E. Faith Alone and Works
E. Faith Alone and Works
Disagreement over the status of concupiscence is related to another genuine and ongoing difference between Catholics and Protestants, namely the instrumental cause or means by which one is justified. Whereas Rome teaches baptismal regeneration, Peter Martyr asserts that justification is accessed by faith alone. Since Rome maintains that in baptism one receives “the forgiveness of all sins and the gift of new life,”1105 it is in her view impossible for two contradictory states to simultaneously co-exist in a baptized person: the righteousness of God and mortal sin. For Vermigli, however, baptism is simply a covenantal sign similar, in its status and function, to circumcision for Israel.1106 The only way to appropriate the remission of sin, in this view, is by means of faith.
Concerning the relationship of faith and baptism in Newman’s Lectures, we noted the extraordinarily creative way in which he distinguished the “internal” from the “external” instruments of justification.1107 In this formulation, Newman wins points for his novelty, but it appears that this position is largely motivated by his via media project; his desire to maintain subscription to the Book of Common Prayer’s eleventh article, which asserted that “we are justified by Faith only,” while also retaining his commitment to the efficacious and necessary nature of baptismal regeneration. 1108 It is noteworthy that the Catholic Newman does not articulate this particular understanding of faith and baptism outside of his re-issued Lectures.
Vermigli illustrates the central importance of faith alone to Reformed Protestantism, a position that he enthusiastically champions. His conviction is born out of the belief that one’s good works have no role whatsoever in causing justification.1109 However, adamant as he is, Vermigli also insists that good works must necessarily attend and vindicate one’s justification. As noted, this emphasis has led some interpreters to label Martyr a Reformkatholic. But this reading fails to appreciate the way Reformed theology seeks to hold sanctification in dynamic tension with justification. The Reformkatholic charge is akin to Steven Ozment’s suggestion that Calvin’s emphasis upon good works (in the context of his social ethics) had the effect of “re-catholicizing” Protestant theology on the doctrine of justification by faith.1110
It should be pointed out that contemporary Catholicism, as seen in the annex to the JD, has occasionally expressed a willingness to use the sola fide formula in order to emphasize that God is to be relied upon for salvation over self.1111 But this should not be understood as fully equivalent to the position for which Vermigli and his fellow Reformers contended. With Trent, modern Catholicism is keen to uphold the need for fides formata caritate in a sacramental framework, beginning with baptism. Hence, the Catholic Catechism asserts, “The grace of the Holy Spirit confers upon us the righteousness of God. Uniting us by faith and Baptism to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, the Spirit makes us sharers in his life.”1112 For Rome, therefore, faith is “alone” over against relying upon one’s human resources, but it is nevertheless always embedded in charity in the context of the sacramental life.
Part of the controversy between Catholics and Protestants on the subject of sola fide has grown out of the different understanding of the word “faith.” The Tridentine fathers, employing the term in keeping with the medieval scholastic sense of giving mental assent, insisted that this faith is “‘the beginning of human salvation,’ the foundation and root of all justification, ‘without which it is impossible to please God.’”1113 This faith, although necessary for justification, must be augmented by the infusion of charity by the Holy Spirit. “For faith, unless hope and charity be added to it,” Trent insists, “neither unites one perfectly with Christ, nor makes one a living member of his body.”1114 Hence, to be complete, faith must be a fides formata caritate.
For Reformers such as Vermigli, on the other hand, the essence of faith is more than mental assent.1115 Vermigli understands faith as that which actively “takes hold and receives” the promise of forgiveness.1116 As we have noted, he sharply distinguishes this “most sure and certain” faith from a “dead faith,” a “historical faith,” a “human faith,” a “temporary faith,” and a “naked” faith.1117 Such faith, argues Vermigli, is “never alone but always draws along with it various motions of the mind,” particularly “confidence, hope, and similar affections.”1118 We can only imagine how the Tridentine fathers might have responded differently to Protestantism had they grasped this emphasis in the Reformers’ teaching. Thankfully, developments in Catholic thought since Trent have broadened the official Catholic understanding of faith to include the possibility that faith might include the giving of one’s whole self to God, mind and volition.1119
With respect to the development of a faith formed by love, or in Newman’s terms “actual righteousness,” it is interesting to note that Vermigli includes the category of habitus in his doctrine of justification, whereas Newman strictly excludes it.1120 In this way, Vermigli more closely resembles the language of the Catholic position, insisting upon the development of iustitia inhaerente, which leads to further acts of piety.1121 Does this position imply for Vermigli a partim-partim view of justification? The answer is “no” concerning the basis or formal cause of justification; likewise, it is “no” in regard to the accumulation of merit coram deo, which Martyr categorically disavows.1122 But the answer is “yes” when justification is broadly conceived, as Martyr insists that the tangible manifestation of righteousness among those who are justified is not accessed by faith alone, but rather is produced by spiritual discipline.1123
Despite their difference over the existence of habitus, Vermigli and Newman both stress the necessity of personal holiness, holding forensic and actual righteousness together. As the apprehension of righteousness grows, so does one’s capacity to perform good works, which are implicated in the final judgment as necessary constituents of faith. Such works are accepted and rewarded by God as a requirement of final justification, a conviction that Newman and Vermigli share with twenty-first-century Catholic teaching on the subject.1124