Has the Roman Catholic Church changed its mind?
The Council of Trent is a Roman Catholic Council that met in the middle of the 16th century specifically in order to condemn Protestant teaching on how we get right with God. In particular, they condemned the notion of ‘justification by faith alone’, an idea summarized and taught by Paul's words in Romans 3:21-26:
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
The full text of the Council of Trent includes (among many other things) this quote:
CANON XI. If any one saith, that men are justified, either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and is inherent in them; or even that the grace, whereby we are justified, is only the favour of God; let him be anathema.
Except for the last four words (‘anathema’ means ‘accursed’, the same word used by Paul in Galatians 1:8-9), this is a very good summary of what Protestant Christians believe. The idea that we are declared ‘not guilty’ by God, solely through his unmerited generosity, when we trust him for forgiveness, is the crucial distinctive of the Protestant Reformation, as taught and fought for by Martin Luther.
From time to time, however, it is suggested that the Roman Catholics and the Protestants are moving ever closer on this matter. So not too long ago, a bunch of Lutherans and a bunch of Roman Catholics got together to issue a Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. This document seemed to imply that what had separated the Protestants (at least the Lutheran section) from the Roman Catholics no longer did.
Now this declaration was issued back in 1997. So not surprisingly, ever since then, the talk of Protestants and Roman Catholics moving closer together on what separates them has been given a very solid nudge along—not least by Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy, the man who led the Roman Catholic delegation responsible for negotiating on this subject with the Lutherans. The Lutheran World Federation reported as follows:
the Cardinal said that if on judgement day the Lord asks him what he did, if nothing else, he can say he “signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification”
Potentially exciting developments indeed. But does this mean that, as of the last 11 years, the Council of Trent has been overturned? In particular, is the understanding that we are justified by grace alone, through faith, without any contribution from our own good works, now acceptable to the Roman Catholic Church? Or was something lost in the negotiation? Obviously others wondered exactly the same thing, and not without good reason. But Cardinal Cassidy firmly slammed the door on any such doubts. When he was asked if this joint declaration overturned previous Roman Catholic teaching, especially that of the Council of Trent, he responded
Absolutely not, otherwise how could we do it? We cannot do something contrary to an ecumenical council. There's nothing there that the Council of Trent condemns.
The quote is from a radio interview broadcast by “Issues, Etc.” on November 30, 1999.
So movement there may have been on this vital doctrine, but it is not movement by the Roman Catholic denomination. It is still forbidden for Roman Catholics to believe that we are completely saved by trusting only in Christ's gracious work for us, given to us as a free gift and received through faith alone.
What should we do in response? First and foremost, we can thank God for his grace in assuring us of salvation through Jesus, by grace through faith. At the same time, we can pray for both Lutherans and Roman Catholics involved in the Joint Declaration that they would come to an understanding of God's way of salvation as set out in the Bible.
Could it be that you misunderstand the Council of Trent, Gordon?
In pointing to the official documents, Gordon concludes that the “Catholic Church” has not changed its mind. Which greatly relieves my anxiety about the Anglican Church of Australia. According to its official documents, it still believes in the 39 Articles and the doctrines set out in the 1662 Prayer Book.
Some slightly older articles, but very helpful on this topic:
Both warn against a naive ecumenism amongst conservative evangelicals and Catholics.
Secondly, readers interested in understanding and evaluating recent developments in Catholicism and in avoiding the trap mentioned above might be interested in Scott Manetsch’s Trinity Journal review (pdf file) of the book by Noll and Nystrom Is the Reformation Over? An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism.
Maybe it will change. The pilgrims on the news tonight were exuberantly singing recognizably protestant songs. If the keenest are being influenced by protestant culture, that may well leak into the structures over time. Or maybe it won’t. I guess the Roman church has been pretty good at incorporating all sorts of beliefs at grassroots while hanging onto the reins pretty well.
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