"Grace through faith alone"

[LatinRight]

Should anyone like to read the context, here’s Jimmy’s articles.

catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/not-by-faith-alone

catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/justification
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/p...chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-annex_en.html

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/p...chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-annex_en.html

as far as the joint statement between Catholics and Lutherans, there was an annex to that statement by the Church

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-annex_en.html

God bless Steve b,

I have stated my opinion on the question to sign the statement or don’t.
For me the matter is closed.

The only reason I put on this post to protect my dignity.

Steve b you “mistakenly” posted:

Should anyone like to read the context, here’s Jimmy’s articles.

catholic.com/magazine/pr…by-faith-alone

catholic.com/magazine/pr…/justification

My quotes nothing to do with James’ above two articles.

Both my quotes came out from James’ following article.

It is not the full article but the quotes are in context.

**It is an excellent article, in my opinion, one of the BEST articles of James Akin.

JUSTIFICATION: “BY FAITH ALONE”?
James Akin **________________________________________

Many Protestants today realize that Catholics adhere to two of the important “solas” related to salvation sola gratia (by grace alone) and solo Christo (by Christ alone) but fewer are aware that Catholics can also accept the formula of justification sola fide (by faith alone), provided this phrase is properly understood.

The term pistis is used in the Bible in a number of different senses, ranging from intellectual belief (Romans 14:22, 23, James 2:19), to assurance (Acts 17:31), and even to trustworthiness or reliability (Romans 3:3, Titus 2:10).

Of key importance is Galatians 5:6, which refers to faith working by charity. In Catholic theology, this is what is known as fides formata or faith formed by charity. The alternative to formed faith is fides informis or faith unformed by charity. This is the kind of faith described in James 2:19, for example.

Whether a Catholic rejects the idea of justification by faith alone depends on what sense the term faith is being used in. If it is being used to refer to unformed faith then a Catholic rejects the idea of justification by faith alone (which is the point James is making in James 2:19, as every non-antinomian Evangelical agrees; one is not justified by intellectual belief alone).

However, if the term faith is being used to refer to faith formed by charity then the Catholic accepts the idea of justification by faith alone. In fact, in traditional works of Catholic theology, one regularly encounters the statement that formed faith is justifying faith. If one has formed faith, one is justified. Period. - My first quote.

A Catholic would thus reject the idea of justification sola fide informi but wholeheartedly embrace the idea of justification sola fide formata.

Adding the word formed to clarify the nature of the faith in sola fides renders the doctrine completely acceptable to a Catholic.

Why, then, do Catholics not use the formula faith alone in everyday discourse? There are two reasons:
First, whenever a theological tradition is developing, it must decide which way key terms are going to be used or there will be hopeless confusion. For example, during the early centuries it was decided that in connection with Jesus identity the term God would be used as a noun rather than as a proper name for the Father.

This enables us to say, Jesus is God and be understood. If the term God were used as a proper name for the Father in this regard, we would have to say, Jesus is not God. Obviously, the Church could not have people running around saying Jesus is God and Jesus is not God, though both would be perfectly consistent with the Trinity depending on how the term God is being used (i.e., as a noun or a proper name for the Father). Hopeless confusion (and charges of heresy, and bloodbaths) would have resulted in the early centuries if the Church did not specify the meaning of the term God when used in this context.

Continues

 

[LatinRight]

Continuation

Of course, the Bible uses the term God in both senses, but to avoid confusion (and heretical misunderstandings on the part of the faithful, who could incline to either Arianism or Modalism if they misread the word God in the above statements) it later became necessary to adopt one usage over the other when discussing the identity of Jesus.
A similar phenomenon occurs in connection with the word faith.

Evangelical leaders know this by personal experience since they have to continually fight against antinomian understandings of the term faith (and the corresponding antinomian evangelistic practices and false conversions that result). Because faith is such a key term, it is necessary that each theological school have a fixed usage of it in practice, even though there is more than one use of the term in the Bible.

Evangelical leaders, in response to the antinomianism that has washed over the American church scene in the last hundred and fifty years, are attempting to impose a uniform usage to the term faith in their community to prevent these problems. (And may they have good luck in this, by the way.)

This leads me to why Catholics do not use the formula faith alone. Given the different usages of the term faith in the Bible, the early Church had to decide which meaning would be treated as normative. Would it be the Galatians 5 sense or the Romans 14/James 2 sense?

The Church opted for the latter for several reasons:
First, the Romans 14 sense of the term pistis is frankly the more common in the New Testament. It is much harder to think of passages which demand that pistis mean faith formed by charity than it is to think of passages which demand that pistis mean intellectual belief. In fact, even in Galatians 5:6 itself, Paul has to specify that it is faith formed by charity that he is talking about, suggesting that this is not the normal use of the term in his day.

Second, the New Testament regularly (forty-two times in the KJV) speaks of the faith, meaning a body of theological beliefs (e.g. Jude 3). The connection between pistis and intellectual belief is clearly very strong in this usage.
Third, Catholic theology has focused on the triad of faith, hope, and charity, which Paul lays great stress on and which is found throughout his writings, not just in 1 Corinthians 13:13 (though that is the locus classicus for it), including places where it is not obvious because of the English translation or the division of verses.

If in this triad faith is taken to mean formed faith then hope and charity are collapsed into faith and the triad is flattened. To preserve the distinctiveness of each member of the triad, the Church chose to use the term faith in a way that did not include within it the ideas of hope (trust) and charity (love). Only by doing this could the members of the triad be kept from collapsing into one another.

Thus the Catholic Church normally expresses the core essences of these virtues like this:
Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us . . . because he is truth itself. (CCC 1814)
Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. (CCC 1817)
Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. (CCC 1822)

In common Catholic usage, faith is thus unconditional belief in what God says, hope is unconditional trust in God, and charity is unconditional love for God. When we are justified, God places all three of these virtues in our hearts. These virtues are given to each of the justified, even though our outward actions do not always reflect them because of the fallen nature we still possess.

Thus a person may still have the virtue of faith even if momentarily tempted by doubt, a person may still have the virtue of trust even if scared or tempted by despair, and a person may still have the virtue of charity even if he often selfish. Only a direct, grave violation (mortal sin against) of one of the virtues destroys the virtue.

As our sanctification progresses, these virtues within us are strengthened by God and we are able to more easily exercise faith, more easily exercise trust, and more easily exercise love. Performing acts of faith, hope, and charity becomes easier as we grow in the Christian life (note the great difficulty new converts often experience in these areas compared to those who have attained a measure of spiritual maturity).

Continues

 

[LatinRight]

Continuation

However, so long as one has any measure of faith, hope, and charity, one is in a state of justification. Thus Catholics often use the soteriological slogan that we are saved by faith, hope, and charity. This does not disagree with the Protestant soteriological slogan that we are saved by faith alone if the term faith is understood in the latter to be faith formed by charity or Galatians 5 faith.

One will note, in the definitions of the virtues offered above, the similarity between hope and the way Protestants normally define faith; that is, as an unconditional placing our trust in Christs promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. The definition Protestants normally give to faith is the definition Catholics use for hope.

However, the Protestant idea of faith by no means excludes what Catholics refer to as faith, since every Evangelical would (or should) say that a person with saving faith will believe whatever God says because God is absolutely truthful and incapable of making an error. Thus the Protestant concept of faith normally includes both the Catholic concept of faith and the Catholic concept of hope.

Thus if a Protestant further specifies that saving faith is a faith which works by charity then the two soteriological slogans become equivalents. The reason is that a faith which works by charity is a faith which produces acts of love. But a faith which produces acts of love is a faith which includes the virtue of charity, the virtue of charity is the thing that enables us to perform acts of supernatural love in the first place.

So a Protestant who says saving faith is a faith which works by charity, as per Galatians 5:6, is saying the same thing as a Catholic when a Catholic says that we are saved by faith, hope, and charity.

We may put the relationship between the two concepts as follows:
Protestant idea of faith = Catholic idea of faith + Catholic idea of hope + Catholic idea of charity

The three theological virtues of Catholic theology are thus summed up in the (good) Protestants idea of the virtue of faith. And the Protestant slogan salvation by faith alone becomes the Catholic slogan salvation by faith, hope, and charity (alone).

My second quote as follows .

1. On the subject of the kind of justification discussed in James 2:24,

Trent quotes this verse only once and then applies it to progressive, not initial justification, so one does not have to do good works to get into a state of justification; good works are fruits of the state of justification, not causes for entering it.

The fact this passage does not refer to initial justification should be obvious since the justification of Abraham it refers to occurred years after Abraham was first justified by faith in Genesis 12, when By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go (Heb. 11:8).

Thus James 2:24 refers to later, progressive justification, by which one grows in righteousness, not initial justification, when ones sins are forgiven.

Cf. the three articles in the Nov/Dec 1994 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review and R. Eisenman and M. Wise’s book The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, chapter 6, Works Reckoned as Righteousness Legal Texts.
Copyright (c) 1995 by James Akin. All Rights Reserved

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God bless.

LatinRight

 

[josephback]

My wife and I (both practicing Catholics) are considering placing our daughter in a good, local evangelical Protestant school. (There are no Catholic schools anywhere in the vicinity.) However, the school apparently requires that we sign a Statement of Faith which among other things reads: “We believe salvation is by grace through faith alone.”

It seems to me that the question of whether we can sign this statement may turn on the question of what is meant by “faith.” Can we sign the statement? Or, alternatively, can we sign the statement and add an additional statement indicating something to the following effect: “We understand “faith” in this context to be what we consider a living faith, manifested by, among other things, good works.”

Thanks for your thoughts!

I would talk with your priest, but personally wouldn’t send my child there. If there are built in religious classes along confessional they might get a skewed representation of the faith that they aren’t equipped to refute or answer. The difference between a Catholic understanding of the Atonement and penal substitution come to mind. At least in a state school you know that you have to be on guard.

 

[steve_b]

God bless Steve b,

I have stated my opinion on the question to sign the statement or don’t.
For me the matter is closed.

The only reason I put on this post to protect my dignity.

Steve b you “mistakenly” posted:

Should anyone like to read the context, here’s Jimmy’s articles.

catholic.com/magazine/pr…by-faith-alone

catholic.com/magazine/pr…/justification

My quotes nothing to do with James’ above two articles.

Both my quotes came out from James’ following article.

It is not the full article but the quotes are in context.

**It is an excellent article, in my opinion, one of the BEST articles of James Akin.

JUSTIFICATION: “BY FAITH ALONE”?
James Akin **________________________________________

[snip for space]

Continues

Continuation

Of course, the Bible uses the term God in both senses, but to avoid confusion (and heretical misunderstandings on the part of the faithful, who could incline to either Arianism or Modalism if they misread the word God in the above statements) it later became necessary to adopt one usage over the other when discussing the identity of Jesus.
A similar phenomenon occurs in connection with the word faith.

[snip for space]

Continues

Continuation

However, so long as one has any measure of faith, hope, and charity, one is in a state of justification. Thus Catholics often use the soteriological slogan that we are saved by faith, hope, and charity. This does not disagree with the Protestant soteriological slogan that we are saved by faith alone if the term faith is understood in the latter to be faith formed by charity or Galatians 5 faith.

[snip for space]

One will note, in the definitions of the virtues offered above,
God bless.

LatinRight

Blessings in return :tiphat:

May I suggest, It would have been most helpful in the first place,

• to post the actual link to the article of Jimmy’s that you quoted from. The reason for that is, Jimmy has multiple articles on “…faith alone”.
• I would also point out that out of the 3 theological virtues faith hope and charity (love), Paul says love is the greatest of these. 1 Corinthians 13:13

I would suggest THAT is another reason why faith is NOT alone.

 

[Mammoths]

Home school? All the smartest people I knew in college were home schooled.

 

[LatinRight]

Blessings in return :tiphat:

May I suggest, It would have been most helpful in the first place,

• to post the actual link to the article of Jimmy’s that you quoted from. The reason for that is, Jimmy has multiple articles on “…faith alone”.
• I would also point out that out of the 3 theological virtues faith hope and charity (love), Paul says love is the greatest of these. 1 Corinthians 13:13

I would suggest THAT is another reason why faith is NOT alone.

God bless Steve b, :tiphat:

Thanks you for your post.

I agree with your post, well we always learn.

I read the annex it is an excellent work I agree with it.

God bless.

Latin Right

 

[LatinRight]

WOW - that is not accurate reporting.

And NO Pope Benedict XVI did NOT say Luther was correct there in translating Paul.

One should read the *actual *weds audiences.

I have posted them many times here and am rather familiar with them.

The article is not accurate.

God bless Bookcat,

Do you think Bookcat, the following declarations are not accurate either?

JOINT DECLARATION ON THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church

3/17 Justification is SOLELY due to the forgiving and renewing mercy that God imparts as a gift and we RECEIVE IN FAITH, and NEVER CAN MERIT IT ANY WAY.

4/25 We confess together that sinners are justified by faith in the saving action of God in Christ. WHATEVER in the JUSTIFIED PRECEDES or FOLLOWS the free gift of faith is NEITHER THE BASIS of justification NOR MERITS it.

4/27.The Catholic understanding also sees faith as fundamental in justification. For without faith, no justification can take place. Thus justifying grace never becomes a human possession. While Catholic teaching emphasizes the renewal of life by justifying grace, this RENEVAL in FAITH, HOPE, LOVE is always dependent on God’s unfathomable grace and contributes NOTHING to JUSTIFICATION.

4/37 We confess together that good works - a Christian life lived in faith, hope and love - FOLLOW JUSTIFICATION and ARE ITS FRUITS. Emphasize mine.

ANNEX TO THE OFFICIAL COMMON STATEMENT

C) Justification takes place "by grace alone“ (JD 15 and 16), by faith alone, the person is justified „apart from works“ (Rom 3:28, cf. JD 25). "Grace creates faith not only when faith begins in a person but as long as faith lasts“ (Thomas Aquinas, S. Th.II/II 4, 4 ad 3).The working of God’s grace does not exclude human action: God effects everything, the willing and the achievement, therefore, we are called to strive (cf. Phil 2:12 ff). "As soon as the Holy Spirit has initiated his work of regeneration and renewal in us through the Word and the holy sacraments, it is certain that we can and must cooperate by the power of the Holy Spirit…“ (The Formula of Concord, FC SD II,64f; BSLK 897,37ff).

D) Grace as fellowship of the justified with God in faith, hope and love is always received from the salvific and creative work of God (cf. JD 27). But it is nevertheless the responsibility of the justified not to waste this grace but to live in it. The exhortation to do good works is the exhortation to practice the faith (cf. BSLK 197,45). The good works of the justified „should be done in order to confirm their call, that is, lest they fall from their call by sinning again“ (Apol. XX,13, BSLK 316,18-24; with reference to 2 Pet. 1:10. Cf. also FC SD IV,33; BSLK 948,9-23). In this sense Lutherans and Catholics can understand together what is said about the "preservation of grace“ in JD 38 and 39. Certainly, "whatever in the justified precedes or follows the free gift of faith is neither the basis of justification nor merits it“ (JD 25).

1. The doctrine of justification is measure or touchstone for the Christian faith. No teaching may contradict this criterion. In this sense, the doctrine of justification is an "indispensable criterion which constantly serves to orient all the teaching and practice of our churches to Christ“ (JD l8). As such, it has its truth and specific meaning within the overall context of the Church’s fundamental Trinitarian confession of faith. We "share the goal of confessing Christ in all things, who is to be trusted above all things as the one Mediator (1 Tim 2:5-6) through whom God in the Holy Spirit gives himself and pours out his renewing gifts“ (JD 18).

God bless.

LatinRight

 

[Bookcat]

God bless Bookcat,

Do you think Bookcat, the following declarations are not accurate either?

I would refer you to the CDF on that. And read everything in context and their further response to the joint declaration that came out later.

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I was commenting only on that ARTICLE quoted was rather incorrect to say the least.

One should go to the sources! To the actual weds audiences (ones among my favorite)

It simply got it wrong in the article. The reporter was not accurate in their reporting.

ALL this though is off topic really so we should not continue.

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[Bookcat]

To the OP - as I noted above - I would not suggest signing such a document! and I really think you should simply re-think sending your child to that school…seek out other options.

 

[May1980]

Our school did not have us sign anything, that seems odd.
Many of the kids come from no faith at all!
It’s a local Lutheran preschool and we love it.

If you like the school, I wouldn’t worry about signing a statement that attests to the importance of faith.
Of course there could be endless discussion by adults about what certain terms mean and how it all adds up, etc. Hence an online forum!