Sunday, July 19, 2015

Rome concedes Luther was right. . .

Well. . . almost. . .

Read it hereIt is surely true that “the great majority of Catholics have lived their whole lives never having directly heard preaching on the free gift of justification by faith without too many 'buts’ and 'howevers’.” Indeed many might say they don’t believe in justification by faith.  With those words Christopher Howse introduces readers to a new book occasioned by the JDDJ and written by Father Father Raniero Cantalamesa, preacher to Pope Benedict XVI.  You can order the book, Remember Jesus Christ,  and read the sermon for yourself.

Fr Cantalamesa points out that “it was Martin Luther who rediscovered that the 'righteousness of God’ [in St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, 3:25] does not point here to God’s punishment or, even worse, his vengeance in relationship with human beings, but means, on the contrary, the action by which God 'justifies’ people.”  And you begin to think that Rome has gotten it when you find you are not so sure.  "From the moment the Protestants unilaterally emphasised faith, Catholic preaching and spirituality ended up taking on, almost alone, the thankless task of recalling the necessity of good works and of a human being’s personal contribution to salvation.”    I am not at all sure that it is accurate to say that Protestant preaching caused Roman Catholic preaching to focus on the necessity of good works and the personal contribution of the saved to their salvation.  It would be more accurate to say that this is partially what contributed to Luther's angst and fueled his search for a gracious God.  In the end, it would be fair, I believe, to say that Roman Catholic preaching has largely remained unchanged since before the Reformation and this is what people notice when they distinguish Roman and Lutheran parishes (when the ceremonial difference is not or should not necessarily be that distinct).

While it is certainly true that the great majority of Roman Catholics have lived their whole lives in the church without ever having heard a sermon on the free gift of justification by grace through faith, I wonder if it is not also true that a great many Lutherans have lived their whole lives in the church hearing only justification by grace through faith without ever being prodded or directed to manifest in their daily live the good works of Him who called them from darkness into His marvelous light?

Even confessional Lutherans seem nervous on the subject of works of mercy, good works, moral living, and seeking to be righteousness as God has declared us to be.  While it might be said that much of Evangelical preaching is only concerned with good lives (not necessarily holy ones but good lives that get us what we want out of life).  And it might also be said much of Roman Catholic preaching is merely encouragement to good works (at least that is what some have reported).  But it might also be said that Lutherans hear only justification and are not encouraged as they should to live holy lives.  Baptismal vocation is good in theory among Lutherans but not universally proclaimed from the pulpit.

Luther was right (and he was also sometimes wrong).  Lutherans do not worship Luther or accept uncritically whatever he said.  That said, Luther's sermons focused much more on righteous living than the sermons of those who claim his legacy.  And that is a distinct problem for us today.  The framework of life is sin and righteousness.  While no Lutheran would ever claim good works as a contribution to salvation, they are the marks of the saved who live in but not of the world.  I would hope that Roman Catholics would learn the joy of Paul's clear proclamation of justification by grace through faith.  At the same time I would hope that Lutherans would hear more of living as the justified in the world.  If this were to happen, it would be a distinct fruit of the dialogue between us (though I am not at all prepared to concede that JDDJ is the end of our discussion of justification).

6 comments:

ErnestO said...

Faith is the divinely-appointed medium of union to Christ, whose righteousness is imputed to the believer (justification). Charles Spurgeon

Rev. Larry Beane said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rev. Larry Beane said...

I wanted to add, 'Thank you for this insightful post.'

tubbs said...

As an RC, I seem to not remember it being preached, yet never being quite denied, either. Some of the great saints wrote about it (a comforting balm for the over scrupulous) . I believe our bishop of Rome emeritus often spoke of it (LOL / a kraut thing?).
I think there might be a deep fear in the RC establishment of “once saved, always saved” complacency.

Anonymous said...

Great article, and significant truth is contained in this article to benefit both Catholics and Lutherans. We Lutherans have never been accused of holy living and that is to our detriment. We seem to shy away from "good works" or even avoid them for fear of being labeled with some kind of pietism.

Anonymous said...

Among Protestants, there seems to be a general confusion between Justification and Sanctification. The two words are sometimes used interchangeably, although there is no justification at all for that.

We are currently in the season of Trinitytide (ordinary time for RCs) for which the entire season theme is the development of sanctification in our lives. We were justified by Jesus Christ on the Cross, but we are very much prone to falling back into sin, turning away from Christ and Salvation, if we do not seek sanctification. The historic lectionary, now abandoned by most Protestants, is organized such that each Sunday is devoted to recognizing and rejecting a particular sin from our lives. This past Sunday, Trinity 7, the theme was Acedia (how many are familiar with that sin?). It is a very useful exercise to go through the various types of sin, to see illustrations of them in our common life together, and to hear how they can be overcome.

By seeking Sanctification, we are in no way "earning our salvation." That is beyond our capability, and fortunately, it is unnecessary because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We are simply seeking to live holy lives, to produce some good fruits to the glory of God, in thanksgiving for our salvation. A life lived without any good works raises serious questions about the faith of the individual living that life. If we believe, we will want to produce good works; the lack of good works calls into question the sincerity of belief.

Fr.D+
Anglican Priest