Introduction:
A tiny little human thought becomes a
principle, and when the principle is embraced by the society, it takes the
shape of the tradition. The tradition then becomes the law and is codified in
the constitution. This is true in politics, philosophy, and law, and even in the
religion. This is exactly what happened in the Pre-reformation Catholic Church.
Traditions outweighed the truth of the Bible. Consequently, she enshrined
countless manmade doctrines and practices, which were blindly dogmatised by the
Church Councils. The medieval ages was indeed made the dark ages by the
Catholic doctrines, as J.C. Ryle observes,
Romanism
is a gigantic system of Church worship, sacrament worship, Mary worship, Saint
worship, image worship, relic worship, and priest worship! In one word,
Romanism is a huge organised idolatry!
Since
the Church of Rome controlled over the state, those who spoke against their traditions
were condemned as heretics and traitors, and burnt at stake. The human
traditions of the Catholic Church not only strangled the biblical doctrine of
grace, but also mix them into the divine grace to make an unholy cocktail. The
great heroes of the reformation redeemed the doctrine of grace from the evil
dungeon of the Catholic Church. They redefined the doctrine of grace as sola
gratia!
The
Meaning of Grace
Grace
is free gift to an undeserving sinner who can never earn or merit it by his
deeds. In Hebrew, a word rakhum (רַחוּם) conveys the idea of grace or compassion.
Its root word is related to a womb, which evokes a powerful image of deep,
nurturing care, similar to that of a mother who keeps her child lovingly in her
womb. It emphasizes the deep emotional and nurturing aspects of compassionate
grace to describe the relationship between God and humanity. The mother plays
every single role to keep her baby safe, sound, and warm, while the baby enjoys
the gift of life and love in the womb. The deep meaning of sola gratia is
conveyed by this powerful example: God does everything for our salvation, and
we merely enjoy the gift of salvation! We do nothing, but God does everything!
History
of Sola Gratia before Reformation
The
doctrine of Sola Gratia dominated the church from the apostolic period to the
time of Augustine of Hippo. Christ and his apostles clearly taught the doctrine
of grace alone. In the parable of the tax collector and Pharisee, Christ taught
that divine grace is unearned and unmerited which does not depend on human will
and deeds, but is freely granted to a sinner as the sheer gift of God (Luke 18:9-14).
The paradox is clear: the so called religious Pharisee remained guilty because
of his self-righteous haughty heart, while the so called tax collector, a sinner
went home as declared righteous by God himself because of his contrite heart. The
one who sought to be righteousness by the work of the law remained unrighteous,
while the one who has no righteous work of the law at all receive the grace of
righteousness. The whole point of Jesus is that grace is granted to an
underserved sinner, and to the one who depends on his good deeds remains
graceless forever.
Paul
and his apostles followed the same teachings of Christ. Paul contended that grace
would be meaningless and would not be grace at all if the works of the law
could earn or merit it. Rather, it would be the merits of human will and power,
as Paul reasoned, “Now the one who works, wages are not credited
as a gift but as an obligation” (Romans 4:4). On the contrary, Paul clearly
said that salvation is purely by the grace of God through faith, and not by the
works of the law (Eph. 2:8). One would surely boast if it were possible to earn
or merit grace by his deeds (Eph. 2:8). But Paul’s argument proved that this
space of boasting is shut down because salvation is of the Lord’s (Ps. 62:1)!
Paul further substantiated his arguments by taking his readers back to the father
of faith, Abraham. Abraham was counted righteous by his faith hundreds of years
before circumcision and law were given to Israel (Gen. 15:6, Rom. 4:3).
The teachings Apostles received from Christ were handed down to the
Church Fathers. Augustine of Hippo took the same position when he countered the
British monk Pelagius. Pelagius rejected original sin and the corruption of
human nature that resulted from Adam’s fall. He undermined the doctrine of total
depravity of human, and further believed that man is morally
capable to respond to grace. Pelagius strongly
argued that man is not dead in sin, but alive so he can choose grace without
the aid of divine operation and intervention. A doctor of grace, Augustine abhorred
his doctrine and shattered it into pieces. He wrote that human is not in coma,
but died in sin; as a result, his will is in bondage of sin that innately
chooses evil. Only God can resurrect him up to life by renewing his will and enable
him to respond to grace. This is why grace is perfectly and purely God’s gift,
as he wrote
Grace is the love and favor of God towards human beings. It is a favor
that we have not merited, yet is made available to us. It touches the inmost
heart and will of a person. It guides the lives of those called to be faithful.
In a nutshell, divine sovereignty plays 100 percent role while human
responsibility plays none in the work of salvation. Johnathan Edwards aptly puts,
“You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it
necessary.” This debate continued all the way to the reformation era.
Doctrine
of Atonement and Grace in Catholic Theology
The full-fledge war between cooperative grace and operative grace was
fought in the reformation. Catholic Church never denied the need of grace in
salvation, what they denied was sola gratia! She claimed that salvation is the
synergistic works of human and divine: God grants you grace and you must also
earn merits by the righteousness of Christ until you come to the status where
God makes you righteous. To express this concept, they used the phrase, namely
the infusion of Christ’s righteousness—the righteousness that empowered sinners
to do good deeds for salvation. In doing so, they rejected the doctrine of the
imputation of Christ’s righteousness—righteousness that counts sinners
righteous without merits. It is the cooperative works between grace and merits
for salvation. This is anti-sola gratia!
The Church of Rome taught that grace is injected into the Lord’s Supper.
Sinners received divine grace through the bread and wine, thereby making the
elements of communion the source of grace! This dogma not only lifted the
Lord’s Supper over Christ, but also replaced Christ by bread and wine. This
downplays the doctrine of grace and overplays the communion!
Mariology and Grace in
Catholic Theology
Four ‘I’ plagued the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church: Immaculate Conception
of the Virgin Mary, Infallibility of the Pope, Intermediaries of saints, and
Indulgences. Mariology is the worst of all doctrines that paralyzed the Catholic
Church. Mary is believed to have earned way more merits than she required for
heaven. She is viewed as a reservoir of grace! One can draw the water of merit
from her if she is invoked in prayers. In addition, Mary completed the course
of her earthly life, and was assumed body and soul in heavenly glory immediately
after her death to be the co-intercessor with Christ to intercede between God
and man. All these teachings both attacked and undermined the biblical doctrine
of grace. In this way, the gate is wide opened to bring in all sorts of errors
and lies of the darkness in the Catholic Church.
Sola Gratia in Reformed
Theology
Reformation movement is in reality the reformation and the restoration of
the doctrines of salvation in accordance with the apostolic teachings and
practices. Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli condemned the doctrines
of Rome. They viewed the bible as the touchstone that tested every doctrine.
All manmade traditions, which did not align with the bible, were regarded as
unorthodox.
The Reformers walked in the footsteps of Christ and his apostles. They
argued that human is a mere recipient of this divine gift who plays no role
whatsoever in the works of salvation. Grace, however, is not free at all! Man
received freely but someone had to pay the cost for it. It was Christ who paid
the price in order to earn and merit grace for us. We received grace because of
Christ’s penal substitution on the cross. In other words, if Christ had not
died on the cross, grace would never have been available for sinners. In
reality, salvation is indeed by works, but it is not our works, but the works
of Christ upon which we put our faith for salvation (Rom. 3: 23-26, Jn. 3:16). Christ’s
atoning sacrifice expiated sin, and propitiated, pacified and satisfied God and
his just demands of the law. Its effect is forgiveness of sins, justification,
and reconciliation with God.
Christ not only died for our
redemption, but he also lived for our
righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). His died on the cross as our atoning sacrifice
(active obedience), and he lived sinless life to fulfill the demands of the law
for our righteousness (passive obedience) (Rom. 8:4). His active and passive
obedience earned and merited grace for our salvation because he is both our
vicarious sacrifice and vicarious law fulfiller (Rom. 10:4). All these Christ’s
achievements, according to reformers, have been imputed on the account of
sinners, and their sins have been imputed on Christ’s account. It is the double
imputations! By the virtue of the
imputation of Christ’s righteousness, God no longer sees our sinfulness; rather
He sees Christ's righteousness, thereby God declares us righteous without the
works of the law. It is not God making us righteous by the infusion of Christ’s
righteousness, as Catholic doctrine claims, but rather God declaring us
righteous by the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. The righteousness of
Christ is the only cause and ground of our salvation. Good deeds therefore are
the fruits of salvation, not the cause of salvation as Catholic theology taught.
To express differently, good works are to empower us in our progressive
sanctification, but not in our justification. Sanctification is a process while
justification is the unrepeated definite act—the act by which God moves a
sinner from the state of sin (injustice) to the state of grace (justice). The
so call Catholic doctrine of infusion confuses as well as mix up the justification
with sanctification.
Reformers also condemned the doctrine of transubstantiation and the Lord’s
Supper as a source of grace. Catholic teachings marginalized Christ by their
improper emphasis on the Lord’s Supper. Reformers placed Christ in the center
of their preaching and theology. The sufficient and infinite merits of Christ,
which he earned by his passive and active obedience, are the only source of
grace. The so-called the treasure of merits, namely the merits of Mary, Saints,
and their relics are human inventions, imagination, and the fairly tales of the
Catholic Church. In this way, Reformers paid huge price in so many ways and
some sacrificed their lives to redeem, revive, and rediscover the glorious doctrine
of grace.
Conclusion:
It is said that reformation happened to put back to the right position
what was put upside down by the Catholic Church. This is true with regard to
the doctrine of grace. The Reformers not only rediscovered the glory of grace,
but also corrected the doctrine of grace what was corrupted and abused by the
Church of Rome. There are heretical groups in Nepal and India who do the same
in one way or another. Reformation is not over yet. The duty of the Church is
to be an apologist against the heretical groups, which downplays and abuse
grace by their teachings practices.
Suraj Kasula (ThM, Edinburgh Theological Seminary) is pastor of Shekinah Evangelical Church and the founder and president of Bhaktapur Theological Seminary in Bhaktapur, Nepal.