Transcript Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

Joint Declaration on the
Doctrine of Justification
William J. Cork
Background
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•
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16th Century Reformation Divisions
Mutual Condemnations
20th Century Factors
Previous Agreements
Background
• 16th Century Reformation Division
– Diversity of Theological Perspectives
• (Luther  Calvin  Zwingli  Anabaptists)
• 1999 agreement only with Lutherans
– Spiritual aspects
– Political aspects
• Mutual Condemnations
– Council of Trent (1547)
– Formula of Concord (1577)
Background
• 20th Century Factors
– Renewal in Biblical Studies, especially since
Pius XII, Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943).
– Renewal in Theological Studies, moving
beyond scholasticism.
– Renewal in Liturgy, and study ad fontes.
– Vatican II.
– Ecumenical Dialogues since.
Background
• Previous Agreements
– 1983 US Lutheran-Catholic dialogue
“Our entire hope of justification and salvation
rests on Christ Jesus and on the gospel whereby
the good news of God’s merciful action in Christ
is made known; we do not place our ultimate trust
in anything other than God’s promise and saving
work in Christ.”
The Parties
• The Vatican
– including Cardinals Cassidy and Ratzinger.
• The Lutheran World Federation
– includes 57+ of the 61 million Lutherans in the
world; main exceptions being LC-MS &
WELS.
The Documents
• Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification - 1997
• Common Statement - 1999
• Annex - 1999
The Common Understanding
“Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith
in Christ’s saving work and not because of
any merit on our part, we are accepted by
God and receive the Holy Spirit, who
renews our hearts while equipping and
calling us to good works.” JD 15
Explications
• We confess together…
• Catholics say…
• Lutherans say...
Human Powerlessness & Sin
All depend completely on God’s grace for salvation. As sinners, we
cannot turn to God or attain salvation on our own.
Catholics
Lutherans
• Persons consent to
God’s justifying action
(called “cooperating”),
but this is itself an
effect of grace (contra
Nominalists and
Pelagians). JD 20
• Justification effected
by Word, and people
cannot contribute to it,
but believers are fully
involved personally
and can reject the
working of grace
(contra Calvin). JD 21
Forgiveness and Making Righteous
God forgives sin by grace and at the same time frees us from its power
and imparts new life in Christ.
Catholics
Lutherans
• God’s forgiving grace
always brings the gift
of new life, which in
the Holy Spirit
becomes effective in
active love. JD 24
• Only in union with
Christ is one’s life
renewed. JD 23
By Faith Through Grace
We trust in God’s promise by a faith which works through hope &
love. But works are not the basis of justification nor do they merit it.
Catholics
Lutherans
• Faith, hope and love
united and are gift.
Justifying grace never
a human possession in
opposition to God.
Justification is
forgiveness and
making righteous. JD
27
• God effects faith.
“Faith alone” makes a
distinction, but not
separation, between
justification and
renewal of life. These
are joined in Christ,
who is present in faith.
JD 26
Justified Person as Sinner
In Baptism we are united with Christ and renewed through the
Spirit; but we must always struggle & ask God daily for forgiveness.
Catholics
Lutherans
• Concupiscence
remains in baptized
(not sin in proper
sense, but inclination);
when they sin, must
receive Reconciliation
through word of
forgiveness. JD 30
• Simul iustus et
peccator. Sin still
lives in baptized as an
opposition to God; this
is truly sin. Does not
rule, but is ruled. JD
29
Law and Gospel
Justification is “apart from works of the Law.” Law not a way of
salvation, but remains a standard of conduct for the justified.
Catholics
Lutherans
• Christ not a lawgiver
like Moses; law not a
way to salvation.
Righteous must keep
God’s commands, but
eternal life rooted in
God’s merciful
promise. JD 33
• Law/Gospel dialectic
applied to preaching.
Law is demand and
accusation; Gospel
alone provides
justification. JD 32
Assurance of Salvation
The faithful can rely on the mercy and promises of God. We can
build on the promise of God’s grace and be sure of it.
Catholics
Lutherans
• Faith grounded in
• In face of temptation,
objective reality of
look not to self but
God’s promise. Faith
solely to Christ and
is to entrust oneself
trust in him. JD 35
totally to God.
Recognize one’s own
weakness, but be
certain of God’s intent.
JD 36
Good Works of the Justified
Good works follow justification and are its fruits.
Catholics
Lutherans
• Good works contribute • Justification as
to growth in grace;
acceptance by God
justification is
and sharing in Christ’s
preserved and
righteousness is
communion with
always complete. Yet
Christ deepened.
there can be growth in
Bible promises
its effects in Christian
reward. JD 38
living. JD 39
Conclusions
• There is fundamental consensus,
• Remaining differences in language,
theological elaboration, and emphasis are
acceptable,
• Lutheran teachings presented here don’t fall
under Trent’s condemnations; Catholic
teachings presented here don’t fall under
Luther condemnations. JD 40-41
What of the Condemnations?
“They remain for us ‘salutary warnings’ to
which we must attend in our teaching and
practice.” JD 42
Questions needing clarification
• Relationship between Word of God and
Church doctrine,
• Ecclesiology / authority / ministry,
• Sacraments,
• Relationship between justification and
social ethics. JD 43
Just when you thought it safe to
go into the water...
June 25, 1998
The Vatican issues an “Official Catholic
Response” to the Joint Declaration.
“It is rightly stated that there is ‘a consensus
on basic truths of the doctrine of
justification.’”
However...
Clarifications
• “Major difficulties … arise in Paragraph
4.4, ‘The justified as Sinner.’”
• “…From a Catholic point of view the title is
already a cause of perplexity.”
• “‘At the same time righteous and sinner,’ as
it is explained at the beginning of No. 29 …
is not acceptable.”
Clarification
• “…This statement does not, in fact, seem
compatible with the renewal and sanctification
of the interior man of which the Council of
Trent speaks.”
• “…It remains difficult to see how in the
current state of the presentation given in the
joint declaration, we can say that this doctrine
is not touched by the anathemas of” Trent.
Clarifications
• “Another difficulty arises in No. 18,” on
justification as a criterion. For Catholics,
this “has to be organically integrated into
the fundamental criterion of the regula fidei,
that is, the confession of the one God in
three persons, Christologically centered and
rooted in the living church and its
sacramental life.”
Clarifications
• “…The good works of the justified are always
the fruit of grace. But at the same time, and
without in any way diminishing the totally
divine initiative, they are also the fruit of man,
justified and interiorly transformed. We can
therefore say that eternal life is, at one and the
same time, grace and the reward given by God
for good works and merits.”
Clarifications
• “The level of agreement is high, but it does not
yet allow us to affirm that all the differences
separating Catholics and Lutherans in the
doctrine of justification are simply a question
of emphasis or language.”
• Divergence must be overcome before we can
flatly say the condemnations no longer apply,
esp. in regard to simul iustus et peccator.
Common Statement & Annex
• Signed together with JD on October 31, 1999.
• A summary and careful restatement of the
consensus, after a year of questions,
accusations, and seemingly “cold feet.”
• “By this act of signing The Catholic Church
and The Lutheran World Federation
confirm the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine
of Justification in its entirety.” CS 3
Annex
1. The following elucidations underline the consensus
reached in the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification (JD) regarding basic truths of
justification; thus it becomes clear that the mutual
condemnations of former times do not apply to the
Catholic and Lutheran doctrines of justification as
they are presented in the Joint Declaration.
Annex
2. "Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith in
Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on
our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy
Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and
calling us to good works" (JD 15).
Annex
A) "We confess together that God forgives sin by grace
and at the same time frees human beings from sin's
enslaving power (...)" (JD 22). …
Yet we would be wrong were we to say that we are
without sin (1 Jn 1:8-10, cf. JD 28).
Annex
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).
Annex
3. 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
18). 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).
What Now?