|
Posts: 487
Status: 
Ordo Solutis) Drawing, Faith, Union with Christ which entails Justification, Regeneration, Adoption
|
Next to Martin Luther, John Calvin is usually regarded as the most important figure in the Reformation. On the subject of forensic justification Calvin stated: “Man is not made righteous in justification, but is accepted as righteous, not on account of his own righteousness, but on account of the righteousness of Christ located outside of man.”101 The reason human beings need justification is that they are “totally depraved.” This Reformed doctrine has been misunderstood by some Protestants as well as Roman Catholics. The Reformed view is that although humans are lost, they are not nothing. On the one hand, “In constructing a Christian anthropology, we must not ignore the basic nobility of man.” On the other hand, “There is a glaring contrast between what man is truly and essentially and what he has become. Because man lives in opposition to his own God-given nature, his present nature signifies an existence in contradiction.”102
Reformed theology teaches that total depravity involves several aspects. First, corruption is present at the center of our being. Second, depravity has extended to every aspect of humanity: physical, social, and spiritual. Third, it prevents us from being able to please God unless enabled by grace. Fourth, depravity extends to every corner and culture of the human race. 103 Total depravity does not mean that human beings are destitute of all natural goodness; the imago Dei has been “effaced” but not “erased.” This is often misunderstood by Catholics. For example, Karl Keating—who ordinarily is quite careful and precise in his criticisms—writes concerning Calvin’s understanding of the natural person and his or her works: “Your own acts are entirely worthless. Everything you do is worthless. Reason is unavailing since it can’t bring you closer to God. Worse, everything you do is a sin.” 104 However, Calvin (along with the other Reformers) was too careful an exegete not to be aware of Jesus’ statement: “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in Heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:13). 105 Calvin acknowledged that people can do good socially and horizontally, but spiritually they are dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1) and can initiate no meritorious action toward God on behalf of their sinful condition. They can receive eternal life by faith and faith alone.
Early Princeton Calvinistic theologian Charles Hodge indicates that sin has predisposed humanity against any move toward God and his salvation. Hence, “Every man should bow down before God under the humiliating consciousness that he is a member of an apostate race; the son of a rebellious parent; born estranged from God, and exposed to his displeasure.” 106 Likewise, for Calvin, the need for justification follows from the spiritual reality of total depravity, that is, our total inability to initiate or attain salvation. This justification is judicial, or forensic, in nature. Küng defines the term justification as “a declaring just. It really implies a declaring just, in the sense of a leaving out of the account, a not imputing.” 107 In the Old Testament, David put it this way: “Happy is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered. Happy the man to whom the Lord imputes not guilt” (Ps. 32:1–2). In the New Testament, Paul said that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 5:19). A contemporary Lutheran scholar has put it thusly: “Justification by grace alone through faith alone on account of Christ alone is the absolute truth by which the church stands or falls. It is this truth that makes Christianity Christian and the church really the church, preserving it from idolatry, preventing its secularization, providing the charter of its career, and offering believers a solid basis and direction for their daily life.” 108
As we have shown, these valuable insights into the doctrine of justification had been largely lost throughout much of Christian history, and it was the Reformers who recovered this biblical truth. And although some contemporary Catholics are beginning to acknowledge the Protestant contribution of forensic justification, it was not spelled out by the Council of Trent. Indeed, while there may be no logical incompatibility of forensic justification with the Roman Catholic concept of initial justification, there are serious problems with the Catholic concept of progressive justification. In short, in spite of its insistence on the need for grace, it is a system of works based on merit that tends to negate in practice what has been affirmed in theory about (initial) justification by grace apart from works.
101 McGrath, Iustitia Dei, 2:36.
102 Donald G. Bloesch, Essentials of Evangelical Theology, vol. 1 (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1978), p. 89.
103 Ibid., p. 90.
104 Karl Keating, What Catholics Really Believe: Setting the Record Straight (Ann Arbor: Servant Publications, 1992), p. 102.
105 Bloesch also comments on the Reformed doctrine of common grace: “It is not only the imago Dei but also the common grace of God that accounts for sinful man’s ability to arrive at a modicum of justice” (Essentials of Evangelical Theology, 1:91).
106 Ibid., p. 92.
107 Küng, Justification, p. 212.
108 Braaten, Justification, p. 82.
Geisler, Norman L. ; MacKenzie, Ralph E.: Roman Catholics and Evangelicals : Agreements and Differences. Grand Rapids, Mich. : Baker Books, 1995, S. 246
-----------------------
Faith is not knowing what the future holds, but knowing who holds the future.
|
Powered By AEF 1.0.8 © 2007-2008 Electron Inc.
"oi" it is a proposition that introduces something explicit. It is talking about those who "receive" and what is the explicit information concerning them? That their belief wasn't because of their will (man's), neither the will of the flesh, but it was BECAUSE of God's will.
