Imputed Righteousness
The result of another conversation that I had with a friend, this time about a non-Catholic doctrine.
Dear S. ,
A couple of things have been bothering me terribly about the doctrine of imputed righteousness that we were discussing yesterday. The first and perhaps the most distressing is when you insinuated that we have no role in our personal salvation. You even provided three bullet points for the process:
- We do nothing for our salvation...it has all been done for us.
- God does everything perfectly...because he is God
- If we can lose our salvation...that implies God did something imperfectly.
I totally agree with number two. God created us with the perfect knowledge of how imperfect we are. God knew exactly what He was doing when He gave us free will.
However, I think that you left out a crucial step, the one where we ask God for salvation. My understanding is that you were saved when you recognized that Jesus was your personal savior. So in essence, you did have to do something for your salvation - you had to ask for it. I suspect that the biggest difference between our doctrines is that I try to live a life where by I am constantly trying to ask for my salvation - through my words, prayers and obedience to the will of God.
As for number three, I think that it is a mistake to assume that our frailty and ineptitude is in any way demonstrative of an imperfect God. As you said yesterday "Oh yes, as to Adam...He was made perfectly...he did not have a sinful nature...he Chose to sin. We on the other hand are born with our sinful nature because of Adam and need a savior...Jesus Christ." Did Adam not need a savior also? Were the gates of Heaven open to him before the Lord opened them Himself? Just as Adam can choose sin over love and obedience for God, so too are we blessed with free will. Every sunset that God creates is perfect, but this does not mean that they are all the same. While God might love them all the same, I am free to choose my favorites.
On to another subtopic. Last night I decided to try to imagine myself in your shoes. What would it mean to me if I were to believe in the doctrine of Imputed Righteousness (IR)? Almost immediately I was saddened as I realized that many of my most cherished parables would become devoid of value.
Parable of the Lost Sheep: Matthew 18:12-14, Luke 15:3-7.
The lost sheep(man) was once a part of the flock (saved) and then went astray (sinned.) The Lord says that there will be joy in heaven when that one sinner returns to the fold. But according to the doctrine of IR, that one sinner couldn't have left the fold to begin with. Not only that, but there would be no reason for heaven to rejoice in his repentance."What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.
If this parable were to be written from the IR perspective, I imagine that it would have gone something like this: "What man among you having a hundred sheep and finding another one he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found another sheep which shall never stray.' I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who is born again than over one hundred people who have already been born again."
Of course the parable of Lost Money(Luke 15:8-10) is almost identical. How could the woman lose something that was never hers?
How about The Faithful Servant(Luke 12:35-48)? Do you not need to worry about the Master finding you alert?
And the Prodigal Son(Luke 15:11-32)? Could the son have had the free will to chose to leave the farm to begin with? With the IR doctrine, would the father have even noticed the return of the son, much less thrown a party?
The Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1-20) - does it not matter if your seed is buried in stony ground, amongst thorns or in good ground? I mean, as long as it sprouted once?
And of course, my favorite - the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30.) If the Lord gives you the one talent, is that truly enough? Having received at least one does that mean that there is nothing else that needs to be done?
I leave it to you to continue this exercise with other parables. But I will ask what would the Beatitudes have looked like if they were written in accordance with the IR doctrine?
Blessed are those imputed with a clean heart: for they shall see God.
Finally, I'd like to leave you with my understanding of the Catholic doctrine of salvation. I've culled this more several sources and I believe that it born of a consistency with the entire word of God.
Granted purely out of God's love, grace is necessary for salvation. Catholicism says that grace is an undeserved and unmerited free gift from God that wasn't owed to His people. As a gift, however, a person can accept it or reject it. Grace does not constrain man's free will, but it touches his heart and calls him to repentance. If accepted, man must cooperate with grace in his personal salvation from sin. Grace is given so that the will of God may be done. Grace must be put into action by those that receive it. By justification, man is really made just, not merely declared or reputed to be so. Justification and sanctification are only two aspects of the same thing and not ontologically and chronologically distinct realities.
In closing I'd like to reiterate that for Catholics, justification isn't something that we put on to hide our true nature from God so that we may experience salvation. Justification is the result of our souls being infused with grace from the Holy Spirit, that we might live in union with the New and Everlasting Covenant, Jesus Christ.
I hope that I, with the help of the Holy Spirit, have been able to clearly explain some of the thorny issues that I see with the doctrine of Imputed Righteousness. May God bless and keep you.
Your brother in Christ, Darren