The Apologetic Significance of Justification by Faith Alone #solafide #romancatholicism

Welcome back to another episode of Revealed Apologetics. I'm your host, Eli Ayala, and today we're going to be talking about a very important biblical doctrine, the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

Now, just to give you some context here, so in the last video I made, I kind of gave folks an update as to what I was up to, what I have been up to. And I just recently returned from a speaking engagement in Pennsylvania where I spoke at a classical Christian school and talked about the importance of apologetics, theology, and Christian education and how they are intermingled and intertwined with one another.

And in the middle of the day, I had the opportunity to visit each of the classrooms and answer Bible questions all day. So there were a lot of questions. And so by the time I did the evening session, I lost my voice and it just started coming back a couple of days ago.

So as I returned and I was recovering, I was asked by the youth pastor of my church to speak to the youth because he wasn't feeling well. So without full recovery, I did that yesterday and talked about the topic of justification by faith alone with the youth group there.

I think it's a very important doctrine and it has great practical import in terms of understanding how we have peace with God. And it has a lot of apologetic import as well. As folks understand, this is a key issue that often comes up in the interaction between Protestants and Roman Catholics.

Now, if you remember in the previous episode, I also made mention of an upcoming speaking engagement I have in Kansas next month. The beginning of November, I will be speaking at a conference. I'll be presenting three talks.

One talk on the importance of apologetics in general. And then the last two talks are going to be on interacting and evangelizing Roman Catholics. And the next topic will be, I think, atheism and skepticism and things like that.

And so as I'm preparing for that, the preparation required to put together something with respect to apologetic encounters with atheists, that's not so much something that requires too much prep. That's something I'm very used to.

However, the issue of Roman Catholicism, I think, is something that I need to be spending a little bit more time in and digging into some of the key central differences that divide Roman Catholics and Protestants.

Specifically, coming from the Protestant perspective that I come from, I'm a Calvinist, Reformed Baptist in my theology. And so I have to kind of explore some of the key differences there and how we might interact with Roman Catholics.

And so the nature of our interaction between with Roman Catholics is going to depend on the nature of the interaction. In other words, that when we speak to the average Catholic on the street, that is going to be vastly different than, say, interacting with like a Trent Horn on YouTube, right?

Trent Horn is a very informed Roman Catholic, knows his history, knows his stuff, typically knows what Protestants often bring up throughout the course of discussions and interactions with one another.

And again, as I said, that's going to be different than interacting with the nominal Catholic that you might find walking around your neighborhood. I had an interesting interaction some years back with a Roman Catholic.

I was invited to a church, and so there was this church in our area that I was constantly being invited to, and I finally had the opportunity to be there. But as I parked my car, I was texting my friend.

I was like, hey, I'm here. As I was walking up to the church, there was a man, Catholic man, holding a large sign, a big, huge sign right in front of him, and the sign said, The Roman Catholic Church is the only true church that has been guided by the Holy Spirit throughout the centuries.

And so that's what the sign said. And so I approached him, and instead of going into the church that I was invited to, I spent quite some time interacting with that gentleman, and let's just say the discussion went very well.

I thought that I said my piece and gave him something to think about. But yes, I am of the position that a Roman Catholic, a Roman Catholic who knows Roman Catholic doctrine and is affirming the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope and all these sorts of things, is an object of evangelism.

Because folks who are familiar with the differences between Protestant Christianity and Roman Catholic Christianity, you will notice very quickly upon examination that there is a key fundamental difference in how we define and explain the gospel.

What makes one right before God will be different depending on whether you ask a Protestant Christian and a Roman Catholic. And of course, when I say Protestant, I'm more narrowly referring to kind of the Reform stripe, the Calvinistic stripe, and I know there are variations and nuances with respect to how we are to understand those terms.

But I'm just speaking from my perspective here. And so there are key fundamental differences, and what I've found in my exploration of Roman Catholicism throughout the years and listening to debates and things like that, when I often get the question, what is the difference between Roman Catholicism and Protestant Christianity?

It is very easy to say something along the lines, well, you know, those Catholics are those people who pray to Mary or they pray to the saints or they do all sorts of, you know, things that aren't in the Bible, right?

But we often hear the superficial differences between a Roman Catholic and a Protestant Christian of the Reform stripe, Calvinistic, or anyone who holds to the principles of the Reformation, you know, the five solas, those sorts of things.

And what I've identified is that the key fundamental difference, the reason why what Roman Catholics do is very different than what Protestants do within religious life is that there is a difference in the source of authority, okay?

There is a difference in the source of authority. There is a reason why when you approach a Catholic and you point something out that they are doing that it's not in Scripture, that doesn't and normally doesn't phase the Catholic because the Catholic is not committed to what the Protestant, the self-conscious Protestant is committed to, and that is the doctrine of or the principle of sola scriptura, okay?

Now, if you just presuppose the doctrine of or the principle of sola scriptura, obviously we're going to say, hey, where is that in the Bible, assuming that the Bible is the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

The Roman Catholic does not hold to that. They also hold to sacred tradition and the authority of the teaching magisterium and things like that. And so understanding that the key fundamental difference between Roman Catholics and Protestant Christians is that there is a fundamental difference in authority, okay?

Now, the topic of today's episode is not going to be speaking so much of the nature of those authorities, sola scriptura. I do have some episodes and interviews that cover that topic and I think it's vitally important, but what I want to talk about is the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

I spoke about this last night to my youth group, and I think that it is an important topic to address here. And I'm not doing anything fancy here. I'm just going to go through kind of the biblical foundation, just exploring a couple of texts here.

And as I said before, I am still recovering from my sore throat. Thankfully, this microphone is a really nice microphone, and so I don't have to talk too loudly. It projects my voice pretty good. But by the way, this is a Shure microphone.

This is the best microphone I've ever used. I mean, I'm hearing myself in these headphones and I sound like a radio host to myself. It's got really nice crisp quality, so I really like this bad boy. And so there you go.

All right. Well, again, I'm going to try to be as focused as I possibly can because I don't want to lose my voice again. As you guys know, I'm a teacher, so I'm on vacation, but my vacation ends after Sunday.

I'm right back into work on Monday, so I don't want to destroy my voice. So there you go. So anyway, with all of that out of the way, let's talk about the doctrine of justification by faith alone. I want to kind of pull out some important aspects of this doctrine that I think are really relevant to the everyday Christian who has peace with God, and it allows us the opportunity to reflect on the beautiful nature of that peace and why we should be thankful to God that God set up salvation in the way that he has.

And this gives us kind of a foundation through which we can communicate with those who do not share this perspective and who do not have a peace with God because of their faulty doctrine of salvation or whatever the case may be.

So let's dive right in here. So the principle of justification by faith alone is a foundational doctrine within Christian theology, more specifically Protestantism, more narrowly, especially Calvinistic theological perspectives, and it emphasizes that a sinner is declared righteous before God solely on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ.

This is key, apart from any merit of their own, okay? And so in this video, I want to kind of dive into some of the biblical foundations of this doctrine, focusing on some key passages that I find important and typically come up in my experience.

And then I'm also going to be addressing the elephant in the room, which is James chapter 2, which says we're justified not by faith alone. Okay, so what's going on there? We'll explore that. So justification is this idea that the sinner is declared righteous.

It is something that God does. It is a legal act, a legal act whereby God declares the sinner righteous before himself. And this is attained, the justification that God, when God justifies us, it is attained by faith.

We are justified by faith and not by what we do. And I think a very important element in understanding the concept of justification is understanding that it is a legal act. The Bible associates sin with legality.

If you remember the Lord's Prayer, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our...

Oh wow, look at this. Okay, give us our daily bread and... Oh man, look at that. Oh snap. I went so fast that I didn't even remember. Okay, this is embarrassing. I know this by the back of my hand and I'm having like a moment here.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, even as we forgive our debtors.

Okay, I'm not going to quote the whole thing, but in some translations, sin is equated with debt. Wow, sorry for that moment. I can't believe it. It was really embarrassing. It's something I should know, but the point still stands.

Okay, you can laugh at me later. The point still stands that sin is often equated with debt. Okay, and in the book of Colossians, we see that he nailed, having nailed the certificate of debt on the cross, cancelling, he cancelled out our debt.

So this cancelling of our sin is a cancelling of our debt, and so justification is a legal act. God declares us righteous, and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to the sinner, is reckoned to the sinner's account.

Okay, and so I want to kind of unpack that here, and I want to more specifically look at some passages in the book of Romans, which is a vitally important book in the scriptures, especially with respect to this issue of justification.

If you know anything about church history, the book of Romans is part of, you know, the book of Romans played an integral role in the life and theological formation of Martin Luther, who is considered the father of the Protestant Reformation.

So Romans is a very important book to become familiar with if you're interested in the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The book of Galatians as well is very important in that regard. Now, in the letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul provides profound insight into this doctrine, and there are two crucial passages that I want to kind of briefly explore here, and that's Romans 4 -5 and Romans 5 -1.

Okay, Romans 4 -5 states that,. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Okay, I'll say that again. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

That's a very important passage here. But to the one who does not work, so there's work, but believes, and then there's faith. So you have faith and you have work. But to the one who does not work, removing work, and there stands faith alone, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

Now, this verse is super important to the concept of justification by faith alone, because it underscores that justification, this declaration that God declares over the sinner, is not dependent on human merit, but on faith in God who justifies the ungodly.

And this emphasizes, this emphasis, rather, on faith over works is foundational to the writings of the Apostle Paul. Now, the key point of this verse is that one's faith, rather than one's efforts or merit, what God considers, is what God considers as righteousness.

Abraham's example mentioned in Romans 4, 3, for example, illustrates this concept, I think, beautifully. Despite Abraham's own unrighteousness, Abraham believes God, he believes in God's promises, God's covenant, and his faith is counted as righteousness.

And this illustrates that faith is the means by which we are justified before God. Now, of course, the idea of justification is important, but it's also important to recognize that justification is acquired by faith, which the Bible teaches.

Faith, the faith by which we are justified, is itself a gift of God's grace. We have, for example, the book of Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 8, I think is a crucial verse in the New Testament that emphasizes the gracious nature of salvation and the role of faith as a gift of God.

We're going to take a look at Ephesians 2, 8 a little more closely, but you take a look, for example, at Philippians 1, 29. It says, it is granted to you to believe. Faith is granted. It is a gift of God's grace.

Grace, by definition, is something that we do not earn. It is the unmerited and undeserved favor of God upon the sinner. So it is by grace, through faith, that we are justified. And faith itself is a gift.

Repentance is a gift as well. 2 Timothy 2, 24 -25 tells us this, that repentance is granted to us. Faith is granted to us. And as a result of the faith granted, we receive justification, which is a declaration of righteousness before God, and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to the sinner.

Very important concepts here. Now, Ephesians 2, verse 8. For by grace you've been saved through faith. For by grace, God's unmerited favor, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing.

It is a gift of God. And, of course, that faith that God gives us results in justification. So let's take a look here. So for by grace you've been saved through faith. Now, this verse begins by affirming that salvation is a result of God's grace.

Grace in Christian theology is often defined as God's unmerited favor, as I said before, and love extended to sinful humanity. And it's not something that can be earned or deserved. In this context, salvation is not a reward for human merit, but it is a gift freely given by God.

And this is something that I think in our interactions with Roman Catholics is something that we should highlight, okay? This is something that God does, not because of anything that we have done. God saves us in spite of our sinfulness, as Romans 5, verse 8 says.

But God shows his love for us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, okay? That is an amazing and beautiful picture of God's initiation in saving sinners. It's not anything that we have done.

It is solely based upon God's grace. And this is not your own doing, as the passage says. And this passage explicitly emphasizes that salvation is achieved through faith and is not the product of human effort or achievement.

And this is so important, as it underscores the contrast between God's grace and human works, okay? Salvation is not a result of works so that no one could boast, as Ephesians 2, 9 says, okay? God has set up salvation in such a way that it is impossible for anyone to boast.

There is nothing in and of ourselves that merit God's favor. God shows his favor out of the nature of his own goodwill and his own good pleasure. Ephesians 2, 8 also mentions that it is a gift of God, okay?

Faith is a gift of God. The verse concludes by explicitly stating that both grace and faith are gifts. Grace initiates—this is important—initiates the process of salvation, and faith is the means by which salvation is received.

This interpretation aligns with the understanding that faith is a response to God's calling and drawing, this idea we see in John 6, 44. In other words, faith itself is not generated by human initiative.

It is a divine gift, okay? Which is a result, by the way, of regeneration, okay? It is the regenerated man that is able to exercise the faith that leads to man's justification, okay? So, kind of just to summarize here in Ephesians 2, 8, okay?

Ephesians 2, 8 sort of conveys the important truth that salvation is wholly a product of God's grace, and even the faith by which we receive it is a gift from God. And I think this passage serves as a beautiful reminder that the entire process of redemption from start to finish originates in God's mercy and is not dependent upon the merit or abilities of sinful humanity.

Again, there is nothing that we do. I don't remember who said this, and maybe someone in the chat could type this in, but I love this quote. We bring nothing to our salvation except the sin that made it necessary.

I think that's a beautiful quote and captures the truth of what we bring. We bring absolutely nothing. It is completely and solely a work of God. You know, for those who are unfamiliar with these sorts of discussions, I believe that salvation is monergistic, monergistic.

It is a work of God. It is not a work that is dependent upon the cooperation of man, which would be the view that is exemplified by the term synergism, okay? You've got monergism and synergism, those two important terms there.

Now let's take a look at another important passage with respect to this discussion on justification by faith alone, and that is Romans 5, verse 1. I think Romans 5, verse 1 kind of further expands on this topic.

It says here, Therefore, since we've been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, since we've been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now this verse reinforces the idea that faith is the instrument by which justification is attained, which we said before. So once a sinner believes in Christ, they experience reconciliation with God, signifying the righteousness imputed to them through faith results in peace with God.

And this verse emphasizes the inseparable link between justification and faith. They're very, very much connected. You cannot separate the two. It declares that the peace the believer now has with God is rooted in their faith in Jesus Christ and not in any personal accomplishment or good deeds.

The believer's justification by faith alone is the foundation for this newfound peace and reconciliation with God. Now, of course, we can zoom out and understand that this, of course, is part of a broader discussion.

I'm going to get the scripture up here. Let's see here. I'm going to get my Bible here. And that is we go to the book of Romans. Chapter eight. OK, let's see here. All right. Romans, chapter eight, verse twenty eight and on thirty here.

So let's read from twenty and on, it says here. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and those whom he predestined.

He also called and those whom he called. He also justified and those whom he justified. He also glorified. OK, that's a very, very important passage here, because as we're talking about justification in a narrow sense, we, of course, understand that there is a broader application that links all the way back to God's election, God's predestination, God's calling and justification and then our future experience of glorification.

So I don't want to separate those ideas from, you know, this discussion. OK, so to understand this concept of justification more fully, I think it's important to understand its historical development and the various theological implications of the view.

And pardon. Oh, my goodness, my throat is like killing me right now. I'm so sorry. Let's see here. Let me see in my notes here. OK, we just did Romans 5, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2. Pardon. So, yeah, so the reformed the reformed doctrine of justification by faith alone.

This view has its roots in Scripture. OK, but historically, as we kind of pay closer attention to it and it comes to kind of a clarity due to the obfuscation. Oh, my goodness. Due to the ambiguity, let's just say that that Roman Catholic theology created, it comes to clarity within the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

And so reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin obviously champion this, this doctrine advocating a this is key, a return to the biblical teachings they saw as having been obscured by the Roman Catholic Church and their emphasis on faith as the sole instrument of justification, challenge the prevailing medieval understanding of salvation through human effort and good works.

Now, when I say the medieval understanding of salvation through human merit and good works, that is not to say that Roman Catholic theology denies the necessity of grace. OK, Roman Catholic theology teaches that the grace of God is necessary, but there is a key distinction to be made.

It is not sufficient. Right. There's more that needs to be done. And there is where you have the Protestant problem of the incorporation of works into the salvation process. Roman Catholic soteriology is is a synergistic system.

And of course, the Protestant perspective and more specifically, more narrowly speaking, the Calvinistic perspective would have a problem with a synergistic conception of faith. Now, the reformed doctrine of justification by faith is tied historically to the five solas.

When we summarize the five key principles of the Reformation. OK, it's linked to, as we said, the concept of faith alone, sola fide. And these solas represent the foundational principles of reformed theology.

And sola fide underscores the exclusivity of faith as a means of justification. It rejects any co-reliance on human works for salvation and underscores the sufficiency of Christ's work on the cross. OK, very, very important concepts.

Now, again, when I say historically, there is a broader discussion. I do believe that the reformers were correct in seeing the role of justification by faith alone and even sola scriptura as a return to biblical Christianity.

OK, so when someone says, for example, and I don't believe this is true, but when someone says this, well, you don't see justification by faith alone all the way. You don't see it until, you know, Martin Luther comes along.

Well, no, that begs the question and assumes that the Bible is not the genuine source of this doctrine. If the Bible comes before the New Testament, comes before Martin Luther and it does, in fact, teach justification by faith alone, then it follows that justification by faith alone is not an invention of Martin Luther or Protestants.

It is something that is grounded in scripture. OK, so so there you go. So that's a very important key point to understand here. Now, there is often strong objections against the idea of justification by faith alone.

We're not going to go through all of them. But an important thing to keep in mind is the role of the book of James in this whole discussion. And this has been seen as a notable challenge to the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

More specifically, James chapter two, verse twenty four, which reads, you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. OK, and so you'll often hear the phrase or the saying that the only place where the Bible speaks of faith alone is in a place where it is preceded by not not by faith alone.

And so on the surface, I would agree this verse appears to contradict the the doctrine of justification by faith alone, as it seems to kind of advocate a justification by works rather than than faith alone.

OK, now taken out of context, I think this passage can be seen as advocating a justification by or seeing justification and works as as being something that is contradictory to the the principle of justification by faith alone.

I think, however, it's important to consider the context of James and his intended message in the broader context of his epistle. James is addressing a different aspect of faith and works than, say, for example, Paul in the book of Romans.

And so I think James is very much concerned with the authenticity of faith. And he James points, I think his point is that genuine faith is not merely intellectual assent, but a living, active trust in God.

And this living faith naturally produces good works as evidence of its of its authenticity. And in this sense, faith and works are not in conflict, but they complement one another. So what I want to do here is I want to briefly read through James chapter two and the relevant portions.

I believe it's. Let's see here. We're going to James chapter two and we're going to go to we're going to begin. Pardon. Let's see here. Let's let's let's start from verse 14 and read down to 26. OK, James to 14 through 26.

OK. All right. So here's what here's what it says here. So, James, this is the passage of Scripture that is typically used to combat the idea of justification by faith alone. OK, let's read the context here.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food? And one of you says to him, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving the things needed for the body.

What good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works.

You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe in shudder. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works. And the Scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And he was called a friend of God.

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. And so there you have it. That is a very, very crucial Scripture that comes into play here in these discussions. And I think it's important to recognize the context of James chapter 2 so that it's not misapplied.

And so I think this is very, very important. I think, well, let me get this out of the way first. Some Catholics will point out that Martin Luther, when upon coming across James, he kind of rejected. He called it an epistle of straw.

And so say, look, they'll say, see, look, you know, the father of the Protestant Reformation rejected the book of James. Well, well, here's the thing. OK. Christians who affirm that Scripture, for example, is the only infallible rule of faith.

Right. We have no problem saying that reformers were wrong on certain issues. We have no problem with that because Martin Luther is not the standard. John Calvin is not the standard. No other person in human human history is the standard for us.

Scripture is the standard. And so, yeah, we can smack Martin Luther's hand and say, you know, bad Luther, you were wrong on this point. Right. It's irrelevant. The question is, what does the Bible teach?

And when we look at James chapter two, I think it makes for us an important distinction between what I'd like to call vertical and horizontal justification. It is true that the utilization of the term justification is used quite often, as we saw earlier in the writings of Paul.

But we need to understand that the way that the term justification is being used is going to be determined by its context. And so when we take a look at James chapter two, look what it says here. Let's go through it again more slowly.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? Well, what faith? Well, it's the faith that doesn't have works. That faith can't save him. OK, it's a false faith.

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to him, go in peace and be warmed and be filled without giving them the things needed for the body. What good is that?

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say this is key. You have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works right there.

We need to make the important distinction between vertical justification and horizontal justification. Vertical justification refers to how we are justified before God and horizontal justification is with respect to how we are justified before man.

So show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith. This is man to man. I show others that my faith is genuine by my works. A genuine saving faith will be accompanied with works.

But this is vastly different than when you have what Paul says. And in Romans 4, 5, Paul says, but to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

But the one who does not work. We are justified before God, according to Paul, by faith and not by works. We are justified before man by faith and with works that evidence the genuineness of our faith.

And so that's what's going on here in the book of James. So we don't want to mix up those contexts. We want to make sure that we're understanding the context properly and not just assuming that when Paul uses justification and James uses justification, they are exactly the same context with no nuance whatsoever.

It's important to recognize that's not what is in fact going on. Now, James chapter 2, I think you want to make sure you are familiar with the specific context of James chapter 2. Very, very important.

Now, if we could return back to Romans chapter 5, verse 1, I think this is very important. Romans chapter 5, verse 1 is a central passage with respect to justification. There are others as well, which says here, I'll read it again.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this peace is very important to understand the nature of this peace. And this is where I think a strong apologetic can be made.

And I don't mean it's an apologetic in the sense that it's a knockdown argument against Roman Catholic soteriology and theology. But I think when you're talking to the average Catholic, it is a very forceful thing to emphasize the nature of the peace that we have with God.

Something that the Roman Catholic does not have. OK, so let's take a look here. So Romans 5, 1 says, therefore, since we've been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The peace that is spoken of here is not a mere absence of conflict, but it is a state of reconciliation. And harmony with God. It arises from the assurance that through faith in Christ, one's sins are forgiven and they stand justified before a holy God.

Now, this is important to recognize, OK, that this peace with God is transformative. It relieves the burden of guilt and separation that is caused by our sin. It grants believers a profound sense of security in their relationship with God.

And it is a peace that transcends circumstances. It offers comfort and hope even in the face of life's trials and challenges. We have, and I know that Dr. James White and others have brought this point across when explaining this concept.

The peace that we have, the shalom that we have with God is not a simple ceasefire in which a battle can ensue at any moment. Rather, it is a lasting peace. Our relationship with God is harmonious. We are in a state of well-being between us and God because of the reconciliation that has been accomplished by the work of Christ.

It has a transformative power in our lives, and it gives us a lasting peace that I think we need to offer in a very forceful way to our Roman Catholic friends. We need to demonstrate that the Roman Catholic soteriological system does not give the sort of peace that Paul is referring to here, OK?

This is very, very important to understand, and I think, you know, I remember talking to that gentleman that I mentioned earlier today, the man with the sign. When we got to this point of justification, I remember asking him, and again, this is not a knockdown argument against Roman Catholicism or anything like this, but I think it's a good existential point to bring up.