Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification

Saving faith justifies sinful humans before God, say the New Testament and historic Protestant teaching. And justifying faith, a work of God's grace and individual merit, gives saving faith, adds the Roman Catholic Church. "No." shout Martin Luther and his theological descendants. "Christians are justified by faith through God's mercy alone. To add our merit to God's grace destroys the gospel." R. C. Sproul solemnly warns Evangelicals to again hear that cry. Some Evangelical and Catholic leaders ignored the central issue of justification by faith in the document "Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium." That document is only one indicator, says Sproul, that Protestants are increasingly unaware of or unconcerned about this vital distinctive. After decades of scurrilous caricatures and misinformation, Roman Catholics and Protestants are finally speaking to each other, and this is revealing a greater variety of viewpoints within both camps. It is also revealing (a) how little most Protestants know about their own convictions and (b) with what great ease they find the concerns raised by the Reformation to be simply irrelevant. How can this be? Has Rome's position changed? In fact is has not. The Vatican II documents as well as the new Catechism of the Catholic Church reinvoke the theological position of the Council of Trent, condemning the gospel of justification by an imputed righteousness. If it is not Rome that has altered its position in favor of the gospel, then it must be the other partner that has moved from its earlier position.