What is Justification?: Debate: Opening Statements

This is a debate between Jim Drickamer and myself on the topic of Justification. The rules were as follows:

3 rounds (opening, rebuttals and conclusion)
2. No more than 1000 words per post.
A week to submit reply (week starts upon reception of reply). This rule was relaxed due to necessity for both writers.
The debate will be submitted upon completion and each round will have its own article (On Catholic365.com).

Jim Drickamer’s Opening Statement: Calvinist View

To understand the Protestant view of justification, imagine someone is the defendant in a criminal trial. The charges against him are all the sins he has committed, is committing, or will ever commit, including the sinful nature with which he was born.

The prosecutor is Satan.

The defense attorney is Jesus Christ.

The judge is Jesus Christ.

When this person’s name is called to stand for trial, Jesus Christ takes his place before the bar.

God laid all his sins on Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ substituted Himself for him. He turned God’s wrath from that person onto Himself. He was judged guilty in his place. He served the full sentence for each and every one of his sins, including his nature. Having paid the price for his sins by His suffering and death, He has been released and has been raised from the dead to prove God has accepted the atonement price He paid for his sin. The Father and the Son have sent the Holy Spirit to him to give him a new birth, creating him all over again with a new nature and giving him faith as a free gift of His grace. Just as God regarded his sins as though they were Christ’s, so He now by grace through faith on account of Christ credits Christ’s righteousness to him as though it is his. And Jesus Christ declares him to be not guilty of any and every sin. He justifies him. And that justification is unchanging, because it is founded on Jesus Christ. Unless history changes so that either Jesus Christ never died or never rose from the dead, those who have once been justified by God can never become in any way unjustified.

Thus, the ground of justification is the Person and work of Jesus Christ.

The instrumental cause of justification is faith in Jesus Christ.

And this justification is foreign or alien to the person who is justified. It is not his own, but Christ’s which is credited to him through faith.

It is apparent that Protestants define justification and righteousness as a legal or forensic proceeding which declares someone to be justified and righteous in the eyes of God, even though he is not inherently just and righteous, nor has he yet begun to live a God-pleasing life.

Where would Protestants get such notions about justification?

These Protestant notions are first found in Genesis 15: 6, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Abraham did not become inherently just and righteous after God promised him a son. Nor did Abraham become particularly righteous in the way he was leading his life. It was after God reckoned Abraham to be righteous that Abraham committed adultery with Hagar and fathered the illegitimate child, Ishmael. The only way Abraham was righteous was that God reckoned or counted Abraham’s faith as righteousness. And it was not until seven chapters later, Genesis 22, that God tested Abraham’s faith with the sacrifice of Isaac. So Abraham was reckoned righteous from Genesis 15 to Genesis 22, and then when his faith was tested, he became righteous in another way for his life was shown to be pleasing to God.

We should not be surprised to realize words, like “justification” and “righteousness,” have a range of meanings. Just look at “range.” “Range” can mean a kitchen appliance, an open expanse of prairie, the distance to an object, or the difference between points in a continuum.

In the same way, “justification” and “righteousness” can mean an inherent quality or attribute, the uprightness of a person’s action or life, or being blameless in the eyes of God Who declares sinners to be not guilty.

In Romans 3: 20, Paul wrote that by works of law no human beings will be justified in God’s sight. The idea of a man being justified by his obedience to the law is removed simply due to the fact that no one is able to keep the law but by the law comes the knowledge of sin. And in verse 21, Paul tells us of a different righteousness, a righteousness that does not become real from the law but the forensic righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. In verse 28, Paul wrote that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Romans 4 contains Paul’s reference to Genesis 15: 6 which Paul expands to every believer, that his faith is counted to him as righteousness. Paul separates faith and works. If this righteousness were by works, it would be a debt God had to pay to those who earned it. To Paul, this righteousness is counted or regarded as a gift. The apostle specifically says that to the person who does not work but believes in God Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.

Paul does not contradict James here. Instead, Paul is working with one definition of justification or righteousness while James is speaking of another. Paul sees justification as forensic, the pronouncing of a not guilty verdict. James sees it as growing in a person’s own righteousness as is seen in his life.

Again, some words have more than one meaning or application. We see this even when we speak of “justification” and “righteousness,” for those are two translations of the same Greek word, “dikaiosunh.”

Word count: 896

Kevin Noles’ Opening Statement: Catholic View

The Bible teaches that Justification is a process. Catholics agree with the Bible on this (as well as everything else the Bible teaches). We are saved by Grace alone and our response to that grace is through faith and works since we have free will. Christ instead of declaring us righteous actually makes us righteous. The Decree on Justification is a great document to get a full in depth understanding of what the Bible teaches. Since we are fallen, man needs justification in order for God to make us holy. A sinner becomes holy (a saint) not because he is no longer the person who committed the sin but because it reflects the inner being of the holiness of God.

Since justification is a process, there are different phases of justification. Initial, Progressive and Final. Then there is Re-justification. It is not a phase since it may not be required of everyone.

Initial Justification

Have you been saved? A common question in which every Catholic can answer “Yes, I have been saved.” St. Paul talks about salvation in a past tense many times:

Ephesians 2:5: “even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)”

Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God”

Progressive Justification

This represents the ongoing justification that everyone goes through, in other words something still to be attained.

1 Peter 1:8-9: “Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls.”

Philippians 2:12: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”

Final Justification

It is representative of something that will happen. Not something that has already happened.

St. Paul speaks about this many times as well:

Romans 13:11: “Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed”

1 Corinthians 3:15: “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”

As shown, justification is a process not a one-time thing. It begins with becoming a Christian, living out the Christian life and then dying as a Christian.

Re-Justification

Unfortunately, a Christian can in fact lose their salvation but fortunately they can also be re-justified when they return to the Faith. This happens when one commits a mortal sin (1 John 5:17). John indicates that there is at least two types of sin, we call them mortal and venial. Since we are talking about justification, mortal sins need to be explained.

Three conditions must be met for the sin to be mortal:

Mortal sin is a sin of grave matter

Mortal sin is committed with full knowledge of the sinner

Mortal sin is committed with deliberate consent of the sinner

Murder, idolatry and adultery are examples of the grave matter of mortal (I won’t list all the mortal sins but they are contained within the 10 Commandments). These sins are the sins that will sever someone from Christ, in other words the cause of someone losing their salvation.

Jesus tells us to keep the Commandments in order to enter (eternal) life, not merely to prove our justification but to keep our justification.

Matthew 19:17 “And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”

It is rather clear, keep the commandments or do not enter eternal life. No quibbling about. You either do or you don’t. St. Paul gives us an understanding of this in an analogy of running a race. Not one person would argue that while writing 1 Corinthians St. Paul was unsaved yet he admits that he may become disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)! He has a rightful fear of losing that which he wishes to obtain. But what if we don’t keep the commandments? Are we just condemned? The short answer is no.

Scripture talks about liabilities of guilt when sins are committed. This can be summed up rather succinctly in Isaiah 1:18, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” This shows us that forgiveness is necessary once we transgress. Christ’s forgiveness is like washing a soul as white as snow. Not merely declaring us righteous but making us righteous. A court of law does not make someone righteous yet we must be righteous as John tells us in Revelation 21:27. Our souls must become pure in other words.

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant is a wonderful illustration of Christ’s forgiveness. The master (Christ) forgives his servant (us) but since the servant was uncharitable to the other servant the master’s forgiveness was revoked. As will our forgiveness from Christ should we be uncharitable to one another. Remember this parable was preempted by St. Peter asking Christ how often he should forgive his brother (Matthew 18:21-22). Another example is given in the Lord’s Prayer “And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). Surely without God’s forgiveness we will not be saved right?

As shown, justification is a process not merely a one time, once for all accomplishment. God does not owe us salvation but saves us because we work with Him and not against Him. If we work against God, such as not keeping the commandments, one can be separated from Christ but then through Christ’s forgiveness one can be once again reunited with Christ.