[Footnote A: A term used in argumentation or discussion.]
[Footnote: This idea of justification is the keynote in Luther's "Commentary on the Epistle to the Gallatians," and Malancthon's "Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans." It is the distinctive feature of the Protestant exegesis of the writings of Paul" (Fisher).]
The Authority for Protestant Conclusions: But to what authority could the Reformers appeal in behalf of their proposition? What assurance had they of its truth? How did they arrive at the knowledge of it? They had found this obscured and half-forgotten truth recorded as they believed with perfect clearness, in the Scriptures. The authority of the Scriptures was fully acknowledged by the church in which they had been trained, however it might superadd to them other authoritative sources of knowledge, and however it might deny the competence of the individual to interpret the Bible for himself. That Christ spoke in the Scriptures all admitted. What his voice was the Reformer could not doubt; for the truth that he uttered was one of which they had immediate, spiritual recognition. Their interpretation verified itself to their hearts by the light and peace which that truth brought with it, as well as to their understandings on a critical examination of the text. The church then denied their interpretation and commanded them to abandon it, was in error; it could not be authorized, infallible interpreter of Holy Writ. Thus the traditional belief in the authority of the Roman church gave way, and the principle of the exclusive authority of the Scriptures, as the rule of faith, took its place. By this process the second of the distinctive principles of Protestantism was reached. That the meaning of the Bible is sufficiently plain and intelligible was implied in this conclusion. Hence, the right of private judgment is another side of the same doctrine" ("The Reformation," by Geo. P. Fisher, D. D.—Scribners—pp. 460-462).
The Roman Catholic Side of the Controversy: On the Roman side of the controversy it is but proper that the statement of the Council of Trent on essential points at issue should be quoted:
"Justification is not the mere remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renovation of the inward man through the voluntary reception of grace and gifts of grace; whereby an unjust man becomes just, the enemy a friend, so that he may be an heir according to the hope of eternal life. * * * The only formal cause of justification is the justice * * * of God, not that by which he himself is just, but that by which he makes us just—that namely by which we are gratuitously renewed by him in the spirit of our minds, and are not only reputed, but really are and are denominated just, receiving justice into ourselves each one according to his own measure, which the Holy Spirit imparts to each as he pleases, and also, according to each one's own disposition and co-operation. * * *
* * * When the Apostle asserts that man is justified by faith and gratuitously, his language is to be understood in that sense which the constant agreement of the Catholic church has affixed to it; in such a manner, namely, as that we are said to be justified by faith, because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all justification, without which it is impossible to please God (Heb. xi:6). And we are said to be justified gratuitously, because none of those things which precede justification, whether faith or works, merits the grace itself of justification."[A]
[Footnote A: Canones Concilii, Tridentini: De Justificatione vii, viii.]
The contrast between Protestant and Catholic views on justification are even more distinctly seen when the anathematizing clauses of the Trent Council utterances are considered, and which are added to guard the Catholic faith. They follow:
"If any one shall say that the sinner is justified by faith alone, in the sense that nothing else is required which may co-operate towards the attainment of the grace of justification, and that the sinner does not need to be prepared and disposed by the motion of his own will: let him be accursed.
"If any one shall say, that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the righteousness of Christ, or by the sole remission of sin, to the exclusion of that grace and charity which is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, and which inheres in them, or shall say that the grace whereby we are justified is merely and only the favor of God: let him be accursed.