Christianity 2D WR- Faith and Works

Justification

Being made righteous in the sight of God

How do Christians believe Christ’s crucifixion can save them?

Through Jesus’ sacrifice, sins are forgiven and we have the promise of eternal life

Middle ages Catholic belief in salvation

believed it could be achieved through sacraments like baptism, confession and penance

Martin Luther

Augustinian Monk and professor of theology at Uni of Wittenberg- was the key instrument in the protestant reformation

Sola Fide

The idea you can be saved by faith alone without the need for works or sacraments

Biblical reference in support of Sola Fide- Romans 1:17

“the righteous will live by faith”

Biblical reference in support of Sola Fide- Romans 5:1

“we have been justified through faith”

Biblical reference in support of Sola Fide- Galatians 2:16

“know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ”

Biblical reference in support of Sola Fide- Ephesians 2:8-9

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."

Indulgences

are grants by the Catholic Church that reduce the punishment for sins, often associated with the practice of purchasing forgiveness.

Epistle of James

Luther called it the Epistle of Straw

“a person is justified by works and not faith”

Luther’s concern with justification

Was worried he wouldn’t be justified before God due to reliance on works rather than faith alone, he saw the corruption in Rome and the Catholic Church and he was so focused on his own sinfulness he resulted to things like self mortification

95 theses

A list of theses against some of the Catholic Church’s practices (mainly the sale of indulgences), nailed to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral

Council of Trent as a response to Luther

Was held as a response to Protestant Reformation, it concluded that people become righteous through good works and God’s grace

Justification comes through two phases- baptism and good works

Relationship between faith and good works

Trent- Can’t achieve justification by faith alone, have to take part in good works

Protestant Criticism- Trent contradicted biblical teaching that good works do not merit grace

Justification- gift from God and human effort

Trent- Both are required, God doesn’t make people righteous, they become righteous

Protestant criticism- Justification is only through God’s grace

Relationship between justification and sacraments

Trent- justification is achieved through baptism (gift of God’s grace) and through good works

Protestant criticism- Grace is a gift from God, it is unmerited

Knowing about justification

Trent- People can have relative certainty of justification

Protestant criticism- Good works are not necessary for salvation, but salvation inevitably produces good works

Ideas about salvation in the time of St Paul

Covenantal nonism- Jews are born into a covenant with God by being born into a Jewish family, to continue being in a covenant they have to do good works e.g. follow Kosher Laws, the mitzvot, have their sons circumised

E.P Sanders theory about salvation

Sanders said Paul identified the new Christian sacraments as necessary for salvation- after Jesus the works required to stay in a covenant changed

He believes that Luther misunderstood Paul because of his concern with his own sinfulness, so he focused on just one bit of Paul’s letters without context

After Jesus, a new covenant was formed that did not require people to follow the actions they previously did, not that they didn’t have to do any works at all

Challenges to Sanders

-Theory isn’t biblical, it focuses too much on rabbinic sources over biblical teaching

-It explains away contradictory evidence e.g. rabbinic writing of Paul’s time has belief in righteousness by works

-It fails to address the problem of self righteousness, people who believe themselves morally superior to their peers because they follow God’s commandments strictly