Christ's Imputed Righteousness

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IWantAnguish Nov 12, 2009

Can anybody define Christ's Imputed Righteousness for me?

We are justified through faith, and Christ's righteousness is imputed unto us.

Does this refer to the perfect life He lived on this earth as a man? Which include all the miracles, love towards unbelievers, love towards disciples, sorrow for the unrepentant, etc. etc.

Or does it refer to His essential qualities and complete divine character and holy righteousness as the eternal God who existed outside of time?

Or are both of these mingled through the incarnation of the Son of God?

N

NSCalvinist Nov 12, 2009

We are justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, not by the works of the law. The works of the law that Jesus performed were necessary for the atonement, but it is the atonement that justifies us, not the works of the law.

The atonement itself is sufficient for our justification, we do not need to add anything to it.

~~[b]~~Weslayan Arminianism says:[/b]

"It is nowhere stated in Scripture that Christ's personal righteousness is imputed to us. Not a text can be found which contains any enunciation of the doctrine." John Welsey (A Right Conception of Sin by Richard Taylor)

~~[b]~~New School Calvinists say:[/b]

“This is, if I understand it, the true doctrine of ‘imputation;’ not that there is any transfer of moral character from us to the Redeemer, or from him to us, and not that God literally ‘reckons’ or imputes our sins to him as his, or his righteousness to us as ours, but that his work may be estimated as performed in the place and on the account of sinful men, and that in virtue of that we may be regarded and treated as if it had been performed by ourselves.” Albert Barnes (The Atonement, Published by Bethany House, p. 315)

“God imputeth righteousness. Whom God treats as righteous... forgiven, and whose sins are not charged on him, but who is freed from the punishment due to his sins. Being thus pardoned, he is treated as a righteous man. And it is evidently in this sense that the apostle uses the expression ‘imputed righteousness’ i.e. he does not imputed, or charge on the man his sins; he reckons and treats him as a pardoned and righteous man.” Albert Barnes (Commentary on the Romans, p. 105)

“This passage [Rom. 4:5-8] deserves special attention, as it explains all those text that seem to favor, and have been construed to support the theory of the imputation of Christ’s active and passive righteousness to the sinner. Here it is manifest that justification, imputation of righteousness, forgiving iniquities, covering sins, and the non-imputation of sin, are phrases substantially of the same import, and decide positively that the Scripture view of the great doctrine under consideration, is an actual deliverance from the guilt and penalty of sin: from which it follows, that the phrases so often occurring in the writings of Paul – the righteousness of God and of Christ – must mean God’s righteous method of justifying the ungodly, through the atonement and by the instrumentality of faith – a method that upholds the rectitude of the Divine character, at the same time that it offers a full and free pardon to the sinner.” Asbury Lowrey, (Positive Theology, Published by R. P. Thompson, 1854, pg. 211-212)

“In theology, the remission of sin, and absolution from guilt and punishment; or an act of free grace by which God pardons the sinner, and accepts him as righteous, on account of the atonement of Christ.” Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

“The doctrine of a literal imputation of Christ's obedience or righteousness is supported by those who hold it, by such passages as the following: Rom. iv. 5-8.—"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputed righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." But here justification is represented only as consisting in forgiveness of sin, or in pardon and acceptance. Again, 2 Cor. v. 19, 21. "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Here again the apostle is teaching only his much-loved doctrine of justification by faith, in the sense that upon condition or in consideration of the death and mediatorial interference and work of Christ, penitent believers in Christ are forgiven and rewarded as if they were righteous." Charles Finney (Systematic Theology)

“Holiness isn’t something you can borrow – you either have it or you don’t. The theological doctrine of ‘imputed righteousness’ has been grossly distorted in our day. We are told that God looks at us through the blood of Christ and see’s us as righteous, regardless of our actual state… Let’s stop kidding ourselves. God sees us exactly the way we are. If we are living in obedience, He sees it. If we are living selfish, unholy lives, we can be sure he sees that too.” George Otis Jr. (The God They Never Knew, Published by Mott Media, p. 40)

“As one ‘made under the law’ (Ga. 4:4-5), Christ was obliged to obey and keep the law. Since He had to obey for Himself, He could not obey for others in the sense that His obedience could be literally imputed to them… while Christ could not obey for us, He could die entirely in our behalf since there was not the least guilt charged against Him for which He must die.” Gordon Olson (The Kindness of God Our Savior, Published by Revival Theology Promotions, p. 91)
“Forgiveness of sin, such that the penalty is not carried out, is sufficient to qualify as a definition of ‘imputed righteousness’… How could the Holy Spirit convict us of sin if he did not know we were sinning? How could we grieve the Spirit of God if he never saw us as anything other than righteous? God has a very good sense of reality, he knows when we sin, and he sees us exactly as we are.” Michael Saia (Understanding the Cross, Published by Xulon, p. 132).

I

IWantAnguish Nov 12, 2009

Hmm... beginning to see how denominations find their origins.

Thanks for the response.

R

roaringlamb Nov 12, 2009

Barnes was not a Calvinist, and even if he were, he would not be "new school".

BTW, welcome back Jesse!

EDIT: I understand what you mean by "new school", but let's not start getting into the Calvinist/Arminian thing again.

R

roaringlamb Nov 12, 2009

In response to the original question, 2 Corinthians 5:21(ESV) sums it up pretty well!

"21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Apart from imputation, there is no Gospel and no such thing as justification. Imputation makes the Gospel "Good News".

sermonindex Nov 12, 2009

all i can say is that without his righteousness we will never be able to stand before God and i also would say that because we sin does not mean that we lose Christ's righteousness but that we remain his children and he leads back always in love and sometimes in loving chastisement.

sermonindex Nov 12, 2009

Can anybody define Christ's Imputed Righteousness for me?
We are justified through faith, and Christ's righteousness is imputed unto us.

All centers upon the nature of the righteousness, justice, or goodness to which man can attain and upon the nature of the faith required in order to do so. Let us take first, therefore, the question of righteousness.

The Catholic Church te aches tha t at baptism (John 3:5) the soul passes from a state of original or inherited sin to a state of grace (Rom. 6:23). God does not merely declare the soul to be righteous or just in his sight. He makes the soul 'holy in itself by producing within it, through the activity of the Holy Ghost, a supernatural quality of spiritual goodness which is a true regeneration, renewal, or renovation (Tit. 3:5, 1 Pet. 3:21).

This spiritual quality incorporates us in Christ as his very members (1 Cor. 6:15), makes us live by him as the branches exist by the very life of the vine to which they belong (John 15:5), and through him enables us to become in a mysterious way sharers in the divine nature itself (2 Pet. 1:4).

The goodness, justice, righteousness, or holiness of a soul in a state of grace is, therefore, a reality and not merely a fiction. It is imparted to the soul by God, sanctifying it in its very nature. It is not merely imputed to the soul by God, leaving the soul still contaminated by the filth of sin.

This ennobling and consoling doctrine, the true teaching of the New Testament, Luther altogether rejected. Concentrating on the one text of Romans 1:16-17, and on others which he thought he could fit in with it, he overlooked all other.aspects of Christian doctrine taught elsewhere in the New Testament. He declared . that the Greek word used by Paul for righteousness (dikaiosune) means simply "acquitted," as one is acquitted or declared not guilty in a court of law. Such a decree, he said, makes no change in the acquitted person. He remains exactly as he was before. He is merely told that the law does not regard him as a criminal.

Therefore, according to Paul, argued Martin Luther, man's justification means that he is reputed or accounted as righteous in the sight of God, although he remains as sinful in his very nature as ever. The change is in God's disposition toward man, not in man himself. Henceforth God looks upon him with favor instead of disfavor, attributing to him the righteousness of Christ which is in no way really possessed within the soul.

Now it is quite true that Paul made use of a word which in the Greek language had the technical meaning of legal acquittal. And if the word can have no other meaning than that, one could scarcely dispute the interpretation of justification as implying no more than to be accounted as righteous or not guilty in the sight of God.

Luther's scholarly limitations

But Luther had not the advantages of modem scholarship. He belonged to an age when it was thought that the real meaning of the New Testament could be best ascertained by discovering the exact sense of the Greek language in which its books were originally written. Now even Protestant scholars are beginning to know better, for the Greek words took on a special sense when they were used by the New Testament writers to express Christian doctrines.

The pagan Greek language was itself practically "baptized," the Christians from the very beginning using it to express revealed, supernatural, and spiritual truths nowhere to be found in classical Greek literature. To understand New Testament Greek, then, it is not enough to have a Greek dictionary in hand; it is necessary to keep in mind the whole religious outlook of Christians according to the teachings given them by the apostles.

What, then, did Paul have in mind when he spoke of the soul's "justification"? He was indeed thinking of liberation from heathen darkness for the Gentiles, and from bondage to the Jewish Law for the Jews, as a consequence of embracing Christianity and giving one's wholehearted allegiance to Christ. But that was not the whole of his doctrine.

For him such a liberation was simply a presupposed condition of one's becoming a "new creature in Christ" (2 Cor. 5-17). A transforming process from a state of sin to that of sanctifying grace takes place in the soul, a simultaneous deliverance from guilt and an admission to a new and supernatural spiritual life.

In his denial of this Luther contradicted divine revelation as well as reason. The great emotional stress under which he was laboring when his new doctrine first dawned upon him blinded him to practically all else save the one thing by which he was so fascinated. As a matter of fact, when, later, others implored him to listen to reason, he replied contemptuously that reason is but a "prostitute" bent on seducing mankind.

But it was not only of the human intelligence that he took a gloomy view. He held that man has been so totally depraved by the Fall of Adam, that his heart and will have been so completely contaminated by inherited original sin, as to be rendered quite incapable of any good at all. Is it any wonder that he went on from such views to an entire repudiation of the Catholic doctrine in this matter?

Where modern unbelievers dishonor God by holding that man does not need redeeming at all and that he can manage quite well without God, Luther dishonored God by holding that the divine image is so utterly defaced in man that God himself cannot restore that image. The most God can do is to cover up his failure by a fiction, accounting a filthy soul righteous by covering up or hiding its evil condition with the garments of the righteousness of Christ.

The Catholic doctrine, on the other hand, neither dishonors God nor robs man of every vestige of human dignity. It declares man subject to sin and therefore in need of the redemption unbelievers reject, but it also declares that man is not so corrupt as to be incapable of a truly interior and spiritual renewal by grace.

From justification to faith

So much, then, for the doctrine concerning the nature of justification in itself. Now let us turn to the means by which it is claimed that it is brought about - faith.

Those Protestants who follow Martin Luther accuse Catholics of regarding faith merely as a form of knowledge or assent to doctrine instead of seeing it in the biblical and Protestant sense of confiding trust and the commitment of one's whole life to Christ. It would be a very great mistake to think that Catholics do not believe that, besides having faith in Christ, one should have also a confident trust in him and commit one's whole life to him. We Catholics insist that all three are necessary. It is an equally great mistake to imagine that the idea of faith as an assent to doctrine is unbiblical and to think that the only biblical sense of the word is the one Protestants maintain. Such notions are the result of a confusion of ideas which badly need clarification.

In the Greek language the word faith can mean either belief in a statement on the authority of another person or belief in a person in the sense of trusting him or even of entrusting oneself to him. But we must recall here what was said earlier about new meanings acquired by Greek expressions on their "baptism" into the service of the Christian religion. In biblical usage, both the senses of the Greek which we have just mentioned are at times employed, but other and more comprehensive meanings are elsewhere intended.

Sometimes the word faith is used to designate the whole objective message to be believed by Christians and at all costs to be kept intact. Paul uses the word in that sense when he speaks of preaching "the faith which he once impugned" (Gal. 1:23), as does also Jude when he urges Christians "to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).

Faith as intellectual acceptance

Secondly, the word faith is used at times strictly to denote intellectual acceptance of the doctrines belonging to "the faith," understanding the word in the preceding sense. Thus Paul, after proclaiming the facts and truths and promises of the gospel, said, "So we preach and so you have believed" (1 Cor. 15:11). He declared that his task was to bring "into captivity every understandin g unto the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5). In these cases what is obviously involved is intellectual acceptance by faith in the authority of Christ as our divinely-accredited teacher of all that God has revealed. This is that strict sense in which Catholics normally understand the word faith.

In a third class of texts the sense is simply one of confidence or trust, as, for example, where Paul speaks of Abraham as strong in faith and giving glory to God, "most fully knowing that whatsoever he has promised, he is able also to perform" (Rom. 4:21). Or again, where he says of himself, "I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him, against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12).

Wide meaning of "saving faith"

Finally, speaking not merely of faith as such, but of "saving faith," Paul uses the word in a very broad and comprehensive sense, not excluding any of the above meanings, but including them all and much else besides. He views the faith that justifies as the complete embracing of the Christian religion in practice, with the whole man engaged, heart and soul, intelligence, will and conscience. This is not merely an indefinite trust or mystic self-surrender. It means primarily the intellectual acceptance of truth by faith in the authority of Christ who declares it. Such belief in Christ gives rise to complete confidence in him, love of him, self-donation to him, and a resultant obedience to his law and devotedness in all good works for his sake.

It is in this last sense that faith is counted unto us for righteousness, and it is the sense which Paul intended when he wrote, "Being justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1). He knew quite well that he was not there using the word faith in the strictly literal sense of the word.

Such "saving faith" included trust or confidence in Christ, which arises from the virtue of hope and excludes the extremes of both presumption and despair. It also included a selfgiving to Christ proceeding from love or charity. That Paul knew how to distinguish between these different virtues when occasion demanded it is evident from his great declaration: "Now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity" (1 Cor. 13:13).

Catholics are in full agreement with Paul. When they declare faith to be, in the strict and primary sense of the word, an intellectual acceptance of doctrines on the authority of Christ, they do not hold that to be of itself "saving faith." If such faith be not enlivened by trust in Christ, love of him, obedience and self-donation to him, they are quite prepared to describe it as "dead" faith, as does James (Jas. 2:17).

Protestants, at least Evangelicals, on the other hand, do fall into error when they restrict the meaning of faith to trust in Christ and simple acceptance of him as Lord and Savior almost to the exclusion of everything else. To the vast majority of such Protestants, to have faith in Christ has come to mean one thing and one thing only, trust in Christ with an emotional experience of assurance that they are saved, while remaining practically indifferent to sound Christian doctrine in all its many vital.aspects. As Adolf von Harnack, the famed German Protestant scholar, remarked, "Luther set up evangelical faith in place of dogma."

H

hmmhmm Nov 12, 2009

i would add these passages to roaringlambs.

1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1Co 1:31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

and as the wise brother J.C Ryle said "boast not of Christs work for you, unless you can show us the Spirits work in you"

K

KingJimmy Nov 12, 2009

The following is the classic, historical, and evangelical understanding of imputed righteousness. Do not be confused by NCSCalvinist or Haydock and their false understandings.....

The apostle Paul's idea of "imputed righteousness" is a legal one, whereby in a court of law one is "declared" and "said" to be righteous. This is a common idea in all law courts, going back to antiquity. In this setting, the court looks at you and the evidence of your case, and based off that, declares you righteous or unrighteous based on that evidence. To be "righteous" is a legal term as well, declaring one is "in the right" relationship with the law. To be declared "unrighteous" is to be in a wrong relationship to the law.

What made Paul's notion of justification by faith through imputed righteousness so radical is that Paul says that God declares unrighteous sinners as "righteous" before God, because of Jesus Christ's righteousness, not because of the guilty sinners personal righteousness. As a result of this declaration, God justifies the sinner, and the sinner is now made righteous by means of God's imputed righteousness towards him. He is no longer viewed as unrighteous in the sight of God, rather, he is viewed as righteous and in good standing with the court.

All this is based on faith alone, and not any works whatsoever. Because based on one's works, one is guilty before God as a sinner, and no amount of good works will ever change one's legal guilt for their bad works. All that will change one's stance before God is faith in Christ alone, apart from works, all because of what Jesus did on the cross for us. It's on this basis that God declares you righteous.

I hope that description helps, and you are not confused by the damnable theories espoused elsewhere on here.

*edited*

R

rookie Nov 12, 2009

Job 36:7 He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings [are they] on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted.
Job 36:8 And if [they be] bound in fetters, [and] be holden in cords of affliction;
Job 36:9 Then he sheweth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded.
Job 36:10 He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.
Job 36:11 If they obey and serve [him], they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
Job 36:12 But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.
Job 36:13 ¶ But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them.
Job 36:14 They die in youth, and their life [is] among the unclean.

Job 33:26 He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.

Job 33:28 He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.

.............................................

Jesus is the light of life. His righteousness is restored to those who obey His voice. Search out the Scriptures found in Job 36 above...and then you will know how Christ's righteousness in imputed into the one who is delivered by God from the pit of hell....

In Christ
Jeff

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IWantAnguish Nov 12, 2009

Thanks brother Jim.

sermonindex Nov 12, 2009

I hope that description helps, and you are not confused by the damnable theories espoused elsewhere on here.

Is it damnable to believe that a person can "trust" Christ for their salvation and forfeit heaven due to an unrepentant persistence in sin?

Sola Fide in the sense that it is merely imputed and not ALSO actual righteousness (righteous behavior/character/nature) is the view that get's folks damned.

Be not deceived. God is not mocked.

K

KingJimmy Nov 12, 2009

I'm not totally reformed in thought, nor do I believe in cheap grace, so I believe people can forfeit their salvation by living in sin or turning away in utter apostasy. However, it is damnable to think one is justified on the basis of their performance. It is also damnable to think one can be justified and then have a license to sin.

R

rookie Nov 13, 2009

As Elihu teaches Job and his friends the ways of God we find the means by which God imputes His righteousness to man...

..................................................................................................
Job 36:7 He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings [are they] on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted.
Job 36:8 And if [they be] bound in fetters, [and] be holden in cords of affliction;
Job 36:9 Then he sheweth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded.
Job 36:10 He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.
Job 36:11 If they obey and serve [him], they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
Job 36:12 But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.
Job 36:13 ¶ But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them.
Job 36:14 They die in youth, and their life [is] among the unclean.

................................................................................................

Apostle Paul teaches this same precept, how God imputes His righteousness in man in the following verses...........................

Rom 8:12\t¶\tTherefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Rom 8:13\t \tFor if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
...................................................................................................

Elihu in the book of Job and Paul in the book of Romans speak of the same precept...that is the means by which we might know that we are the sons of God....

In Christ
Jeff

sermonindex Nov 13, 2009

However, it is damnable to think one is justified on the basis of their performance. It is also damnable to think one can be justified and then have a license to sin.

Let's really clarify what is damnable and anathema:

Canon 1.
If anyone says that man can be justified before God by his own works, whether done by his own natural powers or through the teaching of the law,[110] without divine grace through Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.

Canon 2.
If anyone says that divine grace through Christ Jesus is given for this only, that man may be able more easily to live justly and to merit eternal life, as if by free will without grace he is able to do both, though with hardship and difficulty, let him be anathema.

Canon 3.
If anyone says that without the predisposing inspiration of the Holy Ghost[111] and without His help, man can believe, hope, love or be repentant as he ought,[112] so that the grace of justification may be bestowed upon him, let him be anathema.

Canon 4.
If anyone says that man's free will moved and aroused by God, by assenting to God's call and action, in no way cooperates toward disposing and preparing itself to obtain the grace of justification, that it cannot refuse its assent if it wishes, but that, as something inanimate, it does nothing whatever and is merely passive, let him be anathema.

Canon 5.
If anyone says that after the sin of Adam man's free will was lost and destroyed, or that it is a thing only in name, indeed a name without a reality, a fiction introduced into the Church by Satan, let him be anathema.

Canon 6.
If anyone says that it is not in man's power to make his ways evil, but that the works that are evil as well as those that are good God produces, not permissively only but also propria et per se, so that the treason of Judas is no less His own proper work than the vocation of St. Paul, let him be anathema.

Canon 7.
If anyone says that all works done before justification, in whatever manner they may be done, are truly sins, or merit the hatred of God; that the more earnestly one strives to dispose himself for grace, the more grievously he sins, let him be anathema.

Canon 8.
If anyone says that the fear of hell,[113] whereby, by grieving for sins, we flee to the mercy of God or abstain from sinning, is a sin or makes sinners worse, let him be anathema.

Canon 9.
If anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone,[114] meaning that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification, and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the action of his own will, let him be anathema.

Canon 10.
If anyone says that men are justified without the justice of Christ,[115] whereby Her merited for us, or by that justice are formally just, let him be anathema.

Canon 11.
If anyone says that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost,[116] and remains in them, or also that the grace by which we are justified is only the good will of God, let him be anathema.

Canon 12.
If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in divine mercy,[117] which remits sins for Christ's sake, or that it is this confidence alone that justifies us, let him be anathema.

Canon 13.
If anyone says that in order to obtain the remission of sins it is necessary for every man to believe with certainty and without any hesitation arising from his own weakness and indisposition that his sins are forgiven him, let him be anathema.

Canon 14.
If anyone says that man is absolved from his sins and justified because he firmly believes that he is absolved and justified,[118] or that no one is truly justified except him who believes himself justified, and that by this faith alone absolution and justification are effected, let him be anathema.

Canon 15.
If anyone says that a man who is born again and justified is bound ex fide to believe that he is certainly in the number of the predestined,[119] let him be anathema.

Canon 16.
If anyone says that he will for certain, with an absolute and infallible certainty, have that great gift of perseverance even to the end, unless he shall have learned this by a special revelation,[120] let him be anathema.

Canon 17.
If anyone says that the grace of justification is shared by those only who are predestined to life, but that all others who are called are called indeed but receive not grace, as if they are by divine power predestined to evil, let him be anathema.

Canon 18.
If anyone says that the commandments of God are, even for one that is justified and constituted in grace,[121] impossible to observe, let him be anathema.

Canon 19.
If anyone says that nothing besides faith is commanded in the Gospel, that other things are indifferent, neither commanded nor forbidden, but free; or that the ten commandments in no way pertain to Christians, let him be anathema.

Canon 20.
If anyone says that a man who is justified and however perfect is not bound to observe the commandments of God and the Church, but only to believe,[122] as if the Gospel were a bare and absolute promise of eternal life without the condition of observing the commandments, let him be anathema.

Canon 21.
If anyone says that Christ Jesus was given by God to men as a redeemer in whom to trust, and not also as a legislator whom to obey, let him be anathema.

Canon 22.
If anyone says that the one justified either can without the special help of God persevere in the justice received,[123] or that with that help he cannot, let him be anathema.

Canon 23.
If anyone says that a man once justified can sin no more, nor lose grace,[124] and that therefore he that falls and sins was never truly justified; or on the contrary, that he can during his whole life avoid all sins, even those that are venial, except by a special privilege from God, as the Church holds in regard to the Blessed Virgin, let him be anathema.

Canon 24.
If anyone says that the justice received is not preserved and also not increased before God through good works,[125] but that those works are merely the fruits and signs of justification obtained, but not the cause of its increase, let him be anathema.

Canon 25.
If anyone says that in every good work the just man sins at least venially,[126] or, what is more intolerable, mortally, and hence merits eternal punishment, and that he is not damned for this reason only, because God does not impute these works into damnation, let him be anathema.

Canon 26.
If anyone says that the just ought not for the good works done in God[127] to expect and hope for an eternal reward from God through His mercy and the merit of Jesus Christ, if by doing well and by keeping the divine commandments they persevere to the end,[128] let him be anathema.

Canon 27.
If anyone says that there is no mortal sin except that of unbelief,[129] or that grace once received is not lost through any other sin however grievous and enormous except by that of unbelief, let him be anathema.

Canon 28.
If anyone says that with the loss of grace through sin faith is also lost with it, or that the faith which remains is not a true faith, though it is not a living one, or that he who has faith without charity is not a Christian, let him be anathema.

Canon 29.
If anyone says that he who has fallen after baptism cannot by the grace of God rise again,[130] or that he can indeed recover again the lost justice but by faith alone without the sacrament of penance, contrary to what the holy Roman and Universal Church, instructed by Christ the Lord and His Apostles, has hitherto professed, observed and taught, let him be anathema.

Canon 30.
If anyone says that after the reception of the grace of justification the guilt is so remitted and the debt of eternal punishment so blotted out to every repentant sinner, that no debt of temporal punishment remains to be discharged either in this world[131] or in purgatory before the gates of heaven can be opened,[132] let him be anathema.

Canon 31.
If anyone says that the one justified sins when he performs good works with a view to an eternal reward,[133] let him be anathema.

Canon 32.
If anyone says that the good works of the one justified are in such manner the gifts of God that they are not also the good merits of him justified; or that the one justified by the good works that he performs by the grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ, whose living member he is, does not truly merit an increase of grace, eternal life, and in case he dies in grace, the attainment of eternal life itself and also an increase of glory, let him be anathema.

Canon 33.
If anyone says that the Catholic doctrine of justification as set forth by the holy council in the present decree, derogates in some respect from the glory of God or the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, and does not rather illustrate the truth of our faith and no less the glory of God and of Christ Jesus, let him be anathema.

sermonindex Nov 13, 2009

KingJimmy,

I want to know if you agree or disagree with Canon 9

K

KingJimmy Nov 13, 2009

Canon 9.
If anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone,[114] meaning that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification, and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the action of his own will, let him be anathema.

An intereting read, thank you for sharing it. In regard to your question whether I agree or not with point 9, so far as I understand the language of this canon, I believe I agree with it. I'm not totally Reformed in my theology, and and much more agreeable with those who are Arminian/Wesleyan. And so far as I understand your question, contrary to my Reformed brethren, I agree with the the idea of free will. But I also believe in the Wesleyan notion of prevenient grace that condtions us so as to be able to respond to the Lord when the seed of the supernatural faith that comes through the proclaimed word of God, so as to bring about saving grace for when we do respond to the good news of Jesus Christ.

While sympathetic to the view, I don't buy into the Reformed view of monogerism, which teaches we are born again before we exercise saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In my opinion, to believe such undermines the doctrine that we are indeed justified by faith. If monogerism, so far as I have understood it is true, then we are not truly justified by faith, but rather, we are justified because God caused us to be born again first, and only then, gave us faith. In my opinion, such faith isn't really saving faith, but rather, just an ingredient they've added out of exegetical necessity. Perhaps I have misunderstood their point of view, but I'm pretty sure I have grasped their take on things sufficiently.

R

rookie Nov 13, 2009

I agree with the the idea of free will. But I also believe in the Wesleyan notion of prevenient grace that condtions us so as to be able to respond to the Lord when the seed of the supernatural faith that comes through the proclaimed word of God, so as to bring about saving grace for when we do respond to the good news of Jesus Christ.

This position is in alignment with what Elihu teaches in Job 33........................

Job 33:14 For God may speak in one way, or in another, [Yet man] does not perceive it.
Job 33:15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men, While slumbering on their beds,
Job 33:16 Then He opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction.
Job 33:17 In order to turn man [from his] deed, And conceal pride from man,
Job 33:18 He keeps back his soul from the Pit, And his life from perishing by the sword.
Job 33:19 "[Man] is also chastened with pain on his bed, And with strong [pain] in many of his bones,
Job 33:20 So that his life abhors bread, And his soul succulent food.
Job 33:21 His flesh wastes away from sight, And his bones stick out [which once] were not seen.
Job 33:22 Yes, his soul draws near the Pit, And his life to the executioners.
Job 33:23 "If there is a messenger for him, A mediator, one among a thousand, To show man His uprightness,
Job 33:24 Then He is gracious to him, and says, 'Deliver him from going down to the Pit; I have found a ransom';
Job 33:25 His flesh shall be young like a child's, He shall return to the days of his youth.
Job 33:26 He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him, He shall see His face with joy, For He restores to man His righteousness.
Job 33:27 Then he looks at men and says, 'I have sinned, and perverted [what was] right, And it did not profit me.'
Job 33:28 He will redeem his [fn] soul from going down to the Pit, And his life shall see the light.
Job 33:29 "Behold, God works all these [things], Twice, [in fact], three [times] with a man,
Job 33:30 To bring back his soul from the Pit, That he may be enlightened with the light of life."
.................................................

All men are given "prevenient grace" and all men are without excuse....

In Christ
Jeff

T

TaylorOtwell Nov 13, 2009

If anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone,[114] meaning that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification

Disagree.

Works are a display saving faith to be genuine, and in that sense are we "justified by our works"; however, our Lord makes clear we are justified by believing in the one the Father has sent (John 6). Abraham was justified because "he believed God", his later works demonstrated that his faith was in fact genuine.

Works have nothing to do with the ~~[b]~~basis[/b] of our justification.

T

TaylorOtwell Nov 13, 2009

Haydock,

Does the Roman church stick by its conclusions which received Papal sanction at the Council of Orange in 529?

CANON 5. If anyone says that not only the increase of faith but also its beginning and the very desire for faith, by which we believe in Him who justifies the ungodly and comes to the regeneration of holy baptism -- if anyone says that this belongs to us by nature and not by a gift of grace, that is, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit amending our will and turning it from unbelief to faith and from godlessness to godliness, it is proof that he is opposed to the teaching of the Apostles, for blessed Paul says, "And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). And again, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). For those who state that the faith by which we believe in God is natural make all who are separated from the Church of Christ by definition in some measure believers.

CANON 6. If anyone says that God has mercy upon us when, apart from his grace, we believe, will, desire, strive, labor, pray, watch, study, seek, ask, or knock, but does not confess that it is by the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us that we have the faith, the will, or the strength to do all these things as we ought; or if anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble, he contradicts the Apostle who says, "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7), and, "But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).