Was There a "Reformation Doctrine of Justification"? (original) (raw)
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Two Opposite Gospels in the Adventist Church, 2014
, "that the whole of justification is the work of God's grace, " 2 there are five areas of difference on the issue of justification: (1) the meaning; (2) the basis; (3) the means; (4) the effect; and (5) the nature of sin and depravity. Ellen White says that Martin Luther clearly taught "justification by faith;" 3 it was central to the 1888 message and "is the third angel's message. " 4 "Seventhday Adventists see themselves as heirs of and builders upon the Reformation … teaching on justification by grace through faith alone. " 5 The Council of Trent (1545-1563) formulated the Roman Catholic Church's doctrine of justification, in opposition to the Reformers' teachings. To the question "How can a sinner stand before God's holy law in the judgment and be acquitted?" came two radically different answers. For the Reformers it was by being "declared righteous, " based on the finished work of Jesus. For the Council of Trent it was by being "made righteous, " through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. According to Adventist pastor and former professor Dennis Priebe, "The gospel lies at the heart of Christianity, " and "there are two versions of the gospel being
Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation Paul A. Bishop
The beginning and later growth of the Protestant Reformation of the 16 th century was seen as a new challenge to religious authority that went beyond the Roman Catholic Church. Many viewed it as a threat to the whole social structure of society, from the monarch on down. As protest and dissent against the Church began to increase, several individuals would rise to prominence in Europe. These men would lead the Reformation and at the same time create a new religious structure within Christendom.
Justification and Faith in Luther's Theology
Theological Studies, 1983
I N THIS year filled with commemorations of the life Martin Luther began a half millennium ago, a straightforward exposition of the heart of his theology can be of interest and even of use. Also, the American Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue is currently treating justification, and consequently we can look forward to receiving a major clarification of the doctrinal issues, in terms of common convictions, divergent confessional emphases, and an exchange of probing questions on sin, faith, grace, and the new life and activity given his members by Christ the Redeemer. In his day Luther stood at the center of acrimonious controversy on numerous aspects of the doctrine of justification, but in this essay the emphasis will fall on historical retrieval and on what we hope will be a coherent exposition of Luther's central themes. The approach will be in part genetic and in part systematic. I distinguish Luther's early thought (1513-17), the transition year 1518, and his mature teaching in 1519 and after. Certain consistent lines of thought do, of course, appear all through Luther's productive years, but there are other elements of considerable importance that predominate only in certain periods or that have an ascertainable time of emergence in Luther's theology. I hope to convey something of the movement of his development, by noting some of Luther's early insights into St. Paul and then sketching the developed formulation he offered to the Church of his day. The themes of a theology of justification include humankind's fall and the legacy of sin, God's merciful approach to sinners, the commitment of faith, reconciliation with God, and a graced life of righteousness. Luther at times showed impressive synthetic powers in drawing up comprehensive statements on these matters. One thinks of the Heidelberg Disputation (1518), The Freedom of a Christian (1520), the Antilatomus (1522), Luther's biblical prefaces (1522 and later), sections of De servo arbitrio (1525), and the exposition of the Miserere (1532). With Luther, a passage on justification often included important material on the * This article is substantially the paper given in May 1982 at the Centre orthodoxe du Patriarcat oecuménique, Chambésy/Geneva, as part of the colloquium "Luther et la réforme allemande dans une perspective oecuménique." I am grateful for permission from the Director of the Center, Most Reverend Metropolitan Damaskinos of Tranopolis, to adapt the paper for another audience and to anticipate in this article the forthcoming publication of the colloquium papers by the Orthodox Center. 3 4 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES doctrine of revelation, on God's rule of creation, and on the redemptive work of Christ. Justification frequently was the place where much of Luther's thought fused into cohesive unity. Luther presents special problems for the historical theologian, both because of the abundance of his utterances and because of the profound influence of situations on his teaching. The give-and-take of disputation and controversy frequently set the scene for Luther's accounts of God's grace and of believing existence. Still, the work itself of articulating his perception of Christian conversion was for Luther a labor of searching the Scriptures and amassing texts and references. The Vulgate Bible must come first among the situations affecting Luther's teaching. Consequently what he said is a classic part of the Christian heritage, and one approaching Luther today can reasonably expect to learn from him about conversion and the new life opened up in the sphere of Christ's redemptive influence.
Faith, Merit, and Justification: Luther's Exodus from Ockhamism en Route to Reformation
2003
The medieval doctrines of soteriology developed in the context of the Roman Catholic Church’s effort to demonstrate the rationality of the Christian truth according to the rediscovered philosophy of Aristotle . Already from the time of Augustine, baptism preceded conversion for most people in Christendom. Perhaps as a result of this historical context, there developed a tendency to regard justification, conversion, and salvation altogether as “a process” that became intricately intertwined with faith, baptism, contrition, and merit. In Augustine, there is no sharp delineation between justification and sanctification. He emphasized “justification by faith working through love.” Love is operative or infused in the heart of the elect by God’s grace (caritas) through the working of the Holy Spirit in the believers. Justification, therefore, is a process of becoming righteous in love of and for God, and faith is assenting to what God has done. Implicit in Augustine’s doctrine of justific...
Reformation and Reformission: Luther as Missionary
Reformation and his Protestant stance would go on to help shape mission practice to become what is now termed 'evangelical' mission. David J. Bosch names Luther as the catalyst for a new mission paradigm 3 , which he lists as having five key features: justification by faith; the universal impact of the Fall; the subjective dimension of salvation; the priesthood of all believers and the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. 4 Bosch's conclusions concerning the Reformers' missionary activity reveals a dim view of Reformation mission, suggesting that a doctrinal overemphasis on the sovereignty of God, the objective nature of faith and the sinfulness of sinners in light of the Fall all pointed towards little missionary activity on behalf of the Reformers. 5
Pillar or outcome? Luther's practical theological aim and its theopaschitical implications
An often misunderstood element in Luther’s Theology was the combination of its anti-scholastical, practical aim (“vera theologia est practica”) with its highly theoretical outcome. A reason for it might be found it the increasing role of such outcome, which at a given point seemed to have turned into a proper pillar of his own Theology. An example of this (at least apparent) contradiction is provided by the Christological background of the anti-roman doctrine of the Justification as fröhlicher Wechsel/admirabile commercium, which, due to its particular interpretation of the Doctrine of the so-called communicatio idiomatum, lead to the consistent, and nonetheless rejected formulation of a Doctrine of the Theopaschy. Aim of this paper is to sketch such consistent background, its development in the controversies of the second half of the 16th Century, as well as the attempt to save this peculiar element beside the Christological controversies, deriving it no longer from the Christological Doctrine of communicatio idiomatum, but rather from the one of so-called status exinanitionis et exaltationis, keeping a look on its originally practical aim.
Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation
The beginning and later growth of the Protestant Reformation of the 16 th century was seen as a new challenge to religious authority that went beyond the Roman Catholic Church. Many viewed it as a threat to the whole social structure of society, from the monarch on down. As protest and dissent against the Church began to increase, several individuals would rise to prominence in Europe. These men would lead the Reformation and at the same time create a new religious structure within Christendom.