Early Church and Justification
See also: Early Christianity| Part of a series on the |
| History of Christian Theology |
|---|
| Background |
| Four Marks of the Church Early Christianity · Timeline History of Christianity Theology Ecclesiastical polity Trinitarianism Nontrinitarianism Restorationism Christology · Mariology Biblical Canon (Deuterocanonical and Apocryphal books) |
| Creeds |
| Apostles' · Nicene Chalcedonian · Athanasian |
| Patristic theology and Councils |
| Church Fathers · Augustine Nicaea · Chalcedon Ephesus |
| Post-Nicene development |
| Heresy · Monophysitism Monothelitism Iconoclasm · Gregory I Alcuin · Photios East-West Schism Scholasticism Aquinas · Anselm William of Ockham Gregory Palamas Old Believers |
| Reformation |
| Protestant Reformation Luther · Melanchthon Indulgences · Justification Sola fide · 95 Theses Book of Concord Predestination · Calvinism Arminianism English Reformation Counter-Reformation Trent |
| Since the Reformation |
| Pietism · Revivalism John Wesley Great Awakenings Holiness movement Restoration Movement Existentialism · Liberalism Modernism (Roman Catholicism) Postmodernism · Vatican II Radical orthodoxy Jean-Luc Marion Hermeneutics Deconstruction and religion Liberation Theology Christian Anarchism |
| Christianity portal |
After the Apostolic era, the concept of justification was secondary to issues such as martyrdom. Justification as a concept is mentioned in the works of early church fathers and in the sermons of John Chrysostom, but it is not developed until Augustine's conflict with Pelagius.
Pelagius taught that one became righteous through the exertion of one's will to follow the example of Jesus' life. Pelagius wrote in his commentary on the book of Romans that men are justified "by faith alone", in his own words. Over against this, Augustine taught that we are justified by God, as a work of His grace. Augustine took great pains in his anti-Pelagian works to refute the notion that our works could serve as the proper basis for our justification. Following an appeal from Augustine, Pope Innocent I condemned Pelagius. The accused heretic wrote an appeal of his own, declaring his innocence, which was duly accepted by Innocent's successor, Pope Zosimus. However, the Council of Carthage in 418 again renounced Pelagius with papal approval. Hence, in the early church, justification was a work of God leading to righteousness, and saving us from God's wrath.
Read more about this topic: Justification (theology)
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or church:
“Very early in our children’s lives we will be forced to realize that the “perfect” untroubled life we’d like for them is just a fantasy. In daily living, tears and fights and doing things we don’t want to do are all part of our human ways of developing into adults.”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)
“In church your grandsire cut his throat;
To do the job too long he tarried:
He should have had my hearty vote
To cut his throat before he married.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)