Does not the world require both poetry and prose? The Scriptures describe both a journey and a judgment seat. But if these differences are merely stylistic, why then did so many suffer persecution for such differences? In fact, this is about more than wording or emphasis, ambiguity or perspicuity. The issue in question is none other than the eternal fate of human souls. How we understand salvation matters. As such, it is worth considering at-length the difference between Catholic and Reformed views of justification.

Martin Luther is often credited with the assertion that justification is “the article by which the Church stands or falls.” He may or may not have said those exact words, even when we make allowance for translation into English,[1] but the sentiment was clearly held by many prominent theologians of the Protestant Reformation. Those in the Reformed Protestant camp—which in these articles will generally designate those who hold to the soteriology of the Swiss Reformers (Calvin, Bucer, Beza, et al.), the Three Forms of Unity, and the Westminster Confession of Faith—were more concerned with this matter of justification than any other, with the possible exception of proper forms of worship. They relied upon this issue to define themselves over and against the Roman Catholic Church, which they declared had abandoned the Gospel and thus ceased to be a true Church. According to this criteria, they rationalized their abandonment of fellowship with and obedience to the Roman see.

What are we in the 21st century to think about this divide between Catholics and Protestants?[2] What exactly does each group teach about how we can be made righteous before God, and are the views really as contradictory as theologians tended to proclaim in that most contentious of historical epochs?

The first task in evaluating truth is simply to understand the differing views. Protestants are far more likely to use legal or even monetary terminology when they speak about justification, whereas Catholics speak more pneumatically. Both describe a transaction; neither ignores entirely that which is cherished by the other, but the emphasis is different. Protestants see a judgment seat while Catholics see a pilgrimage. If Protestants speak in prose, Catholics speak in poetry.

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