Comparison of Traditions
Christian traditions answer questions about the nature, function and meaning of justification quite differently. These issues include: Is justification an event occurring instantaneously or is it as an ongoing process? Is justification effected by divine action alone (monergism), by divine and human action together (synergism) or by human action? Is justification permanent or can it be lost? What is the relationship of justification to sanctification, the process whereby sinners become righteous and are enabled by the Holy Spirit to live lives pleasing to God?
| Tradition | Process or Event |
Type of Action |
Permanence | Justification & Sanctification |
| Roman Catholic | Process | Synergism | Can be lost via mortal sin | Part of the same process |
| Lutheran | Event | Divine monergism | Can be lost via loss of faith | Separate from and prior to sanctification |
| Methodist | Event | Synergism | Can be lost via loss of faith | Dependent upon continued sanctification |
| Orthodox | Process | Synergism | Can be lost via mortal sin | Part of the same process (theosis) |
| Reformed/Calvinist | Event | Divine monergism | Cannot be lost | Both are a result of union with Christ by eternal election |
Read more about this topic: Justification (theology)
Famous quotes containing the words comparison of, comparison and/or traditions:
“We teach boys to be such men as we are. We do not teach them to aspire to be all they can. We do not give them a training as if we believed in their noble nature. We scarce educate their bodies. We do not train the eye and the hand. We exercise their understandings to the apprehension and comparison of some facts, to a skill in numbers, in words; we aim to make accountants, attorneys, engineers; but not to make able, earnest, great- hearted men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“When we reflect on our past sentiments and affections, our thought is a faithful mirror, and copies its objects truly; but the colours which it employs are faint and dull, in comparison of those in which our original perceptions were clothed.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“But generally speaking philistinism presupposes a certain advanced state of civilization where throughout the ages certain traditions have accumulated in a heap and have started to stink.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)