History of Justification 2

The Light Shines in the Darkness...

Polycarp

““In whom, though now ye see Him not, ye believe, and believing, rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory;” into which joy many desire to enter, knowing that “by grace ye are saved, not of works,” but by the will of God through Jesus Christ… If we please Him in this present world, we shall receive also the future world, according as He has promised to us that He will raise us again from the dead, and that if we live worthily of Him, “we shall also reign together with Him,” provided only we believe.”

-Polycarp,Epistle to the Philippians 1, 5

http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-11.htm#P776_145896

Ignatius

“For, since ye are subject to the bishop as to Jesus Christ, ye appear to me to live not after the manner of men, but according to Jesus Christ, who died for us, in order, by believing in His death, ye may escape from death.”

-Ignatius, Epistle to the Trallians 2

http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-18.htm#P1625_279315

“But your prayer to God shall make me perfect, that I may attain to that portion which through mercy has been allotted me, while I flee to the Gospel as to the flesh of Jesus, and to the apostles as to the presbytery of the Church. And let us also love the prophets, because they too have proclaimed the Gospel, and placed their hope in Him, and waited for Him; in whom also believing, they were saved, through union to Jesus Christ, being holy men, worthy of love and admiration, having had witness borne to them by Jesus Christ, and being reckoned along with [us] in the Gospel of the common hope.”

-Ignatius, Epistle to the Philadelphians 5

http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-20.htm#P2015_340544

Now, we come to the next era with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus. These church fathers believed in baptismal regeneration, but the general belief in the works-free gospel is still there for the most part.

Justin Martyr

“For Isaiah did not send you to a bath, there to wash away murder and other sins, which not even all the water of the sea were sufficient to purge; but, as might have been expected, this was that saving bath of the olden time which followed those who repented, and who no longer were purified by the blood of goats and of sheep, or by the ashes of an heifer, or by the offerings of fine flour, but by faith through the blood of Christ, and through His death, who died for this very reason…For Abraham was declared by God to be righteous, not on account of circumcision, but on account of faith. For before he was circumcised the following statement was made regarding him: ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.’ And we, therefore, in the uncircumcision of our flesh, believing God through Christ, and having that circumcision which is of advantage to us who have acquired it-namely, that of the heart-we hope to appear righteous before and well-pleasing to God: since already we have received His testimony through the words of the prophets.”

-Justin Martyr, Dialogue of Justin 13, 92

http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-48.htm#P4180_821089

http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-48.htm#P4862_1063496

Irenaeus

“Since, therefore, Abraham was a prophet and saw in the Spirit the day of the Lord’s coming, and the dispensation of His suffering, through whom both he himself and all who, following the example of his faith, trust in God, should be saved, he rejoiced exceedingly. The Lord, therefore, was not unknown to Abraham, whose day he desired to see; nor, again, was the Lord’s Father, for he had learned from the Word of the Lord, and believed Him; wherefore it was accounted to him by the Lord for righteousness. For faith towards God justifies a man…”

-Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.5.5

http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-62.htm#P8055_2221272

The Ante-Nicene Age

As the progression of time occurred, pagan Greek philosophy started making its way into Christian theology:

“The earlier patristic period represents the age of the exploration of concepts, when the proclamation of the gospel within a pagan culture was accompanied by an exploitation of both Hellenistic culture and pagan philosophy as vehicles for theological advancement.”

–Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification, 2^nd edition (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, reprinted 1998), p.3, 17, 19.

As a result of pagan Greek philosophy and the transition from one language to another, major distortions of Biblical teaching on the issue of salvation were introduced into the church at an early age. These effects can clearly be seen in the early Latin fathers (emphasis mine):

“Like many of [Ambrosiaster’s] contemporaries, for example, he appears to be obsessed with the idea that man can acquire merit before God…For Tertullian, the man who performs good works can be said to make God his debtor…A similar tendency can be detected in his teaching that man can ‘satisfy’ his obligation to God on account of his sin through penance. Indeed, Tertullian exercised a certain fascination over legal historians, who have noted his introduction of legal terms such as meritum and satisfactio into theology with some interest.”

–Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification, 2^nd edition (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, reprinted 1998), p.23.

Augustine to the Medieval Era

The effects of these developments were clearly seen in the writings of Augustine. Because he could not speak the original languages of the Scriptures, he was unable to determine the verb’s original meaning which, in turn, left him in ignorance and error (McGrath, pp.30-31). As a result of the influence of Augustine, the Latin Christian view of justification was codified as if it were infallible truth:

“The accumulated body of tradition associated with the world of antiquity – which included both pagan philosophy and patristic theology – was assimilated and incorporated into the emerging theological literature…The medieval period was characterized by its attempts to accumulate biblical and patristic material considered to be relevant to particular issues of theological interpretation, and by its attempt to develop hermeneutical methods to resolve the apparent contradictions encountered in this process…An examination of such collections of patristic ‘sentences’ suggests that they were largely drawn from the works of Augustine.”

–Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification, 2^nd edition (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, reprinted 1998), pp.37, 38.

It is worthy to note that the Greek Church never accepted the Western Church’s view of justification (McGrath, pp.4, 15).

So, to summarize, I will answer a few questions:

Q. Was the Roman Catholic form of justification taught by the apostles?

A. No, the belief that ‘to justify’ means ‘to make righteousness’ was the result of the Latin language and culture more than anything else. When the verb dikaiow was translated into Latin, it lost its meaning of ‘to declare righteous’ or ‘to estimate as righteous’ and became more associated with intrinsic righteousness instead.

Q. Why wasn’t the Protestant doctrine ever taught in the early church?

A. I would dispute that. I believe that the apostolic fathers taught the doctrine though in a less systematized form. Afterwards, the theological writers started using pagan Greek philosophy as an interpreter of the Bible rather than letting the text speak for itself. Also, as I have noted above, the Latin language prevented this as well. It wasn’t until the late Medieval Era that theologians started to go back to the original languages of Scripture which is where we start to find a break with the traditional view of justification.

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Also, some helpful audio on this topic can be found at:

http://www.straitgate.com/webster/

Some helpful online reading can be found here:

http://www.ntrmin.org/images/questions/justifyfathers.htm

http://www.ntrmin.org/images/questions/justifyfathers2.htm