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 JUSTIFICATION

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JUSTIFICATION

smuggling Synergism into the "Book of Torgau" (1576); but before the "Formulary of Concord" was printed in the monastery of Bergen (near Magdeburg, 1557), the article in question was eliminated as het- erodox and the harsh doctrine of Luther substituted in the symbols of the Lutheran Church. The new breach in the system formed by the Synergisten- Streit was enlarged by a counter movement that orig- inated among the Pietists and Methodists, who were willing to admit the infallible assurance of salvation — given by fiduciary faith — only in case that that as- surance was confirmed by internal experience. But what proliably contributed most of all to the crum- bling of the system was the rapid growth of Socinian- ism and Rationalism which during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries gained so many adherents among the Lutherans. Fiduciary faith was no longer considered a spiritual means to assist man in reaching out for the righteousness of God, but was identified with a disposition which is upright and pleasing to God. Latterly, A. Ritschl defined justification as the chan|;e in the consciousness of our relation to God and amplified this idea by the statement that the certainty of our salvation is further determined by the con- sciousness of our union with the Christian community. Schleiermacher and Hengstenberg deviated still far- ther from the old doctrine. For they declared con- trition and penance as also necessary for justification, thus "coming dangerously near the Catholic system ", as Dorner expresses it ("Geschichte der protest. The- ologie", Munich, 1S67, p. 583). Finally the Lutheran Church of Scandinavia has in the course of time ex- perienced a "quiet refornuition ", inasmuch as it now, without being fully conscious of the fact, defends the Catholic doctrine on justification (cf. Krogh-Tonning, "Die Gnadenlehre und die stille Reformation", Christiania, 1S94). The strict orthodoxy of the Old Lutherans, e. g. in the Kingdom of Saxony and the State of Missouri, alone continues to cling tenaciously to a system, which otherwise would have slowly fallen into oblivion.

Clasen, Die christliche Heilsgewissheit (1907); Haring, diKoioo-iirT, eeoO bei PaiUus (1896) ; cf. Denifle, Die abend- Idndischen Schriftausleger iiber justitia Dei u. justificatio (Mainz, 1905); Chemer, Die pautinische Rechtfertigungslehre (2nd ed., 1900) ; Nosgen, Der Schriftbeweis fur die evangelische Rechtfer- tigungslehre (1901); Schlatter, Der Glaube im N. T. (3rd ed., 1905); Feme, Das Geseties/reie Emngelium des Paulus (1899); Idem, Jestis Christus u. Pa-ulus (1902); Clemen, Paulus, sein Leben u, Wirken (2 vols., 1904); Gottschick, Die Heilsgewiss- heit des evangelishen Christen in Zeitschr. fur Theol. u. Kritik (1903), 349 sqq.; Denifle, Luther u. Lulhertum in der erslen Entwicklung, I (Mainz, 1904) : Ihmels, Die Rechtfertigung allein durch den Glauben, unser fester Grund Rom gegeniiber in Neue kirchliche Zeitschrift (1904), 618 sqq.; Denifle and Weiss, Luther u. Luthertum etc., 11 (Mainz, 1909). Cf. also Harnack, Dogmengesch., Ill (4th ed., Freiburg, 1909); Ihmels in Her- ZOG and Hauck, Realencycl, fur protest. Theel., s. v. Rechtferti- gung.

II. The Catholic Doctrine on Justification. — We have an authentic explanation of the Catholic doctrine in the famous " Decretum de justificatione" of the Sixth Session (13 Jan., 1547) of the Council of Trent, which in sixteen chapters (cf . Denzinger-Bann- wart, " Enchir.", nn. 793-810) and thirty-three canons (I.e., 811-43) gives in the clearest manner all necessary information about the process, causes, effects, and qualities of justification.

(1) The Proce.'is of Justification {Processus justifica- tionis). — Since justification as an application of the Redemption to the individual presupposes the fall of the entire human race, the Council of Trent quite logically begins with the fundamental statement that original sin has weakened and deflected, but not en- tirely destroyed or extinguished the freedom of the human will (Trent, sess. VI, cap. i: " Liberum arbi- trium minime extinctum, viribus licet attenuatum et inclinatum"). Nevertheless, as the children of Adam were really corrupted by priginal sin, they could not of themselves arise from their fall nor shake off the bonds of sin, death, and Satan. Neither the natural

faculties left in man, nor the observance of the Jewish Law could achieve this. Since God alone was able to free us from this great misery. He sent in His infinite love His only begotten Son Jesus C'hrist, Who by His bitter passion and death on the cross redeemed fallen man and thus became the Mediator between God and man. But, if the grace of Redemption merited by Christ is to be appropriated by the individual, he must be "regenerated in tjod", that is he must be justified. What then is meant by justification? Justification denotes that change or transformation in the soul by which man is transferred from the state of original sin, in which as a child of Adam he was born, to that of grace and Divine sonship through Jesus Christ, the second Adam, our Redeemer (1. c, cap. iv: "Justifi- catio impii . . . translatio ab eo statu, in quo homo nascitur filius primi Ada;, in statum gratiae et adop- tionis filiorum Dei per secundum Adam, Jesum Christ- um, Salvatorem nostrum"). In the New Law this justification cannot, according to Christ's precept, be effected except at the fountain of regeneration, that is, by the baptism of water. Wliile in Baptism in- fants are forthwith cleansed of the stain of original sin without any preparation on their part, the adult must pass through a moral preparation, which consists es- sentially in turning from sin and towards God. This entire process receives its first impulse from the super- natural grace of vocation (absolutely independent of man's merits), and requires an intrinsic union of the Divine and human action, of grace and moral freedom of election, in such a manner, however, that the will can resist, and with full liberty reject the influence of grace (Trent, 1. c, can. iv: " If any one should say that free will, moved and set in action by God, cannot co- operate by assenting to God's call, nor dissent if it wish ... let him be anathema"). By this decree the Council not only condemned the Protestant view that the will in the reception of grace remains merely passive, but also forestalled the Jansenistic heresy regarding the impossibility of resisting actual grace. (See Jansenius.) With what httle right heretics in defence of their doctrine appeal to St. Augustine, may be seen from the following brief extract from his writings: " He who made you without your doing does not without your action justify you. Without your knowing He made you, with your willing He justifies you; but it is He who justifies, that the justice be not your own" (Serm. clxi.x, c. xi, n. 13). Regarding St. Augustine's doctrine cf. J. Mausbach, " Die Etliik des hi. Augustinus", II, Freiburg, 1909, pp. 208-58.

We now come to the different stages in the process of justification. The Council of Trent assigns the first and most important place to faith, which is styled " the beginning, foundation and root of all j usti- fication" (Trent, 1. c, cap. viii). Cardinal Pallavicini (Hist. Cone. Trid., VIII, iv, 18) tells us that all the bishops present at the council fully realized how im- portant it was to explain St. Paul's saying that man is justified through faith. Comparing Bible and Tradi- tion they could not experience any serious difficulty in showing that fiduciary faith was an absolutely new invention and that the faith of justification was iden- tical with a firm belief in the truths and promises of Divine revelation (I. c, cap. vi: " credent es vera esse, quae divinitus revelata et promissa sunt"). As its first effect this supernatural faith produces in the soul a fear of God's avenging justice, and then, through the consideration of God's mercy, it awakens the hope of forgiveness for Christ's sake, which is soon followed by the first beginnings of charity (I.e.: " illumque [Deum] tanquam omnis justitiae fontem diligere incipiunt"). The next step is a genuine sorrow for all sin with the resolution to begin a new life by receiving holy bap- tism and by observing the commandments of God. The process of justification is then brought to a close by the baptism of water, inasmuch as by the grace of this sacrament the catechumen is freed from sin