When seeking to understand what happens in the process of salvation and how that actually comes about it is essential that we understand Justification. To be justified is to be made right or righteous in the eyes of God, it is in fact an direct legal declaration of God in which he thinks of our sins as being forgiven and views Christ’s righteousness and merit as belonging to us. But this like many other doctrines has become a subject of debate. Are we made righteous simply by faith (to trust in Christ for forgiveness of sins and eternal life), or is there some amount of work that we do in order to gain our righteousness?
Martin Luther believed that Justification was in fact by faith alone, but that belief didn’t come until later in his life. He was influenced early on by the via moderna. This influence began at the University of Erfurt and helped to instill pactum theology in Luther. Pactum theology or covenant theology is the understanding that God made a covenant between himself and mankind and laid down the necessary precondition for Justification. As humans in order to receive justification we have to live up to the iustitia dei (The righteousness of God), which means it is by a work that we are justified because it is something that we do and not God. Luther believed that this precondtion was humility (humilitas fidei). As humans we simply had to do the best we could do (facere quod in se est) in order to meet the condition of Justification. Under this covenant that God made with the people, He graciously agreed to accept certain human actions as commendable and justifies them according to those acts. Luther believed that God treats our humility of faith or us doing the best we can do as the precondition necessary for Justification. This means that man is capable of meeting the condition of justification on his own without divine assistance.
Then there came a point in life where Luther had a theological breakthrough that changed his whole ideal of justification. Luther came do a completely different understanding of the term iustitia dei in that he realized that righteousness of God is not something that is in us that we can work towards to gain salvation, instead it is something that is in God that he gives us through our faith in Jesus. Righteousness is something that God bestows to sinners simply by their saving faith in Jesus Christ. He realized that we are justified by grace through faith and this is passive on the human side because it is a work of God alone through the means of faith, not an action in which we take part in.
Faith does not contain some merit, it isn’t something that we do as a work to gain justification. Scripture does not allow us to think that salvation is earned by faith in itself, but instead we are justified by “means of” our faith. We have to understand that faith is the instrument through which justification is given to us, but not at all an activity that earns us merit or favor with God. It is not our merit but Christ’s that is declared to be ours that earns justification in God’s eyes. We can think of faith in this way: If a man is unconscious in the water and friend sees him and grabs a hook to pull him in from the water we can understand that the hook is not what is saving the man, it is simply the means by which the friend saved the unconscious man. In the same way God uses the means of faith to save us or to pull us in. It isn’t the faith that justifies us, it’s simply the means God uses to justify us, but ultimately our justification comes from God himself and not a work on our part. In fact “faith is the one attitude of heart that is the exact opposite of depending on ourselves.” Wayne Grudem.
John Calvin also believed that we are justified by grace through faith, but his basic understanding included forensic justification. This is the idea that sinners are declared righteous as a legal act on God’s part. He doesn’t see justification as involving an infusion of grace, but a declaration of and acceptance of righteousness that does not belong to us. It is not our righteousness that saves us, it is Christs righteousness, therefore we have an alien righteousness placed upon us. To Calvin we are not saved by any work or action on our part but we are saved sola fides (by grace alone). It is by the grace of God (sola gratin) that we are saved, not by works. Calvin also believed that our union with Christ is one of the most important doctrines to grasp and yet it is a mystery, (unio mystica). Calvin also understood this to be something God does to whomever he chooses, because it was completely his work and not by any work of the human. Again Calvin affirmed that it was God’s grace that saved only some, when really he didn’t have to save any at all. It is by grace through our faith in Jesus that we are justified not a work of man but completely a work of God.
The Council of Trent opposed both Luther and Calvin’s views of justification. Calvin believed that we are justified by being declared righteous, an imputed grace, but Trent denied this and claimed that we are actually made righteous in ourselves, an infused grace. They condemned anyone who taught that Justifaction takes place by sole good pleasure of God.
The Council of Trent’s main idea of Justification is that we are made righteous, because we are endowed with internal righteousness, not an alien righteousness given to us. Trent rejects the idea that faith is simply a belief in Jesus Christ for salvation, instead they believe that man is justified not by a sole act of God, but by faith which is the foundational root of all justification. Faith in itself contains some merit or work. It is not something that God just does, we earn it. They believe that faith and desire are necessary for justification and it is not by faith alone, but also by our actions and desires to participate in the sacraments of the Church, that we are justified.
On this issue I must agree with Luther and Calvin. I beleive that the bible teaches that we are saved by the grace of God through faith and not by works. Faith maybe the means by which God gives me his grace and justifies me, but faith is not an action, nor does it earn any favor or merit before God. God justifies me by seeing Christs righteousness as belonging to me and he has declared me righteous by his own soverign choice and good pleasure.
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