wfn.org | Response of the Roman Catholic Church to the Joint Declaration

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

                        DOCUMENTATION
Response of the Catholic Church to the Joint Declaration of the Catholic
Church and the Lutheran World Federation on the Doctrine of Justification

                         DECLARATION
The "Joint Declaration of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World
Federation on the Doctrine of Justification" represents a significant
progress in mutual understanding and in the coming together in dialogue of
the parties concerned; it shows that there are many points of convergence
between the Catholic position and the Lutheran position on a question that
has been for centuries so controversial. It can certainly be affirmed that
a high degree of agreement has been reached, as regards both the approach
to the question and the judgement it merits.1 It is rightly stated that
there is "a consensus in basic truths of the doctrine of justification". 2

The Catholic Church is, however, of the opinion that we cannot yet speak of
a consensus such as would eliminate every difference between Catholics and
Lutherans in the understanding of justification. The Joint Declaration
itself refers to certain of these differences. On some points the positions
are, in fact, still divergent. So, on the basis of the agreement already
reached on many aspects, the Catholic Church intends to contribute towards
overcoming the divergencies that still exist by suggesting, below, in order
of importance, a list of points that constitute still an obstacle to
agreement between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation on
all the fundamental truths concerning justification. The Catholic Church
hopes that the following indications may be an encouragement to continue
study of these questions in the same fraternal spirit that, in recent
times, has characterized the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the
Lutheran World Federation.

                        CLARIFICATIONS
1.   The major difficulties preventing an affirmation of total consensus
between the parties on the theme of Justification arise in paragraph 4.4
The Justified as Sinner (nn. 28-1,0). Even taking into account the
differences, legitimate in themselves, that come from different theological
approaches to the content of faith, from a Catholic point of view the title
is already a cause of perplexity. According, indeed, to the doctrine of the
Catholic Church, in baptism everything that is really sin is taken away,
and so, in those who are born anew there is nothing that is hateful to
God.3 It follows that the concupiscence that remains in the baptised is
not, properly speaking, sin. For Catholics, therefore, the formula "at the
same time righteous and sinner", as it is explained at the beginning of n.
29 ("Believers are totally righteous, in that God forgives their sins
through Word and Sacrament...Looking at themselves...however, they
recognize that they remain also totally sinners. Sin still lives in
them..."), is not acceptable. This statement does not, in fact, seem
compatible with the renewal and sanctification of the interior man of which
the Council of Trent speaks. 4 The expression "Opposition to God"
(Gottwidrigkeit) that is used in nn. 28-30 is understood differently by
Lutherans and by Catholics, and so becomes, in fact, equivocal. In this
same sense, there can be ambiguity for a Catholic in the sentence of n. 22,
"...God no longer imputes to them their sin and through the Holy Spirit
effects in them an active love", because man's interior transformation is
not clearly seen. So, for all these reasons, it remains difficult to see
how, in the current state of the presentation, given in the Joint
Declaration, we can say that this doctrine on "simul iustus et peccator" is
not touched by the anathemas of the Tridentine Decree on original sin and
justification.

2.   Another difficulty arises in n. 18 of the Joint Declaration, where a
clear difference appears in the importance, for Catholics and for
Lutherans, of the doctrine of justification as criterion for the life and
practice of the Church.

     Whereas for Lutherans this doctrine has taken on an altogether
particular significance, for the Catholic Church the message of
justification, according to Scripture and already from the time of the
Fathers, has to be organically integrated into the fundamental criterion of
the "regula fidei", that is, the confession of the one God in three
persons, christologically centred and rooted in the living Church and its
sacramental life.

3.   As stated in n. 17 of the Joint Declaration, Lutherans and Catholics
share the common conviction that the new life comes from divine mercy and
not from any merit of ours. It must, however, be remembered - as stated in
2 Cor 5:17 - that this divine mercy brings about a new creation and so
makes man capable of responding to God's gift, of cooperating with grace.
In this regard, the Catholic Church notes with satisfaction that n. 21, in
conformity with can. 4 of the Decree on Justification of the Council of
Trent (DS 1554) states that man can refuse grace; but it must also be
affirmed that, with this freedom to refuse, there is also a new capacity to
adhere to the divine will, a capacity rightly called "cooperatio". This new
capacity given in the new creation, does not allow us to use in this
context the expression "mere passive" (n. 21). On the other hand, the fact
that this capacity has the character of a gift is well expressed in cap. 5
(DS 1525) of the Tridentine Decree when it says: "ita ut tangente Deo cor
hominis per Spiritus Sancti illuminationem, neque homo ipse nihil omnino
agat, inspirationem illam recipiens, quippe qui illam et abicere potest,
neque tamen sine gratia Dei movere se ad iustitiam coram illo libera sua
voluntate possit".

     In reality, also on the Lutheran side, there is the affirmation, in
n. 21, of a full personal involvement in faith ("believers are fully
involved personally in their faith"). A clarification would, however, be
necessary as to the compatibility of this involvement with the reception
"mere passive" of justification, in order to determine more exactly the
degree of consensus with the Catholic doctrine. As for the final sentence
of n. 24: "God's gift of grace in justification remains independent of
human cooperation", this must be understood in the sense that the gifts of
God's grace do not depend on the works of man, but not in the sense that
justification can take place without human cooperation. The sentence of n.
19 according to which man's freedom "is no freedom in relation to
salvation" must, similarly, be related to the impossibility for man to
reach justification by his own efforts.

     The Catholic Church maintains, moreover, that the good works of the
justified are always the fruit of grace. But at the same time, and without
in any way diminishing the totally divine initiative,5 they are also the
fruit of man, justified and interiorly transformed. We can therefore say
that eternal life is, at one and the same time, grace and the reward given
by God for good works and merits.6 This doctrine results from the interior
transformation of man to which we referred in n. 1 of this "Note". These
clarifications are a help for a right understanding, from the Catholic
point of view, of paragraph 4.7 (nn. 37-39) on the good works of the
justified.

4.   In pursuing this study further, it will be necessary to treat also
the sacrament of penance, which is mentioned in n. 30 of the Joint
Declaration. According to the Council of Trent, in fact,7 through this
sacrament the sinner can be justified anew (rursus iustificari): this
implies the possibility, by means of this sacrament, as distinct from that
of baptism, to recover lost justice.8 These aspects are not all
sufficiently noted in the above-mentioned n. 30.

5.   These remarks are intended as a more precise explanation of the
teaching of the Catholic Church with regard to the points on which complete
agreement has not been reached; they are also meant to complete some of the
paragraphs explaining Catholic doctrine, in order to bring out more clearly
the degree of consensus that has been reached. The level of agreement is
high, but it does not yet allow us to affirm that all the differences
separating Catholics and Lutherans in the doctrine concerning justification
are simply a question of emphasis or language. Some of these differences
concern aspects of substance and are therefore not all mutually compatible,
as affirmed on the contrary in n. 40.

     If, moreover, it is true that in those truths on which a consensus
has been reached the condemnations of the Council of Trent no longer apply,
the divergencies on other points must, on the contrary, be overcome before
we can affirm, as is done generically in n. 41, that these points no longer
incur the condemnations of the Council of Trent. That applies in the first
place to the doctrine on "simul iustus et peccator" (cf. n. 1, above).

6.   We need finally to note, from the point of view of their
representative quality, the different character of the two signatories of
this Joint Declaration. The Catholic Church recognises the great effort
made by the Lutheran World Federation in order to arrive, through
consultation of the Synods, at a "magnus consensus", and so to give a true
ecclesial value to its signature; there remains, however, the question of
the real authority of such a synodal consensus, today and also tomorrow, in
the life and doctrine of the Lutheran community.

                  PROSPECTS FOR FUTURE WORK
7.   The Catholic Church wishes to reiterate its hope that this important
step forward towards agreement in doctrine on justification may be followed
by further studies that will make possible a satisfactory clarification of
the divergencies that still exist. Particularly desirable would be a deeper
reflection on the biblical foundation that is the common basis of the
doctrine on justification both for Catholics and for Lutherans. This
reflection should be extended to the New Testament as a whole and not only
to the Pauline writings. If it is true, indeed, that St. Paul is the New
Testament author who has had most to say on this subject, and this fact
calls for a certain preferential attention, substantial references to this
theme are not lacking also in the other New Testament writings. As for the
various ways in which Paul describes man's new condition, as mentioned in
the Joint Declaration, we could add the categories of sonship and of heirs.
(Gal 4:4-7; Rom 8:14-17). Consideration of all these elements will be a
great help for mutual understanding and will make it possible to resolve
the divergences that still exist in the doctrine on justification.

8.   Finally, it should be a common concern of Lutherans and Catholics to
find a language which can make the doctrine on justification more
intelligible also for men and women of our day. The fundamental truths of
salvation given by Christ and received in faith, of the primacy of grace
over every human initiative, of the gift of the Holy Spirit which makes us
capable of living according to our condition as children of God, and so on.
These are essential aspects of the Christian message that should be a light
for the believers of all times.

                        * * * * * * *

This Note, which constitutes the official Catholic Response to the text of
the Joint Declaration, has been prepared by common agreement between the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity. It is signed by the President of the same
Pontifical Council, which is directly responsible for the ecumenical
dialogue.
                        * * * * * * *

1    cfr. "Joint Declaration", n. 4 "ein hohes Mass an gemeinsamer
     Ausrichtung und gemeinsamem Urteil".
2    ibid. n. 5: "einen Konsens in Grundwahrheiten der
     Rechtfertigungslehre" (cf. n. 13:40; 43).
3    cf. Council of Trent, Decree on original sin (DS 1515).
4.   cf. Council of Trent, Decree on justification. cap. 8: "...
     iustificatio... quae non est sola peccatorum remissio, sed et
     sanctificatio et renovatio interioris hominis" (DS 1528); cf. also
     can. 11 (DS 15619).
5    cf. Council of Trent, Decree on justification, cap. 16 (DS 1546),
     which quotes Jn 15,5: the vine and the branches.
6    cf. ibid. DS 1545; and can. 26 (DS 1576)
7    ibid. cap. 14 (cf. DS 1542)
8    cf. ibid. can. 29 (DS 1579); Decree on the sacrament of Penance, cap.
     2 (DS 1671); can. 2 (DS 1702).

                   TRANSLATION FROM THE ORIGINAL ITALIAN TEXT
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Lutheran World Information
Editorial Assistant: Janet Bond-Nash
E-mail: jbn@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/