Channels, Fall 2016

Channels • 2016 • Volume 1 • Number 1 Page 23 Justification by Faith: A “Both-and” Approach Rodrigo Reis Biblical and Theological Studies — Cedarville University Introduction n his preface to the epistle of Romans, Martin Luther writes concerning God’s righteous- ness and the doctrine of justification, It is called ‘the righteousness of God” because God gives it, and counts it as righteousness for the sake of Christ our Mediator, and makes a man to fulfil his obligation to everybody. For through faith a man becomes free from sin and comes to take pleasure in God’s commandments, thereby he gives God the honor due him, and pays him what he owes him. 1 One cannot help but notice that Luther’s view regarding justification is fully concentrated on the individual’s status before God. God’s righteousness is given to the believer because of his faith in Christ, counting him as righteous or justified before God. For this reason, it is not wrong to affirm that the reformed view interprets the Pauline doctrine of justification mainly through a soteriological lens. In other words, it deals with one’s salvation, when the sinner is justified or counted as righteous through faith in Christ Jesus and his atoning work. As J. I Packer puts it, “Justification is a gospel ministry.” 2 Since the Reformation period, this view became the conventional interpretation in most evangelical circles. However, a younger pursuit for a new and reshaped understanding of Pauline literature, including his doctrine of justification, arose in 1963 with Krister Sten- dahl publishing his famous article, The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West. In his article, Stendahl points out that Luther’s interpretation concerning justification was, in some sense, corrupted by his own context and circumstances. Because of his inner struggles concerning the individual’s salvation in the context of late medieval piety, he wrongly assumed that The Law, ceremonial and moral, became in Paul’s time a general principle of “legalism” in religious matters. 3 Stendahl states, “Where Paul was concerned about the possibility for Gentiles to be included in the Messianic Community, his state- ments are now read as answers to the quest for assurance about man’s salvation out of a common human predicament.” 4 In addition, in 1977, E. P. Sanders published an entire 1 Luther, Martin. Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans 1546 (1522), 371. 2 J.I. Packer, a Quest for Godliness (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990) 149. 3 Krister Stendahl, “The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West,” The Harvard Theological Review, Vol 56 (1963): 205-206. 4 Krister Stendahl, “The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West,” 206. I