DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION

The Doctrine of Justification

[Name of the Institute]

The Doctrine of Justification

Introduction

One of the ultimate human questions of is, “How can I attain eternal life?” or “How can I be saved?” The Christian teaching that answers this question is called the doctrine of justification. The doctrine says that we are justified or saved by God's grace in Christ through faith “apart from works of law” (Rom 3:28). Because of the very importance of this doctrine, disputes concerning the doctrine broke out between Augustine and Pelagius, in the medieval period, and in the sixteenth century as well between the Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church - which eventually divided the Western church into Catholics and Protestants. During the past fifty years, realizing the importance of the doctrine for the unity of the church, Catholics and Protestants have engaged in the ecumenical dialogues to resolve their differences in the understanding of the doctrine of justification.

In October 1999, the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, declaring publicly that a consensus in basic truths of the doctrine of justification exists between Catholics and Lutherans. The result of decades of Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue, this document represents an ecumenical event of historical significance. The agreement, however, does not cover all that either the Lutheran or the Roman Catholic churches hold as their doctrines of justification, and the Christian church still does not have a unified voice in interpreting the doctrine despite recent ecumenical dialogues. Cardinal Kasper, who signed the official document of the Joint Declaration says, “To be honest, there are not only complementary oppositions; there are also contradictions to overcome”. The study of the historical debates and the recent ecumenical dialogues reveals two important contradictions that are described below. Vatican II reiterates the traditional Catholic position on human works and merits. Conversely, Lutherans (and Protestants in general) teach that God justifies by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone.

Discussion

The doctrine of justification is a doctrinal/systematic theology problem that is based on the biblical message of what God has done in Christ to save humanity from the dilemma of sin and how we can appropriate God's saving grace. The experience of recent ecumenical dialogue taught participants the significant contribution of modern biblical studies on justification in bringing about denominational convergences. The Official Common Statement of the Joint Declaration calls “the two partners in dialogue, to continued and deepened study of the biblical foundations of the doctrine of justification.” Heeding this call, to resolve the remaining denominational differences, this study will use the method of biblical theology as well as that of systematic theology. First, the historical debates on justification and the recent ecumenical documents will be analyzed systematically in order to discern the fundamental problems that underlie the denominational differences. Then, based on an exegesis of the relevant biblical texts, the fundamental problems will be addressed and a theology of justification developed that harmonizes the biblical data and systematically describes the divine ...