In order to allow for the works which they were requiring of those who followed the Christian faith, the Catholic church had to push aside that which pointed in direct contrast to what they were doing, but to cover themselves they added truth to error. In the doctrinal decrees of the Council of Trent from 1545 to 1563, the Roman Catholic church officially approved and canonized the doctrine of justification by faith-and-works, and thus condemned what had earlier been one strand in its own message, justification by faith. The opportunity that the Reformers offered of a true reformed church that would go back to the principles of the Bible and remain united was rejected and the chance for theological dialogue and a true opportunity for doctrinal understanding were thrown aside. Here is a good explanation..
'LUTHER, THE COUNCIL OF TRENT, AND JUSTIFICATION
For Luther justification was the "main article" 1 and the "sum of Christian doctrine."2 According to his own confession, he had lost Christ due to the impact of the Catholic Church's theology of the late middle-ages, but rediscovered Him again through his study of the Apostle Paul. Luther was well aware of the fact that what he had dis covered was "new," but he was convinced that, after the church had taught a nonbiblical righteousness by works for centuries, he was again connecting with Paul; "my Paul," as he put it.
The Council of Trent (1545-63), which on the one hand removed certain abuses, such as the sale of indulgences, continued, on the other hand, to draw a marked dividing line between the teaching of the Catholic Church and that of the Reformers. The Council clearly identified the doctrine of justification as the principal reason for the separation be tween the confessions. From the start (1547) it delivered an exhaustive definition of the Catholic dogma of justification with pointed arguments against the "heretics."3 Trent also made it clear that its aim was to stamp out the heresy 4 it saw in the teaching of the Reformers. In the canons concerning the decree on justification, the Reformation was anathematized, without actually calling the Reformers by name. Trent affirmed that the memory of Luther and Calvin should fall into eternal oblivion damnatio memoriae and their religious conviction forever be "anathema." That is how the statement of the Council has been understood for 400 years.
Thus, amid the change illustrated by and emanating from the Joint Declaration on the Dogma of Justification, the objective question remains and indeed now clamors for an answer: Who, if not the Reformers and their teachings, were the heretics of the sixteenth century with their false teaching on justification and what, if anything, has in fact altered since then to suggest the kind of rapprochement gathering in the wake of the document we are reviewing?'
'LUTHER, THE COUNCIL OF TRENT, AND JUSTIFICATION
For Luther justification was the "main article" 1 and the "sum of Christian doctrine."2 According to his own confession, he had lost Christ due to the impact of the Catholic Church's theology of the late middle-ages, but rediscovered Him again through his study of the Apostle Paul. Luther was well aware of the fact that what he had dis covered was "new," but he was convinced that, after the church had taught a nonbiblical righteousness by works for centuries, he was again connecting with Paul; "my Paul," as he put it.
The Council of Trent (1545-63), which on the one hand removed certain abuses, such as the sale of indulgences, continued, on the other hand, to draw a marked dividing line between the teaching of the Catholic Church and that of the Reformers. The Council clearly identified the doctrine of justification as the principal reason for the separation be tween the confessions. From the start (1547) it delivered an exhaustive definition of the Catholic dogma of justification with pointed arguments against the "heretics."3 Trent also made it clear that its aim was to stamp out the heresy 4 it saw in the teaching of the Reformers. In the canons concerning the decree on justification, the Reformation was anathematized, without actually calling the Reformers by name. Trent affirmed that the memory of Luther and Calvin should fall into eternal oblivion damnatio memoriae and their religious conviction forever be "anathema." That is how the statement of the Council has been understood for 400 years.
Thus, amid the change illustrated by and emanating from the Joint Declaration on the Dogma of Justification, the objective question remains and indeed now clamors for an answer: Who, if not the Reformers and their teachings, were the heretics of the sixteenth century with their false teaching on justification and what, if anything, has in fact altered since then to suggest the kind of rapprochement gathering in the wake of the document we are reviewing?'
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