justification by faith alone in Early Fathers

[Cyrillic]

Sure, I believe this.

Faith and works exist together like a body and spirit. If a body has no spirit, it is dead, and not alive. In the same way, if faith has no works, it is dead, and therefore cannot save anyone.

Because our final salvation is based on works, there must be faith.

However, justification is by faith, according to Paul, and not by works. And the principle for this is grace and giving full credit to the sacrifice of Jesus (Gal 2:20).

Somehow I think that your issue with works is more one of semantics and emphasis than of actual theology. I might be wrong, though.

 

[neophyte]

True or False: faith alone always and necessarily results in God willed works?

The answer is false.

Even the devil posses faith alone–he knows of the true existence of God…

And here’s the problem: a misunderstanding of what faith is.

Faith is NOT knowing that God exists. It is an act of the will by which one adheres to the God who has revealed himself. It is a free response to the grace God gives us to turn to him. And Satan most certainly did NOT have faith in God.

And it IS a work: it’s something we do by God’s grace. It’s his work, not ours, but we do it. As is written, “not I, but Christ in me.”

But it’s not the kind of work that is spoken of by Clement, or the Apostles in scripture. The works we do by God’s grace are different in kind to the ones we do of ourselves with the intention of bribing God or putting him in our debt.

 

[Erick_Ybarra]

Faith is repentance baptism conversion perserverance

 

[neophyte]

Faith is repentance baptism conversion perserverance

Each of those is an act, yes: something that one does. But they are not the definition of the word faith.

I suggest you closely study every place in the Catechism where the word faith is used.

 

[mikelionheart]

Faith is repentance baptism conversion perserverance

Hmm, those sound like works to me.

 

[Erick_Ybarra]

Thats why it is by faith alone, because wrapped up in faith is the act of conversion and repentance. I do not consider these as meritorious works.

If someone said they believed in Jesus but sat in some corner of Jerusalem while the apostles were baptizing the 3,000 pentacostal believers, he /she is not justified.

 

[Usagi]

Thats why it is by faith alone, because wrapped up in faith is the act of conversion and repentance. I do not consider these as meritorious works.

If someone said they believed in Jesus but sat in some corner of Jerusalem while the apostles were baptizing the 3,000 pentacostal believers, he /she is not justified.

Your beliefs are actually very close to the Catholic position as I understand it. You are no doubt correct that the original Protestants had a far more nuanced notion of the doctrine than some of their modern descendants. (Recall that recently, Catholics and Lutherans and I believe at least one other mainline Protestant denomination have stated their essential agreement on justification once we all sit down and discuss it rather than hurling anathemas back and forth.)

You are no doubt aware, however, that there is a strain of modern Protestantism, sometimes derided as “easy believism” by other Protestants who are more in your camp, which actually puts forth a very narrow version of “faith alone.” Sometimes this even goes to the point of denying that repentance is necessary for salvation, since that would imply that our turning from sin, rather than God’s action alone, has some positive effect on our fate, and that can’t be countenanced. (I’m sure you recognize, as we do, that our repentance and other actions occur only because of God’s grace in the first place, and that even when He accounts us merit or reward it is actually a gift in response to His actions in us.)

There may be some terminological differences, but I don’t think that Catholics would have great difficulty with your take on justification and salvation. It seems you even believe in baptismal regeneration, which is a rarity among modern Protestants.

Usagi

 

[Swiss_Guy]

Actually St. Clement was the fourth pope, but lets see what he says about justification:

“Seeing, therefore, that we are the portion of the Holy One, let us do all those things which pertain to holiness, avoiding all evil-speaking, all abominable and impure embraces, together with all drunkenness, seeking after change, all abominable lusts, detestable adultery, and execrable pride. ‘For God,’ saith [the Scripture], ‘resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.’ Let us cleave, then, to those to whom grace has been given by God. Let us clothe ourselves with concord and humility, ever exercising self-control, standing far off from all whispering and evil-speaking, being justified by our works, and not our words." Clement of Rome, Epistle to the Corinthians, 30 (A.D. 98).

And in the article, I fail to see him mention faith alone. The first time one of the Church Fathers mentions it is St. John Chrysostom, and then St. Ambrose. And if someone is really going to make the case they believed in justification by faith alone, they are going to have to deliberately misunderstand the context. An example from St. Ambrose:

Commentary on Titus 3:7

God by his mercy has saved us through Christ. By his grace, we born again, have received abundantly of his Holy Spirit, so that relying on good works, with him helping us in all things, we might be able thus to lay hold of the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven.

Commentary on Galatians 5:6

For justification, faith alone in love is necessary. For faith must be fortified with brotherly love for the perfection of the believer."

I think what he’s saying is very similar to what Pope Benedict said would be ok for Catholics to believe about justification if by “faith alone” doesn’t exclude hope and charity.

The wall is no longer necessary; our common identity within the diversity of cultures is Christ, and it is he who makes us just. Being just simply means being with Christ and in Christ. And this suffices. Further observances are no longer necessary. For this reason Luther’s phrase: “faith alone” is true, if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love. Faith is looking at Christ, entrusting oneself to Christ, being united to Christ, conformed to Christ, to his life. And the form, the life of Christ, is love; hence to believe is to conform to Christ and to enter into his love. So it is that in the Letter to the Galatians in which he primarily developed his teaching on justification St Paul speaks of faith that works through love

 

[Jim_Baur]

St. Paul clearly teaches Justification has two parts: love and faith.

Also, love is the superior.

Ephesians 6: 14 So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, 15 and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace.

---

I Thessalonians 5: 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet that is hope for salvation.

---

 

[Pax]

Erick_Ybarra in Christ,

Your comments on faith and works vis-a-vis justification generally sound more Catholic than Calvinistic. Faith “alone” only applies to our being brought from unbelief into belief and friendship with God. No works on our part have anything to do with that gratuitous gift of grace.

Calvinists believe that justification is a one time event that includes all elements of salvation including the grace of final perseverance. Catholics do not see it that way. Calvinists do not believe that works justify even though scripture says otherwise. Works do justify but they do not have anything to do with our being brought from unbelief into belief and friendship with God. Eph 2:8-10 is an excellent passage for grasping the whole picture. Both the faith that brings us into friendship with God, and the works that we are to do in Christ Jesus are by God’s grace. There is no boasting of self made works. All is by the grace of God. Faith without works is dead, and you were quite right in appreciating the relationship of the two in terms of James analogy with the body and spirit. Unfortunately, most modern day protestants do not grasp these things in this fashion, nor do they teach it this way.

Moreover, justification is not a one time event as taught by Protestants. Abraham was justified three times according to scripture. That fact sets all non-Catholic teaching on justification on its head. Only the Catholic view properly articulates the truth on justification with a full integration of all that scripture says on the subject. Paul’s objections to works is a criticism against the teaching of the Judaizers and their claims about the OT works of Law. Paul never excludes Christian works that are by God’s grace as summarized in Eph 2:8-10.

I hope that helps.

God bless.

 

[Erick_Ybarra]

The Calvinists that I’ve known teach that saving faith produces good works, and it is these works which determine our destiny in the end.

 

[Pax]

Erick_Ybarra in Christ,

The language used varies as do the understandings among modern Calvinists. Most that I run into say that saving faith produces good works, but that the works do not save or justify.

God bless.

 

[Erick_Ybarra]

I think the works do justify us in the end because it shows the validity of our faith, through which alone we are saved.

 

[Pax]

Erick in Christ,

I “think” we agree and arguing over words is not a good thing. Terminology and phrasing is only important if there is a real difference in meanings and conclusions. I’ll give a little more perspective on James and Paul to see if that helps clarify things from the Catholic side.

Paul’s concerns over works are those that pertain to “works of Law”. He uses the
Greek term (ergon nomou) in Romans 3:28 and Galatians 2:16

James in his discussion of “works” and not by faith alone uses the Greek term (ergois agathios) James 2:24

Paul’s negative statements on works clearly are different from the Christian works spoken of by James that are the works prepared by the Father for us to walk in as a new creation in Christ Jesus for good works per Eph 2:8-10.

Paul is not talking only about justification as a verdict which God declares when he pardons and imputes righteousness to the ungodly(the Protestant view). This juridical dimension is certainly in Paul’s letters but the dimension of being a new creation in Jesus Christ is also part of Paul’s message about justification. That is why Paul speaks extensively of dying to sin and living to righteousness in the Holy Spirit. That is why Paul talks about being “free from sin.” This means to be free from committing sin as well as being forgiven for past sins. Paul spends all of Romans Chapter 6 explaining that the justified can no longer engage in sin. He even says this, “Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification. When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is obvious that Paul teaches that a Christian can die in sin and not be given eternal life in heaven. Paul does not refer to being a slave to righteousness as a demonstration of faith. He is teaching the same thing that James is teaching.

Our “initial justification” cannot be appropriated or acquired by our doing good works in advance of God’s grace. This is the message that Paul is emphasizing because of the heresy of the Judaizers. God gives us grace and quickens us. He gives us the gift of faith. He literally enables us to “believe.” It is still us that do the believing but it is God that makes it possible for us to do so. Likewise, in the same manner that God enables us to believe in the gospel, God also makes us a new creation in Christ Jesus for good works at the moment that we are initially justified.[Eph 2:8-10] This point is absolutely crucial to understanding justification. If you make justification merely a juridical decree, then you have truncated the true definition. Unfortunately, this is exactly what many Protestants do. An example of this is as follows:

James Buchanan states that “justification by faith is a legal or forensic term used in scripture to denote the acceptance of anyone as righteous in the sight of God.”

The Westminster statement on justification says:
“Justification is altogether a legal declarative act on God’s part as the supreme judge. We deny that justification is any sense a moral transformation or inner renewal. In justification, God legally declares the sinner who in himself is still guilty and polluted to be righteous in Christ. Justification involves only the legal imputation or legal account of the perfect righteousness of Christ to the sinner. We deny that justification is by a grace at conversion that enables sinners to do the law unto their justification.”

Please notice that this position denies everything there is in scripture concerning being born anew, being a new creation, and being empowered by grace at the point of justification. This view only recognizes the juridical dimension of justification and clearly departs from what is stated in Eph 2:8-10. This view is what determines the Protestant interpretation of what Paul and James are stating rather than allowing the scriptures to determine the doctrine.

Some might go on to say,

James intends by “justified” the verdict which God declares when the actually (previously) justified man has “demonstrated” his actual righteous state by obedience and good works.

This kind of argument is erroneous. There is no valid distinction concerning the verdict….you are either justified or you are not justified. If Abraham had not followed up with marital relations with Sarah by grace in the faith of God’s promises, the promise of his heirs being as numerous as the stars would not be fulfilled and Abraham’s faith would have been a dead faith and he would not have been justified. God gave Abraham both the grace to believe and the grace to do what was required to fulfill the promise concerning his descendents. That is faith and works, and that is as James says “faith completed by works”, and that is justification by works and not by faith alone.

Although there is much more that can be said, I hope this adds some clarification.

God bless.

 

[Erick_Ybarra]

I will look into this more later.

But as I see it, Paul does not speak of justification as the transformation of the individual, but rather of a legal acquittal. For instance 1 Corinthians 4:1-4 and Romans 4:25 & 5:9. Yes Paul says that we are justified from sin as being set free from sins dominion in ROmans 6 , but the justification by a blood-sacrifice has more remissions if sin and acquittal in mind.

 

[Pax]

I will look into this more later.

But as I see it, Paul does not speak of justification as the transformation of the individual, but rather of a legal acquittal. For instance 1 Corinthians 4:1-4 and Romans 4:25 & 5:9. Yes Paul says that we are justified from sin as being set free from sins dominion in ROmans 6 , but the justification by a blood-sacrifice has more remissions if sin and acquittal in mind.

Erick in Christ,

I pointed out in my previous post that there is, indeed, a legal declaration present in justification, but that is not all, and that is why I pointed to Eph 2:8-10. One is not justified, and thus a believer, unless one is also made a new creation in Christ Jesus. They are inextricably intertwined, and that becomes clear when taking all of the scriptures together.

I would also point to the book of Romans as a whole. The book of Romans is clearly centered on faith, but it is important to note that the Jewish understanding of faith also involves obedience. Faith and Obedience are closely related in Judaism. In the Greek NT the following definitions are very helpful. The verse John 3:36 says a great deal about faith and obedience for salvation. The verse reads as follows:

“He who believes[pisteuo] in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey[apeitheo the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him.”

Strong’s Number: 4100
Transliterated: pisteuo
Phonetic: pist-yoo’-o

Text: from 4102; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well-being to Christ): --believe(-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.

Strong’s Number: 544
Transliterated: apeitheo
Phonetic: ap-i-theh’-o

Text: from 545; to disbelieve (wilfully and perversely): --not believe, disobedient, obey not, unbelieving.

In keeping with this, the book of Romans has an over arching theme of “the obedience of faith.” The apostle Paul opens his letter to the Romans by stating that through Christ “…we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all nations,”(Romans 1:4-5). Later Paul asks the question, “Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or obedience which leads to righteousness?”(Romans 6:16). Paul goes on to add “For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has wrought through me to win obedience from the Gentiles,”(Romans 15:18). Finally, Paul concludes Romans by giving glory to God and includes the phrase, “according to the command of eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith…”(Romans 16:26). Clearly, obedience is an integral part of faith.

We know from scripture that justification includes an ontological change and not simply a juridical decree.

Romans 5:19 for example says the following:

“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

The phrase “made righteous”(“katestathesan” in Greek) is clearly ontological just as the fall is ontological.

Another passages that supports the Catholic view of justification is:

Galatians 3:21 which says this:

Is ‘the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For ifa law had been givenwhichwas able to impart life, thenrighteousness would indeed have been based on law’

The Greek word translated here as “impart life” is**zoopoeio, which means tocauseto live ormakealive. Note that in Galatians 3:21, Paul states that if a law could give life, then righteousness would truly have been by law. Clearly, Paul is equating the giving of life with righteousness. That means that righteousness or justification is the giving of spiritual life which is the Catholic view. The following passage also reinforces this:

Romans 8:10

"If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet thespirit is alive because of righteousness."

I can provide many more scriptures from Paul that show that justification is an ontological change and not simply a juridical decree. Protestant theology is correct in its description of the juridical aspects of justification, but that view is incomplete because it denies the scriptural definition which includes the ontological dimension.

God bless.

 

[Erick_Ybarra]

Hey that’s some really good stuff there.

I would have to say that it has been a few years now that I have noticed that there is a union between our justification and our re-creation in the baptism of Christ.

Years ago I equated the two and made zero distinction or difference between the new creation in the 2nd Adam our justification by faith. I viewed the “righteousness of God” as that good behavior which is practiced within the new humanity and which is present in our lives by virtue of the power of the resurrection in the 2nd Adam and His Spirit dwelling inside of me.

However, going through the Scriptures over and over again, without denying the very close relationship between justification and the resurrection lifestyle, I’ve come to understand all this very differently.

In my understanding Justification, in Paul, when in reference to our faith conversion and the sacrifice of Jesus is not speaking about a transformation that takes place in our hearts to change us from being evil to being good.

Justification retains it’s juridical meaning. To be “justified” before God is to be full of innocence before His Law and judgement. Consider the following:

1 Corinthians 4:1-4
Let a man so judge of us, as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

2 Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be*** found faithful***.

3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be*** judged*** of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

4 For I know nothing against myself; yet am I not hereby*** justified: but he that judgeth ***me is the Lord.

5 Wherefore*** judge*** nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God.

To be “justified” means to be “found” or “declared” Just , to be clear of any fault, do you see? To be innocent or blameless. This is indeed what is in mind here. It is a forensic or juridical meaning.

Similarly,

“It is God who justifies, who is he condemns. It is Christ who died, who is furthermore risen from the dead” (rom 8:34)

Condemnation is the imputation of sin, it is the charging of guilt against someone. To be justified is to be cleared from all this.

However, we know that Paul also says that “He saved us, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, that being justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).

Justification is indeed the remission of sin, the clearing of our guilt, but it ONLY HAPPENS in the event of re-creation. IT IS NOT THE RE-CREATION ITSELF, but rather a by product of being joined to Him who died for us and we die in Him, thus our guilt is crucified.

Therefore, Justification and Sanctification are both equally drawn from the co-crucifixion with Jesus and the co-resurrection of Jesus.

Therefore, as we are translated from the old to new creation, from the adamic to the christic humanity, we receive the remission of sins, and thus this is justification. But of course, by virtue of the re-creation itself, we are empowered to live a new life.

 

[Pax]

Erick in Christ,

I can’t tell if we agree or disagree…can you clarify your view of what we agree upon and that which we do not?

God bless.

 

[Erick_Ybarra]

Catholic Theology teaches that justification, in the Pauline sense (which is tied to initial conversion and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ), is the transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit of the human being, changing their heart and life from evil to being righteous and just so that they can be appropriately justified by God. No legal fiction, God declares what is actually going on in the life of the person.

I understand justification, in the Pauline sense, to refer to that state of innocence and peace that we enter upon conversion, and which we receive through baptism.

Baptism produces the new creation in our lives, we are joined to the new human being, Jesus, the 2nd Adam, and we so enter the resurrection of the dead in our present hour. Forgiveness is a byproduct of this regeneration because the blood of Jesus (Rom 5:9) washes away our sin (Col 2:5-11).

Therefore, I maintain the transformation of the person into the new creation, only I understand justification to be the right-relationship with God (i.e. the blotting out of sin) to be a byproduct of that regeneration directly caused by the sacrifice of Jesus, NOT THE ACTUAL RE-CREATION ITSELF OR THE GOOD WORKS THAT FOLLOW.

 

[Pax]

Catholic Theology teaches that justification, in the Pauline sense (which is tied to initial conversion and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ), is the transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit of the human being, changing their heart and life from evil to being righteous and just so that they can be appropriately justified by God. No legal fiction, God declares what is actually going on in the life of the person.

I understand justification, in the Pauline sense, to refer to that state of innocence and peace that we enter upon conversion, and which we receive through baptism.

Baptism produces the new creation in our lives, we are joined to the new human being, Jesus, the 2nd Adam, and we so enter the resurrection of the dead in our present hour. Forgiveness is a byproduct of this regeneration because the blood of Jesus (Rom 5:9) washes away our sin (Col 2:5-11).

Therefore, I maintain the transformation of the person into the new creation, only I understand justification to be the right-relationship with God (i.e. the blotting out of sin) to be a byproduct of that regeneration directly caused by the sacrifice of Jesus, NOT THE ACTUAL RE-CREATION ITSELF OR THE GOOD WORKS THAT FOLLOW.

Erick in Christ,

Do you believe that you are actually made righteous(ontological) or merely declared righteous? If it is the former then you believe as Catholics believe. If it is the latter then you believe as Protestants believe. The former is biblical the latter is not.

God bless.