Confessing Evangelical

Christopher Howse's "Sacred Mysteries" column this week looks at the possibility of reunion between the Roman Catholic Church and Lutherans under Pope Benedict XVI:

According to John Allen, the American Vatican-watcher who has kept an eye on Joseph Ratzinger for the past few years and written his biography (Cardinal Ratzinger, Continuum), the Pope's greatest hopes are for talks on Christian unity with the Lutherans, who number about 60 million.

Howse bases this on the "great break-through" made in 1998, with the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, which includes the following statement:

"By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not by any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping us and calling us to good works."

"It almost seemed as if Luther need never have broken with Rome," comments Howse, before going on to describe how the agreement nearly foundered later that year over disagreements as to what the text actually meant, and the role played by Cardinal Ratzinger in putting the agreement back on track:

On November 3, 1998, Ratzinger called a meeting of Lutherans and Catholics at the house of his brother Georg ... at Regensburg in Bavaria.

According to the Lutheran theologian, Joachim Track, Ratzinger made three concessions that saved the agreement from collapse (including a declaration that justification and final judgment were God's gracious acts).

Howse concludes:

If this incident showed Cardinal Ratzinger as an altogether more open and conciliatory figure than the fierce enforcer depicted by his opponents, his actions as pope will be watched almost as keenly by Christians outside his jurisdiction as by the flock of this German Shepherd.

But is it really true to say that the statement set out above from the Joint Declaration means that "Luther need never have broken with Rome"? Were the additional points agreed at Regensburg really "concessions" by the Roman Catholic Church?

For some helpful analysis as to why the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod and other confessional Lutherans (such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of England, though I concede our rejection is unlikely to keep the new Pope awake at night) rejected the Unconditional Surrender of the Doctrine of Justification Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, there is a helpful FAQ on the subject on the LCMS's website. This begins:

The recently signed Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) does not signal a change in the Roman Catholic church, but rather, a willingness on the part of the Lutherans who signed it to allow Rome's doctrine of justification to stand as a valid interpretation of what the Bible teaches us about justification. This is something that the Lutheran church has never done before, and in fact, it is a great tragedy and a profoundly sad moment in the history of Lutheranism.

The important point is that there is nothing surprising, radical or "concessionary" about Rome agreeing that we are saved by grace and not by our good works:

Rome historically has always taught that we are saved by grace, and grace alone. They emphasize that very strongly. The 16th century Council of Trent makes this point very clear. Thus, there is nothing new on this in the Declaration on this point, even though some Lutherans have made it sound as if Rome's words about grace signal some marvelous breakthrough.

Instead, the document relies on "constructive ambiguity" to achieve agreement, with a careful avoidance of any "precise definitions of the words grace, faith, sin, etc.", which would in fact have shown how far apart the two confessions remain.

Take, for example, the ringing declaration that we are saved "by grace alone". Sounds great: but what do we mean by grace? The FAQ argues that:

[Roman Catholics] view grace as a sort of "substance" that God infuses into us that permits us to do those works that are necessary in order that we might earn more grace. The Bible describes grace as the loving and favorable disposition of God; in other words, grace is all about what God is doing and giving.

Similarly, our definitions of justification differ:

In the Roman Catholic view, justification is a process by which we participate with God in achieving our salvation. The Biblical view is that justification is God's declaration of our complete righteousness and total forgiveness, apart from any works. This gift is received by faith alone - apart from works.

In short, there is no real agreement here: simply statements to which Roman Catholics can say, "We agree with this (using our definitions of the terms involved)", and Lutherans likewise can say, "We agree with this (using our definitions of those terms)".

That said, I am still intrigued by suggestions that, in the 1980s, Ratzinger was contemplating declaring the Augsburg Confession to be "a Catholic document" (whatever that might mean). I'd be interested to know if anyone else has more information on this: the only source I can find for it comes from reports on the Joint Declaration (such as this story from the National Catholic Reporter's archives).