say that we are “created in Christ Jesus for good works.”
Key points: We don't earn gift of initial justification in Baptism, e.g. we baptize babies. But once in Christ, we must do good works to cooperate with his grace and remain in Him.
Please see John Martignoni's "aw-fensive questions" and responses regarding Sola Fide here and here.
Bonus: James 2:14-26 and the NIV Translation
We have previous noted how problematic the NIV (New International Version, published by Zondervan) is in places. The translation of the second chapter of the letter of James is another such.
Click here to see the passage side-by-side in NIV and in RSV (Protestant version, not Catholic, to prevent accusations of bias). The King James Version is similar to the RSV, though of course the language is more archaic.
At first blush, it seems that the two translations mean much the same thing, except that the NIV – only in this passage – seems allergic to the words "works" and "justification." The most serious problems occur with the NIV rendering "justified by works" as "considered righteous because of what he did."
As a student noted in class, the NIV version gives the impression of being an opinion as opposed to a fact. However, there is another, possibly more significant problem. The phrase "justified by works" indicates that the works in question (and united with faith) are effective in justifying the believer. In contrast, "considered righteous" loses that direct connection. Rather than the actions actually making the believer righteous / justified, the NIV version implies that people (or perhaps God) think he's righteous because of his actions.
Here's James 2:24 (recall that this is the only Bible verse containing the phrase "faith alone") in King James, NIV, and RSV:
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. (KJV)
You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. (NIV)
You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. (RSV)
And here's the interlinear translation with the original Greek.
The NIV rendering facilitates the interpretation that works show forth one's righteousness rather than act as a cause of it, an interpretation which is difficult to square with an exact rendering of the verse. As is the rejection of the idea that "a man is justified by works and not by faith alone."
Quite apart from the merits of evangelical theology on this point, it is simply dishonest to rewrite the text of Scripture to support one's preferred interpretation under the guise of translation. And how can one even begin to interpret the actual text of Scripture without, well, the actual text of Scripture?
Incidentally, in Gal 2:16 the exact same form of the same Greek word is rendered as "justified" in the NIV translation.
Please see the article "The New International Version - A History and Evaluation" for lots more on the NIV, including the quote from British Bible scholar N.T. Wright that I shared part of in class:
Again and again, with the Greek text in front of me and the NIV beside it, I discovered that the translators had had another principle, considerably higher than the stated one: to make sure that Paul should say what the broadly Protestant and evangelical tradition said he said … [I]f a church only, or mainly, relies on the NIV it will, quite simply, never understand what Paul was talking about.