Chapter 4: The Salvation of Man

Article XI

OF THE JUSTIFICATION OF MAN^[1]

We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings; Wherefore, that we be justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.

IT was on the subject of this Article that the growing dissatisfaction within the Western Church was at last expressed in the formal protest and challenge of the Reformation.

The question here is whether any merit attaches to our conduct, even if it proceeds from faith, which justifies us before God, or does justification rest entirely on Christ? Sometimes things have been alleged in the heat of controversy against the Roman Church which do not fairly represent her teaching and are easily rebutted; but she does allow that it is possible to acquire merit by doing more than the commandments of God specifically enjoin. More will be said on this subject under Article XIV Of Works of Supererogation; for the present we need only observe that it was flagrant abuse of the doctrine of Merit which provided the spark that gave flame to the smouldering discontent with the corruptions of Western Christendom.

The cardinal doctrine of the reform movement, Justification by Faith, is firmly declared in our Article: 'We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings'.

When we turn to the Homily on Justification (Salvation) to which the present Article refers for a fuller statement on the subject, it is there maintained that the exclusive ground of our acceptance with God is Christ’s merit. ‘Justification is the office of God only, and it is not a thing which we render unto Him, but which we receive of Him. . . by His free mercy, and by the only merit of His most dearly beloved Son.’

Since it is God’s ‘nature and property ever to have mercy and to forgive’, justification is a divine function, and man can have no part in it; not only are works without merit, but there is none even in the faith by which God’s grace in Christ is received: Christ’s person and work alone have merit.^[2]

^[1]The first part of this Article is adapted from the Würtemberg Confession; the second part is an amended form of the XIth Article of 1553. The Article received its present form in 1563.

^[2]This is made clear in the Homily on Salvation (there is no Homily of Justification), thus: ‘The true understanding of this doctrine, we be justified freely by faith without works, or that we be justified by faith in Christ only, is not, that this our own act to believe in Christ, or this our faith in Christ, which is within us doth justify us, and deserve our justification unto us (for that were to count ourselves to be justified by some act or virtue that is within ourselves) but the true understanding and meaning thereof is, although we have faith, hope, charity, and all other virtues and good deeds, which we either have done, shall do, or can do, as things that be far too weak and insufficient, and unperfect, to deserve remission of our sin; and our justification; and therefore we must trust only in God’s mercy, and that sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour Christ Jesus, the Son of God, once offered for us upon the cross, to obtain thereby God’s grace and remission, as well of our original sin in Baptism, as of all actual sins committed by us after our Baptism, if we truly repent, and turn unfeignedly to Him again.’


	The Salvation of Man
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Title Contents Preface Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Site Search: powered by FreeFind Copyright & Credit	Article XI OF THE JUSTIFICATION OF MAN^[1] We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings; Wherefore, that we be justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification. IT was on the subject of this Article that the growing dissatisfaction within the Western Church was at last expressed in the formal protest and challenge of the Reformation. The question here is whether any merit attaches to our conduct, even if it proceeds from faith, which justifies us before God, or does justification rest entirely on Christ? Sometimes things have been alleged in the heat of controversy against the Roman Church which do not fairly represent her teaching and are easily rebutted; but she does allow that it is possible to acquire merit by doing more than the commandments of God specifically enjoin. More will be said on this subject under Article XIV Of Works of Supererogation; for the present we need only observe that it was flagrant abuse of the doctrine of Merit which provided the spark that gave flame to the smouldering discontent with the corruptions of Western Christendom. The cardinal doctrine of the reform movement, Justification by Faith, is firmly declared in our Article: 'We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings'. When we turn to the Homily on Justification (Salvation) to which the present Article refers for a fuller statement on the subject, it is there maintained that the exclusive ground of our acceptance with God is Christ’s merit. ‘Justification is the office of God only, and it is not a thing which we render unto Him, but which we receive of Him. . . by His free mercy, and by the only merit of His most dearly beloved Son.’ Since it is God’s ‘nature and property ever to have mercy and to forgive’, justification is a divine function, and man can have no part in it; not only are works without merit, but there is none even in the faith by which God’s grace in Christ is received: Christ’s person and work alone have merit.^[2] ^[1]The first part of this Article is adapted from the Würtemberg Confession; the second part is an amended form of the XIth Article of 1553. The Article received its present form in 1563. ^[2]This is made clear in the Homily on Salvation (there is no Homily of Justification), thus: ‘The true understanding of this doctrine, we be justified freely by faith without works, or that we be justified by faith in Christ only, is not, that this our own act to believe in Christ, or this our faith in Christ, which is within us doth justify us, and deserve our justification unto us (for that were to count ourselves to be justified by some act or virtue that is within ourselves) but the true understanding and meaning thereof is, although we have faith, hope, charity, and all other virtues and good deeds, which we either have done, shall do, or can do, as things that be far too weak and insufficient, and unperfect, to deserve remission of our sin; and our justification; and therefore we must trust only in God’s mercy, and that sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour Christ Jesus, the Son of God, once offered for us upon the cross, to obtain thereby God’s grace and remission, as well of our original sin in Baptism, as of all actual sins committed by us after our Baptism, if we truly repent, and turn unfeignedly to Him again.’
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