The Protestant View

The abusive sale of indulgences in the early 16th century sparked the Protestant Reformation. Catholic monk Martin Luther attacked this practice in the 95 theses he posted on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany, in 1517. But, in reality, Luther’s disagreement with official Catholic dogma went deeper than that. It embraced the church’s entire doctrine of justification. Confirming this, A Catholic Dictionary states: “The difference of belief on the way by which sinners are justified before God formed the main subject of contention between Catholics and Protestants at the time of the Reformation. ‘If this doctrine’ (i.e. the doctrine of justification by faith alone) ‘falls,’ says Luther in his Table Talk, ‘it is all over with us.’”

What, exactly, did Luther mean by ‘justification by faith alone’? As a Catholic, Luther had learned that man’s justification involves baptism, personal merit, and good works, as well as the sacrament of penance administered by a priest, who hears confession, grants absolution, and imposes compensatory works that can involve self-punishment.

In his efforts to find peace with God, Luther had expended all the resources of Roman dogma on justification, including fasting, prayers, and self-punishment, but to no avail. Unappeased, he read and reread the Psalms and Paul’s letters, finally finding peace of mind by concluding that God justifies men, not because of their merits, good works, or penance, but solely because of their faith. He became so enthused by this thought of “justification by faith alone” that he added the word “alone” after the word “faith” in his German translation of Romans 3:28!b

Most of the Protestant churches basically adopted Luther’s view of “justification by grace through faith.” In fact, this had already been expressed by the French pre-Reformer Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples. Summing up the difference between Catholic and Protestant views on justification, A Catholic Dictionary states: “Catholics regard justification as an act by which a man is really made just; Protestants, as one in which he is merely declared and reputed just, the merits of another​—viz. Christ​—being made over to his account.”

The Protestant concept of justification, as meaning a Christian’s being declared righteous on the merits of Christ’s sacrifice, is without a doubt nearer to what the Bible teaches. However, some Protestant churches teach “justification by faith alone,” which, as we will later see, overlooks specific reasonings presented by the apostle Paul and by James. Those churches’ spiritually smug attitude is summed up by the phrase “once saved, always saved.” Some Protestants believe that it is sufficient to believe in Jesus to be saved and, therefore, that justification precedes baptism.

Further, certain Protestant churches, while teaching justification by faith, follow the French reformer John Calvin and teach personal predestination, thus denying the Biblical doctrine of free will. (Deuteronomy 30:19, 20) It can, therefore, be stated that neither the Catholic nor the Protestant concepts of justification are totally in harmony with the Bible.