“SIMUL JUSTUS ET PECCATOR”
This was the rallying cry, the war cry and the slogan of
the Reformation that tore down the bastions of Rome’s darkness. Yes, as
Christians we are “SINFUL YET RIGHTEOUS AT THE SAME TIME”. A
saved, just
and righteous soul trapped within a sinful fleshy body.
Rome and Roman Catholics cannot imagine, even in their
wildest dreams, of a justification in which a man remains a sinner.
Catholic
theology dogmatically, categorically and unequivocally states that God
must
pour his goodness and grace into a man’s heart, thereby completely
displacing
any sin and sinfulness. For Rome, either a man is just or he is
sinful – he
cannot be both. Luther, in openly defying Rome’s doctrine, coined the
phrase simul
justus et peccator meaning simultaneously righteous and sinful.
For Paul, and the baton passed onto Luther, justifying
righteousness is something which always resides in the person of
Christ
alone. The imputation of this alien (foreign)
righteousness is the only means by which a man can be acceptable to
God. As
long as the Christian lives, he is guilty and sinful in himself but in
Christ he is righteous and accounted as precious.
Luther states “Although I am a sinner according to
the law, nevertheless I do not despair, because Christ lives, who is my
eternal
and heavenly life. In that righteousness and life I have no sin. I am
indeed a
sinner according to the present life and its righteousness, as a son of
Adam
where the Law accuses me, death reigns and devours me. But above this
life, I
have another righteousness, another life, which is Christ,
the
Son of God, who does not know sin or death, but is righteousness and
eternal
life. As long as we are alive, we are supported and nourished at the
bosom of
divine mercy and forbearance, until the body of sin (Rom 6:6) is
abolished and
we are raised up as beings on the Day.”
According to St Paul,
and Luther, the Christian’s original sin nature, will not be eradicated
until
the rapture
or
Rome’s Council of Trent states that Luther’s simul
Justus et peccator to be a most serious threat to the traditional
teaching
of Rome. The Council of Trent was careful to safeguard the Catholic
understanding of justification in which the regenerate man ceases to be
a
sinner. It defined justification as the renewal of the interior
man, whereby an unjust man becomes a just man.
As stated by Trent:
“If anyone … asserts that the whole of that, which has
the true and proper nature of sin is not taken away, but says
that it is
only not imputed, let him be anathema. For in those who are
born again,
God hates nothing, because they are made innocent, immaculate, pure and
guiltless.
If anyone shall say that the one who is justified
sins, when he performs good works with a view to eternal reward: let
him be
anathema.
If anyone shall say that men justified either by the
sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of
sins … let
him be anathema.”
This is why, countless tens of thousands who refused
to eat the mass, Rome’s wafer, have been put to death by Rome. Their
motto is
“You must eat Jesus to be accepted by God.”
Today, for the general public and indeed many
Christian churches, attempts to show any differences between Roman and
Pauline
Christian doctrine, on the subject of justification, generally fall on
deaf
ears. It seems that this topic is no longer vital or fundamental, and
is of
little importance, as to present an obstacle to the two sides coming
together
in some sort of unity. The satanic error which lies at the very
foundation
of Roman Catholic doctrine, is meticulously and carefully covered up by
Rome
and kept out of sight.
**** ****
Harley Hitchcock
This
website’s front page is:
www.
Part 1 of 2
ALSO SEE “IS BELIEVING A
WORK?”
