Questions tagged [justification]
referring to the process or moment in which an individual's sins are forgiven - distinct from sanctification, in that the latter refers to the process or moment in which a person is made fit for standing in front of a holy God
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What is the verdict on an unjust judge? [closed]
In order to ask this, let me set a stage. This is just a scenario that will be recast in a second.
As Christians we believe that God is good. We trumpet his justice, rightness, holiness, and so on ...
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What is the difference between justification and sanctification?
Christians use the terms justification and sanctification a lot, but it's not always clear where one concept leaves off and the other picks up.
What do Protestants generally say is the difference ...
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What is the basis for Lombard's view that the basis of justification for OT men was different than for OT women?
While reading J. V. Fesko's The Theology of the Westminster Standards, I found an interesting tidbit in the context of his discussion of justification in Reformed theology:
Medieval theologians ...
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How does repentance fit into the doctrine of sola fide ("by faith alone")?
Sola fide (Latin for "by faith alone") is a defining doctrine of Protestantism. Wikipedia defines it as follows:
The doctrine of sola fide asserts God's pardon for guilty sinners is granted to and ...
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In the NPP, if Paul's "works of the law" are only circumcision and diet, how is Galatians 3:10 interpreted?
One of the implications of the New Perspective on Paul (NPP), as I understand it, is that Paul's teachings regarding the "works of the law" (in Galatians 2:16, for example) are meant to refer only to "...
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How do Protestants who say Catholicism doesn't teach the true Gospel understand a Catholic person’s faith in Jesus?
On Protestant theology, Sola Fide is understood as:
Sola fide—the doctrine of justification by faith alone apart from works—is simply recognizing what is taught over and over in Scripture—that at ...
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What is the protestant apologetic for James' explicit statement that we are justified by works?
James 2:24, RSVC2E: You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
Many times I've heard Protestants claim that James isn't really saying what he appears to be saying here. They ...
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When and how did Martin Luther arrive at the justification by faith?
When and how did Martin Luther arrive at the justification by faith teaching? Was it something that he came up with as a result of his stance against the indulgences and later against the Pope, or did ...
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What is the distinction between Justification and Salvation? (Orthodox/Greek/Eastern View)
As a practicing Christian, my only hope is for salvation through Jesus Christ. I note that scripture addresses salvation, and that in Paul's letters being justified is proclaimed to be of importance. ...
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How do Roman Catholics understand salvation in light of Romans 3&4?
As far as I can understand it, Paul directly contradicts the Roman Catholic doctrine of salvation in Romans 3 & 4 (see verses 3:21-22, 3:28, 4:4-6 in particular, but I'm referring to the broad ...
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If justification is an event, when does it happen?
Lutherans, Methodists, and Calvinists believe that justification is an event (as opposed to the Roman Catholic church and the Orthodox church who believe it is a process). If justification is an event,...
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According to a ‘forgiveness in Christ alone’ framework how did ‘sin offerings’ make atonement for sin under the Mosaic Law?
How did the old ceremonial sacrifices made atonement? What was really going on externally and internally to the person who brought the ‘sin offering’ to God? What did it mean that their ‘sins were ...
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Who first explicitly understood "works of the law" in Galatians 3:10 as referring to only the ritual law, and not the Mosaic law generally?
One of the key verses used to defend the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone is Galatians 3:10:
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be ...
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How are justification and sanctification related to salvation?
Among Evangelicals there are subtle differences in emphasis on how justification relates to sanctification (e.g., Ordo Salutis vs. Historia Salutis).1 My question is not about those subtle differences....
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Do Lutherans define Justification and Atonement as different things?
I was considering the doctrine of Lutheran Unlimited/Universal Atonement, which says Christ died for everyone's sins. However, the fact stands that not all people go to heaven – thus not all people's ...
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What is the distinction between Justification and Salvation? (Roman Catholic view)
As a practicing Christian, my only hope is for salvation through Jesus Christ. I note that scripture addresses salvation; in the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, the Bible is (among other ...
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What basis could there be for an 18th century Christian to say that "Gnostics were the Antinomians of their day"?
I read that claim in an article written by A.M. Toplady (reproduced in a 2020 Christian magazine.) Toplady (1740-1778) did not go on to give his reasons for that claim, apart from adding, "An ...
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Should Catholics in a state of grace call themselves sinners?
The Bible says our righteousness is a filthy rag(works) it also says we are the righteous of God in Christ Jesus. As a Catholic at a state of grace is it right to still call myself a sinner when I ...
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What is the distinction between Justification and Salvation? (Reformed point of view)
As a practicing Christian, my only hope is for salvation through Jesus Christ. I note that scripture addresses salvation from a variety of perspectives and analogies, but also I find that in Paul's ...
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How does the gospel turn justice into a defender of the guilty?
Usually we think of God's justice as his perfect judgment in punishing sin and dispensing equity along perfect scales of measurement. However as we were born in sin, justice is essentially something ...
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Was Martin Luther known to have read the First Epistle of Clement?
The First Epistle of Clement is an early Christian document that was commonly circulated in the early church before being rejected as part of the New Testament canon. There is a passage in it that ...
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Have Catholic views on Grace and Justification changed?
At the council of Trent, the Catholic Church made several statements which seemingly reject the idea of Sola Gratia - Salvation by Grace alone. Examples include
If anyone says that the justice ...
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What is the earliest claim that Jesus Christ kept the law of Moses on behalf of others?
J N Darby and William Kelly, those responsible for the Plymouth Brethren movement in the mid to late 1800s, did not accept the concept that, during his earthly life, Jesus Christ kept the law on ...
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Does modern protestantism have any deviations from sola fide?
I have read that modern protestantism on one hand, and catholicism on the other, tended to abridge their historical differences. Are there any cases in modern protestantism where justification can ...
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How could Adam and Eve lose their just standing before God if it was given to them as a Grace and not earned?
I have often heard pastors, internet preachers especially, repeat that, "We did nothing to earn our salvation and there is nothing that we can do to lose it" or something to that effect. These are ...
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What kind of 'faith' justifies or imputes righteousness to a sinner as per the teachings of the Bible? [closed]
Protestant Christians in general believe that 'faith' makes a person righteous. The Letter to Hebrews chapter 11 in the N.T. talks about faith at length with specific examples. But what kind of 'faith'...
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Do Protestants appreciate the significance of Mary's genealogy?
Then stood up Phinehas and executed judgment ... and that was counted to him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore. [Psalm 106:30,31 KJV.]
Phinehas hath turned my wrath away ... ...
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What does Protestantism define as 'that which is to be believed' unto righteousness?
As to good and evil, there is a tree (a branch of knowledge) which defines the knowledge of good and evil ; and mankind is advised not to partake of it (as a means of life) else we die.
But as to ...
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How do Christians justify their belief and how do they convince others of their belief? [closed]
First of all, I assume that everybody should have some sort of justification for his beliefs. Secondly, I assume that Christians are interested in convincing others to join them as evangelisation ...
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Meaning of Acts 10:34-35 according to Protestantism
Acts 10:34-35 (DRB) And Peter opening his mouth, said: In very deed I perceive, that God is not a respecter of persons. But in every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh justice, is acceptable to ...
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How is it just that Jesus, an innocent, would be punished for our sins?
From the perspective that Jesus' suffering on the cross was in fact a punishment for our sins, how is punishing an innocent (Jesus) for the sinners justified?
Jesus was innocent but the people were ...
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How do Protestants interpret Ezekiel 18:20-32?
Here is my translation:1
Ezekiel 18:20-32
The soul that sins, the same [only] shall die: the son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father the guilt of the son: the righteousness of the ...
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How do Protestants interpret "covers a multitude of sins" (James 5:19)?
In the New Testament, in James 5:19-20, we read:
My brethren, if anyone one of you strays from the way of truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that whoever turns back a sinner from the ...
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Does traditional Calvinistic monergism include limited synergism in the doctrine of justification?
I found an article Regeneration precedes faith by R.C. Sproul that could imply there is no synergism at all in justification. In other words no part of the human will involved in believing? It is ...
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How do New Perspective proponents respond to Robert Cara's 3 critiques on NPP?
A Gospel Coalition short essay (Justification and the New Perspective on Paul) by Robert J. Cara, author of the 2017 book Cracking the Foundation of the New Perspective on Paul: Covenantal Nomism ...
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How does John Owen account for scriptures which state that justification by faith is not through the law?
In my previous inquiry regarding the history of the doctrine which states that Jesus Christ, in the days of his flesh, kept the law on behalf of others as 'passive obedience' (which law-keeping is ...
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Is salvation acheived by faith alone, or does it in fact require some works?
I was raised a Lutheran, and am looking for an answer from someone (like a Lutheran) who believes in salvation by grace alone (by faith alone, etc.). I still believe in salvation by faith alone ...
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How do Protestants explain the relationship between justification and the works of the servants in the Parable of the Talents?
This is not the question 'What does the Parable of the Talents mean according to Protestantism,' but a question specifically regarding the nature of the 'wicked' servant, and how it corresponds to his ...
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According to the LDS church, how are we justified?
I know the obvious trope is that the LDS believe in "salvation by works", but I am looking for definitive church teaching on the nature of mans justification. Preferably, I'd like it to ...
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Protestant Interpretation 1 Peter 1:17
How do Protestants interpret 1 Peter 1:17? It reads:
1 Peter 1:13-17 (DRB) Wherefore having the loins of your mind girt up, being sober, trust perfectly in the grace which is offered you in the ...
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Calvinists: How to avoid justification from eternity?
I'm having trouble understanding how Calvinists avoid the doctrine of justification from eternity, which roughly states that the elect are justified either before the creation of the world or at the ...
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What is the biblical basis for the imputation of Christ's righteousness to believers?
In Christendom as a whole, and within evangelicalism and Reformed theology more specifically, one of the controversial aspects of the doctrine of justification is the imputation of the righteousness ...
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How were the old saints justified under the law? (Catholic and Protestant views) [closed]
How were the old saints like Moses and the prophets justified under the law? Were they justified by keeping the law? What is an overview of Catholic and Protestant views on this? Explain with Biblical ...
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Why is dividing 'event' versus 'process' driven views of justification important to separate Catholic and Protestant theology?
In studying Roman Catholic theology it took me so so long before it dawned on me that justification is not viewed as an event as it is in Protestant theology. Why is this single concept so critical in ...
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If Christ took our sins on him, why do we still need an imputation of God's righteousness on us? [closed]
I always thought that the imputation of our sins on Jesus so that we are free from sin is what justified us. But according to several passages in the Bible (What is the biblical basis for the ...
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What is the distinction between Justification and Salvation? (Swedenborgian View)
As a practicing Christian, my only hope is for salvation through Jesus Christ. I note that scripture addresses salvation, and that in Paul's letters being justified is proclaimed to be of importance. ...
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Can the forensic justication doctrine be characterized as false justification contrary to fact and truth?
Forensic justification is defined as strictly legal declaration as justified, rather than reckoning or acknowledging someone as righteous to justify him. In other words, a person is declared righteous ...
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Is going to confession considered "good work" in the faith vs. work distinction in justification?
A comment by a Catholic in a discussion with a Protestant about faith vs. good works startled me:
Catholics would consider going to Confession to be a work. It's a specific act you need to do. We don'...
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How does imputation work?
When someone believes on Jesus Christ how does Jesus sinless perfect righteousness is transferred to the believer and the believer's sin transferred to Jesus? Like what is the theory or doctrine that ...
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What views are there on supplying weapons in a war?
In light of the conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, a number of countries, including those with significant catholic and Protestant populations (as well as Christians in their ...
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