The Doctrine of Justification and Merit in Roman Catholic with Anglicans and in the Light of Luther's 'Theological Grammar' of 'Incarnate Faith'

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At its fourth plenary meeting in the Summer of 1986, the Second Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission completed work on a statement entitled Salvation and the Church. The statement was published during Church Unity Week in January, 1987. A reading of the document bears out the claim made in the press release at the end of the Llandaff meeting that the participants in the dialogue 'have reached agreement on those issues of salvation and justification which gave rise to deep divisions between Roman Catholics and Protestants in the sixteenth century'. The agreed statement recognizes that 'the extent to which Anglicans and Roman Catholics have actually been in disagreement on this topic is itself a matter of debate' . This alludes, at least in part, to the fact that some Anglicans have not found serious difficulty with the doctrine of justification as expounded by the Council of Trent, while others, Evangelical Anglicans in particular, having identified themselves with the exposition of that doctrine by the Continental Reformers, share the widespread perception of both Protestants and Roman Catholics that Trent's teaching is antithetical to that of the Reformers. Whichever side of the debate one defends, the debate's very existence required that ARCIC-II address the topics of salvation and justification 'in response to the conviction that it is necessary for the two Communions to be in agreement on this issue as they make further progress towards full communion of faith and sacramental life'.