By: Thomas Clayton Booher
The Protestant Reformation and the Doctrine of Justification
Our denomination,
the Presbyterian Church in America
(PCA), has its theological roots in the Protestant
Reformation of the 16th century, which essentially began when
Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses
(points of dispute) on the castle church door in Wittenberg , Germany
The sale of indulgences was actually a scheme to fill the coffers of
the church to fund lavish building projects. Pope Leo X (1475-1521) needed money to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica
in Rome . The
Pope made John Tetzel the commissioner
of indulgences for Germany .
Tetzel’s marketing technique included the slogan, “As soon as a coin in the
coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs.”
With the posting of his theses, Martin Luther lit a fire that spread
through Europe , and in a few years time, the
Protestant Reformation was in high gear.
But Luther eventually confronted an even deeper problem.
The predominant view of the Roman Catholic Church was that through
faith and works one could arrive at a
state of being righteous. Luther opposed this. He believed the Bible taught
that one is immediately righteous at the moment he savingly believes in Christ.
He held that when a person trusts in Jesus Christ to save him from his sins
through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, God not only forgives that person of
all their sins, but God also imputes the righteousness of Christ
to him. That means that God places Christ’s righteousness on the believer’s
account. Thus, when God looks upon him, He sees him as righteous as Christ is.
With Christ’s righteousness having been put to his account, God the Great Judge
legally declares the believer righteous, and he is thereby justified (Rom 3:20,26,28; Gal 2:16; Phil 3:9). Justification is both the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to
us and God’s judicial declaration
that we are thereby righteous.
Justification also changes our standing before God. Before justification
we are fittingly under his wrath and condemnation. But Paul writes, “Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God.” (Rom 5:1) Is there any wonder
why we now have peace with God? Why we are nevermore at odds with God and the
object of his anger? It is because God no longer looks upon us as vile sinners
but as holy, righteous saints, as righteous as Christ is, because it is Christ’s righteousness, not ours,
that He sees. Because we are at peace with God, we may “confidently approach the
throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help,” Heb
4:16 (NET).
The Reformation, Arminianism,
and the Doctrines of Grace
Perhaps you have heard of the term, “The Doctrines of Grace.” Theologians[2]
use it to describe certain teachings that came out of the Protestant Reformation. With the
posting of the ninety-five theses by Martin Luther, the Reformation began as a
protest against certain practices of the Roman Catholic Church. It soon
escalated to objections over certain Church dogma (official and unquestioned teachings). As the Reformation
gained momentum, there arose clergy[3]
within its own Protestant ranks whose doctrine
(theological teachings) were questionable.
One such churchman was Jacobus
Arminius (1560-1609). Arminius was a Dutchman whose father died early. He
became an orphan at age 15 when his
mother was killed in 1575 in a Spanish massacre of Protestants. He studied
theology at the University of Leiden, Netherlands. Arminius was ordained in 1588
and took a pastoral call in Amsterdam .
In 1602, an outbreak of plague removed two faculty members from the University of Leiden
While a pastor, Arminius preached several sermons on Paul’s letter to
the Romans, in particular, Romans 7 and 8. Through this, he developed ideas
that were contrary to the mainstream theology of the Reformation. Eventually,
Arminius gained a substantial following.
The Reformation theology that Arminius opposed became known as Calvinism, named after a Frenchman, John Calvin (1509-1564). Calvin was a
prominent theologian whose writings and sermons had a far-reaching influence
over the theology not only of his day, but also of the present. That includes
our own denomination, the Presbyterian
Church in America (PCA).
Arminius called for a national synod[4]
to convene and resolve the conflicts
between his movement and the Calvinists. No such gathering took place, and
Arminius died in 1609. His followers published the Five Articles of Remonstrance
in 1610 in which Arminius’s teachings were systematically explained.
Nine years after Arminius’s death, the Synod of Dort (1618-1619) examined the Five Articles and condemned Arminius’s teachings. It also responded
with what is now famously known as The Five Points of Calvinism. These
five points are popularly represented in the acronym, TULIP (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement,
Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints). These five points are also
known as the Doctrines of Grace.
Most Methodists today are committed to Arminian theology. Free Will Churches
[1] Purgatory, according to
Roman Catholic teaching (since 1033 AD), is a place of temporary punishment for
small sins not fully repented of in this life, though their guilt has been
eternally forgiven by God. We hold that it is an unbiblical teaching.
[2]
A theologian is a person who has spent
years in the formal study of theology,
that is, the systematic arrangement and exposition of biblical truth.
[4] A synod is an official gathering of Church leaders to create church policy
and examine theological views.
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