Hardly any issue has caused more dispute among Christians during the Reformation and since than the issue of justification: How do persons become acceptable to God? The emphasis of the Reformers upon faith alone as the criterion for justification seemed to conflict with the stress that Roman Catholics placed on good works. Each side stood as a critique of the other: If faith surfices for one to be righteous, is there any need to perform beneficial acts? But if such acts can “merit” justification, what need do we have of grace, or even of God?
The development of Scripture scholarship in this century has allowed Christians o see more clearly what the authors of the Bible meant when they spoke of righteousness. And the emergence of an ecumenical dialogue in the last two decades has given scholars from separated communions an opportunity to compare and reconcile their differences.
This book is the fruit of the ongoing dialogue between Lutherans and Roman Catholic in the United States. Beginning in 1978 the high-level committee of churchmen and theologians has devoted itself to a detailed study of righteousness as understood in both churches. This report, by a Lutheran scholar, considers righteousness and justification not only in a New Testaments and broader theological implications. The principal essay is responded to by two Roman Catholic scholars.