A FOUR POINT SUMMARY OF REFORMATION JUSTIFICATION Part 1
The
following is a four point summary of the
absolute importance
and complete
opposite
differences between Roman Catholicism and the Reformation.
|
Justification according to Rome |
Justification according to the Reformation |
|
1. Justified by God’s work of grace in man |
1. Justified by God’s work of grace in Christ |
|
2. Justified by faith which has become active by works |
2. Justified by faith alone |
|
3. Justified by infused righteousness |
3. Justified by imputed (outside of yourself) |
|
4. Justification means making a man righteous in
his own person |
4. Justification means that a man is accounted righteous. |
1. JUSTIFIED
BY GOD’S WORK OF GRACE IN CHRIST – “Solo Christo” meaning
Christ alone
There
are two phrases that must not be confused as they are
poles apart
with opposite meanings:
(1)
“in Christ” which is Christ’s work FOR us – this is the
doing and
dying of Christ.
(2)
“Christ in you” which is Christ’s work IN us – this is the work
that the
Holy Ghost does in the believer’s heart before being saved. St Paul and
the
Reformers state that we are justified solely on account of
Number 1 –
Christ’s work for us. The Reformation became known for the
three slogans
– sola fide (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone),
sola Christo
(Christ alone)
2. JUSTIFIED
BY FAITH ALONE – “Sola fide” meaning faith alone
“By
faith alone” was the war cry, catch phrase and gathering signal of the
Reformation. The Reformers stressed that nothing else was needed to be
justified except that a man believe in what God had done for
him.
They
knew that a man could simply believe on the fact of what was already in
existence. God’s act of redemption had already taken place at the
cross. The
empty tomb was the only proof needed for Christ to have perfectly
atoned for
all sin. In order to be justified, man had only to believe, no work
needed,
that Christ had become sin for him. As the scriptures say “Therefore
we
conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”
Rom
3:28.
As we know, believing is not a work
(Eph 2:8-9
From
this belief, God would supply the saving faith needed for
justification
(Gal 2:20). This had to be 100% total faith that only God could supply
after a
man believed. This total faith is the only faith that can put a man
into
Christ.
In
the Old Testament it was different as it was the man’s faith that
‘saved’ him
as he could not be put into the death of Christ at that stage, “…the
just
shall live by his (the man’s) faith.” (Hab
2:4). However,
continuous belief in the Old Testament, would not see a man go straight
into
heaven when he died, but into Abraham bosom as a temporary holding
place for
the ‘saved’. Man’s imperfect faith = Abraham’s bosom. God’s given
perfect faith
= heaven.
Rome
and the papists were willing to concede that a man could be justified
by faith
alone as long as that faith was made active with works of charity. The
Reformers saw through this trickery as a veiled and clouded attempt to
support
being justified by faith alone, as the charity of works was actually the
fulfillment of the law, that comes after being justified not
with it. The Reformers therefore insisted on sola fide, faith alone, as
they
knew that charity and acts of love, would come after a man was set
apart (sanctified)
– these acts would be the fruit in man’s experience on the Christian
path of
holiness. Love and acts of charity to other Christians are the fruit of
justification (Rom 5:1-4,5)
Harley
Hitchcock
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website’s front page is:
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“A FOUR POINT SUMMARY OF REFORMATION JUSTIFICATION”
Part 2
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