The Rev. Dr. Tara W. Bulger preaching on June 23, 2024
We have been looking at different teachings or doctrines of the church, and today we are looking at the doctrine of justification. Justification seeks to answer the question, how are we made right with God? And in our reading from Galatians, the second chapter, verses 16 through 21, the Apostle Paul lays out his idea that it's not what we do, how well we keep the law that makes us right with God, but rather faith in Jesus Christ.
Galatian 2:16+21
Yet we know that a person is justified not by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by doing the works of the law because no one will be justified by the works of the law. But if in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselvesare still found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not. But if I build up again the very thing that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor or through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God for if justification comes through the law and Christ died for nothing.
To examine justification, we must first remember what sin has done to our lives. Several weeks ago, we talked about sin as the idea that sin disrupts our relationship with God and one another. It's a disruption in what our relationships should be. Justification, this doctrine, this teaching, asks how do we mend that relationship? How are we again made right with God and with one another? To answer this question, I have to give you a short history lesson that involves two men, Martin Luther and Johann Tetzel, in the 16th century, or as I have been calling it in my head this week, the story of the shadiest capital campaign you'll ever hear about.
Let's begin with Martin Luther, who was a German priest in the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century. Martin Luther began his call as an Augustinian monk, but he was by all accounts very bad at it. Augustinian monks had to practice penance, fasting, and all sorts of charity, and he wasn't very good at it. So, someone suggested that maybe it would be better if he were to live out his call as a theology professor. He then went to Wittenberg and became a professor of theology there.
Now, the Roman Catholic teaching at that time and into the modern area era when it came to justification was this idea that there was a disruption between our relationship with God and that if we had faith, God would give us grace. And because God gave us grace, we were then able to do good right and moral things. Because we were able to do good, right, and moral things, our relationship with God was restored. That was the teaching then and into the modern era. And Martin Luther, as he was studying and teaching theology, started to have a problem with this teaching.
It started first with the story of Abraham. Luther read his Bible, and God came to Abraham and said, I will be your God; you will be my people. And Abraham had done nothing. And so Martin Luther wondered, well, Abraham didn't do any good works, and yet God made a relationship with him. How does that square with this teaching on justification? Martin Luther further read the Bible, and he said it is God alone who forgives. So who are we to say that forgiveness, that making of the relationship between God and people should come any other way? Luther started to have problems with this teaching he began to write about it.
Now, at the same time that this was going on, Pope Leo X took a look at the basilica of St. Peter and it was in disrepair.This is one of the most important basilicas. It is believed that St. Peter is actually buried underneath it. But what hadhappened is that during the previous couple of hundred years, the Popes who had served then had let the basilica just getrun down. It was in a terrible state. So Pope Leo X said, I'm going to restore the basilica of St. Peter. This is essentially a capital campaign. Yes, you might recognize this. We just went through one. Pope Leo calls his number one fundraiser, Johan Tetzel to come, and he says, we need to raise funds to repair the basilica. Go out and do that. So Johan Tetzel goes to Wittenberg where Luther is, and this is his method of fundraising. He says to all the people there, I will forgive your sins. These sins that you are committing, lying, cheating, adultery. I will tell you they are forgiven if you will give us money to build up the basilica. It's called the selling of indulgences. (I'm a little disappointed. Our steering committee didn't even suggest this as an idea. Ha, ha.)
Now, Martin Luther is first upset because people who are wealthy at that time are already giving to the church. And Johann Tetzel is coming, and he's really saying to very poor people, give me your money. He's doing this on the backs of poor people. Martin Luther is disgusted, but it becomes obvious to Martin Luther that this is the natural end to this doctrine of Roman Catholicism justification. If the idea is that you do good works and you are then justified, or your relationship with God is made right, then this is its logical and sinful end. Martin Luther can no longer stand it, and we suddenly have the Protestant Reformation.
The doctrine upon which the Protestant Reformation rests is the idea that justification comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, not from any works that we do. Martin Luther said, look at the Bible over and over again. We are told all that matters is to have faith in Jesus Christ. And it is the work that Jesus does on the cross that means we are made right with God. It's not anything that we do.
The 19th-century theologian Jonathan Edwards would say it many years later in a different way, but he would say the only thing you contribute to your salvation is the sin that made it necessary. It is our faith in Jesus Christ that makes us right with God. It's not anything that we do. You cannot be good enough. You cannot follow the law enough to have that relationship with God repaired. It is only in Jesus Christ taking all of our sins onto the cross that we are made right with God. This becomes the cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation.
When Martin Luther and John Calvin and those early reformers say that it is faith in Jesus Christ that matters, they're not talking about an assent to facts. For example, yes, I agree that Jesus is the son of God. It's not some sort of intellectual faith. It is a faith that we so believe in Jesus Christ that we will give our very lives in his service. It's that kind of faith, and that's not even a faith that we can do on our own. The reformers say that that kind of faith, the faith you have in Jesus Christ, that's actually because God gave you that faith too. That's not even something you do on your own. And so overand over and over again, we see that justification, the healing of our relationship with God comes only when we have a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ.
Now at this point, you may be saying, so what, Tara? Why are you telling us this? And the 'so what' is this--that if it hasn't happened already, there may come a day in your life when you have done the thing you never said you would do, when you have said the words you thought you would never say, when you are utterly broken by your sinfulness. And on that day, I want you to remember that you still have a relationship with God, that you are still God's beloved child because of Jesus Christ. The day when you have become so broken by sin that you feel like God cannot even love you--on that day, remember this: that because of Jesus Christ, you can stand before God. Your relationship is sure. Your salvation is never in doubt.
This teaching is also important because we all try to earn our righteousness in the little ways. Surely, we think, I'm good enough that God likes me. Surely I make enough good decisions that God approves of me. In some way, we all revert to what Paul talks about of trying to earn our righteousness. And on those days, I want you to remember that there's nothing to earn. It's already been given to you in Jesus Christ. It is a free gift based upon your faith in Jesus Christ. You cannot change it. You cannot earn it friends. You also can't get rid of it. It is God's free gift to us all.
So in 1999, after many, many years, the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church met together--representatives from each church--and they decided that they wanted to talk again about justification, about their differences. Remember the Roman Catholic idea is that God gives you grace. And because you are given grace, you can do right and moral things and thereby you're justified. And the Lutheran and Reformed tradition says that because of the work of Jesus Christ, we are justified. Nothing we do has earned it. So they came together, and they didn't answer all the questions that they had, but they made this statement: "By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our ownpart, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to do good works." We are more alike than we are different.
Now, the Roman Catholic criticism of faith alone leading to justification, is that it doesn't move people to do good work.But our belief is that we are justified by God, and we are so grateful for God's grace that we are moved to do good works in the world. That process is called sanctification, and you can look forward to it next Sunday .But for now, may you remember that you have been made right with God, not because of one single thing you did, or because of who you are, but because of who Jesus Christ is. Thanks be to God and Amen.