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april 10, 2004
Since the Protestant Reformation of the 16th
century, "by faith alone" (sola fide) has been the
defining doctrine of evangelical Christianity - and the way
of justification the defining difference between Roman Catholics
and evangelicals. But in recent years these differences have
been downplayed - or seemingly ignored - by leading evangelical
leaders such as Billy Graham and Charles Colson. Most so-called
"Christian booksellers" carry books from both evangelical
and Roman Catholic publishing houses. A leading Christian recording
artist, Michael Card, recently recorded and toured with Roman
Catholic monk/musician John Michael Talbot. While these things
have not gone without criticism, their widespread acceptance
has led a number of evangelicals to ask:
Whatever happened to the Reformation?
Was Martin Luther wrong?
Does it matter any more?
In this article R. C. Sproul examines what
justification is according to Scripture, compares the Roman
Catholic and evangelical stances on this core doctrine, and
discusses the relationship of faith and works - all to show
why "by faith alone" is so essential. As Sproul
puts it,
The crucial issue of infusion verses imputation
remains irreconcilable. We are either justified by a righteousness
that is in us or by a righteousness that is apart from us.
There is no third way.
The gospel according to Rome is the "good
news" that a sinner may be justified if he or she receives
the sacraments, has faith, and cooperates with grace to the
point of becoming inherently righteous. That justification
is effective as long as the believer refrains from mortal
sin. If the person loses justification by mortal sin, he or
she may be restored to justification by the sacrament of penance.
If the person dies not in mortal sin but with impurities,
he or she can get to heaven after being cleansed in purgatory.
Was Luther wrong in standing against this
teaching?
Using the Bible as your guide, you be the
judge.
was martin luther wrong?
(part 1)
by r.c. sproul
What Was Wrong with Luther?
What was the matter with Martin Luther? some
might ask. The matter with Luther was a matter of the greatest
possible urgency.
The matter with Luther was that sin matters.
The matter with Luther was that salvation matters,
ultimately and eternally.
Luther felt the weight of these matters to
a degree few people, if any, have felt them in human history.
These issues mattered enough to Luther to compel him to stand
against the authority of church and state in a lonely and
often bitter contest that made him Luther contra mundum [against
the world].
Following the ancient Aristotelian form-matter
schema, historians have pinpointed the doctrine of justification
by faith alone (sola fide) as the material cause of the sixteenth-century
Protestant Reformation. It was the chief matter under dispute.
Luther considered it "the article upon which the church
stands or falls." At a personal level he understood that
it was the article upon which he himself stood or fell.
Thus, since the Reformation the doctrine of
sola fide has been the defining doctrine of evangelical Christianity.
It has functioned as a normative doctrine because it has been
understood as essential to the Gospel itself. Without sola
fide one does not have the Gospel; and without the Gospel
one does not have the Christian faith. When an ecclesiastical
communion rejects sola fide, as Rome did at the Council of
Trent, it ceases being a true church, no matter how orthodox
it may be in other matters, because it has condemned an essential
of the faith. Whereas at Worms Luther stood, at Trent Rome
fell and remains fallen to this day.
The Character of God
The dilemma Luther experienced in the anguish
of his soul was related in the first instance to his correct
understanding of the character of God. One of the essential
attributes of God (essential in that without it God would
not be God) is his justice. The Scriptures clearly reveal
that the God of heaven and earth is just. This means far more
than that the judgment he renders is equitable. It is not
only that God does what is just, but that he does what is
just because he is just. His righteous actions flow out of
his righteous character.
That God is eternally and immutably just posed
for Luther (as it should also pose for us) the ultimate dilemma,
because we are not just. We are sinners lacking the perfect
justness of God. Our sin violates the supreme standard of
righteousness found in God's character. This is the burden
Luther felt so keenly, but which we tend to treat lightly.
We are inclined to think that God is so merciful that his
mercy will annul or cancel out his justice. We assume that
God will grade us on a curve and that he is quite willing
to negotiate his own righteousness.
As sinners with recalcitrant hearts, human
beings have no fear of the justice of God, in part because
they are ignorant of his law and additionally because, when
they are aware of it, they hold it in contempt. We have all
become, as Jeremiah said of Israel, like a harlot who has
lost the capacity to blush (Jer. 6:15; 8: 12). We assume that
our works are good enough to pass the scrutiny of God at the
final tribunal. And we do this despite the apostolic warning
that by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified (Rom.
3:20).
People who consider themselves just enough
in their own goodness do not tremble before the law and feel
no need for the Gospel. For such, the matter of justification
is not of great importance. It is merely a "doctrine,"
and to the contemporary church few things are deemed less
important than doctrine. "Doctrine divides," we
are told. "What matters is that we have a personal relationship
with Jesus. The doctrine of justification doesn't save us;
it is Christ who saves us."
Doctrines Unite
Certainly doctrines do divide. Certainly doctrines
do not in themselves save us. Certainly we are called to have
a personal relationship with Christ. However, doctrine also
unites. It unites those who share one Lord, one faith, one
baptism. And though doctrines do not save us, they correctly
inform us of how we are saved.
It must be added, too, that having a personal
relationship with Jesus does not save us unless it is a saving
relationship. Everyone has a personal relationship with Jesus.
Even the devil has a personal relationship with Christ, but
it is a relationship of estrangement, of hostility to him.
We are all related to Christ, but we are not all united to
Christ, which union comes by faith and faith alone.
Luther understood what David understood when
he asked the rhetorical question,
If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O LORD, who could stand?
| Ps. 130:3 |
The question is rhetorical because no explicit
answer is given. The answer is nevertheless obvious:
No one.
No one by himself can stand before a God who
takes note of our iniquities, for we are all sinners. The
problem is that the Lord does mark iniquities and promises
to bring every one of them into judgment. Moreover, as
long as we remain outside of Christ we are continually heaping
up judgment against the day of wrath.
The only way an unjust person can escape
the day of God's wrath is to be justified. Only the justified
will stand in that day. That is why the matter of justification
is so vital. It is not a mere theological abstraction
or a petty doctrine. The struggle of the Reformation was not
a contest of shadowboxing, nor was it a tempest in a teapot.
It is perilous to think it was much ado about nothing or simply
a misunderstanding among theologians and clerics. To be sure
there were issues that were confused and obscured in the heat
of the debate. But it was crystal-clear that the core issue
was the way of justification, and the two sides took not only
differing positions but mutually exclusive and irreconcilable
positions in the debate.
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