The perennial debate between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church is over what constitutes the basis for our justification. The Reformation itself was born out of the conviction that we are justified—declared righteous—by God by faith alone apart from works. The Reformers also held that justification is a point-in-time event that occurs at the moment of faith, not an ongoing process that may or may not culminate in a final vindication at the end of time. Roman Catholic doctrine holds that God declares sinners righteous based on faith and God’s gracious work inside of them as they cooperate with grace over the course of their life. If they acquire enough gracious merit during their lifetime, they will be justified at the final judgment.

Among the various texts that Roman Catholic commentators mobilize to argue that the basis of justification is more than mere faith, a verse in Luke stands out as significant. The reason why this text is crucial to their argument is because Jesus appears to ground his forgiveness of someone’s sins in some godly quality, namely love:

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. (Luke 7:47, emphasis added)

According to this text, the argument goes, Jesus’ forgiveness of the woman’s sins was based, at least partially, in her love for Christ. She was forgiven because she loved Jesus. In his commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Catholic commentator Cornelius À Lapide (1567-1637) concluded, “The parable, therefore, plainly teaches us, that the more we love, the more we shall be forgiven.”

While it may be tempting to resort to other New Testament texts outside the immediate context to refute the idea that love—as opposed to mere faith—provides some basis by which we secure our forgiveness (e.g., Rom 4:5; Eph 2:8-9; etc.), it is best to demonstrate from the passage itself that Jesus is suggesting no such thing. In other words, I will argue that this beautiful story of a sinful woman finding forgiveness in Christ clearly teaches that such forgiveness comes only by faith in Christ, nothing more.

In Jesus’ Parable of the Moneylender, forgiveness comes before the response of love by the debtors.

First, the preceding illustration of a moneylender and his two debtors indicates that forgiveness comes before love. Indeed, the chronology between faith and love is the entire point of the illustration. The question about which debtor will have greater love for the moneylender assumes that forgiveness of their respective debt comes first and is reciprocated by a love corresponding to the amount of debt forgiven. The one who experienced a larger erasure of debt will respond with a larger expression of love. In order for the illustration to work, however, forgiveness must come before and provide the basis for the response.

Second and related, in the illustration the moneylender forgave the debt without any regard for the debtors love for him. Indeed, love wasn’t any part of the equation. The only factor the moneylender considered when cancelling the debt was the debt itself and the fact that the two debtors couldn’t pay it. Debt, not reciprocal affection, was the essence of the relationship between the borrowers and the lender.

That’s precisely how moneylending works. If you have a mortgage or a car payment, your debt is the substance of your relationship with the institution that lent you the money, and that debt will always be the substance of your relationship with that institution. We all know well that such institutions do not consider how much you do or do not love them when it comes to their expectation of prompt payment. They want their money back with interest, regardless of how you feel about them.

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