By Faith Alone? (White vs Matatics)

Debate Format and Speaker Introductions

I'd like to welcome you all to Boston College for the first of two debates, which I think will prove intriguing and very interesting. The debate tomorrow evening, at this time and in this room, will be on the topic, is the Catholic Old Testament canon correct?

The debate for this evening is on the question, will faith alone get you to heaven? Arguing for the affirmative is James White, and for the negative is Jerry Matitix. Let me explain to you the format of this evening's debate.

Mr. White will begin with a 25-minute opening sentence statement that will be answered by a 25-minute statement by Mr. Matitix. Then each speaker in that order will have a five-minute rebuttal. Then each speaker again in that order will have a second five-minute rebuttal.

At this point, there will be an opportunity for each speaker to ask the other a question, and there will be two minutes allotted for response. Then finally, Mr. White will begin with a closing statement of 15 minutes, and Mr. Matitix will have the opportunity of closing the debate with a 15-minute closing statement, at which point we will open up to questions from the floor.

Before I introduce our speakers, let me point out to you that there are books and, I believe, tapes on sale in a room behind the stage. They will be available after the debate. Let me introduce our second speaker first.

Jerry Matitix is a former ordained minister and theologian in the Presbyterian Church in America, who, together with his wife and children, entered the Catholic Church in Easter of 1986. Mr. Matitix was graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of New Hampshire with a BA in Classical New Testament and Patristic Greek.

He received a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1981. He completed his work for a PhD in biblical studies at the Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Mr. Matitix has taught on the faculties of Westminster Theological Seminary, St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, the University of San Diego, Aquinas College in Nashville, Tennessee, and Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia.

He founded and directs Biblical Foundations, a nonprofit apologetics organization that seeks to educate the public in the biblical basis of the Catholic faith. He and his wife have six children. James White holds a bachelor's degree in Bible from Grand Canyon University and a master's degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.

He is the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries and the author of six books, including Letters to a Mormon Elder, The Fatal Flaw, Answers to Catholic Claims, and Justification by Faith. He has served as adjunct professor of church history at Grand Canyon and is coming to us having just completed missions work amongst the Mormons during the previous weeks in Utah and Arizona.

James is married to Kelly and has two children, Joshua and Summer. I am the moderator. My name is Michael Pakaluk. I teach philosophy at Clark University in Worcester. So I now cede the podium to our first speaker, who is arguing for the affirmative in response to the question, will faith alone get you to heaven, Reverend James White.

Justification by Faith Alone Versus Roman Catholic Infused Righteousness

Good evening. Roman Catholic scholar Ludwig Ott, in his book Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, said the following concerning the state of grace. Quote, the reason for the uncertainty of the state of grace lies in this, that without a special revelation, nobody can with certainty of faith know whether or not he has fulfilled all the conditions which are necessary for achieving justification.

The debate this evening is well served by the statement from Dr. Ott. Must we all fulfill conditions which are necessary, according to Roman Catholicism, for achieving justification? Or are men made right with God by his free and merciful grace, not on the basis of what they do in a state of grace, but upon the basis of what Christ did as their perfect substitute?

That is the issue before us this evening. To allow for a full understanding of the Protestant position, I will have to at least give a brief outline of the Roman Catholic position. The Protestant, and I, of course, believe biblical doctrine of justification differs from the Roman Catholic view in four very important foundational aspects.

First, we differ on the meaning and extent of the term justification. Secondly, we differ on the meaning and the extent of the term impute or imputation. Thirdly, we differ on the instrument by which justification takes place.

Is it faith alone or faith plus works? And finally, and I believe most importantly, we differ on the grounds or basis upon which sinful men can be justified. I shall deal, hopefully, in the brief time we have with all four of these areas this evening.

Let's begin with some definitions. The Council of Trent defined justification as follows, quote, a translation from that state in which man is born a child of the first Adam to the state of grace and of the adoption of the sons of God through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our Savior.

This translation, however, cannot, since the promulgation of the gospel, be effected except through the labor of regeneration or its desire, that is, by baptism, quote, without which no man was ever justified finally, end quote.

Therefore, the initial means of justification is baptism. The Catholic position asserts that, quote, faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all justification. We are therefore said to be justified gratuitously because none of those things that precede justification, whether faith or works, merit the grace of justification, end quote.

Notice what is said here. According to Trent, we can say that we are justified by grace or gratuitously solely because those things that precede justification, faith and works, are prompted and aided by God's grace.

The process of justification is based upon God's grace, but it is not completely of God's grace, and it cannot be said, I feel, that God's grace alone is sufficient without human works to bring about full and complete justification.

Faith alone is explicitly denied as being the sole instrument of justification, for Trent says, quote, wherefore no one ought to flatter himself with faith alone, thinking that by faith alone he has made an error and will obtain the inheritance, end quote.

Roman Catholicism teaches that the grace of justification can be gained and lost, gained and lost. Trent said, quote, those who through sin have forfeited the received grace of justification can again be justified when, moved by God, they exert themselves to obtain through the sacrament of penance the recovery by the merits of Christ of the grace lost.

Justification in Roman Catholic theology involves an infusion of grace, the grace of justification, into the individual. This involves a subjective change in the person because of the subjective change in the person he has enabled through the power of grace to do good works.

These works are, according to the Council of Trent, meritorious in God's sight, I quote again. Hence, to those who work well under the end and trust in God, eternal life is to be offered, both as a grace mercifully promised to the sons of God through Jesus Christ and as a reward promised by God himself to be faithfully given to their good works and merits.

We must believe that nothing further is wanting to those justified to prevent them from being considered to have, by those very works which have been done in God, fully satisfied the divine law according to the state of this life and to have truly merited eternal life to be obtained in its due time provided they depart this life in grace, end quote.

It must be emphasized that eternal life is merited by the good works performed by the person in the state of grace. The basis, then, of one's final salvation is not solely the work of Christ. Dr. Ludwig Ott wrote, quote, by his good works, the justified man really acquires a claim to supernatural reward from God, end quote.

And Matthias Prem added, man, for his part, in order to arrive at full sanctification must cooperate with the grace of the Holy Spirit through faith, hope, love of God and neighbor, and prayer. But he must also perform other works.

It is a universally accepted dogma of the Catholic Church that man, in union with the grace of the Holy Spirit, must merit heaven by his good works. These works are meritorious only when they are performed in the state of grace and with a good intention.

We have shown that according to the Holy Scripture, the Christian can actually merit heaven for himself by his good works, end quote. Therefore, we see that justification in the Roman Catholic understanding encompasses the entire concept of forgiveness as well as sanctification, for it involves a subjective inward change in the individual.

Justification is not solely a process of imputation, but a process of infusion of grace into the individual. Finally, the grounds of justification is not solely the work of Jesus Christ. While Christ's passion merits the grace of justification, this grace then produces good works which form part of the basis of the final salvation of the individual.

Now, in contrast, the Roman position allowed me to provide the Protestant position taken from the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. Quote, those whom God effectually calls, he also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone, not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness, but by imputing Christ's act of obedience under the whole law and passive obedience in his death for their whole and sole righteousness, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.

Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness is the alone instrument of justification, yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.

Christ, by his obedience in death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified and did by the sacrificing of himself in the blood of his cross, undergoing in their stead the penalty due unto them, make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God's justice in their behalf.

Yet, inasmuch as he was given by the Father for them and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead and both freely, not for anything in them, their justification is only of free grace, that both the exact justice and right grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.

And the Westminster Shorter Catechism summed it up well by stating, question, what is justification? Answer, justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.

And please note the following items. Justification is said to be an act of God as judge wherein he declares the believer righteous. Justification, therefore, is a legal forensic declaration on the part of God concerning the believer.

Justification is undertaken by God and is not based upon anything done in or done by the believer. It is an act of sovereign grace. Justification is based solely and completely upon the merits of another, Jesus Christ.

Justification involves the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, both his perfect life as well as his perfect, all-sufficient atoning sacrifice to the believer upon which basis the believer is called righteous.

Justification is by grace through faith. Faith is the instrument or means of appropriating justification. This faith is a true saving faith. It is not an empty faith, but it is the work of God in the believer's heart.

It is a gift of God. Justification, while distinct from sanctification, cannot possibly be separated from it. God changes man in regeneration and sanctification. God declares man righteous in justification.

Any man who is justified will be sanctified. It is impossible to separate justification and sanctification, but it is absolutely necessary to distinguish them. Justification is a once-for-all action.

Since it is based upon the completed work of Christ, it cannot be undone or destroyed by the actions of man. We look back upon our justification, as Paul said in Romans chapter five, verse one, that we'll be looking at a little later.

We will now look to God's word to reveal to us which perspective is true. For as Jesus said to the Father, your word is truth. That which does not accord with the Bible cannot possibly call for the allegiance of the Christian heart.

Are we justified only after being baptized? And is justification something that can be undone by human evil? Are we required to go through a sacrament of confession involving contrition, confession, doing works of satisfaction?

Is God working in us so that we ourselves can make satisfaction for our sins? Or did Christ make full and complete satisfaction in our place on Calvary, so that now God is working in us to conform us to the image of Christ?

Before engaging the specific scriptural passages that teach justification by faith alone, I wish to emphasize something that is absolutely foundational to our debate this evening. The Bible teaches that salvation is based upon God's grace.

Grace is not simply an aid that helps men to do things. Grace is free, absolutely free, completely based upon the will and mercy of God, not upon any action of man. The Bible tells us that we are justified by grace in Titus chapter three, verses five through seven, where we quote, he saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

We are also told that we are justified as a gift by his grace in Romans 3 .24. But aside from being justified by free grace, we are also said to be justified by the blood of Jesus Christ in Romans 5 .9, where we quote, much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him.

So we see that the Bible speaks of our justification by grace, our justification by the blood of Christ, and further, the Bible speaks of our justification by faith, as in Romans 5 .1. Therefore, having been justified, past tense, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Justification by grace, justified by the blood of Christ, justified by faith, are these three different things or three aspects of one thing? Clearly, Paul is describing the great truth of justification by God's free grace.

His grace is unmerited, we cannot earn it. The blood of Christ shed on behalf of his people was unmerited and free, we did not earn it. And the faith that justifies true saving faith is the gift of God's grace as well.

So the real issue is this. Is God's grace sufficient to bring about justification or must human merit be added to the grace of God? Now in the past, I've used that single passage of Genesis chapter 15, verse six, to help give order and cohesiveness to my presentation of the biblical doctrine of justification by faith.

I'd like to direct your attention to Genesis 15, six in the few moments I have left to me. Genesis 15, six says, and he believed in Yahweh and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. The first concept to examine this evening is that of faith.

Abram believed in God. We assert that man is justified by this kind of faith and not by any other actions. This is exactly what Paul said when he faced Peter in Antioch. Peter had seriously compromised the truth of the gospel by withdrawing from table fellowship with the Gentiles.

In rebuking him, Paul said, quote, knowing that a man is not justified by works of law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of law.

For no flesh shall be justified by works of law, end quote, Galatians 2, 16. Now, Paul took our central passage this evening, Genesis 15, six, and made the same point in Romans chapter four, one of the clearest, most obvious arguments for justification by faith.

Having concluded the first section of the book by saying in the 28th verse of the third chapter, quote, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of law, end quote. He went on to cite our passage in verse three of chapter four and immediately upon citing the justification of Abram, Paul said, quote, now to the one who works, the wage is not reckoned as a gift, but as what is due, but to the one who does not work, but rather believes upon the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness, end quote.

Know well what is said here by Paul. Paul contrasts the concepts of working, and notice nothing said here about doing just Jewish law. Many people try to say, well, Paul's just talking about the Jewish law.

No, Paul is talking simply here about working, the idea of working to gain something. Paul contrasts the concept of working and believing. This is a common concept in the New Testament. There is a strong antithesis between belief and work when it comes to being right with God.

One must either work at doing deeds or one must believe in Christ. One simply cannot meld the two together. Paul asserts that those who do not work, but in opposition to this believe are the ones who received righteousness.

The antithesis between faith and works is found to be essential to all of Paul's discussion of how a man is made right with God. Notice I am not in any way, shape, or form denying the role of good works in the Christian life.

I want to emphasize, we're talking about how a man is made right with God. Prior to this, Paul had said in Romans 3 21 -25, but now apart from the law, a righteousness from God has been revealed, being witnessed to by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ, to all the ones believing.

For there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified how? Freely by his grace through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation through faith in his blood, end quote.

Men are justified freely and by grace. Paul asserts that justification is by grace here in Romans 3 24 and again in Titus 3 7 as we saw. Faith, the faith that we're talking about, abandons all efforts at work or merit and realizes man's complete dependence upon God, not just for the provision of a way of salvation, but for the entire action of salvation.

For salvation to be of grace, it cannot possibly be of works. As Paul said in Romans 11 6, either is on the basis of works or of grace. It cannot be both. Grace by definition excludes the entire concept of human works or merit.

Grace cannot be merited and cannot coexist with merit on the part of the one to whom it is given in regards to justification. The contrast of faith and works as mutually exclusive concepts is continued in Paul's strong letter to the Galatians.

He asserts that one simply cannot combine works of law with faith in Christ. Note his strong words in Galatians 2 21, quote, I do not nullify or set apart or do away with the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through law, then Christ died needlessly.

And when you hear an inspired apostle say something about Christ dying needlessly, you need to listen closely to what he's talking about. If one asserts that righteousness is the result of God's grace and human action, then one is nullifying the work of Christ completely.

No synergism is possible. It is either all of grace or not of grace at all. Finally, Paul provides a clear antithesis when in Galatians 3 10 -11, he writes, quote, for as many as are of the works of law are under the curse, for it is written, curse it are all those who do not abide in all the things written in the book of the law to do them, but that no one shall be justified before God by law is evident, for the just shall live by faith.

The impossibility of the Roman Catholic position is clearly seen. Faith plus works nullifies grace. Grace plus works is dead. But does not the Bible say that Christians are to do good works, you may say?

Well, of course it does. But the only one who can do good works is the one who has already been justified, as Paul taught the Ephesians, Ephesians chapter two. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, what? Unto good works, which God before ordained that we should walk in them. Salvation is the gift of God, not just the bare plan of God, or even just the bare grace of God that prompts us somehow to move toward God, but all of salvation is of God.

Were this not the case, we would most certainly boast. But salvation is not of man or by man, but it is of and by God alone. The purpose of God is clearly presented. We have been created in Christ Jesus unto good works, not by good works, not with the help of good works, but that we might perform good works.

First comes full salvation from God, then as a result, the works prompted by the Holy Spirit of God. No human merit, even that supposedly produced by human works performed in a state of grace, will ever stand before the judgment bar of God.

Only the righteousness of Christ, apprehended by faith, will avail. And lest you think my words to be too strong, please remember what Paul said in summing up his argument in Galatians chapter five, verse two.

Listen closely. Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. The Judaizers in Galatia were asserting that one act of obedience, circumcision, was absolutely necessary for justification.

Paul made it crystal clear. It is either Christ alone as the perfect Savior or it is the works of law. No matter what law one might want to call it, no matter what law one might choose, Christ will not share his Saviorhood with anyone, including you.

Before moving on to the meaning of the next term in Genesis 15, six, that being imputation, I need to stress the fact that when we speak of faith alone, we are speaking of saving faith. Saving faith is the gift of God given to his elect people.

It is differentiated in scripture from non-saving or dead faith. Indeed, a passage that is often used by those who deny God's free grace and justification by faith is James chapter two, where the apostle attacks not Paul's doctrine of justification by faith, but the idea that a dead, empty faith can save.

First, let us note the context of James chapter two. James is addressing believers about living the Christian life. He is not discussing how men enter into a relationship with God. Then we must note what James said in the first chapter.

Quote, in the exercise of his will, he brought us forth. Pick up the quotation in a moment. Can I stop my watching? Let's know what James said, first of all, in James chapter one. In the exercise of his will, he brought us forth by the word of truth so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among his creatures.

This, you know, my beloved brethren, let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all the remains of wickedness, in humility, receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

Note some important things in James's words. First, he is addressing Christians, for he speaks as us being the first fruits of God. Secondly, he believes, just as Paul, that salvation is the work of God, not man, for he says that we were brought forth by the word of truth, just as Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 2 .13, quote, and for this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you receive from us the word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of man, but what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe, end quote.

Part and parcel, the recognition of the fact that God saves us by his wonderful word is the fact that God's work of salvation will result in a changed life. Often we hear Ephesians 2 .8 -9 quoted, but not that 10th verse that I quoted to you before in regards to being his workmanship in Christ Jesus.

The exhortation to holy living that is found in James is perfectly in line with Paul's words to Titus as well, in Titus 3 .5 -7, as I've quoted to you previously. The doing of the good deeds, however, always comes after justification.

It is never a prerequisite, never a means. Next, as we approach the second half of James chapter two, we note that James tells us what kind of faith he is decrying. We read in verse 14, what use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works?

Can that faith save him, end quote? The kind of faith that James is attacking is a faith that does not result in works. Yet, as we have seen, this is not saving faith. The faith Paul spoke of in Ephesians 2 and in Titus 3 always resulted in good works.

So James and Paul are not using the word faith in the same way. For Paul, faith is saving faith, the very gift of the sovereign God given in regeneration. James, on the other hand, is talking about faith that is, as he said, dead, faith that does not result in works.

The fact that James and Paul are going to use the same terms with different meanings will become very important in a moment. In verse 17, James states that such a kind of faith is dead being alone. We agree that saving faith will not be alone, and hence we are not asserting that salvation can come by such dead faith.

Then, verse 18, we find a vital key to understanding this passage. James speaks of demonstrating one's faith by one's works. We are to show our faith by the way we act. So later, when James talks about Abram being justified by his works, he does so in the context of demonstrating his faith before other men.

The justification of which James speaks, then, is in a completely different context than Paul's discussion in Romans or Galatians. Paul says that no man shall be justified in the sight of God by works.

James says that the only way a man can be justified in the sight of men is by those works because we can't see the inner man of the heart. We are then given the example of Abraham. He asks if Abraham was not justified by works when he offered Isaac upon the altar.

Yet we know that Genesis 15, six tells us that Abraham was justified in God's sight many years before the offering of Isaac upon the altar, and that by faith without works. So the justification of which James speaks here is not the same justification as Paul's spoken of, so there's no contradiction between the two.

Here, Abraham is being justified with reference to his faith, not his sins, as in Genesis 15, six. The faith he showed to God in Genesis 15, six is being shown to be true faith, real saving faith. His works, as James said, perfected faith, showed faith, and most importantly, sprung from his faith.

Now, in about the one minute I have left, I'd like to turn your attention to Genesis 15, six again and the idea of imputation. The usage of this term in the Old Testament indicates that to impute something to someone does not involve a subjective change in the person.

One example of that is to be found, for example, in Leviticus 17, four. Here, any man who did not bring an animal he had slaughtered to the door of the tabernacle is an offering to the Lord. As the scripture says, blood guiltiness is to be reckoned to that man.

Surely this guilt is not infused into the man, but he is legally declared guilty of the blood. I would suggest to you that this is the proper background, the proper context for understanding Paul's use of the term imputation as found in the New Testament.

I will close at that point and turn the podium over to Mr. Matitix.

Thank you.

Roman Catholic Salvation, Grace, and the Need for Cooperation

Begin my time this evening with a word of prayer. In the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, we thank you that salvation comes to us through your eternal Son, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, our King.

We thank you that in Him we have all of our righteousness. We thank you that He saves us by His grace alone. We thank you that we are saved by faith in Him, a faith, as St. Paul says, that works in love.

We thank you for the gift of salvation, which we have done nothing in our own weakness and sinfulness to deserve to turn your heart towards us. But only in your great mercy and grace have you had mercy upon a sinful and erring human family.

We thank you that you sent your Son, that He died upon the cross for our sins and offered up an infinite and perfect sacrifice to you, that He rose from the dead on that first Easter, which we have just celebrated,.

Which we celebrate every day of our lives,.

And especially every Sunday. We ask that His Holy Spirit would be at work in our lives now, shedding His light, the light of His truth into our minds and into our hearts. Help us to submit our minds, not to the theology of any fallible man, but to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and His inspired apostles.

Help us to be willing to listen carefully to the words of sacred scripture and to understand that perhaps it is possible in our sincerity and in our intelligence that nonetheless we have misinterpreted words in scripture and help us to be willing to allow our opinions, as fallible as they are, to be revised and amended by the work of your Holy Spirit, speaking through your inspired, inerrant word.

We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, in whom alone we trust for salvation.

Amen.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. James has done, Mr. White has done, I call him James because we're pretty much friends by now. We've debated so many times. I think he's done a very masterful job of expounding for you the classical, reformed, Calvinistic understanding of justification by faith alone.

I feel that I'm somewhat competent to say that he's done an extremely competent job because it was a view that I held myself for many years when I was an evangelical Protestant and an ordained minister and theologian in the Presbyterian Church in America.

Studied at a seminary in this area, in the Boston area, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and of some very outstanding reformed professors and had the great privilege of going to kind of the bastion of Calvinistic thought at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia to do the coursework towards a PhD in biblical studies.

So I'm very familiar with his arguments, his understanding of scripture. And I have no need to question his intelligence or his integrity or his sincerity because I know that I, by the grace of God, sought to be an intelligent and sincere understander of scripture when I held those views as well.

Nonetheless, I came to the conclusion, totally against my expectations, that this view of the Bible is tragically misinformed at a couple of crucial points and produces a distortion, unfortunately, that separates those that name the name of Jesus Christ from one another, and I believe, from the true message of scripture.

The reason I began my time with prayer is because I believe that what we are talking about tonight is the single most important issue that we could conceivably discuss before you. There is no way that Mr. White and I could better make use of our time than to discuss this issue of how we get to heaven.

And this is true because human beings were made, not just for earthly life, but for a supernatural life and end and destiny with God forever and ever in heaven. To fail to achieve that is to fail to be truly human, to fail to be what God designed you and me to be.

We cannot attain this supernatural end without the supernatural assistance or the grace of Almighty God. And this is made all the more imperative because of the fall, because of the fact that our forefather, Adam, sinned against God.

And as a result, has bequeathed to us a fallen human nature that is incapable on its own of turning towards God, desiring God's salvation, or doing anything to attract God's attention, to merit or to obligate God to put himself in our debt so that he has to save us.

Christianity has consistently taught that apart from the grace of God, sinful human beings can do absolutely nothing to get to heaven. Salvation is solely by the grace of God, sola gratia, as they put it in an age when Latin was the universal language of Christians.

And the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent, no less than the Protestant reformers, to out of courtesy give them that title, reaffirmed this in the strongest possible terms, that salvation is by grace alone.

And Mr. White, I think, will affirm that, student that he is of the doctrines and the decrees of the Council of Trent. They taught that salvation is sola gratia. Now he might wanna argue that they are inconsistent with that and other statements they make, but they did agree that the apostolic successors of the church had always taught that salvation is by grace alone, that the Protestant reformers were not in disagreement with them on that issue.

But this is the watershed that separates Protestants from Christ's one holy Catholic apostolic church, and that is, how does one receive this grace apart from which one cannot be saved? Martin Luther taught that we receive it by faith alone.

His Latin motto for this was sola fide, by faith alone. That's one aspect of the issue, but not the only one, as Mr. White has very competently pointed out. Because Luther also taught that justification is not a process that begins when we become a Christian and culminates when we are perfectly, completely sanctified when we get to heaven.

But the justification is a once-for-all, instantaneous declaration of God whereby he looks at a sinful human being and declares him or her to be righteous in his sight, even though the person is intrinsically, that is, in their own character, still unrighteous.

God, in other words, credits to your account. He reckons you as righteous because he looks at the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, his son, and then imputes that or credits that to your account in a kind of divine bookkeeping.

And that righteousness that you and I have, according to the Protestant reformers, is the righteousness of Christ that we receive on the basis of. It's external to us. It is extrinsic. It is not something that we possess ourselves or that there can be any increase or degrees of.

Now, Luther had concocted this concept because of an exaggerated sense of, an overactive conscious and an exaggerated sense, an extremely Augustinian view of the doctrine of the depravity of man so that he despaired of ever being able to do anything that was right in any sense of the word before a holy God.

Luther's psychological problems, which I think the church is right to warn us, is perhaps not the strongest foundation to build a new theology on. And make no mistake, Luther's theology of justification is new.

It was a theological novelty. Even a Protestant evangelical theologian such as Alistair McGrath, who did his doctoral work on this at Oxford University in England, admits in his two-volume work, Justitia Dei, the history of the doctrine of justification throughout the church, at the end of volume one on page 182 says this, Luther nevertheless introduced a decisive break with the Western theological tradition as a whole by insisting that through justification, man is intrinsically sinful yet extrinsically, that is outside of himself, righteous.