Tuesday, November 25, 2008

BXVI on Paul, Justification, and Sola Fide

Com on y'all, how can you not love this guy?

To be just means simply to be with Christ and in Christ. And this suffices. Other observances are no longer necessary.

That is why Luther's expression "sola fide" is true if faith is not opposed to charity, to love. Faith is to look at Christ, to entrust oneself to Christ, to be united to Christ, to be conformed to Christ, to his life. And the form, the life of Christ, is love; hence, to believe is to be conformed to Christ and to enter into his love. That is why, in the Letter to the Galatians, St. Paul develops above all his doctrine on justification; he speaks of faith that operates through charity (cf. Galatians 5:14).

Paul knows that in the double love of God and neighbor the whole law is fulfilled.


BXVI, Bishop of Rome

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

GEEZ!!! Yet another wonderfully ecumenical, Christ centered pope. This is making it really hard for me to see him as the antichrist. Does this mean I have to give up Dispensationalism? ;-)

Of course from what some friends at one of the local seminaries here in the fundamentalist, bible belt the new theological movement is "free grace" theory. Basically sounds like a rehashing of antinomianism. So I guess, "faith alone" alone. I just know they are going to be removing the book of James ANY day now.

Abu Daoud said...

Yeah, it's getting harder for the old-school Reformation types to actually disagree with Rome. What's the world coming to!?!

Anonymous said...

(not so subtle Star Wars Reference)

BXVI, "Join me Abu! I am your father..."