IMPUTATIONRomans 4:8-“Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” |
||
|
ROME SAYS The Roman Catholic Church teaches the doctrine of infusion. By definition the word infusion means to instill; put into; pour; introduce. In a literal spiritual sense the word infusion means to instill or put into a person some spiritual aspect. Hence the Roman Catholic Church teaches that sanctifying grace is infused into a person through the seven sacraments. Sanctifying grace in the believer makes him acceptable to God. Man is justified by a righteousness which God puts within him. The sinner cannot be justified by credited righteousness alone, but by righteousness poured into his heart. Sanctifying grace within the believer makes his good works acceptable to God. Sanctifying grace actually makes the believer increasingly acceptable to God. In Session 6 of the Council of Trent, chapter XVI under the decree concerning The Fruits of Justification, the following statement is made: For since Christ Jesus Himself, as the head into the members and the vine into the branches, continually infuses strength into those justified, which strength always precedes, accompanies and follows their good works, and without which they could not in any manner be pleasing and meritorious before God, we must believe that nothing further is wanting to those justified to prevent them from being considered to have, by those very works which have been done in God, fully satisfied the divine law according to the state of this life and to truly merited eternal life, to be obtained in its [due] time, provided they depart [this life] in grace. Session 7 of the same Council deals with the decree concerning The Sacraments. At the end of this Session, there is a series of Canons or affirmations. Following are three of the Canons that deal with the sacraments. Canon 4-If anyone says the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous, and that without them or without the desire of them men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification, let him be anathema. Canon 6-If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law do not contain the grace which they signify, or that they do not confer that grace on those who place no obstacles in its way, as though they are only outward signs of grace or justice received through faith and certain marks of Christian profession, whereby among men believers are distinguished from unbelievers, let him be anathema. Canon 7–If anyone say that grace, so far as God’s part is concerned, is not imparted through the sacraments always and to all men even if they receive them rightly, but only sometimes and to some persons, let him be anathema. The Catechism of the Catholic Church adds the following information. 1999 The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification. 2000 Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God’s call, is distinguished from actual graces which refer to God’s interventions. whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification. The editors of the Roman Catholic Douay version of the Bible have the following words as footnotes to Romans 3 and 4. “The justification of which St. Paul here speaks is the infusion of sanctifying grace which alone renders a person supernaturally pleasing in the sight of God. But justification, that is, an infusion of sanctifying grace, cannot be merited by us; it is an entirely gratuitous gift of God.”
|
THE BIBLE SAYS By definition the word imputation means to attribute or to ascribe. In classical Greek, the word translated imputation in the New Testament has the sense of an accounting term. The Greek word translated impute in Romans 4:8 is λογίσηται. It literally means to put a credit on one’s account. The first mention of this word is found in Genesis 15:6-“And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” Abraham believed the promise of God by faith and his faith was credited or imputed to him. Contrary to Roman Catholic teaching, the sinner is declared to be righteousness by his faith in the finished work of Christ on Calvary. The Bible says absolutely nothing about a pouring of righteousness. There is no such thing as sanctifying grace even taught in the Bible. The Bible is quite clear concerning Christ’s finished work on Calvary. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 for instance we read, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” In Romans chapter 4 and 5, over and over again, the apostle Paul speaks of imputation. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, he declared, “It is finished.” He paid the sin debt that we are unable to pay. Contrary to Roman Catholic teaching, no good works are not acceptable to God prior to salvation. In Titus 3:5 we find this statement, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” Also in Ephesians 2:8-9, we clearly see that works have absolutely nothing at all to do with our salvation. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” All who have experienced Biblical salvation by grace through faith plus nothing will never fall from grace nor will they ever loose God’s grace. Certainly as Christians we will sin; however, we will never loose our salvation. It is so very obvious from a study of the Scriptures that there are not seven sacraments in the New Testament. There are two ordinances being baptism and the Lord’s supper. These two certainly are not means of obtaining any type of grace or favor with God. The Roman Church would like for us to believe that the seven sacraments namely Baptism, Penance, Eucharist, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders and The Last Rights have existed since the beginning of the church age. However, in the sordid history of Rome, there have at certain times been as few as five sacraments and as many as twelve. It was not until the Council of Florence in AD1265 that the seven mentioned above were settled on. These were naturally reaffirmed at The Council of Trent. The seven sacraments are an invention of man and impart no grace to anyone. Justification means the declaration of acquittal by God without any reference to ‘infusion’ which belongs to sanctification. Contrary to the teachings of Romanism, nothing at all that happens within us- even if it is the work of God’s Spirit- makes us acceptable to God. Only Christ’s life and death on our behalf, received by grace through faith alone can render us acceptable. This is why the Roman Catholic can have no assurance that he is saved because he doesn’t know if the Spirit has done enough to make him acceptable. Justification enables God to bring regeneration and sanctification to the heart of the believer. Sin still remains in man’s nature after justification and regeneration. The believer can claim no saving merit for good works performed by God’s enabling grace. At all times the believer is acceptable to God only in the person of Christ, his substitute. Certainly, the sinner cannot of himself have faith without the regenerating work of God’s Spirit (Eph. 2:5)“Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” However, when the sinner puts his faith in Christ’s finished work, which alone are the grounds of his salvation, then in addition to being declared righteous, two things happen: 1. God’s Spirit indwelling the believer, works for his sanctification (Rom. 12:2b)“be transformed by the renewing of your mind” leading him to fight sin and do good works (Rom. 6:1-14) and 2. The believer knowing that he has been saved from the wrath of God, co-operates with the Spirit to live in a way that pleases God. No one who truly understands what he has been saved from, can then live as if sin didn’t matter. Good works are the fruit of justification, not the grounds of it.
|
|
