LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 425

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ADDITIONAL THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS—OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 425

demptrix with Christ, co-mediatrix with Christ, and intercessor for
the church. While many Roman Catholic theologians disagree
strongly with this movement, if the Pope takes this action, it would
bind the consciences of the Catholic faithful and belief would be
required for salvation. It is safe to say that such a move would show
how little has really changed in Catholic doctrine, how much di-
rectly related to the Gospel still remains dividing Lutherans from
Catholics and how superficial the “Joint Declaration” is in its treat-
ment of the issues related to the doctrine of justification

4. These statements appear to be without any meaning whatso-
ever. The fuzzy language found throughout the “Joint Declaration”
will be taken up later in this Evaluation, under the heading, “‘defi-
ciencies.”

5. This shift towards Scripture also, unfortunately, had unto-
ward and lamentable results, as many Catholic biblical scholars
took leadership in fostering and promoting the harmful effects of
historical criticism.

6. It deals only with passages in which the word dikaiao in its
various forms is used. This is far too narrow, since, in Lutheran un-
derstanding, the doctrine of justification is far broader than merely
this legal, forensic term, as importune as that may be. An honest
and full discussion of the doctrine of justification, although this is
admittedly impossible in a summary document such as the “Joint
Declaration,” must include all the biblical language embraced by
the articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae and cannot be so intoler-
ably restricted as the “Joint Declaration” does, for all the terms (re-
demption, reconciliation, giving life, light, birth, and many others)
substantiate the central themes of the doctrine of justification: That
God is favorable to sinners solely by grace, solely on account of
Christ, solely through faith, without works of the law. Thus, this
document gives the false impression that Lutherans are only con-
cerned about dikaioo. This is not true. We are concerned about all
the beautiful biblical ways to say the chief article.

7. In Latin, per fidem. Of course, Lutherans also often used the
phrase “by faith” with virtually the same meaning. When they said
it this way, however, it was also made clear that faith in this case
points toward its Object, Jesus Christ. In other words, faith justi-
fies because of its Object, not because of itself, or of anything in us.

8. Often called an organon leiptikon, that is, a receiving organ,
in order to emphasize the passivity of the believer in his justifica-
tion.

9. In fact, tellingly, one of the sections (4.3) is titled, “Justifica-
tion by Faith and through Grace.” This seems to suggest faith as
the cause of our justification and grace as the means. One hesitates
to quibble about language, but this is, after all, a theological docu-
ment and one should expect a higher degree of precision than one
finds here.

!0. Emphasis added.

11. Perhaps the true attitude of the “Joint Declaration” toward
the historic condemnations is revealed by the gratuitous statement:
“Some were not simply pointless” (42). Does this mean that some
(or many) of the condemnations were pointless?

12. Only with great difficulty does one avoid the conclusion that
the “Joint Declaration” is being disingenuous with the reader. This
kind of statement, so obviously misleading, does justice neither to
the historic documents of the 16th century, nor to genuine attempts
at understanding today.

Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

1997
Preamble
1. The doctrine of justification was of central importance for the
Lutheran Reformation of the sixteenth century. It was held to be

the “first and chief article”(1) and at the same time the “ruler and
judge over all other Christian doctrines.”(2) The doctrine of justifi-

cation was particularly asserted and defended in its Reformation
shape and special valuation over against the Roman Catholic
Church and theology of that time, which in turn asserted and de-
fended a doctrine of justification of a different character. From the
Reformation perspective, justification was the crux of all the dis-
putes. Doctrinal condemnations were put forward both in the
Lutheran Confessions(3) and by the Roman Catholic Church’s
Council of Trent. These condemnations are still valid today and
thus have a church-dividing effect.

2. For the Lutheran tradition, the doctrine of justification has
retained its special status. Consequently it has also from the begin-
ning occupied an important place in the official Lutheran-Roman
Catholic dialogue.

3. Special attention should be drawn to the following reports:
“The Gospel and the Church” (1972)(4) and “Church and Justifi-
cation” (1994)(5) by the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Joint Commis-
sion, “Justification by Faith” (1983)(6) of the Lutheran-Roman
Catholic dialogue in the USA, and The Condemnations of the Re-
formation Era—Do They Still Divide? (1986)(7) by the Ecumeni-
cal Working Group of Protestant and Catholic theologians in Ger-
many. Some of these dialogue reports have been officially received
by the churches. An important example of such reception is the
binding response of the United Evangelical-Lutheran Church of
Germany to the Condemnations study, made in 1994 at the highest
possible level of ecclesiastical recognition together with the other
churches of the Evangelical Church in Germany.(8)

4. In their discussion of the doctrine of justification, all the dia-
logue reports as well as the responses show a high degree of agree-
ment in their approaches and conclusions. The time has therefore
come to take stock and to summarize the results of the dialogues
on justification so that our churches may be informed about the
overall results of this dialogue with the necessary accuracy and
brevity, and thereby be enabled to make binding decisions.

5. The present Joint Declaration has this intention: namely, to
show that on the basis of their dialogue the subscribing Lutheran
churches and the Roman Catholic Church(9) are now able to artic-
ulate a common understanding of our justification by God’s grace
through faith in Christ. It does not cover all that either church
teaches about justification; it does encompass a consensus on basic
truths of the doctrine of justification and shows that the remaining
differences in its explication are no longer the occasion for doctri-
nal condemnations.

6. Our Declaration is not a new, independent presentation
alongside the dialogue reports and documents to date, let alone a
replacement of them. Rather, as the appendix of sources shows, it
makes repeated reference to them and their arguments.

7. Like the dialogues themselves, this Joint Declaration rests on
the conviction that in overcoming the earlier controversial ques-
tions and doctrinal condemnations, the churches neither take the
condemnations lightly nor do they disavow their own past. On the
contrary, this Declaration is shaped by the conviction that in their
respective histories our churches have come to new insights. De-
velopments have taken place which not only make possible, but
also require the churches to examine the divisive questions and
condemnations and see them in a new light.

1. Biblical Message of Justification

8. Our common way of listening to the Word of God in Scrip-
ture has led to such new insights. Together we hear the Gospel that
“God so Joved the world that he gave his only Son, so that every-
one who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life”
(John 3:16). This good news is set forth in Holy Scripture in vari-
ous ways. In the Old Testament we listen to God’s Word about
human sinfulness (Psalm 51:1—5; Daniel 9:5f.; Ecclesiastes/Qo-
heleth 8:9f.; Ezra 9:6f.) and human disobedience (Genesis 3:1—19;
Nehemiah 9:1 6f., 26) as well as of God’s “righteousness” (Isaiah

2001 Convention Workbook