Justification through faith and works Flashcards
What is justification?
Made righteous in the sight of God (made right with God) what is needed for salvation
What is faith?
What you believe (belief in Jesus)
What is works?
What you do, good deeds, sacrrament s
What is the emphasis on faith for salvation?
Romans 1.17- “he who is righteous will live by faith”
Romans 5.1 “since we are justified by faith we have peace with god”
Ephesians 2:809 “for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
We are saved by the permanent gift of love from God
What does Augustine believe about the emphasis of faith?
Taught that we are justified by God, as a work of his grave. Wrote anti-pelagian works against the idea that our works could serve as the proper basis for our justification
What are the emphasis on works for salvation?
Letter from the apostle James
James 2:24- : you see that a person is justice by works and not by faith alone”- Only one who uses faith alone
What did Pelagius teach about works?
Taught that one became righteous through works, by working to follow the example of Jesus’ life
How did The Roman Catholic Church say that we should be justified by?
Baptism, penance
If you were baptised your sin is removed, if you have confessed you’re granted absolution in the form of penance
Linked to purgatory- if you died without having done did things you would go to purgatory to keep doing. ‘penance’ (prayers or deeds)
Indulgences- a certificate issued by the pope which granted forgiveness of sins for cash, not good works.
Who was the person who granted forgiveness by cash?
Johann tetzel, demanded money for forgiveness and built st Pauls basiclia
What is sola fide?
faith alone by Martin Luther, tried to live a good life of good works but never felt he could do enough- he confessed for 6 hours
Taught human beings are saved by faith alone
Justification- entirely the gift od God given to our response of accepting him
Justification is Did seeing us as righteous, even thought we are not we are justified and sinful at the same time
What does the council of Trent suggest?
God doesn’t automatically make people right (righteous) they must do something
Good works are needed if God is to forgive sins, they are necessary, more than good works are needed if people need to be justifed
They must rely on God too and cooperate with god and his grace
People are forgive through baptism which is gods gift but still need to go to mass and receive penance
What are protestant objections?
Focus on works is unbiblical
Trent taught that good works merit desevre Gods grace- bible suggests grace is a fifth not a reward
John 6;29 suggests the only work necessary is to believe
good works are not necessary for salvation but salvation produces good works
What did Ep sanders say about justification?
Judaism never taught that you must be put right with Gods through works but in ‘covenantal nomism’ belief that god chose the jewish people
Obey his law to keep status
Jews entered through gods grace and stayed there through his works
Your works are how you show faith and attitud
enter new convent through baptism but are then kept righteous through faith and works
What are criticisms with sola fide?
“by faith alone” only occurs once by James which is rejected
Nt wright sees justification as a process not a one off event
antinomian- say people have to follow the law
to be righteous someone must follow righteous and act righteous
rejected by Roman Catholic church
What are criticisms of faith and works?
Many new testament letters support emphasis on faith
Gosepls and acts contradicts it Jesus says in John “this is the work of God, that you believe in him that he has sent”
Bible suggests grace is a gift not a reward
Too much emphasis on the role of humans, not enough emphasis on the grace and power of god
can lead to arrogance- people,e who are sef-righeous as a result of actions
If justification depends on human effort, can we ever achieve it
Rejected by several protestant churches
