Justification

Justification is the state or process of becoming righteous. It is a legalistic term relating to salvation. It comes from the Greek δικαίωσιν (dikaiosis) and it means the act of pronouncing righteous. Think of it as legalistic assurance of salvation.

Romans 4:25

ὃς παρεδόθη διὰ τὰ παραπτώματα ἡμῶν καὶ ἠγέρθη διὰ τὴν δικαίωσιν ἡμῶν.

Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

We are saved through Christ (even legalistically).

Orthodox View

Modern Christianity often fixates on justification and it has become a controversial topic amongst Christian denominations, but it was never controversial in the ancient world. Justification has been core to Christian teaching from the beginning. Christ died on the cross, and rose again, for us. His perfect faith and sacrifice "justifies us" in a legalistic sense, or more broadly "saves us" in the holistic sense -- restoring us (fallen creatures) to our created purpose in the image and likeness of God.

This understanding became corrupted over time, first in Rome through abuses such as indulgences, which promised a false "works-based salvation", exactly as one would find in pagan views.

Justification provides assurance, which involves faith that produces good works. But works are not sufficient for justification. In other words, there is nothing you can do, no good deeds sufficient to earn your salvation, no works that can justify you. Justification, as a legalistic understanding of salvation, can never be through anything on your part.

Importantly, it is not our faith that justifies, but Christ's faith that justifies us. Nowhere in scripture is there a dichotomy between our faith and our works. It is always about Christ.

St. Paul here refers to "faith of Christ" and not "faith in Christ" when discussing justification.

Galatians 2:25-16

We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Sola Fide

"Sola fide" (literally "faith alone") is a reformation era interpretation that declares justification (and hence salvation) to be by faith alone. That is, if you believe in Christ then you have full assurance that you are saved.

Martin Luther

This faith alone, when based upon the sure promises of God, must save us; as our text clearly explains. And in the light of it all, they must become fools who have taught us other ways to become godly.

This certainly sounds nice, definitely easy. Unfortunately, by this logic, the church fathers and even the apostles must (according to Luther) become fools.

James 2:24

Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

It is difficult to square sola fide with the words not by faith only. Remember, all it takes is one counterexample to disprove a given Biblical interpretation. And in this case it's clear, especially since justification is a legalistic topic: any interpretation that attempts to claim justification "by faith alone" is itself false, unless of course scripture -- specifically the epistle of James -- is false (God forbid).

Martin Luther

We should throw the epistle of James out of this school, for it doesn’t amount to much. It contains not a syllable about Christ. Not once does it mention Christ, except at the beginning. I maintain that some Jew wrote it who probably heard about Christian people but never encountered any. Since he heard that Christians place great weight on faith in Christ, he thought, ‘Wait a moment! I’ll oppose them and urge works alone.’ This he did.

This is an informative example of prelest, spiritual deception. Luther's "sola fide" not only presupposes a dichotomy between works and faith, but he arrogantly prescribes all of church history, every saint and even the apostles, as fools, as he apparently discovered something they all missed.

Martin Luther fell so deep into this deception that he changed the translation of Romans 3:28 to add "faith alone" (allien in the German).

Luther's translation of Romans 3:28

So halten wir nun dafür, daß der Mensch gerecht werde ohne des Gesetzes Werke, allein durch den Glauben.

So we conclude that a man is justified without the deeds of the law through faith alone.

This is, at best, an unfaithful and bad translation of the original Greek,

Romans 3:28

γὰρ λογιζόμεθα ἄνθρωπον δικαιοῦσθαι πίστει χωρὶς ἔργων νόμου

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

If you find yourself disagreeing with the apostles and calling them fools, twisting and adding to scripture, considering removing entire books of scripture, you should probably stop. It's a sign of demonic deception and not truth seeking. This is pride.

This kind of meddling with scripture, to fit your personal interpretation, is clearly heretical and should be condemned by any honest truth seeker. The precedent is immoral and dangerous (dismissing the apostle James as "some Jew" who never met a Christian, and later referring to him as "Jimmy"). The bad fruits of this kind of prideful rationalism are on full display in the decaying history of our western civilization.

Martin Luther

I almost feel like throwing Jimmy into the stove

Perhaps we should all have been more mindful of the warning in Revelation 22, and applied such warnings to the entirety of scripture.

Revelation 22:18-19

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

In truth, you cannot hold Luther's sola fide alongside sola scriptura. One of the solas must give. One or both must be false. Modern protestants, when pressed, do not hold Luther's strict sola fide but instead a more nuanced "sola gratia, sola fide" view.

Deceptive Debates

Importantly, justification was never a point of contention until the reformation. The reaction to the abuses of Rome elevated a faulty understanding of justification and created a dichotomy (of works vs faith) where none existed previously.

More than anything, we can see in these arguments the bad fruit of demonic influence. God-fearing Christians are in disagreement in what is ultimately not a complex theological topic.

While there are many complex theological topics that are difficult if not impossible to express rationally, justification is not such a topic. It is legalistic and quite simple. Both Sts. James and Paul are correct. They're both referring to the same legalistic concept. They're borh referring to the faith of Christ, that is, the perfect faith that Christ possessed. And James, rather than disagreeing with Paul, is providing a nuanced understanding of legalistic justification as it applies more broadly to salvation.

James 2:19-26

Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Faith and works go together like body and spirit -- separated only by death. Even the demons have faith (both in terms of belief and obedience) in Christ. It is not our faith that saves. It is Christ's faith that saves us. Trying to put faith and works in competition blatantly contradicts scripture, and misses the entire point of justification. Martin Luther is clearly wrong. Sola fide is clearly false. And justification by works alone is and always was clearly wrong. This isn't complicated.

Modern Lutherans may explain that this isn't what they mean by sola fide, but words have meaning, and this is what Martin Luther's words meant and what many of the reformers meant. If you mean something similar to the orthodox view (such as the nuanced "sola gratia, sola fide"), then you don't need a Latin slogan, you can just participate in the scriptures and understand justification exactly as it has been understood for thousands of years. Debates on this topic are wildly unnecessary.

Even in the most dogmatic five-point Calvinist view, if you don't see fruitful works in your Christian life, then your faith is dead. You are by your own interpretation not regenerated, and ought to feel no assurance that you are among the elect. In fact, the lack of good fruits would be evidence (by a monergistic view) of reprobation (the so-called unelect). There's a better debate to be had on reprobation, but it's unlikely to be resolved with sola fide.

Similarly, if you're a Lutheran then you ought to avoid the cheap grace that Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned against. The bad fruits of cheap grace have been obvious.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.

Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

We cannot force good fruits nor good works. We ought to instead be obedient and pray for grace, pray for faith sufficient to our salvation, which can be seen through the fruit of our works. Remember, God's grace is always sufficient.

Imagine if the thief on the cross survived and went back to worldly life -- would he have shown no change in behavior? Would there have been no good fruits from good works? The Lord provides sufficient works so as to perfect our faith. For the thief on the cross, this was martyrdom. If our conversion happens while on the cross moments before death, then we will have received a martyr's justification. But for every moment of our Christian lives where we're not being martyred, what excuse have we?

Ephesians 2:8-10

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

We are to become like Christ, such that our will aligns with the Father (through Christ), and in doing so we will see the good fruits, participating in His good works. We will praise God for all the good works that are His through grace, recognizing that such works are for our assurance to help us and to guide us, towards healing our souls, working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Philippians 2:12-13

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Patristic Commentaries

While there was never much controversy around justification, there is plenty of surviving commentary from the early church such that we can gaim a deeper understanding of what early Christians actually believed about justification and -- importantly -- how they avoided the deceptions we see from modern Christian denominations who can't seem to faithfully understand one another, let alone hold communion together.

For example, the passage from the epistle of James (that Luther hated so much) spurred interesting commentary from the early church fathers,

Blessed Augustine of Hippo

In order to help them, God has put fear in the hearts of believers, lest they think that they might be saved by faith alone, even if they continue to practice these evils.

Cyril of Alexandria

On the one hand, the blessed James says that Abraham was justified by works when he bound Isaac his son on the altar, but on the other hand Paul says that he was justified by faith, which appears to be contradictory. However, this is to be understood as meaning that Abraham believed before he had Isaac and that Isaac was given to him as a reward for his faith. Likewise, when he bound Isaac to the altar, he did not merely do the work which was required of him, but he did it with the faith that in Isaac his seed would be as numberless as the stars of heaven, believing that God could raise him from the dead. (Rm 4:18-25)

John Chrysostom

Faith without works is dead, and works without faith are dead also. For if we have sound doctrine but fail in living, the doctrine is of no use to us. Likewise if we take pains with life but are careless about doctrine, that will not be any good to us either. It is therefore necessary to shore up the spiritual edifice in both directions.

And the reference to Abraham is particularly instructive as we can gain a sound exegesis about the relationship between faith and works through commentary about Abraham, e.g.,

1 Maccabees 2:52

Was not Abraham found faithful when tested, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness?

Hebrews 11:17-19

By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

Works are not irrelevant or unnecessary but they are the means to perfect one's faith. Or as St. Paul made clear: faith working through love.

Galatians 5:4-6

Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Works to St. Paul are inseparable from faith, as it is faith that works from love (by the grace of God). Twisting St. Paul's words to fit sola fide removes the spiritual depth of his teaching.

Romans 8:30

Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

This passage remained relatively uncontroversial for the first thousand years of Christianity, however, as we near the great schism between east and west, we can find evidence of some debate through the writings of St. Symeon the New Theologian,

St. Symeon the New Theologian

I have heard many people say: “Because the Apostle says; ‘Those whom God foreknew, the same He also predestined; and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, the same also glorified‘ [Romans 8:29-30] what good is it to me if I throw myself into many labors, if I give proof of repentance and conversion, when I am neither foreknown nor predestined by God to be saved and conformed to the glory of God His Son?”

We are naturally obliged to state our opinion clearly to such people, and to reply: O, you! Why do you reason to your own perdition rather than your salvation? And why do you pick out for yourselves the obscure passages of inspired Scripture and then tear them out of context and twist them in order to accomplish your own destruction? Do you not hear the Savior crying out every day: “As I live … I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” [Ezekiel 33:11]? Do you not hear Him Who says: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” [Matthew 3:2]; and again: “Just so, I tell you, there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents” [Luke 15:7, adapted]? Did He ever say to some: “Do not repent for I will not accept you,” while to others who were predestined: “But you, repent! because I knew you beforehand”? Of course not! Instead, throughout the world and in every church He shouts: “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” [Matthew 11:28]. Come, He says, all you who are burdened with many sins, to the One Who takes away the sin of the world; come all who thirst to the fountain which flows and never dies.

We can see at least an inversion of sola fide here, or rather a belief in reprobation. St. Symeon continues,

St. Symeon the New Theologian

Does He distinguish and separate anyone out, calling one to Himself as foreknown while sending the other away as not predestined? Never! Therefore, “you should not make excuses for your sins” [Psalm 140:4, LXX], nor should you want to make the Apostle’s words an occasion for your own destruction, but should run, all of you, to the Master Who calls you. For even if someone is a publican, or a fornicator, an adulterer, a murderer, or whatever else, the Master does not turn him away, but takes away the burden of his sins immediately and makes him free. And how does He take away the other’s burden? Just as He once took away that of the paralytic when He said to the latter: “My son, your sins are forgiven” [Matthew 9:2], and the man was immediately relieved of his burden and, in addition, received the cure of his body.

So then, let everyone who wants approach Him, and let the one say: “Son of David, have mercy on me“; and, if he hears, “What do you want Me to do for you?” let him say quickly, “Lord, let me receive my sight,” and right away he will hear, “So I desire. Receive your sight” [Luke 18:38-42]. Let another say, “Lord, my daughter“–i.e. my soul–“is severely possessed by a demon” [Matthew 15:22], and he will hear: “I will come to heal her” [Matthew 8:7]. If someone is hesitant and does not wish to approach the Master, even if He comes to him and says, “Follow Me” [Matthew 9:9], then let him follow Him as the publican once did, abandoning his counting tables and his avarice, and, I am sure, He shall make of him, too, an evangelist rather than a tax collector. If someone else is a paralytic, lying for years in sloth, carelessness, and love of pleasure, and if he should see another, be it the Master Himself or one of His disciples, come to him and ask, “Do you want to be healed?” [John 5:2-7], let him receive the word joyfully and reply immediately: “Yes, Lord, but I have no man to put me into the pool of repentance.” And then if he should hear, “Rise, take up your bed, and follow me,” let him get up right away and run after the footsteps of the One Who has called him from on high.

St. Symeon's commentary is apt today even in reformed theology about justification and orthodox synergy, e.g.,

St. Symeon the New Theologian

Now, if someone does not wish, whether like the sinful woman to embrace the feet of Christ [Luke 7:38], or like the prodigal son to run back to Him with burning repentance [Luke 15:11ff], or like the woman with a hemorrhage and bowed with infirmity [Luke 8:43 and 13:11] even to approach Him, why does he then make excuses for his sins by saying, “Those whom He foreknew, them also“–and them alone!–“He called“?

One may perhaps reasonably reply to the person so disposed that “God, Who is before eternity and Who knows all things before creating them, also knew you beforehand, knew that you would not obey Him when He called, that you would not believe in His promises and in His words, yet still, even while knowing this, He “bowed the heavens and came down” [Psalm 18:19] and became man, and for your sake has come to the place where you lie prone. Indeed, visiting you many times every day, sometimes in His own Person and sometimes as well through His servants, He exhorts you to get up from the calamity in which you lie and to follow Him Who ascends to the Kingdom of Heaven and enter it together with Him. But you, you still refuse to do it.

Then tell me, who is responsible for your perdition and disobedience? You, who refuse to obey and who will not follow your Master, or God Himself Who made you, Who knew beforehand that you would not obey Him, but would instead abide in your hardened and impenitent heart? I think that you will certainly say, “He is not responsible, but I am myself,” because God’s forbearance is not the cause of our hardness, Rather, it is our own lack of compliance.

For God knows all things beforehand, both past and present at once, and everything which is going to happen in the future up to the end of the world. He sees them as already present, because in and through Him all things hold together [Colossians 1:17]. Indeed, just as today the emperor takes in with a glance those who race and who wrestle in the area, but does not thereby make himself responsible for the victory of the winners or the failure of the losers–the zeal, or in other cases the slackness, of the contestants being cause of their victory or defeat–understand with me that it is just so with God Himself. When He endowed us with free will, giving commandments to teach us instead how we must oppose our adversaries, He left it to the free choice of each either to oppose and vanquish the enemy, or to relax and be miserably defeated by him. Nor does He leave us entirely to ourselves–for He knows the weakness of human nature–but rather is present Himself with us and, indeed, allies Himself with those who choose to struggle, and mysteriously imbues us with strength, and Himself, not we, accomplishes the victory over the adversary. This the earthly emperor is unable to do, since he is himself also a man, and is rather in need himself of assistance, just as we require it, too.

St. Symeon the New Theologian

So tell me, where did you learn that you did not belong to those who are foreknown and predestined to become conformed to the image of God’s glory? Tell me, who told you this? Was it, maybe, God Who announced this to you, Himself, or by one of His prophets, or through an angel? “No,” you say, “but I do suppose that I am not predestined to salvation, and that all my effort would be in vain.” And why do you not believe instead with all your soul that God has sent His only-begotten Son on the earth for your sake alone, and for your salvation, that He knew you beforehand and predestined you to become His brother and co-heir? Why are you not eager to love Him with all your heart and to honor His saving commandments? Why do you not rather believe that, having been slaughtered for your sake, He will never abandon you, nor allow you to perish? Do you not hear Him saying: “Can a woman forget her suckling child . . . yet I will not forget you” [Isaiah 49:15]? So, if by anticipation you judge yourself unworthy, and willfully separate yourself from the flock of Christ’s sheep, you should understand that it is none other than you who are the cause of your own damnation.

Therefore, casting out of our souls all faithlessness, sloth, and hesitation, let us draw near with all our heart, with unhesitating faith and burning desire, like slaves who have been newly purchased with precious blood. Indeed, with reverence for the price paid on our behalf, and with love for our Master Who paid it, and as having accepted His love for us, let us recognize that, if He had not wished to save by means of Himself us who have been purchased, He would not have come down to earth, nor would He have been slain for our sake. But, as it is written, He has done this because He wills that all should be saved. Listen to Him say it Himself: “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” [John 12:17].