wfn.org | Lutherans, Reformed reach understanding on justification,

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

sanctification
"Prague V" also looks at Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

GENEVA, March 10, 1998 (lwi) - Representatives of Lutheran and Reformed
churches have agreed that justification is received from God, not achieved
through human effort. It "establishes a new salvific relationship between
God and human beings and a new communion among human beings", is one of the
findings of a working paper developed at the end of a consultation on
"Justification and Sanctification", sponsored jointly by the Lutheran World
Federation and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, held Feb. 13-17
near Geneva.

The consultation titled "Prague V" continues a series of conversations
started in 1986 in Prague between different traditions of the Reformation.
The first three consultations were also attended by representatives of the
"First Reformation" such as Waldensians, Hussites, Mennonites, Hutterian
Brethren and others.

The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between Lutherans
and Roman Catholics, currently being debated, was received by this fifth
consultation "with great interest" and as a document with "significant
implications".

The working paper identifies areas needing further discussion. Among other
things, in the future, further reflection will be needed on the
"implications for society and the whole of creation" of a common
understanding of justification. The understanding of "sanctification" and
its relation to "evangelical obedience", "personal and social
transformation", "good works", "holiness" and Christian perfection" also
will be examined more closely.

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