As an Evangelical, I am honestly confused about why the 1999 Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification has not resulted in more unity. It seems that the 14 year old news that we agree on the basics of the gospel has not filtered down to the masses.
My active practicing Catholic relatives do not seem to believe that salvation is “by grace alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.” And unfortunately, many of my Evangelical friends do not believe Catholics can be Christians, because they think Catholicism teaches a works based salvation.
I’d be interested in knowing what the Catholic FReepers think. I came to Christ primarily because my Catholic mother-in-law prayed for me to accept Christ as my Savior for over 10 years. I am convinced she is in heaven today because of her faith. She wept with joy the day my husband and I told her we had accepted Christ and had become active in and Evangelical church.
I seem to remember this was agreed upon at the meeting, but higher headquarters in Rome said no dice.
Plus the RC on FR seem to disagree with this statement.
We want unity too, but that doesn't mean I am unifying with a group that denies that we are saved by faith alone in Christ alone.
-— I’d be interested in knowing what the Catholic FReepers think -—
I appreciate the offer and spirit.
Yes, the Joint Declaration should be widely hailed and known.
Sadly, many Catholics are ignorant of their faith, as are many Protestants. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the standard reference for Catholic doctrine. For the academically inclined, I highly recommend Ludwig Ott’s, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma. It explains the levels of Church teaching.
While I’ve met ignorant Catholics and Protestants, I’ve met great, apparent saints, too, including a Baptist minister who was a foster parent to 20 children.
Regarding Christian unity, we should all pray for it, as Christ commanded.
Regarding the truths of faith and ecumenism, we must not gloss over our differences. This is false ecumenism. OTOH, we should recognize our commonly held beliefs, and work forward from that basis.
Because the carefully worded statement:
"by grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works,"
lacks precision, and nether it nor any not signifies full agreement on this critical issue, and is seen as a compromise by adherents on both sides, and testifies that Lutheranism needs to come further out of Rome.
JDDJ is a document created and agreed to by the Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999, and interprets Trent, but as it is not an ex cathedra statement, Catholics can meekly dissent and hold that it is open to reform or correction.
What Rome means "by grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit," is that of a salvation system which begins (usually) thru the act (ex opere operato: "by the work worked") of sprinkling of water on a morally incognizant innocent infant, rendering him/her cleansed from original sin and born again, and has an "indelible mark" placed on his soul (which even unbaptized Christian martyrs do not get). And thus which baptism even an unbeliever could perform in an emergency with this effect.
And which act makes the soul accepted in Christ and good enough for Heaven at that point, but as they sin afterwards this process (usually) ends with the soul becoming good enough to enter Heaven thru an indeterminate time suffering in purgatory commencing at death.
And which further "processing" they may avoid by fully cooperating grace, and which Rome dispenses thru her Treasury of Merit®, or escape earlier from thru "Indulgences."
Thus salvation "by grace thru faith" effectually means that by the grace of God dispensed thru the church one "is formally justified and made holy by his own personal justice and holiness." (Catholic Encyclopedia> Sanctifying Grace) And "Moved by the Holy Spirit, we can merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification and for the attainment of eternal life," (Catechism of the Catholic church, Part 3, Life in Christ, Merit, 2010) And thus they are "accounted to have, by those very works which have been done in God,... truly merited eternal life." ( Trent, Chapter XVI; The Sixth Session Decree on justification, 1547)
In contrast, what we see in Scripture is that souls have their hearts "purified by faith," (Acts 10:43; 15:9) that of the kind of a faith which confesses the Lord Jesus, which is normally and formally first in baptism, and which signifies repentant faith by the Holy Spirit, and whom they receive in conversion. (Acts 2:38; 10:44-47; 15:7-9) For as God justifies the unGodly by faith, counting that for righteousness, (Rm. 4:1-7) with works then justifying him as one who has true faith, versus a faith which does not effect the obedience of faith. (Heb. 6:9; Ja. 2:18)
The believer at that point is " washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, " (1 Corinthians 6:11) "accepted in the Beloved," seated together in heavenly places, (Eph. 1:6: 2:6) as a new creature in Christ. (2Cor. 5:17)
And therefore the believer is appealed to be and live out in practical terms what he is positionally. (Col. 3:1ff) But as he was not justified before God "by works of righteousness that we have done," (Titus 3:5) or his own holiness, thus true believers go to be with the Lord upon death, (Luke 23:43; Acts 7:59; 1Cor. 15:52; 2 Cor 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 1 Th 4:17; 1Jn. 3:2) or the Lord's return, (1Thes. 4:17) "and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
The place of merit does come in as per the sense of God covenantally recompensing faith (Heb. 10:35) in recognition of what it effected, (Matthew 25:34-35) by which they are accounted to be have true enduring faith, (Luke 21:36) and as fitting to be rewarded, (Revelation 3:4; 21:7) even though in reality they are worthy of eternal damnation, while eternal life is an unmerited gift. (Rm. 6:23)
"Brothers and sisters, Luther's protest is over," Palmer told his audience. "Is yours?"
Thus as even a Lutheran states,
Is this true? Was the schism of the 16th Century one big misunderstanding? Do the Roman Catholics really teach essentially the same thing as the Lutherans on how a sinner is justified by God? Is it true that “The condemnations in the Lutheran Confessions do not apply to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church presented in this Declaration”? No, it is not true.
What, then, is the JDDJ for? It is not for teaching the faith. The Vatican’s involvement in the production of this document has been through the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, not through the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Lutheran World Federation – which claims to speak for Lutherans worldwide – clearly is not in agreement with itself on the doctrine of justification, nor has it been since its meeting in Helsinki, Finland in 1963. Put into plain English, the JDDJ is a church political document. It isn’t intended for use in catechesis, worship, or any other churchly activity. It is rather intended to make Lutherans and Catholics feel good about the fact that their children aren’t insulting the pope and Martin Luther in the neighborhood ally.
A more detailed critique follows. http://www.christforus.org/Papers/Content/JDDJ.html
Until it's corrected in the Catechism and taught directly to the people, it's not "official". The doctrine of justification certainly was one of the biggies WRT the differences but it wasn't the only one by far. I don't think that Rome will consider all Christians "unified" until the Pope of Rome is recognized by everyone as their spiritual leader and head. He is right in one respect, though, we ARE all one in Christ spiritually and will be physically in heaven as there will only be the redeemed with the Lord in that place of eternity.