Re: St. Basil saying we are justified by “faith alone in Christ.”

[raumzeitmc2]

St. Basil (330-379) in a well known homily on humility, said:

“Indeed, this is the perfect and complete glorification of God, when one does not exult in his own righteousness, but recognizing oneself as lacking true righteousness to be justified by faith alone in Christ.”

But what exactly did Basil mean by we are "justified by faith alone in Christ?” Was he speaking in the Protestant sense, i.e., that we are justified without any charitable works, without any struggle, without any sort of mortification? Or in the Catholic sense, i.e., we are justified by faith working through love, with some degree of self-denial and mortification?

Below are his words in context. Judge for yourselves.

From Homily 20, De humiliate (On Humility):

The Apostle tells us: ‘He that glorieth may glory in the Lord,’ saying: ‘Christ was made for us wisdom of God, justice and sanctification and redemption; that, as it is written: He that glorieth may glory in the Lord.’ 13

Now, this is the perfect and consummate glory in God: not to exult in one’s own justice, but, recognizing oneself as lacking true justice, to be justified by faith in Christ alone. Paul gloried in despising his own justice and in seeking after the justice by faith which is of God through Christ, that he might know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death, 14 so as to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Herewith topples the whole lofty pinnacle of arrogant pride.

Naught, O man, remains for you to boast of, inasmuch as your glory and your hope consist in* mortifying yourself in all things* and in striving toward the life to come in Christ.

The entire homily as well as a number of others can be found at the Internet Archive:
The Fathers of The Church A New Translation, Saint Basil: Ascetical Works Volume 9, (1962), Ludwig Schopp, ed., Sr. M. Monica Wagner, trans., Catholic University Of America Press, p. 479.

In part at Google books.

Here are couple more versions:

''This is the perfect and true glorying in God, when a man is not extolled on account of his own justice, but knows himself to be destitute of all true justice, and to be justified only by faith in Christ."

“Boasting of God is perfect and complete when we take no pride in our own righteousness but acknowledge that we are utterly lacking in true righteousness and have been made righteous only by faith in Christ.”

 

[kepha1]

But what exactly did Basil mean by we are "justified by faith alone in Christ?” Was he speaking in the Protestant sense, i.e., that we are justified without any charitable works, without any struggle, without any sort of mortification? Or in the Catholic sense, i.e., we are justified by faith working through love, with some degree of self-denial and mortification?

No, he was not speaking in the Protestant sense. He says, as you quoted, “Naught, O man, remains for you to boast of, inasmuch as your glory and your hope consist in* mortifying yourself in all things* and in striving toward the life to come in Christ.”

Why bother striving if you have a free ticket?

 

[packermann]

Your quote of St Basil only sounds Protestant if we assume that justification means being declared as if you are righteous even though you are not righteous. But this idea of extrinsic justification was unknown to anyone until the Reformation.

Justification simply means to be made righteous. It is being declared righteous because you are actually righteous. Justification is similar to sanctification. Sanctification is being made holy. Justification is being made just. Sanctification does not mean being declared holy even though you are still unholy. And Justification does not mean that you are declared to be just even though you are still unjust.

So as long as it is remembered that justification is not just extrinsic, what we understand that Basil said is totally Catholic. We are actually made righteous soley by our faith in Christ. We are not just declared righteous. We are actually righteous. And if we are actually righteous, then we are producing acts of righteousness. St Basil is not saying that we are saved apart from us doing acts of righteousness, as long as we believe. He is saying that we only do acts of righteousness by having faith in Christ. We are his workmanship, only by His grace can we do what He requires from us.

 

[Stylteralmaldo]

…We are not just declared righteous. We are actually righteous…We are his workmanship, only by His grace can we do what He requires from us.

We are transformed and become righteous before God. We aren’t merely covered in God’s righteousness.

 

[KathleenGee]

Our life is no longer, but found in Christ in the Word and sacraments, it is no longer I who lives, but Jesus Christ within me…Whoever eats my bread and drinks my blood will have life eternal…