Hmm.

R.C. Sproul: Works do not justify. Faith alone justifies. But faith that does not work does not justify.

It is fascinating to me that R.C. thinks (1) this is faith alone and (2) that this differs from Catholic thought.

Catholics do not believe that we must do anything in order to be part of the Body of Christ - God's mercy is so gratuitous that we may baptize our infants, who can do nothing. Pope Benedict XVI, saying nothing different or new, said that Catholic thought is compatible with "faith alone" as long as faith does not abandon love. (Gal 5, faith working through love.)

One must understand what one truly believes as well as what the other truly believes in order to have real disagreement.

Asking Forgiveness and Justification

Just a question more than anything else: If all our sins (past, present, and future) are forgiven when we become justified or saved, then why do we need to ask forgiveness when we sin?

To me this article on forgiveness smacks of Love Story sentimentality - "Love never means having to say you're sorry." And of Dr. Bannister's reply (to himself, as it were - both characters are played by Ryan O'Neal) in What's Up, Doc? - "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard."

And if we need to ask forgiveness (Lord's Prayer, 1 John 1.9, etc.), what are the implications concerning justification?

Today's Big Thoughts for Little Brains

N.T. Wright says that the discussion of justification (and the argument surrounding Sola Fide) belongs not so much within soteriology as it does within ecclesiology.

He goes on to say that being justified by faith says less about how we are saved as it is a declaration that we are saved. Therefore faith is the badge, the declaration of our justification rather than its source. We do not merit justification through our believing, but our believing (our faith) is the evidence of our justification.

N.T. Wright can be difficult to understand. His ideas are especially difficult to understand after they're squeezed through my brain - perhaps they make no sense after I process them. Maybe it would just be easier to call him a heretic.