The influence of the Reformed theology is plainly A-isible in the position of Sclileiermacher, that justi- fication is, as a Divine act, to be viewed as realized first of all in Christ, and then succes-sively in be- lievers. Compare what is said above, also Turretin {In^t. Theol. Meneticw, Loc. xvi. Qu. ix. 12), who says that justification is one from the point of view of God, though from our point of view it ap- pears in successive acts, \'iz. God's eternal decree of justification, the realization of it in Christ's work, the application of it in experience, and the declaration of it at the last day. But, further, the correspondence of this point of view with the ten- dency previously noted in St. Paul to bring the objective and subjective sides of justification into close and indeed inseparable relation, may also be remarked. Schleiermacher, however, brmgs the principle which xmderlies this tendency to clear con.sciousness, and bases on it his theological method, for which, as we saw, the continuity of Divine operation and human experience is fundamental.
Schleiermacher's doctrine of justification has been diB'erently understood. Most theologians have considered that he means to make justifica- tion conditional on a real union with Christ (cf. Lipsius, p. 686 ft".). RitschI, liowever, thinks that only an ideal union is referred to (iii.^ p. 559). Two ditferent developments, therefore, have taken
JUSTIFICATION
JUSTIFICATION
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place, starting from either view of Schleiermacher's position.
In the first place, one of the commonest views in modem theology makes justification dependent on a real union with Christ, breakin- .1<.\mi tlic .^liniii distinction between justification ami ivj. n. r.ii i.ni,
and treating them simply as asjic. I^. oi ili.- >;
process. Faith, on this view, is Ui !»• nuiiidcl in justification not simply as the rflk'X of Divine; grace, but as comprulienclinj^ the spiritual content of union with Clinst, and ni the gift of the Spirit, which is the basis of the ethical life of the Christian. Hence this view of justification is claimed to be 'ethical'; justification according to it being a recognition of what really is in the believer his new life, as well pleasing to God. A reconciliation with the forensic view is found in the Kantian thought that God judges by the ideal; so that
justification appears as a ijrophetic judgment, which sees in th( " ' whole fruit.
first germ of the new life its
This view is closely akin to Osiander's. It has undoubtedly points of contact with the broader use of the word ' faith ' in St. Paul, who, as Pfleiderer points out, often uses it as practically equivalent to the whole of Christianity (Urchris- tenthum\ i. p. 250 ; cf. 1 Co 12i»' 161^). It is further along the' line developed in the cycle of passages like Ro 8", Gal 2", 1 Co i* 9=^- -'', Ph S"-", as previously explained. But it does not represent 8t. Paul^ main line of thought with respect to justification, and the objection to it further is that in the end it bases justification either upon the imperfect realization of Christ in us, or, in so far as the imperfection is counterbalanced by a refer- ence to the ideal, upon what is still future, thus resembling the Catholic view. This view does not, therefore, meet the religious need of a firm and unshakable ground of trust as to acceptance with God.
In opposition to it, therefore, Kitschl develops the doctrine of Schleiermacher along the other line, which he takes to be its real meaning, giving in his theology also prominence to a conception which with Schleiermacher is in the background — that of revelation. The idea of justification is consequently construed directly through the idea of the Divine grace as revealed in Christ, and faith is thought of as of a piece with this revelation and the realiza- tion of it in human lives. Justification is thus in the first instance through grace, but by faith. Ritschl's way of expressing this is by saymg that justification is the act of God as Father, and further that the sentence of justification falls in the first instance on the religious community founded by Christ as a whole, to which God imputes the position towards Him of Christ its Founder, and on indi- viduals as by faith in the Gospel they attach themselves to this community; justification thus becoming eftective for them. Faitli is simply oliedi- ence to God and trust in the revelation of His grace in Christ. Its functions are religious, nut uioral (iii.= p. 139 ; cf. also p. 70). As regards the eftects of justification, the comprehensive description of them is that it is ' the acceptance of sinners into fellowship with God, in which their salvation is to be realized and carried out into eternal life.' In particular, the consciousness of guilt is removed, in .so far as the element of mistrust of God, which is the essence of it, is removed (p. 85). Assurance of justification can be obtained only by the exercise of faith in patience or 'lordship over the world.' Finally, the course of moral action is conditioned by justification ; but the direct aim of the latter is not the product of mcr.".! action, but the bestowal of eternal life, which is realized here and now in lordship over the world (pp. 192, 534 f., 670).
III. Constructive treatment.— It appears to