Justification Resources
For Protestants & Catholics Who Want to Better Understand Catholic Teaching
Most of the resources listed on this site are produced by Protestants who became Catholic, people with a firsthand understanding of both Protestant and Catholic perspectives.
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Essential Catholic Teaching on Justification Without God, you're dead (Eph. 2:5), and there's absolutely nothing - not works, not faith, not anything - a dead person can do to make himself alive (Council of Trent, Decree on Justification chapter 8). A dead person cannot be a cause in his own regeneration (Council of Trent, Decree on Justification chapter 7). Unfortunately for us, this is the state into which we were born, in Adam, deprived of grace and spiritual life (Council of Trent, Decree on Original Sin, Decree on Justification chapter 1). If you can understand and remember this, you can understand Catholic teaching about justification. |
One of the best introductions to Catholic teaching on justification was given by Dr. Scott Hahn, a Presbyterian pastor who became Catholic, on the radio program "Catholic Answers Live." You can listen to all three programs in the series on the web:
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For more information about Dr. Scott Hahn and his biblical studies, check out John D'Arcy's Scott Hahn Links page (RealAudio files and audiotape transcripts). It's not exhaustive, but it's pretty useful. Dr. Hahn is co-editor of Catholic for a Reason (with Leon Suprenant; Emmaus Road), and the author of Rome Sweet Home (with his wife Kimberly; Ignatius Press), A Father Who Keeps His Promises (Servant Publications), and The Lamb's Supper (Doubleday), in addition to his numerous audiotape Bible studies.
Catholics United for the Faith offers an easy-to-read, free "Faith Fact" (four page article) on justification called "It 'Works' for Me: The Church's Teaching on Justification." Be sure to ask for the companion "Faith Fact" entitled "Persevering to the End: The Biblical Reality of Mortal Sin." The primary author of these two "Faith Facts" is a Calvinist who became Catholic. To order, call 800-MY-FAITH. A PDF version of these "Faith Facts" may be downloaded from the CUF web site and read with Acrobat Reader.
Official Catholic Documents can be especially useful, if read thoroughly:
The Official Vatican Web Site provides the following resources:
James Akin, a Presbyterian who became Catholic and now works for the Catholic Answers apostolate, offers these justification-related articles on his Nazareth Resource Library page:
Dave Armstrong's Biblical Evidence for Catholicism page offers a whole library of justification links:
Dave Armstrong is a former Evangelical Protestant who became Catholic.Stephen K. Ray, a Baptist who became Catholic, has a chart on his Defenders of the Catholic Faith web site, summarizing the causes of justification according to the Council of Trent (Session 6, chapter 7):
Other relevant offerings: Stephen K. Ray is best known for his books Crossing the Tiber and Upon This Rock (both published by Ignatius Press).Dr. Peter Kreeft, a member of the Dutch Reformed Church who became Catholic in his early twenties, has become a popular Christian philosopher and apologist due to books like The Best Things in Life and Handbook of Christian Apologetics (with Ronald Tacelli; both published by InterVarsity Press). Every now and again, he writes something particularly relevant to justification, like this "trialogue" between C.S. Lewis, Thomas Aquinas, and Martin Luther.
Other Points for Meditation | |
The Unique Mediator of the New Covenant: Jesus Christ, God and Savior The foundation of the unique mediation of Jesus Christ between God and men is the Incarnation: Jesus Christ is fully God (eternally begotten of the Father) and fully human (born of a woman in the fullness of time). Jesus Christ is both divine and human: His two natures are united in a single Person without confusion, without change, without division, and without separation. Because the Son of God assumed a complete human nature, human nature as God intended from the beginning, He is the firmly rooted bridge over both the moral and ontological chasms that existed between men and God. This is how Catholics have understood the self-revelation of God in Jesus Christ from the first century to the present.
The Son of God became a man so that men might become sons of God.
Some (admittedly well-intentioned and pious) Christians believe that Jesus' unique mediation between God and men is founded on His sinlessness. Although Jesus is unquestionably without sin, a characteristic of being perfectly divine and perfectly human, sinlessness alone is not the foundation of His unique mediation. There are many beings other than God who are sinless and just, like the holy angels, but Christians (unlike Arians) have never believed that men could be saved by a mere creature - even one ontologically greater than a human, no matter how holy. Holy angels have been mediators of previous, inferior covenants (Acts 7:38 & 53; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2), but the Son of God is the unique Mediator of the New Covenant because He is the God-man (Hebrews 1-2).
For more information on this topic, you might read:
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Creation and Salvation: A Family Affair Christians believe that the one true God - the Creator of all things, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - is an eternal divine Family, the holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit give themselves completely to each other in an eternal communion of love. This truth was revealed to men when Jesus Christ, God the Son, assumed a human nature and lived among us.
When God created the heavens and the earth, not of necessity but of His gracious generosity and love, He created men in His Own image, male and female. Our first parents, whom we know as Adam and Eve, were created in the image of the life-giving Trinity, having a supernatural capacity for interpersonal communion and love. They were created to reflect the inner life, the self-giving love of the holy Trinity, and thus give glory to God.
But the first parents of the human family chose, through sin, to spurn the love and vocation which God had so generously given them. Our parents became runaways, and as a consequence we, their children, are also deprived of home and inheritance, interpersonal communion and self-giving love. We are aliens to the life we were created to lead, spiritually dead.
The most holy Trinity, not desiring that men should persist in this state of spiritual deprivation, has graciously chosen to save men from their sin and death. Even more, God has chosen to give men new life and transform them into members of the divine Family, to share in the interpersonal communion of the Trinity. This is the good news we have received from the Apostles: the eternal Father graciously transforms men, in Jesus Christ His eternal Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit, into His own beloved sons. The powerful life-giving love of the holy Trinity knows no bounds.
It is essential to understand creation and salvation in incarnational, familial, and Trinitarian terms. The Incarnation and the Trinity are the central doctrines of the Christian Faith - we cannot be true to Christ's revelation without them.
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Was Saint Paul a mystical theologian? Of course! For a deeper understanding of Paul's epistles, see The Mystery of Christ in You: The Mystical Vision of St. Paul by George Maloney. |
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