scholarly journals Martin Luther and Justification

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olli-Pekka Vainio
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Sacramental Theology ◽  
Union With Christ ◽  
Good Works ◽  
Essential Question ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Media ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Well Function ◽  
The One

The doctrine of justification is an account of how God removes the guilt of the sinner and receives him or her back to communion with God. The essential question concerns how the tension between human sin and divine righteousness is resolved. Luther’s central claim is that faith alone justifies (that is, makes a person righteous in the eyes of God) the one who believes in Christ as a result of hearing the gospel. This faith affects the imputation of Christ’s righteousness that covers the sins of the believer. In contrast to medieval doctrines of justification, Luther argues that Christ himself, not love, is the form, or the essence, of faith. Love and good works are the necessary consequences of justification even if they are not necessary for justification. However, the inclination to love and perform good works is present in the believer through Christ, who is present in faith, but these characteristics do not as such, as renewed human qualities, have justifying power. Luther’s doctrine of justification cannot be classified with simplistic categories like “forensic” and “effective” (see the section “Review of the literature” below). Often these terms are used to refer to differing interpretations of justification. However, several recent traditions of scholarship perceive this categorical differentiation as simplistic and misleading. Instead, these terms may well function to designate different aspects of God’s salvific action. In the narrow sense, justification may refer to the forensic and judicial action of declaring the sinner free from his or her guilt. A broader sense would include themes and issues from other theological doctrines offering a holistic and effective account of the event of justification, in which the sinner believes in Christ, is united with Christ’s righteousness, and receives the Holy Spirit. Depending on the context, Luther may use both narrow and broad definitions of justification. Here Luther’s doctrine of justification is approached from a broader perspective. On the one hand, justification means imputation of Christ’s alien righteousness to the believer without merits. On the other hand, faith involves effective change in the believer that enables one to believe in the first place. This change is not meritorious because it is effected by Christ indwelling in the believer through faith. Thus, Christ gives two things to the sinner: gratia, that is, the forgiveness of sins, and donum, that is, Christ himself. The media through which Christ offers his mercy are the word and sacraments. Thus, Luther’s sacramental theology, Christology, and soteriology form a coherent whole. Because justification involves union with Christ, which means participation in Christ’s divine nature, Luther’s doctrine of justification has common elements with the idea of deification.

Huldrych Zwingli

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Sacramental Theology ◽  
Death Of Jesus ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ

This chapter covers the sacramental theology of the Swiss Reformer Huldrych Zwingli. Zwingli viewed spirit and material as being utterly separate and therefore deemed it impossible for material objects to be conduits of spiritual blessing. He defined a sacrament as “a sign of a sacred thing—that is, of grace that has been given.” Sacraments are thus signs of the work of grace done by God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, not the means of that work of grace. Baptism is a sign of the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit and Eucharist a sign memorializing the redemptive death of Jesus Christ. While Zwingli and Luther agreed in their opposition to transubstantiation, they could not agree on the nature of Christ’s presence in the sacraments, and this chapter recounts the specifics of their disagreements.

scholarly journals A Fifth Mark of the Church?

2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-21
Author(s):  
Thaddaeus Lancton
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Union With Christ ◽  
John Paul Ii ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The One ◽  
Divine Mercy ◽  
The Church

In addition to the four marks of the Church, mercy has been emphasized since the pontificate of St. John Paul II as essential to the authentic fulfillment of the Church’s identity and mission. A Christological and pneumatological understanding of these marks of the Church leads to a proper grasp of the Church in relation to mercy. The Church is merciful not de facto because of her works of mercy on behalf of the poor or sinners. Rather, she is first the recipient of unprecedented Divine Mercy, poured forth in the gift of the Holy Spirit, and so shares that same Spirit of Mercy with others through her sacraments, preaching, and service. The Church’s mission of mercy thus extends beyond the myriad of manners to alleviate human misery. In union with Christ, her Bridegroom, the Church is to communicate the one gift of Divine Mercy, the Holy Spirit, to all.

Hippolytus' Conception of Deification

1959 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 388-399
Author(s):  
Dietrich Ritschl
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Union With Christ ◽  
Mystical Union ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Participation In Christ ◽  
Doctrine Of The Church ◽  
The Church

It is true that the theology of Tertullian and Novatian has linfluenced later trinitarian conceptions much more than Hippolytus has. His ecclesiology and soteriology, however, are an important point of transition from Irenaeus' doctrine of the Church and of Union with Christ towards the later conceptions of a mystical sacramental understanding of Union with Christ. Hippolytus is in many ways responsible for the development of a doctrine of participation in Christ expressed as deification or mystical union. His theological interest is limited to a part of Trenaeus' doctrine of participation: to the καινòς ἂνθρωπος, and hence to the Church as the assembly of the saints, the baptised, the just, who possess the Holy Spirit, and are connected with the apostles through the hierarchical episcopate.

Karl Barth and the Importance of Thinking Theologically within the Nicene Faith

Ecclesiology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-176
Author(s):  
Paul D. Molnar
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Union With Christ ◽  
Unique Object ◽  
Church Unity ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Nicene Creed ◽  
The Church

This article argues that if Catholic and Protestant theologians, prompted by the Holy Spirit, allowed their common faith in God as confessed in the Nicene Creed to shape their thinking and action, this could lead to more visible unity between them. Relying on Barth, the article suggests that the oneness, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity of the church can be understood best in faith that allows the unique object of faith, namely God incarnate in Christ and active in his Spirit, to dictate one’s understanding. Such thinking will avoid the pluralist tendency to eviscerate Christ’s uniqueness and attempts to equate church unity with aspects of the church’s visible existence. These approaches tend to undermine the importance of faith in recognizing that such unity means union with Christ through the Spirit such that it cannot be equated with or perceived by examining only its historical existence in itself and in relation to other communities of faith.

Religious Diversity, Sacramental Encounters, and the Spirit of God

Horizons ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-291
Author(s):  
Glenn Ambrose
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Sacramental Theology ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Faith Tradition ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The One ◽  
Spirit Christology

ABSTRACTThere is increasing pressure on religious thinkers and leaders to construct theologies thoroughly grounded in the particularities of a faith tradition but truly appreciative of religious pluralism. This essay argues that a significant contribution towards articulating a Roman Catholic theology of religious diversity can be advanced by explicitly integrating developments in pneumatology and sacramental theology. Pneumatology has obvious pluralistic implications insofar as Catholic theologians and the magisterium itself have emphasized the universal presence of the Holy Spirit. The sacramental tradition is more ambivalent. On the one hand, the sacramental principle and sacramental nature of human existence would seem to endorse the authenticity of religious pluralism. On the other hand, sacramental theology in the West has historically been shaped by a Christomonism which necessarily tends toward exclusivism. This tendency can be overcome by understanding sacraments in light of a Spirit Christology from below.

A Comprehensive View of Luther’s Doctrine of Grace

2021 ◽  
pp. 136-171
Author(s):  
Miikka Ruokanen
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Union With Christ ◽  
Son Of God ◽  
Comprehensive View ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ

This chapter offers a comprehensive presentation of the three dimensions of Luther’s Trinitarian doctrine of grace. (1) The conversion of the sinner and the birth of faith in Christ, justification “through faith alone,” is effected by prevenient grace, the sole work of God’s Spirit. (2) Participation in (2a) the cross and resurrection of Christ as well as in his (2b) person, life, and divine properties, are possible solely because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer. Justification means simultaneously (2a) the forensic declaration of the guilty non-guilty on the basis of the atonement by Jesus’ cross (favor), as well as (2b) a union with Christ in the Holy Spirit (donum). The believer participates both in the person and life of the incarnated Son of God and in the historical facts of salvation in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (3) Sanctification means the gradual growth of love for God and neighbor enabled by participation in divine love in the Holy Spirit who also enables the believer to cooperate with grace. Luther’s dependence on Augustine’s doctrine of grace is pointed out. The three-dimensional structure of Trinitarian grace offers an advancement to the Finnish school of Luther interpretation initiated by Tuomo Mannermaa. His fundamental finding of the participatory nature of justification, rooted in Patristic soteriology, is verified in the present study, but an amendment is also offered, based on a critical analysis of Mannermaa’s interpretation of Luther’s Lectures on Galatians (1531/1535).

The Incarnation in Martin Luther’s Theology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Käfer
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
Son Of God ◽  
Community Of Faith ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Subject Areas ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Communicatio Idiomatum ◽  
The One

Luther’s understanding of the Incarnation concerns various subject areas in his theology, among them his understanding of scripture, his teaching on the sacraments in particular, as well as his description of a human being’s life of faith. All these subject areas are based on Luther’s Christology, which is essentially determined by his insights into the Incarnation and the humanity of God in Jesus Christ. Luther’s description of the Incarnation and the humanity of God is particularly oriented towards the creed of Chalcedon. The insight that Christ is at the same time true human and true god is something Luther holds as relevant to salvation. For this reason, it is important for him on the one hand to think about the Incarnation of God in a Trinitarian context and thereby to highlight Christ’s divine existence. On the other hand, he refers to the concept of the Virgin Birth in order to show that God was born a real human being. Luther describes the union of God and man in Christ principally as a reciprocal exchange of the respective divine and human characteristics. He uses the figure of the communication of properties (communicatio idiomatum) to highlight the Incarnation’s fundamental significance for salvation, which becomes manifest in the course of Christ’s life. Luther’s conception of the fact and manner in which human and divine natures are united with each other in Christ is of soteriological relevance. With the incarnate God, the sin that Christ has taken upon himself for the salvation of humankind is defeated on the Cross, since by virtue of his human nature the characteristics of being able to suffer and to die were proper to the incarnate Son of God. Accordingly, God himself suffers and dies on the Cross in Christ for his own creatures under the burden of their sins. On the Cross, the God who died in Christ and with his resurrection has overcome the death of sin meets his creatures so that they attain faith and ultimately eternal life in community with God. This saving event is, according to Luther, founded in God’s immeasurable love. The saving effectiveness of Incarnation, Cross, and resurrection presupposes Christian proclamation, according to Luther. The preaching of the incarnate God is needed, so that through the operation of the Holy Spirit the truth of the proclaimed event can be recognized and faith can thereby arise. In faith in the Son of God who has become man, the believer himself experiences a most intimate connection with Christ. According to Luther, this community of faith determines the consummation of the life of the believer, who therefore lives in love for God and for neighbor because the love of God has been revealed to him/her in Christ. The community of Christ’s faithful with one another is, according to Luther, above all formed through the celebration of the sacraments. In celebrating them, the believers experience the real presence of the incarnate God in Christ, through whom they are bound in faith based on the communication of properties between the human and divine natures.

Moral Formation in Christ, the Beautiful Beloved

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Stewart-Kroeker
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Moral Formation ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Loving Relationship ◽  
Falling In Love

Christ’s healing of humanity consists, crucially, in forming human beings for loving relationship with himself and others. In this respect, Christ also takes the role of the beautiful beloved. Believers become pilgrims by falling in love with the beautiful Christ by the initiative of the Holy Spirit, who cleanses their eyes to see him as beautiful and enkindles desire in their hearts. By desiring and loving the beautiful Christ, the believer is conformed to him and learns to walk his path. Desiring the beautiful Christ forms a believing community shaped aesthetically and morally for a particular way of life: pilgrimage to the heavenly homeland. Formation is both earthly and eschatological, for so too is the journey and the activity of the pilgrim.

The New Testament and Intellectual Humility

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Macaskill
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Intellectual Humility ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Sacrificial Love ◽  
The One ◽  
The Mind

This book examines how the New Testament scriptures might form and foster intellectual humility within Christian communities. It is informed by recent interdisciplinary interest in intellectual humility, and concerned to appreciate the distinctive representations of the virtue offered by the New Testament writers on their own terms. It argues that the intellectual virtue is cast as a particular expression of the broader Christian virtue of humility, which proceeds from the believer’s union with Christ, through which personal identity is reconstituted by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Hence, we speak of ‘virtue’ in ways determined by the acting presence of Jesus Christ, overcoming sin and evil in human lives and in the world. The Christian account of the virtue is framed by this conflict, as believers within the Christian community struggle with natural arrogance and selfishness, and come to share in the mind of Christ. The new identity that emerges creates a fresh openness to truth, as the capacity of the sinful mind to distort truth is exposed and challenged. This affects knowledge and perception, but also volition: for these ancient writers, a humble mind makes good decisions that reflect judgments decisively shaped by the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. By presenting ‘humility of mind’ as a characteristic of the One who is worshipped—Jesus Christ—the New Testament writers insist that we acknowledge the virtue not just as an admission of human deficiency or limitation, but as a positive affirmation of our rightful place within the divine economy.

Revelation, Tradition, and Culture

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald O’Collins, SJ
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Human History ◽  
Present Experience ◽  
Lower Case ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ

Tradition as process and as object needs to be understood in the light of divine revelation and the inspired Scripture. Primarily interpersonal or relational and secondarily propositional or cognitive, revelation involves a past fullness in Christ, a present experience, and a future, definitive consummation. As process, tradition is pre-given and always part of us, collective, richly polymorphous, sacramentally communicated through words and actions, often in tension with present experience, open to change or reform, and ending only with the close of human history. At the heart of innumerable traditions (plural and in lower case) is the Tradition (singular and in upper case), the risen Christ made present through the Holy Spirit, not an object we possess but a reality by which we are possessed. While they frequently overlap, ‘culture’ differs from tradition by not being so clearly an ‘action word’.

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