Since Catholics seem to understand the distinction between justification and righteousness… why has the Catholic church not adopted that same understanding to this passage?
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24 Being
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth [to be] a propitiation through faith in his blood,
to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Rom 3:26 **To declare, *, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
All those passages are accepted.
The following are accepted also, but not the Protestant interpretation.
Rom 3:26 **To declare, *, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. ***
Rom 3:27 Where [is] boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay:
but by the law of faith.
Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is
justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Code:
Protestants interpret the words "works" and "deeds of the law" as refering to obdience to God by Christians under the law of Christ.
St. Paul was NOT refering to obedience of Christians to the law of Christ, but he was refering to Jews under the law of Moses, a law which did NOT require faith, because it was forced on them. “He who does these things shall live”. It was a law that could not bring salvation in this life, because it did not make available the grace merited by Jesus’ death and resurrection. But of course, those who chose to obey out of faith could escape hell after death. Thus, it was necessary to obey. But, since it could not bring salvation in this life, there was no point in going back to this law, as some Jewish Christians wanted to do.
That is why Paul wrote
Rom 3:27 Where [is] boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay:
but by the law of faith.
Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is
justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Code:
But, now that Christians are justified by faith, for they can receive the grace of salvation in baptism and receive more of this grace through the Eucharist. It is this grace that justifies men. This grace saves men, (frees them from the slavery of sin, does all the other things that we quoted in the Catechism. Now, since we have been made children of God, through this grace, we can receive more of this grace that Jesus earned by His death and resurrection, when we OBEY God. Thus, we are further justified.
Do you understand the difference? The law of Moses could not bring salvation because Jesus had not earned the grace that saves us. Thus, their obdience, when done out of faith, could not bring salvation. If it could have brought salvation, then Jesus died for nothing. That is why it was useless for Christians to go back to the Mosaic law.
But, now, Christians are under the law of Christ. Jesus has earned our salvation. We just need to receive it. We receive the initial grace of salvation at baptism.
We receive more through the Eucharist. And more is available when we obey the law of Christ as taught by His Church. Thus when we obdy Jesus, we receive more of this grace that justifies us and makes us righteous.
That is why St. Paul wrote in Romans 6
16 “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or
of obedience unto righteousness?”
Notice how obedience
now can make us righteous. This is because we receive more of the grace that saves us and makes us righteous us when we obey Jesus.
That is why James agrees with Paul also when he wrote,
“Ye see then how that by
works a man is justified, and not by faith only.”
You cannot reject this verse simply because Martin Luther rejected it. ALL of God’s word must be accepted. The bible, and the teaching the apostles handed down, clearly say that obedience to the teachings of Jesus, (good works) brings more of the grace of jujstification.
