ENDTIME ISSUES NEWSLETTER No. 167

“The Achievements of the Cross - Part 2”

Samuele Bacchiocchi, Ph. D.,

Retired Professor of Theology and Church History,

Andrews University

INDEX OF TOPICS OF THIS NEWSLETTER

• How to Subscribe and Unsubscribe

• Update on My Medical Condition:

Remember Me in Your Prayers

• The Gregorian University Responds to False Allegations

• Has the Tomb of Jesus Been Found?

• THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CROSS - Part 2

(The Essay of this Newsletter)

• Announcements of Services and Products

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UPDATE ON MY MEDICAL CONDITION

In the last newsletter I reported on the three hours surgery that took place on Tuesday afternoon, February 20, 2007, to remove both my colon cancer and gallbladder. Some of you had a good laugh reading my misspelling “gold bladder.” Somebody joked that I must be poorer now that the gold stones have been removed from my bladder. (Please laugh!)

The surgery has been very successful and the recovery is proceeding faster than anticipated with no complications. Frankly, I feel great and were it not for the presence of cancer in the liver, I would be ready to resume my itinerant ministry immediately.

Both the Cat Scan and a biopsy of the liver at the time of the surgery, clearly reveal the presence of cancerous cells widespread in my liver. This means that by God’s grace I won the first battle with colon cancer, but I have yet another battle to fight with liver cancer. With divine I look forward to declare victory.

This battle against liver cancer will be a tough, because the cancer is widespread in the liver. My strategy is to attack the cancer in the liver using three methods: 1) faith in divine healing, 2) the latest conventional remedies, and 3) natural products that can boost my immune system. Our daughter Loretta, a Professor of Nursing at the Florida School of Nursing, has laid out a plan to boost my immune system with diet and supplementary products.

The Search for a Cancer Treatment Center

During the past three weeks I spent a considerable time looking for a reputable cancer treatment center. I sent a package with the results of my tests, including the CD with the Cat Scan, to half a dozen cancer centers in Chicago, Kalamazoo, and Goshen, Indiana.

This past week we had two consultations, the first with an oncologist at a Cancer Treatment Center in Kalamazoo and the second with an oncologist at the Center for Cancer Care in Goshen, Indiana. I must confess that this has been an emotional roller coaster experience. Let me explain why.

The oncologist in Kalamazoo told my wife and I in frightening terms that my liver cancer was stage 4, that is, the worse stage, that allows a patient to live only for a short time. Chemotherapy was the only treatment that could contain the spread of cancer, but offer little hope of cancer total removal.

When we asked him if another Cat Scan could be taken before starting the treatment to see if the natural anti-cancer product I am taking now, have reduced the presence of cancer, he said that it would be a waste of time and money. In fact he warned us to stop using any natural anti-cancer product when the chemotherapy treatment would start.

His blunt directives, which ignored other possible conventional and unconventional treatments, reminded me of those old time professors who have lectured from the same set of old yellow notes for the past 30 years. They are too lazy or too self-confident to upgrade themselves.

The impact of the consultation was evident on my wife, Anna, face, which turned very sad. In fact on our ride home we were both pretty silent. We were only hoping that the next day consultation at the Center for Cancer Care in Goshen, Indiana, would be more hopeful.

The Consultation at the Center for Cancer Care

I learned about the Center for Cancer Care in Goshen, Indiana, from an email message I received from Vladimir Radivojevic, a Seventh-day Adventist who serves as Vice-President of this medical institution. He subscribes to our ENDTIME ISSUES NEWSLETTER and he wrote to reassure me of his prayers for my recovery.

When I noticed in his salutation that he was the Vice-President of the Center for Cancer Care in Goshen, I called him to find out what his center had to offer. He reassured me that his center is staffed by leading specialists and has the latest equipment for the treatment of cancer all under one roof.

We set up an appointment for Wednesday, March 7 for a consultation with Dr. Seza Gulec, who is a Nuclear Oncologist and a pioneer in what is called microsphere embolization. The consultation lasted about two hours and we came out of the meeting with renewed courage and hope. My wife was smiling again.

During the two hours consultation, Dr. Gulec showed us with powerpoint pictures projected on a screen, first the condition of my liver and then similar cases he had treated with liver cancer worse than mine. He explained to us how he plans to attack the cancer cells in my liver with a comnined strategy of chemotherapy and microsphere embolization. He showed us with pictures how this would work. Half way through his presentation I told Dr. Gulec: “You have made me a believer of your strategy. There is no need for us to take more of his precious time. I am ready to set up the appointment.”

My wife and I wish to thank God for leading to this Center for Cancer Care, which is less than one hour away from our home. What we appreciate about this Center is their holistic approach. While in Kalamazoo we were told to stop the use of natural anti-cancer products at the time of the chemotherapy treatment, at the Center they arranged for an interview with a Naturopathic specialist who is a member of the Cancer treatment team. The lady approved the products that I am taking and prescribed three additional ones boost my immune system and help in the reproduction of good cell.

The treatment will start in two weeks, March 26, and will continue for about two months, with a procedure every two weeks. After two months another Cat Scan will be taken to see how the cancer has shrunk in the liver. At that time the doctors will decide if additional treatments are necessary. I will be sure to keep you updated about the results of the treatments. We claim the promise in our prayers that “ He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6).

For the next two months I may not be able to meet my speaking engagements. I am waiting to see how the chemo-microsphere treatment will affect me. It may wise for me to reschedule my seminars for later this year. Regaining full health and strength is a priority at this time.

The countless messages we have received from fellow believers in different parts of the world, have been of great encouragement to us. We have been forcefully reminded that we belong to a caring family of faith, ready to pray and support anyone who hurts. Please keep me still in your prayers as my battle with cancer is not over yet. May the Lord grant me a few more years to live and serve Him. Thank you for your prayers.

THE GREGORIAN UNIVERSITY RESPONDS TO FALSE ALLEGATIONS

Those who have read my 50 pages response to the false allegations made against me by the General Secretary of the Pontifical Gregorian University, (Click Here to view) will be pleased to learn that finally I did receive an official and gracious letter dated February 23, 2007, from Gianfranco Ghirlanda, the Rector (President) of the Pontifical Gregorian University.

The letter is written in a cordial, irenic tone. In a masterful way, Rector Ghirlanda apologizes for some of the incorrect statements made by the General Secretary of the Gregoriana in a letter dated June 11, 2004, but on the other hand he defends the accuracy of some other statements.

Regarding the false allegation that I never received summa cum laude and the Pope’s Gold Medal, Rector Ghirlanda explains that the General Secretary meant that I did not receive these awards for the doctoral degree. He writes: “In her letter to Bishop Murray (of Kalamazoo), Dr. Bergami does not say that you never received a summa cum laude or a gold medal of Pope Paul VI, in as much as the letter was limited to the doctorate as its immediate object.” He goes on admitting that “In fact, you received the summa cum laude for the Licentiate, having earned the overall grade of 9.6, and for that distinction you received the gold medal with the figure of Pope Paul VI.”

I appreciate Rector Ghirlanda’s attempts to limit the statements of the General Secretary, Dr. Barbara Bergami, to the doctoral degree, but this is not the way her statements have been understood by the thousand of websites that defame me for falsely claiming to have received summa cum laude and a gold medal of Pope Paul VI.

Dr. Bergami simply wrote: “He did not receive summa from the Gregorian as he maintains.” This broad statement without qualification, suggests that my academic performance was not very good. This is confirmed by the “priest investigator” who wrote: “He never received a summa cum laude. . . . Also, FYI, his grades were not very good here.” Obviously this allegation is false, since I received 9.4 for the Baccaloreatus which qualified me for the magna cum laude and a silver medal, 9.6 for the Licentia which qualified me for the summa cum laude and a gold medal, and 9.2 for the doctoratus which qualified me for the magna cum laude.

The reason I failed to explain that I received the summa cum laude and the gold medal for the Licentia, is twofold. First, the Licentia is an essential part of the doctoral program. It represents the completion of all the doctoral class work and the defence of an abridged version of the doctoral dissertation. This gives seminarians the license or authorization to teach in Catholic seminaries. Second, very few people in the English-speaking world, would understand the distinction between the Licentia and the Doctoratus. The fact is that I received the academic distinctions of magna or summa cum laude for all the three phases of the doctoral program.

Regarding the publication of my dissertation, Rector Ghirlanda apologizes for the inaccurate statement contained in Dr. Bergami’s letter to Bishop Murray of Kalamazoo. He writes: “With regard to the publication of the doctoral thesis, I do wish to correct what is stated in the letter to Bishop Murray (‘He was not allowed to publish his dissertation in whole’). Both the Director of the thesis, Prof. Vincenzo Monachino, and the second reader, Prof. Martinez-Fazio, certified that the thesis could be published, without being submitted to a second review, in part (Chapters IV, V, or VII) or in its entirety, indicating at the same time a series of obligatory corrections in their written judgement. . . . I apologize for this mistake, in the name of the University” (bold in the original).

This apology is very important for me, because it puts to rest the false allegation I was allowed to publish only one chapter of my dissertation because “the dissertation had too many problems.” The fact is that I was allowed to publish both the abridged and unabridged versions of my dissertation because there was no need to submit for a “second review.”

Due to time constraints, I will limit myself to above few comments. I plan to prepare a fuller response and to post the scanned letter of Rector Ghirlanda at my website. Interested readers will soon find the full dialogue and documentation at my website.

I would like to express my gratitude to Rector Ghirlanda for taking time to examine my response and rectify some of the false allegations. Though some allegations still remain unresolved, in the spirit of Christian forgiveness I consider the case closed.

HAVE RESEARCHERS FOUND “THE LOST TOMB OF JESUS”?

Several Adventists have asked me to comment on the newly released book and movie that allege that the tomb of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and Mary Magdalene have been found in East Talpiot, a suburb of Jerusalem. The documentary promoting this view is entitled “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” and/or “The Jesus Family Tomb.” It was aired on the Discovery Channel on March 4, 2007.

The documentary was spearheaded by a well-known Emmy-winner TV Director Simcha Jacobovici and produced by Oscar-winner “Titanic” Director James Cameron. These men argue that the bones of Jesus, Mary, Mary Magdalene, along with lesser-known relatives, were found in 1980 in a Jewish burial cave containing 10 bone boxes, called ossuaries.

In many ways the movie and the book expands the Da Vinci Code fiction that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and the had children. The difference between the two is that while in the Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown builds his case by using late gnostic heretical gospels, Jacobovici and Cameron use names inscribed in some bone boxes as well as gnostic gospels. Both movies and books attempt to destroy the foundation of the Christian faith by denying the Resurrection of Jesus. If it were true that Jesus never resurrected because his very bones and those of his family have been found, then as Paul puts it, “our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain . . . and we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Cor 15:14, 19).

The 1980 Ossuaries’ Discovery

The documentary is based on several bone boxes (ossuaries) that were found in an ancient tomb unearthed by a construction crew in 1980. That year marked a construction boom in Jerusalem. The result was that hundreds of tombs were uncovered containing thousands of bone boxes (ossuaries).

In Christ’s time it was common for wealthy Jewish families to build tombs in the hills throughout Judea and place the remains of their loved ones in those caves. The procedure was to place a newly dead body on a rock shelf for about a year. When the flesh had desiccated it was customary to gather the bones and place them in a small limestone chest called “ossuary.” Sometimes the name of the deceased would be inscribed onto the outside of the box. Eventually the caves became so crowded with bone boxes, that to conserve space several skeletons were placed in the same box. First century limestone bone boxes are so common in Israel today that they are used as planters in gardens and living rooms.

Though tombs’ discoveries are very common, the Talpiot construction crew immediately stopped their work when they unearthed an ancient tomb. They called the Israel Antiquities Authority, that sent a small team of archeologists to excavate the site. Under pressure from the builders, the archeologists worked fast. The human remains in the cave, were given over to the religious authorities to be reburied in accordance with Jewish law.

Ten bone boxes (ossuaries) were taken away to the Israel Antiquities Authority warehouse. Six of them had inscriptions to remind family members of whose bones the boxes contained. Here are the names found carved on the bone boxes of the Talpiot tomb: Jesus, son of Joseph; Maria; Mariamene; Matthew; Judas, son of Jesus; and Jose, a diminutive of Joseph.

One of the bone boxes even bears the title, “Judah son of Jesus,” hinting that Jesus had a son. The claim that Jesus even had an ossuary of His wife and children, contradicts the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.

Criticism of Archeologists

Archeologist Amos Kloner who oversaw the original archeological dig and wrote the official report, found nothing remarkable in the discovery. He says: “The names on the ossuaries are very common names or derivatives of names.” In a Newsweek report he dismissed any possible connection with Jesus’ family as “impossible.” “It makes a great story for a TV film, but it’s completely impossible. It’s nonesense.”

Joe Zias, the archaeology curator of the Israeli Antiquities Authority, dismissed the documentary as a “hyped-up film which is intellectually and scientifically dishonest. . . . Projects like these make a mockery of the archaeological profession” (Newsweek).”

Jacobovici disagrees very strongly with this criticism. He advances various arguments to prove the bone boxes found at Talpiot belong to Jesus Family. Competent archeologists find his arguments preposterous. For example, William G. Dever, a leading American archeologist who has been excavating ancient sites in Israel for the past 50 years, said to the Washington Post: “I have known these ossuaries for many years and so have many other archeologists, and none of us thought it was much a story, because there are rather common Jewish names from the period. It’s is a publicity stunt, and it will make these guys very rich, and it will upset millions of innocent people because they don’t know enough to separate fact from fiction.”

Discrediting Considerations

The claims of the movie and book that the bones of Jesus’s family have been found at the Talpiot tomb excavated in 1980, are discredited by the following factual considerations:

1) As far as we know, the earliest followers of Jesus never called Him “Son of Joseph.” As a matter of fact, this is how Jesus was called by His opponents. This means that His family members would have never inscribed such a name on His bone box.

2) The ancestral home of Joseph was Bethlehem and his adult home was Nazareth. The family continued to live in Nazareth even after the death of Joseph. Why in the world would the family choose to carve an elaborate tomb to place their bones in a suburb of Jerusalem?

3) Even assuming that Jesus was buried, it would be most unlikely that He would be buried in or around Jerusalem, where Roman and Jewish authorities were searching for His body to disprove the widespread report of His Resurrection.

4) Jesus’ family was a poor, peasant family from Nazareth, with an ancestral lineage in Bethlehem. There is no logical reasons for their bones to end up in a middle class tomb in Jerusalem. Furthermore, the picture of the Talpiot’s tomb shows it to be ornately decorated. Only a middle class family could have paid for the carving of such elaborate tomb. Jesus’ family did not have the resources to purchase the land and build an a decorated tomb.

6) The two Mary ossuaries do not mention anyone from Migdal (Magdalene), but simply Mary. This was the most common of all the ancient Jewish female name.

7) The tomb includes the names of people like Matthew, which do not match with the list of Jesus’ brothers’ names. In other words, the tomb includes names that should not be there and lacks the names of people who should be there.

Factual considerations such as these discredit the claims that the Talpiot tomb contains the bones of Jesus’ family. All the ancient accounts confirm that Jesus’ tomb was empty because He resurrected. Jewish and Roman authorities acknowledged this fact. It takes a year for the flesh to desiccate before the bones can be placed in an ossuary. Jesus’ body was long gone from Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb before then.

To believe that Jesus’ body was placed in another tomb, dessicated, and then put in an ossuary, means to accuse James, Peter, and John of fraud and cover up. Could they have perpetrated a fraudulent religion for which they and others were prepared to die?

Prophetic Significance of The Lost Tomb of Jesus and The Da Vinci Code

We are witnessing today a concerted effort to destroy the credibility of the Christian faith, especially by attacking its Founder, Christ Himself. Hollywood has been at the forefront in launching these attacks. For example, in the movie The Last Temptation, Martin Scorzese depicts Jesus imagining Himself engaged in sexual activities.

In the Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown atempts to prove that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, and they had a daughter named Sarah, whose royal bloodline survives to this very day. In The Lost Tomb of Jesus, Jacobovici and Cameron argue that the bones of Jesus’ family have been found. The names inscribed in the bone boxes allegedly show that Christ married Mary Magdalene and fathered their son Judah.

These sacrelegious movies are popular today because they appeal to our secular, postmodern, humanistic, new age culture which rejects moral absolutes of the Christian faith, such as the Ten Commandments, creation, final judgement and destruction of evildoers. Our postmodern culture promotes instead moral relativism, where truth is subjective, based on personal beliefs.

The moral relativism of our time that promotes a self-centered worship, has prophetic significance. It represents a clear fulfilment of Christ’s prediction: “When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8). The false worship promoted today by books and movies like The Lost Tomb of Jesus, must be seen as players in the prophetic endtime battle between true and false worship. God’s final appeal in Revelation is to come out of the false worship promoted by spiritual Babylon: “Come out of her my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues” (Rev 18:4).

Revelation portrays Satan like a monster with many tentacles, using different strategies (beasts) to win the battle over worship. Sacrilegious movies like The Last Temptation, The Da Vinci Code, and The Lost Tomb of Jesus, are one of the significant Satanic strategies. Our calling is to proclaim to the world God’s final warning message: “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountain of the water” (Rev 14:7).

For a fuller understanding of the endtime deceptions we are witnessing today, I would urge you to view my two hours DVD recording, CRACKING THE DA VINCI CODE.  This is an intriguing, informative and challenging video that addresses the deceptions of our time and a host of questions many people are asking today. I invested over $5,000.00 and six months of diligent research to produce this live DVD recording. What motivated me to invest so much money and time in this project, is the awareness of the urgent need to warn believers about the unprecedented endtime deceptions of our time.

The recording was done in the media studio of Andrews University by Leonard Brown, Prof. of Filming at Andrews. The setting of the lecture is a very modern virtual studio with a wide screen surrounded by several TV monitors. It looks as if the lecture is delivered from a multi-million dollars Hollywood studio, when in reality the taping was done in the modest studio of Andrews University. Digital technology makes it possible to superimpose my lecture on an impressive virtual modern studio and the results are incredible.

You can view to a three minutes trailer of the lecture by clicking here: http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/DaVinci/trailer.html

To facilitate the wide circulation of CRACKING THE DA VINCI CODE, we are offering the two hours DVD album at the following special offer:

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“The Achievements of the Cross -Part 2”

Samuele Bacchiocchi, Ph. D.,

Retired Professor of Theology and Church History,

Andrews University

This newsletter concludes our study of the Cross. In the previous three newsletters we examined the centrality, necessity, and achievements of the Cross. In the last newsletter we looked at two word pictures used in Scripture that illustrate the achievements of the Cross. The first is propitiation, which derives from the sacrifices offered in the Temple court. The second is redemption, which is taken from the release of slaves in the marketplace.

In this newsletter we continue our study of the achievements of the Cross by examining the remaining three word pictures: justification, which comes from the acquittal of an accused person in a law court; reconciliation, which is inspired by family relationships: intercession, which comes from Christ’s heavenly ministry.

The study is excerpted from my book The Passion of Christ in Scripture and History, which we are offering until March 31, 2007, for as low as $2.95 per copy, instead of the regular price of $25.00. As explained in the previous newsletters, I made the mistake to ask the printer to reprint the book twice within a month. This may have been a providential mistake that will help many of our Adventist and non-Adventists to reflect afresh on the meaning of the Cross at this Passover/Easter season.

Several churches have ordered the book by the case of 34 copies for only $100.00, that is $2.95 per copy. If your church has not yet received a case, let us know it. We will gladly process your order immediately. As a special bonus we will add TWO FREE DVD ALBUMS with the two hours 3ABN live interview, where I share the highlights of the book. The DVD ALBUM regularly sells for $50.00, but you will receive it free with your order. You can order the book online clicking here: http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/cart/catalog/index.php?cPath=25 If you have a problem ordering on line, call us at (269) 471-2915 to give us your postal address. We guarantee to process your order immediately.

CHRIST’S DEATH AS JUSTIFICATION

The third word picture used to describe the achievements of the Cross is “justification.” This picture takes us from the marketplace (redemption) to a law court, because the word was used to describe the verdict of a judge who pronounced an accused person “not guilty.”

The term “justification” is a translation of the Greek dikaioma, which means “righteous requirement,” “judicial sentence,” and “act of righteousness.” It also translates dikaiosis which signifies “justification,” “vindication,” “acquittal.” The related verb dikaio means “to be pronounced and treated as righteous,” “to be acquitted,” “to be set free, made pure.” The basic meaning of justification is the act of God that declares penitent sinners righteous or regards them as righteous. Justification is the opposite of condemnation (Rom 5:16).

There is a logical progression in the order we are reviewing the great achievements of the Cross. Propitiation comes first, because God’s displeasure and condemnation of sin (wrath) must be appeased by the sacrificial death of Jesus before salvation can be extended to human beings. Once the demands of divine justice have been met, redemption, that is, the rescue of penitent sinners, takes place at the high price of Christ’s blood. The next picture, justification, expands on the divine deliverance by depicting God as Judge who imputes the righteousness of Christ to a believer and declares that person to be forgiven of all sins, thus pronouncing the person righteous in His sight (Acts 13:38-39; Rom 4:5, 24).

Justification is best understood in the context of a judicial court of law (Rom 8:33-34). Being sinners, we deserve the death punishment (Rom 6:23). Justification is the act of God as the universal judge who acquits penitent sinners of their guilt and declares them righteous (Rom 5:8). Justification is the opposite of condemnation. By means of Christ’s righteousness, God justifies penitent sinners by forgiving their sins and reconciling them to Himself. In an attempt to better understand Paul’s teachings on the divine justification of sinners, we will consider four of his key phrases which relate to the source, ground, means, and effects of justification.

The Source of Our Justification

The source of justification is indicated by the phrase justified freely by his grace: “We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24; NIV; emphasis supplied). Justification is an undeserved favor because “None is righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10). Self-justification is utterly impossible because we cannot declare ourselves righteous before God (Rom 3:20; Ps 143:2). It is only “God who justifies” (Rom 8:33), and He does so not because of good works done by penitent sinners, but because of His grace.

The Ground of Our Justification

The ground or the righteous basis of our justification is expressed by the phrase justified by his blood: “Since we have been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him” (Rom 5:9; emphasis supplied). Justification is not an arbitrary act of God declaring bad people good, or saying that they are not sinners after all. Rather, as John Stott aptly observes, “God is pronouncing them legally righteous, free from any liability to the broken law, because he himself has borne the penalty of their law-breaking.”

The basis of justification is not our obedience, but Christ’s, for “through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life . . . By one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Rom 5:18-19; KJV). Through Christ’s obedience, believers are “justified freely by His grace” (Rom 3:24; KJV).

The Means of Our Justification

The means of our justification is indicated by Paul’s favorite expression justified by faith. “We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (Rom 3:28; emphasis supplied; cf. Rom 5:1; Gal 2:9). Paul speaks of faith as the sole means of justification because, as mentioned in the previous verse, he wants to exclude human boasting. “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith” (Rom 3:27).

Paul’s statement on justification by faith has been the object of endless controversies between Catholic and Protestant theologians since the sixteenth-century Reformation. What is at stake is the definition of the nature of faith and of the dynamics of the process of justification. Before discussing how Catholic and Protestant theologians have defined their positions, let us mention the effects of justification.

The Effects of Our Justification

The effects of our justification are described as a restored relationship with Christ. This is suggested by Paul’s expressions that we are justified in Christ (Gal 2:16-17; Rom 8:1; 2 Cor 5:21). “We have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ. . . . But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were found to be sinners, is Christ then an agent of sin? Certainly not!” (Rom 2:16-17; emphasis supplied).

Being justified in Christ points to a personal relationship with the Savior that believers can enjoy now. This fact shows that justification is not purely an external judicial declaration of acquittal, but an internal union with Christ that brings assurance of the believer’s acceptance. No matter how sinful one’s past life may have been, God pardons all our sins and we are no longer under the condemnation of the law. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1).

The realization that our Savior’s sacrifice forgives our sinful past brings healing to our body and mind. It enables us to forget the dark chapters of our past life, because His forgiving grace has taken care of them (Phil 3:13-14). It motivates us to “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:4).

The reassuring message of justification by faith appears to be a simple and clear biblical teaching, yet it has been intensely debated since the Reformation. It is a teaching that has deeply divided the Catholic from Protestant churches. The limited nature of this study allows for only a summary statement of the respective Catholic and Protestant understandings of justification by faith.

The distinction between the Catholic and Protestant views of justification by faith revolves around four major questions, aptly summarized by Avery Dulles: “1) Is justification the action of God alone, or do we who receive it cooperate by our response to God’s offer of grace? 2) Does God, when He justifies us, simply impute to us the merits of Christ, or does He transform us and make us intrinsically righteous? 3) Do we receive justification by faith alone, or only by a faith enlivened by love and fruitful in good works? 4) Is t